Using all the tools

On the surface, it seems to be a rather trite moment on national television.

March in the US brings the NCAA College Basketball Tournament, a 32-team elimination tournament called, “March Madness.” The college basketball tournament is broadcast on national television and is everywhere.

There is more sports betting around March Madness tournament than any other sporting event in the US. Office pools with brackets are distributed everywhere and people that know nothing about basketball are pressured into playing to help fill out sheets (for anything from 25 cents a bracket on up) for the tournament.

This week, President Obama was featured on the popular national sports network on cable television, ESPN. The President hosted an ESPN correspondent into the White House and had an empty March Madness whiteboard set up with empty brackets, big enough to be easily read on television.

The President talked about his love of basketball (which is very true and the President throughout his campaign snuck away daily for quick choose up games for exercise and relaxation) and on live television that was shown on other networks as well, walked through his picks for which teams would advance through the tournament and why.

It was another brilliant and strategic moment demonstrating the President and his team’s media savvy in keeping the President outside of the Beltway.

As we mentioned in the last entry, the Beltway is the motorway surrounding the District of Columbia, and it has become both a real and symbolic circle. People doing living and doing business in DC become consumed by the insider’s view of politics, politics and government operations from being so close to the core.
While the President only talked about the NCAA Basketball Tournament, his ESPN appearance was a reminder that the President is still “one of the guys” and is in touch with daily life – the good, the bad and the ugly as the country works through this huge economic crisis. Watching the President run through his tournament picks and talk about why he thought teams would advance or fail, was a moment where you could imagine yourself getting skunked in the office pool by the woman or man who is smarter, confident, funnier and knows the game.

The same way he is approaching the way to work through the economic crisis. Sometimes message opportunities come in strange packages.