September 2008

    
   
   

WHERE COMMUNICATIONS INFLUENCE DECISIONS
   

The Point:
 

The Power of Voice

    
 

The political season highlights one of the most over-looked yet powerful factors that influence decision-making: Voice.

Voice functions on multiple levels, and has many influencing factors, including language choices, delivery, and tone. Voice often determines how people feel about you, your company, or your product, and provides the emotional connection that makes people respond to the rational content of your offer.

Nothing illustrates the power of Voice better than the presidential conventions.

Over the last 30-40 years, the presidential nominating conventions morphed from their historical role of selecting the candidates to one of showcasing them. In these fully stage-managed events the content of the candidates’ speech often matters less than the Voice they project. Through a personal Voice, the candidates seek to give voters the sense of the person beneath the policy and speak to the nation’s needs.

With this election year’s conventions fresh in our minds, let’s look at the voices of some of our previous presidents, and how they spoke to the nation’s needs at the time.

Ronald Reagan was graceful, confident, and resolute. He used humor and lightheartedness to project optimism and to distinguish himself from the earnest—even moralizing—Voice of Jimmy Carter. Though willing to make fun of himself, he was also steely, staring down what he saw as the Soviet threat.

By contrast, George H.W. Bush used his halting and language-challenged Voice to establish himself as a plain-spoken American—manly and dutiful. This restrained Voice worked against him in the next race: he came to seem arrogant, cold and aloof, out of touch with the feelings of Americans who were suffering through recession.

The hallmark of Bill Clinton’s Voice was empathy—he literally channeled the country’s emotions. He used this approach to his great advantage in both of his campaigns, defeating more laconic candidates who came from the generation that did not wear their feelings on their sleeve.

George W. Bush adapted his Voice from his first election campaign to his second. His first Voice was plainspoken, connecting to the everyday man. After September 11th he projected a more combative Voice, tapping into our nation’s need for reassurance at a time when Americans felt beset by a hostile world.

In each case the winner was able to tap something authentic in himself that resonated with the public, and to keep his Voice consistent so that the voters came to believe they had taken the measure of the man.

In each case, the losing candidate was unable to establish a Voice that people could respond to—in some cases this led them to take on another Voice, one that did not belong to them, but which they hoped would be more compelling. In every case, that effort failed.

At this year’s conventions, Barack Obama spoke to America in a middle Voice—moderating the soaring and inspiring tone he became known for in order to let the public see a harder-edged, more practical and resolute candidate. John McCain chose an intimate Voice, emphasizing character. Of course, the big news of the season was an entirely new Voice on the political scene: Governor Sarah Palin, whose Voice came across as original, energetic, and at times over-confident. Love it or hate it, you couldn’t ignore it.

Now it’s time to see which Voice speaks most urgently to the voters.


Barbara Apple Sullivan

Barbara Apple Sullivan
Managing Partner
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 John Paolini

John Paolini
Partner, Executive
Creative Director
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