Helen Zille: media savvy PR pro

Of all of the country's politicians, Helen Zille clearly comes out tops in terms of understanding how to use PR and particularly the media to get her message across to voters.

Media darling

Citizens of the Western Cape who have seen her in action this past year since taking over the mayoral hot seat in Cape Town will probably be convinced that she has charmed local newspapers and radio stations into becoming solid Democratic Alliance supporters.

In fact, letters to editors and calls to talk show hosts suggest exactly that. But, they're wrong of course. All she has done is make herself available 24 hours a day to any journalist who wants to talk to her. And when they do the first thing she tells them is to call her Helen, which immediately establishes a quite remarkable rapport.

But, she doesn't stop there. The very media savvy Zille never shies away from difficult questions and doesn't ever get overly defensive and fall into the trap of making lame excuses. She talks straight from the shoulder and doesn't mince her words.

Negative

And all of this is manna from heaven for journalists frustrated by all the other ring-fenced politicians who watch their words so carefully they end up saying nothing and denying everything.

All of which means that so many journalists enjoy interviewing her so much that she has a huge media presence and the perception is created that they and their media are ardent DA supporters.

One thing no-one denies, not even her most vociferous political enemies, is that Zille is one of the busiest people in the country. She seems to be able to be in six different places at the same time. All of which suggests that being busy is no excuse for not being readily available to the media. But, clearly she does not see it only as being available to the media but rather using the media to get her own messages and agenda across. Which is what PR is all about.

Teach a thing or two.

There is no question that even as a relative newcomers to top line politics, Zille will be able to teach her longer established peers a thing or two about PR, communications and reaching into the hearts and minds of consumers and voters.

She understands the power of apology and the fact that these days if one has made a mistake, admitting it, saying sorry and promising to fix it earns more political brownie points than doggedly denying any form of wrongdoing. Very few other politicians understand the way this works.

Something else she seems to have a firm grasp on, unlike her predecessor, Tony Leon, is that it is not the end of the world to actually say something nice about an opponent. In fact, having a bit of humility is another way of earning huge brownie points these days. George Bush and Tony Blair will attest to just how far arrogance and petulance gets politicians these days.

For example, in radio interviews the day after her election as DA leader, Zille positively gushed with almost schoolgirl enthusiasm over the fact that President Mbeki had telephoned her to congratulate her on her victory.

Positive spin

She is certainly someone who can manage to get a positive spin out of virtually everything that happens to her.

Hopefully the Zille PR style will prove to be infectious and that all those defensive, unavailable, often arrogant and mostly communications clueless politicians will start catching on.

With enormous and complex changes taking place in the way today's consumers behave, there is no doubt whatsoever that marketing is going to play an ever increasing role in the way politicians attempt to motivate voters. And with politicians such as Zille having at started using at least a few marketing components, it won't be long before politics accepts that marketing is not about magic but rather pragmatic access to hearts and minds.