One of the best ways to make a point stick with audiences is by telling personal stories. This is particularly important for extended media interviews or live debates when answers can be longer than short sound bites. That’s because people are far more interested in personal stories than abstract points. So if the point can be made by telling a story, it’s far more likely to be heard and remembered. John Key has always been an expert at this. There were...

Both men had their good moments in the first leaders debate tonight, but I give the victory to Prime Minister John Key by a thin margin. Key clearly had two messages he planned to get across. The first was to portray National as strong economic managers. He used figures effectively to back up this claim. The other message was the need for people to take the Green Party economic policy into account when considering what Labour had to offer. One of...

The drip-feeding of leaked material to the media after the Nicky Hager book was launched is obviously of concern to the National Party. So what should they do? That depends. If there is a smoking gun somewhere, the National Party person or people involved must be aware of it. I’m certainly not saying there is something more explosive to come out. There may well not be. But if there is and they know about it, there is only one thing to...

All political parties must think carefully how they respond to the Hager allegations over the next few weeks. They will have decided on their election campaign messages well before this issue was raised. But now it is the focus of media attention, how should parties respond? Should they ignore it in favour of their carefully selected campaign messages, or should opposition parties jump in with both feet? In my view, that depends. Clearly National should maintain its denial of any conspiracy....

ACT may have been quiet since Jamie Whyte became leader, but the party now appears to be doing the right things in its push to get more than one MP into Parliament after September 20. To be relevant, small parties need to get their fair share of publicity. In other words, potential voters need to have you on their radar for you to have any chance of getting their support. Jamie Whyte’s recent statements about “one law for all” has done...

When people first saw Colin Craig, they liked him. He was a political novice, but seemed likeable and honest. That’s probably why he got close to three percent in the last General Election. But when that novelty wears off, and it has, more is needed. He needs a message, something people like that distinguishes him and his party from the rest. National focus on their management of the economy, while Labour traditionally concentrate on getting a fair go for workers. In...

It was only a few days ago that Labour leader David Cunliffe said the party had to stop talking about issues that don’t affect New Zealanders, and focus on the key messages of jobs, homes and families. That’s good advice. If the party wants voters to know exactly how to distinguish Labour from others, MPs all need to focus on a narrow range of issues throughout the Election campaign. Just as we tell our media training clients to focus on a...

After a woman was identified over a Countdown store intercom as a “Maori Woman in aisle One” because she was suspected of shoplifting, allegations of racial profiling were put to Countdown Owners, Progressive Enterprises. So how well did they respond? They didn’t do too badly, but it could have been better. Firstly, as we tell our media training clients, if a mistake is made, the best thing to do is apologise immediately. To their credit, this is exactly what Progressive did....

Social media offers smaller parties a huge opportunity to increase their publicity during the coming Election campaign. But how many will take advantage of it? Most would bet the Internet Party, but there’s no reason others can’t also benefit. Obviously parties will grow their own network of followers on twitter, but how can they increase their profile in traditional media through using social? One answer is by understanding what the traditional media look for in their quotes and sound bites. Let’s...

Leaders from all walks of life could learn a valuable lesson from the National Party Conference at the weekend. It is simply the importance of limiting the messages you want to get across and repeating them consistently. One of the key points Ministers clearly wanted to get across was the danger of complacency leading into this year’s Election. They wanted to make sure supporters still go out to vote, even if they thought National would romp home. They continually emphasised that...