Medium > Message

By most accepted measures, the economy is actually doing well.?The Fed has (apparently) managed the near impossible with a non-recession soft landing, and inflation has slowed steadily without killing job growth.?The bi-partisan infrastructure bill, the cornerstone of the Biden administration’s domestic economic agenda, was wildly popular.?So there is a lot of fodder here for an administration to win hearts, minds and re-elections.?And yet Americans aren’t giving President Biden credit for anything, including the economy. As a media and marketing professional, this delta between reality and perception begs the question -- why? ?

There’s an age issue at work here. But I don’t mean Joe Biden (at least not overtly). I believe his media distribution strategy is old.?My hypothesis: Joe Biden is not getting the credit he deserves, because his go to market strategy is stale.?Data point: If you ran 1,000+ events to promote the passage of the Infrastructure Bill, with all the power of earned media attention that the White House commands — and yet only 25% of Americans were aware that your Bill had become a Law, it’s time to reassess.

Mediums are the message and perception is reality. When President Trump picked a fight with Carrier on Twitter over moving a factory (and jobs) out of the country, it captured the?collective imagination of voters and the media, even if the actual economic impact was negligible. But it was a masterclass in medium, message and personal-brand building. And the medium in this case, was the message.

So what if….instead of ribbon cutting at factories, giving speeches and killing it on State of the Unions, Team Biden focused on social, local and personal, e.g. 6 second videos, conversations with authentic voices (with influence) and faces of people who can help attest first hand to the ways that the investment is already making life better on a local level with better, safer bridges, new factories in your neighborhood, sidewalks and accessibility projects.?From TikTok to Nextdoor.com to Threads and Instagram, there are ample channels where smart content can reach, educate?and delight (and be amplified).?Show up with reach, frequency and in relevant contexts with vigor then maybe, just maybe, age will be less of an issue with voters. Or at the least, maybe Team Biden can match perception when it comes to getting credit for meaningful policy with real world impact for Americans. ?It’s time to get creative.