Interview w/ Allen Demling

 

An Ordinary Guy

What is your name and mission?

Allen Demling. I ran for Austin City Council Place 1 in 2008. My mission was to win! I am a mechanical engineer. I ran for city council because I felt my peer group did not have an active voice on the city council, and I wanted to fill that void.

What forms of communication have you found to be the most successful
for delivering the message? Why do you think this is?

Word of mouth. People don’t trust what they hear on TV, radio, in print, etc. they trust what their friends say or what they hear in person. People are people, but we have this weird idea that politicians are some how “above” us. I went to as many events/places, and talked to as many people as possible. I wanted them to think “I remember that guy, I met him and he listened to what I had to say”. I wanted to gain trust, and I couldn’t do that through advertisements, cause smart voters don’t trust ads. 

How have you tailored the message to be most effective for persuading
the audience?

I chose to focus on issues that were important to the group I was targeting. My main issues were cycling, the environment, the live music scene and responsible growth for Austin. I used my unique appearance (shaved head, big beard) to grab peoples attention and then my message to show them that I am a regular person like them who wants to make the city better for everyone, and I had ideas on how to do that.

Why do you believe this message needs dissemination?

Because people in my peer group rarely trust people running for office, and thus don’t vote, which then perpetuates their mistrust of the system. My major goal was to give people an non traditional candidate who had the qualifications and ideas to serve, but who was not seen as “above” or “outside” of their social sphere. 

 

How do you present your message so that it can be discerned from other
similar messages?

From a visual presentation standpoint I used graphics, such as an image of my face to grab peoples attention and get them to dig deeper into my campaign. From a verbal presentation standpoint, I stayed positive throughout the campaign, and never attacked the other candidates. Much was written in local papers about the other candidates attacks on each other and I was told several times that I seemed to be the only candidate who consistently stuck to his message.

 

Campaign material

 

 

Have you found any methods of delivery to be ineffective? If so, what
was altered in order to increase effectiveness?

I had a hard time getting people to consistently visit my blog/website to check on new stories I posted. This was a problem throughout most of the campaign, until the final few weeks when people were starting to research the candidates on their own. I don’t think I adequately addressed this problem. 

Have you ever received negative press as a result of your message
campaign? If so, explain what it was and how it was addressed.

The only negative feedback I recieved was that since my campaign took a non traditional approach toward my advertising, image usage and personal appearance, some couldn’t tell if they should take me seriously or not. I addressed these concerns by challenging people to go farther than just judging me on the images I use, and instead listen to the message I espoused.

 

Do you see your campaign as propaganda?

I understand that all advertising is essentially propaganda. I didn’t feel like I needed to convince anybody of anything, but I did employ tactics that I thought would get them to look at my message.

Is propaganda a dirty word?

Yes.