Confident Comms

As the old year rolls into the new, one tradition of recent times is the tranche of new releases on Netflix.  It’s become a cultural touchstone to the extent that when it was announced that every episode of Friends would be available to stream, BBC News covered it online.  It wasn’t this show that caught my eye however, but another staple of New York comedy: Jerry Seinfeld’s ‘Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee’.

I watched a couple of episodes; at 15 minutes each it is easy to get through a few without thinking too hard.  Netflix rolled through Jim Carrey and Jimmy Fallon and eventually to Barack Obama.  It took me by surprise, Obama, as funny and as charismatic as he is, is not a comedian.  I wasn’t too surprised however, as Obama is no stranger to these types of appearances.  He slow jammed the news on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and he again showed his comedic timing with an appearance on Between Two Ferns with Zac Galifianakis.

It is in these appearances that really shows off Obama’s ability and instinct to drive a message and an agenda. In Between Two Ferns, Obama put himself in an unconventional setting to deliver a message about Obamacare and enrolling on healthcare.gov.  The system had been under intense pressure and the website had crashed a number of times.  The choppy passage of the Affordable Care Act meant that hiccoughs like this were seized by political opponents as examples of failure.  What Obama demonstrated by carrying his message through light-hearted, non-traditional channels was that confidence in purpose can drive confidence in communications.  Even at times of political pressure, Obama had a consistent message and the confidence to drive it through in unpredictable ways to make sure it reached the audience it was intended for.  On ‘Comedians in Cars’, Seinfeld gently poked Obama to plug a policy, which he did, again speaking of the Affordable Care Act.  Likewise on Fallon, Obama spoke of student debt and challenged Congress to act.  His willingness to go beyond usual channels of Sunday morning talk shows to light entertainment shows to carry a message were deliberate plays of his strategy to project his message wide.  A textbook communications strategy underpinned by confidence and clarity of purpose.

Compare this confidence with current affairs in UK politics.  Theresa May is under intense pressure as Prime Minister, wounded by self-inflicted and unforced errors, drained of political authority.  Since becoming Prime Minister there has been some, limited demonstrations of vision: addressing the five ills of modern society as set out in her podium speech in Downing Street.  What has been lacking, however, is the clarity of message and strategy to deliver on the vision.  The reshuffle has demonstrated beyond doubt that May lacks the political strength to drive her agenda, finding it impossible to move certain cabinet ministers and backing away from sackings at the last minute.  The prevailing political talking points are not about policy or priorities anymore, they are about process.

With strategy and purpose comes clarity and confidence; without it, agendas get lost in the noise. Nothing really demonstrates the former better than President Barack Obama sat in a 1963 Corvette Sting Ray (aqua) getting a cup of coffee with Jerry Seinfeld selling public policy.