Applebee's America: How Successful Political, Business and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community promises to share with the reader the secrets for successful marketing campaigns gleaned from President Bush's two electoral victories, the Clinton White House, Applebee's restaurants, "mega churches" and several other examples. Written by Douglas B. Sosnik, Clinton White House Strategist, Matthew J. Dowd, Bush campaign strategist, and Ron Fournier, a political journalist, the authors do a credible job of explaining their philosophy that Americans rely on emotional triggers to make important decisions such as who to vote for, or where to live, and have come to trust those who can connect with them on an emotional level.
The authors explain that people have gradually come to distrust the media, and instead rely upon local "experts" that they term "Navigators". Navigators are personal friends or colleagues who have developed some expertise in key subject areas. For example, the authors describe a fellow living in suburban Chicago who is often sought after for advice by people contemplating a new computer purchase. Their claim? People who know this guy won't buy a computer unless he signs off on it. The authors go on to say that these "Navigators" are among all of us, and successful marketing campaigns identify who they are and target their message towards them. The trickle-down effect takes care of the rest.
There are several other tactics that get substantial coverage in the book. The claim is that people can be exploited by the marketing campaigns that enable them to feel like they're part of something larger than themselves. That's the secret behind the rise of "mega churches" and organizations like MoveOn.org. People are looking for a sense of community, especially white middle-class Americans who have relocated to the exurbs, having uprooted themselves from their friends and families in the process. Give them the opportunity to feel as part of a group, and they'll become loyal customers, as Applebee's restaurant chain has discovered.
Other topics discussed include so-called "Gut Values" connections, the change in the American landscape that was brought about by 9/11, and a strategy called "Life Targeting:" tailoring your message in such a way as to make it compatible with peoples' lifestyles.
All of these observations are well and good, and it's difficult to find fault with any of them, since the examples they cite are, not surprisingly, chosen carefully to illustrate their point. Such is the way a contemporary business book gets written; it's a revision of the old case studies idea that was promoted in business classes back in the 1980s when I was in college. Will following the concepts presented in this book guarantee that your own marketing campaign will succeed? It seems to me that marketing depends on being able to deliver on what you promise as much as connecting with people in the first place, although that first connection is certainly important.
Is it possible to exploit social trends to make your message resonate? Can a politician really tailor his message to comfort us and make us feel like they're going to take care of our needs? It certainly seems possible, and this book gives you a pretty good idea of the direction you need to go in to do so. To me, this seems almost a bit frightening: are we really little more than sheep, waiting to be led by somebody who seems at least credible on the surface?
My recommendation is to read this book if this last question interests you: the favorable advance praise for the book that was written by Hillary Clinton on the back of the dust jacket ought to give you pause.
*****
Applebee's America: ISBN 0-7432-8718-5, Simon and Schuster, 2006. Hardcover, 260 pages including appendices and index. $26.00
