Obama’s Nobel: PR quandary cloaked in a global honor
By Michael Sebastian
michaels@ragan.com
Source: www.ragan.com
Does the world’s top award set the bar too high for the ‘humbled’ first-year president?Imagine waking up your boss with this scenario:
“Sir, we’ve got good news and bad news for you. The good news is you’ve won the Nobel Peace Prize. The bad news is … you’ve won the Nobel Peace Prize.”
That is, of course, the reality President Obama faced Friday morning when he woke to the startling news that he had won the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.
Many people welcomed the announcement, while others—claiming Obama doesn’t deserve the award—used it as an opportunity to criticize the president.
In a bizarre twist, it seems that winning a coveted award could create a PR problem for the president.
“We live in a strange world,” Peter Himler, founder of Flatiron Communications LLC, said in an e-mail to Ragan.com. For instance, bad news, like David Letterman’s admission of an affair, boosted his ratings; meanwhile, good news, like winning a Nobel Prize, may backfire on Obama. “It is the job of the PR professional to anticipate all potential scenarios and ensure that the newsmaker is prepared to deal with those that ultimately manifest.”
Himler and other PR professionals explained how the president can prevent a PR backlash.
Stress opportunity and promise, not achievement
Thorbjørn Jagland, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, insisted Obama won the award for his work in the last year and not what he may accomplish. Several communicators said the president should avoid that narrative.
“The message cannot be that of past accomplishment,” said Deirdre Breakenridge, president of marketing communications firm PFS Marketwyse, “but more so of the continuation and commitment toward the world peace effort.”
Speechwriter Mike Long said the president should seize on that idea to deliver a big speech about opportunity and promise, not achievement.
“Under no circumstances can it be about achievement,” Long said. “Otherwise you help cement the ‘arrogance’ meme that's starting to set in more than a few corners.”
In his remarks Friday morning, Obama did just that.
“Let me be clear,” he said. “I do not view it as a record of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.”
Be humble
The president also said, “I am both surprised and deeply humbled by the decision of the Nobel committee. … To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize.”
At 10:30 a.m., before he addressed the media, a tweet from Obama’s Twitter account said, “Humbled.”
Good move, according to Himler. “I think he struck the right initial tone by saying he was ‘surprised and humbled,’ ” he said.
Breakenridge echoed Himler’s statement. “Being very early in Obama's term, a humbled, determined and future-focused approach to world peace should be the framework of the communication,” she said.
Richard Laermer, president of RLM PR, while acknowledging what he characterized as Obama’s natural humility, said the award should make him more resolute.
“That an august board [gave him this award] should add validity” to his presidency, Laermer said. “It’s not like he put his name in a hat. He didn’t try for this prize.
“He should use that” to his advantage.
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