Political Consulting & Collateral Wins Long-Shot Election

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PROBLEM Barry Chang was a real estate agent who wanted to get into politics, beginning with a seat on his local school board. He faced stiff competition from multiple candidates who were, by his own estimation, considerably more qualified for the position than he was (one was a popular, highly experienced school administrator, at the time a high school principal, whom Barry described as the local “golden boy”). Having immigrated as an adult from Taiwan, Barry’s English was less than perfect, an additional challenge. And no Asian had ever been elected to the board. All of this clearly made him the long-shot, "underdog" candidate.

SOLUTION After Barry was referred to me by a mutual acquaintance (another client of mine), I served as his one-person political advisor and campaign collateral author/designer. I also provided answers in writing to interview questions from the major area newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News, which won him its influential endorsement (the responses I developed to its rigorous line of questioning were deemed more appealing than those of the popular high school principal). RESULT

To his own surprise, Barry won that election, thereby launching his much-desired career in politics. As you can see from

this sample piece of re-created collateral

, the key to his electoral success was “reframing” him in terms appropriate to the position for which he was competing. THE SAME GUIDING PRINCIPLE PROBABLY APPLIES TO WHATEVER PROJECT YOU MAY HAVE IN MIND AT THIS TIME: Regardless of the nature of the project, success will hinge upon effective messaging — PERSUASION of your audience, in other words, into believing what you are telling them.