The One-eyed Man is King.

Outside of the well-orchestrated Magsaysay presidency, no administration has managed perceptions well. Research and memory go only so far, but what they do offer is a sad reality: presidents disappoint inevitably. We could agree with the common judgment that we have not, as yet, been blessed with a good president, but reality is an irrelevant matter, for we are in the business of perceptions and the science of managing and maintaining perceptions.

My thesis? No administration has sold itself well. Though the Ramos administration might have finished better until it slammed into the Asian Crisis.

Government is an amateur advertiser,  clumsy in media, and though painfully aware that mangled perceptions can stymie work, they rely on antiquated systems and professional counsel that's out of the ark.

The government has a television channel that is surprisingly underutilized. When ad and media agencies make a list of TV stations, NBN4 is seldom included.

While the media landscape and media consumption have changed dramatically, the press secretaries and advisers all hark from the age when print was king. Malacañang residents are almost always not marketing savvy, so they place their trust in their aging counselors. And in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

An Interregnum

Perhaps it is an interregnum in media experts. As the old relinquish their functions to sophisticated and younger men and women, changes and savvy will enter Malacañang. Perhaps then we will see better managed and better prepared declarations, proactive defense of positions, expertly crafted image and positioning of the president and of the administration, and adroit marketing of the national vision.

About the Professor

In his 35 years in advertising, Professor Pozon has been been involved, in varying degrees, independently and as an agency man, with political campaigns.