The Benshi

Great article by Jane Mayer in the New Yorker about Obama’s ad men. Bottom line: A single ad that told a powerful STORY about Romney’s heartlessness appears to have had a huge impact on voters. That’s the power of storytelling.

OUT OF THE BLUE ONE DAY … MITT ROMNEY LOST. Just listen to how the spot begins — “Out of the blue one day …” — same as “Once upon a time …” It’s called storytelling mode.

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THE BAIN OF HIS EXISTENCE

Jane Mayer was on MSNBC’s “Hardball” last night talking about her piece in this week’s New Yorker about a single Obama campaign commercial that appears to have had a devastating effect on Romney in some key areas. The ad was pretty simple — just a man describing how at his company they were ordered to build a stage for a big speech, only to find out that the speech revealed they were all losing their jobs because of Bain’s takeover, with Romney in charge of Bain.

The ad ran in several key states. Polling shows a several percentage point difference in attitudes in regions that did run the ad versus those that didn’t. Jane Mayer said, “In places that it showed, the trustworthiness of Romney was 11 points behind that of Obama.  In places that it didn’t show it was just 5 points behind.  It was a killer ad.”

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TALK ABOUT A TRUSTED AND LIKEABLE VOICE!

So take a look and listen to their spokesman and ask yourself whether average folks are likely to trust and like him (the two key elements for an effective voice according to Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman). For goodness sake, the guy’s name is Mike EARNEST! Hope that’s not his stage name. But seriously, listen to the guy. If you were a factory worker in Ohio, would you listen to him? Would you trust him? Would you like him? Yes. More than likely. He just seems like the sort of humble, down home factory worker you can trust. Great work by the makers of this ad. They found the right spokesperson, and they kicked ass with him.

Imagine if global warming had somehow in 2006 been communicated to the American public by voices like Mike Earnest.