Who offers the best political campaign coverage? Which networks and anchors bring us the in-depth news and interviews to give political junkies an angle on the inside workings of their candidate, or their opponents? Some would argue CNN or Fox. Others would clamour for ABC or NBC. Few, obviously, would make a pitch for Katie Couric.

But The Fix, a Washington Post blog written by longtime DC reporter Chris Cillizza (which is itself an addicting read), recently discussed the difference in two of the most powerful political news programs on television: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colber Report with Stephen Colbert.

“Forget the ongoing primary fight between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.). The primary that really matters is the one between Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert for the hearts, minds and, yes, even the eyeballs of America…

“So, who’s better? A new poll conducted by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics gives us some answers about how the young set — ages 18-24 — come down on that very question…

“Stewart led the way as the preference of 30 percent of those tested while Colbert checked in at 26 percent. Roughly three in ten chose neither while a shocking 16 percent said they had never heard of Colbert and Stewart. Who are these people?”

Read the full post here.

(Cross-posted at PolicyMedia.com)

In the past few months, Notes from Flat Creek has emphasized the need to recognize to growth in digital communication, and work to incorporate it into your communication strategy. But what are the benefits of digital communication? Why should you put your valuable resources into digital communication? The answer is: because that is the direction where all types of communication are evolving, and your message stands a good chance of being ignored if you don’t.

We’ve recognized the three areas that digital communication will most impact your communications strategy:

1. Delivery – Consumers today can choose the times when they want to be communicated with. Developments like blog readers and e-newsletters allow your audience to organize communication, and process it when they choose. By incorporating these features and others like podcasts, into your strategy, you will be able to deliver your message in a way that is convenient and continually accessible to your audience.

2. Access – Closely connected with delivery is access, and in two important ways. Digital communication allows consumers to access your message when they choose, and to store it for later use if it is applicable. Also, digital communication allows you access to a consumer’s undivided attention, through tools like opt in newsletters. When your audience chooses to hear your message, it will resonate much more than if they are bombarded unwillingly.

3. Management – Digital communication offers far more organizational and analytical potential than traditional methods. Email newsletters offer the ability to track open and click through rates, so you can better determine how to present your message. Customization is much easier through digital communication. You have the ability to tailor your message to virtually unlimited parameters. Also, anybody who has experience in bulk mailing knows that hitting the send button on an email is much easier that hauling bulk mail to the post office.

Beyond incorporating digital communication simply because of shifting trends, it offers significant benefits in accessing your audience, and managing your message. Recognize the benefits, and re-align your strategy.

Let us know if you or a friend may be interested…

Flat Creek is one of the fastest growing online public affairs, marketing, and technology firms in the South. The firm provides a variety of services in online technology, political strategy, and public affairs. Clients include advocacy groups and political campaigns across the country.

The E-Marketing Account Executive will be responsible for managing client projects, updating websites, conducting e-marketing campaigns, and other duties as assigned, including:

* Serving as a liaison between clients and vendors
* Managing vendors to ensure deadlines and budgets are met and high quality work is delivered.
* Ensuring creative design and code are delivered according to strategy.
* Managing project timelines and budgets.

Desired skills:

* BA/BS degree in marketing, communications, computer science, or similar discipline.
* 1-3 years related e-marketing and/or political experience.
* Experience with paid search marketing (i.e. Google, Yahoo!, MSN and second-tier engines), search engine optimization and online media.
* Demonstrated ability to be highly organized and excellent at multi-tasking.
* Excellent Microsoft Office skills.
* Must be HTML proficient and have significant exposure to web development and editing work (Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks or other web development software).

Location: Murfreesboro, TN
Hours: Full-Time
This job is salaried.

(Opening also listed on Facebook)

Flat Creek is proud to be a sponsor for Podcamp Nashville, taking place right now at the Cannery Ballroom. The room is very full for a Saturday morning with new media early adopters and those just curious about podcasting.

Podcasting has had its ups and downs with political campaigns. It’s a terrific way to reach an audience long before a candidate starts their media buy. It’s also a great way to reach out to the media through an innovative channel.

We look forward to hearing new ideas and case studies today - and bringing those ideas to our clients.

If you need advanced notice that the internet’s importance will continue to grow in campaigning, here it is. AdAge, the well-known magazine that reports analysis of marketing and media, completed a study that found the internet has passed TV as an information source for voters under 30.

While many political strategists dismiss youth vote trends, due in large part to their historically low turnout, those young voters will carry the internet with them over the years. Not only that, but as with other studies on Internet usage, the Web moves quickly across age brackets.

For instance, AdAge reports that 26% of all voters — regardless of age — have viewed a political candidate’s profile on a social networking site. This is an indication that the trend is already expanding beyond the 30 and under crowd. The need for a strong web presence may be a lesson that becomes more clear in coming election cycles.

Flat Creek is expanding, and your web development expertise may be the perfect fit. For details, check out our listing on Facebook or take a look at the description below:

Flat Creek, an interactive marketing and online public affairs firm, is seeking a part-time or full-time web developer to manage the technical development and implementation of our online projects.

The ideal candidate will be a self-starter, capable of full-service web development from concept through production, and be excited to learn new skills for working in a Web-enabled world. The successful candidate will be the primary web developer in a marketing and public affairs company developing applications and mark up for a variety of web sites. Necessary experience includes a working knowledge of ASP.Net, Dreamweaver, XHTML/CSS, Javascript, and PHP. A well qualified candidate understands today’s changing web development/design landscape, and possesses excellent communication skills, as well as the ability to work independently. This candidate also functions well in a detail oriented environment that requires prioritizing multiple tasks to meet tight deadlines. This position will enable the candidate to coordinate the implementation of larger projects by working with terrific independent freelancers and small development firms as well.

To be considered, candidates must either be a current college student or have a college degree and background in web development. Experience developing technical specifications for web projects is a plus. Ideally, the position will start part-time and require a work commitment of 20-30 hours per week, with the potential to turn into a full time position. The Web Developer will work out of our office in Murfreesboro on the Square. Interested candidates should send a resume and writing sample to jobs@fcreek.com.

Although it is just temporary, Flat Creek has launched a new website for Senator Roger Wicker, who was appointed to the United States Senate today. His new campaign site features a biography and links for contributions and volunteers. It also contains a section on the announcement, with the Senator’s prepared remarks and reaction from public officials, including the President.

Flat Creek has also launched an early social media strategy, setting up accounts for the campaign on Twitter, Facebook YouTube, del.icio.us, and more.

The full version of the site will feature advanced grassroots resources for both volunteers and campaign staff. Stay tuned for details!

Blogs have become a regular source of information in this age of new media, and the governor of Tennessee has taken notice. Gov. Phil Bredesen now receives a weekly round up of Tennessee topics from the blogosphere, dubbed his ‘New Media Hotsheet’.

Bredesen believes that bloggers’ (often opinionated) pieces offer another dimension by which to gauge public sentiment on issues. The acknowledgement of blogs as an important information source is a great step for the Governor to take.

But only once a week? Those of us who religiously check our favorite blog readers and blogrolls know that a lot can be covered over one day in the blogosphere, much less an entire week.

Good job to the Governor on recognizing the growing influence of blogs, but he should understand their rapid fire approach to news, and it’s hard to cover that if you only check in one day a week.

Seth Godin inspires my upmost respect as a marketing thinker. So it’s been interesting to watch him turn his attention to politics lately. But when he tried to refute legendary former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, I had to take another look.

In a recent post about an intensive online grassroots lobbying effort in Canada, Godin included this line: “Because as readership grows and issues start attracting loyal readers, what this proves is that Tip O’Neill was wrong. All politics isn’t local. All politics is about permission.”

While that may be a complementary statement to O’Neill’s timeless observation, it certainly doens’t refute the former Speaker.

Online political activism has not replaced local politics, but merely redefined what is local. On Facebook, you can have friends all over the world, but you can reach them quickly through one message, wall post, or group invite. Likewise, you can walk across the street and ask your neighbor to sign a petition or discuss your favorite candidates with a fellow church-goer.

Both sets of friends are your “local.”

O’Neill’s lasting legacy is the recognition that we learn, communicate, and act in a political context with that which is familiar. Godin’s attempt to replace this veritable law of political activism with the new media jargon of “permission” is inaccurate.

Do we give permission to candidates to communicate with us the minute we turn on our TV in the instance we might see a political ad? Except for a very few political junkies most people do not turn on their TV to watch political or any other sorts of ads. They tune in to watch the programs which those ads support.

Reading a blog or joining a Facebook group carries that same sort of coincidental permission. I’m on Facebook, and I’m friends with Jim. So when Jim sends me a Causes invite, I’m likely to join even if I don’t necessarily care about the Cause. Jim may also knock on my door and ask me to sign a petition or donate to his favorite candidate. I am influenced by Jim not because I gave him permission but because he is part of my “local.”

And a word of caution to those who think online activism is the new political silver bullet: just ask former presidential candidate Howard Dean how he fared in Iowa without a traditional, local ground game. It was a disaster.

So while Mr. Godin may think he sees “the new politics” the reality is that new technologies have not altered the fundamental way we react to political influencers, even if they have exploded the potential size of our sphere of influence. I hope that as he continues to look at politics through his marketing lens, he’ll try harder to bring the same thoughtful, eye-opening ideas to this industry as he has to so many others.

Last Wednesday (11/7/07), we put a post on Notes from Flat Creek discussing the continuing decline of print newspaper subscriptions, while internet usage and broadband subscriptions are on the rise. This shifting trend might not leave out the newspapers, though. CNET’s News.com is reporting that the online readership for newspapers, and their online subscription numbers, are climbing. The technology news website reports that the number of people visiting U.S. newspaper web sites rose 3.7 percent, over the same period last year, during the third quarter. Translated into total numbers, this increase means more than 59 million people, 37.1 percent of all active internet users, visited a newspaper website in the third quarter.

Maybe this is why Arthur Sulzberger, owner, chairman and publisher of The New York Times isn’t worried about declining print subscriptions:

“I really don’t know whether we’ll be printing the Times in five years, and you know what? I don’t care, either,” he says.

Don’t misunderstand him, though. He knows that the Times’ readership is moving to the internet, and he is preparing his paper for the change. Citing the merging of the venerable newspaper’s print and online news desks, and development of online media readers, Sulzberger is leading his empire into the internet age. It is a sign of changing times when barons of printed news respond to a shift in the communications industry.

Communication is becoming increasingly digital. Make sure your message is not going to be left behind in the newsprint world.