Governors and Publicity: It's Getting Viral now
With the state's current governor embattled in multiple public relations snafus of his own that just don't seem to end, South Carolina also has an impending gubernatorial race just getting its wheels churning. The concurrence of the two has us wondering just how the upcoming Governor's race will impact not only Sanford's fight to stay in office, but the outcome of the state's next election.
On Monday, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dwight Drake release a mock movie trailer video entitled "500 Days of Sanford" that quickly went viral, making the rounds on Twitter, Facebook, email and statewide newscasts. The video forecasts a grim outlook for the remainder of the Sanford administration, assuming he stays in office, yet does it in a way obviously meant to poke fun at the embroiled Governor. The public relations and marketing gurus hired by Drake to create the video no doubt intended to capitalize on Sanford's uncomfortable position by further hammering him as a poor leader. At the same time, they managed to sprinkle Drake's name throughout a public that right now is fascinated with the Governor's scandal.
An offscreen voice on the video says, “This is not a love story, it’s a story about a governor’s last year and a half in office. 500 days left of uncertainty, of wondering where he is.”
Ultimately, did the 76-second video really cause the Sanford negative publicty pit to be dug any deeper than it already is? Did it position Drake as the best candidate for Governor among a field of, oh, 9 or 10 others at this point? Was it a waste of money?
An offscreen voice on the video says, “This is not a love story, it’s a story about a governor’s last year and a half in office. 500 days left of uncertainty, of wondering where he is.”
Ultimately, did the 76-second video really cause the Sanford negative publicty pit to be dug any deeper than it already is? Did it position Drake as the best candidate for Governor among a field of, oh, 9 or 10 others at this point? Was it a waste of money?
Our opinion is that it was a smart move on Drake's part. The YouTube video probably cost him no more than a couple thousand dollars at the most, and by piggybacking on the ongoing Mark Sanford buzz, his video got a lot of attention. That amount of money he spent, which really amounts to only one or two large campaign donations, got him endless social media hits plus a number of TV newscasts mentions and links to his video from TV and newspaper online newsrooms. Watch the video for yourself and decide what you think.
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