Prime Minister's Department of Branding and Microtargeting Made Ready
Did you know that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has a
whole
department dedicated to branding and microtargeting? This comes
as no
surprise to most Canadians who abhor the 24/7 spin which comes
out of
the mouth of the Prime Minister, no matter which party forms
government. The official name of this department is PMO
Communications
Office, and it is now bolstering its branding machine with a
reorganization.
According to the National Post, "a recent Abacus Data survey revealed that Millennials are now almost twice as likely to support Conservatives over Liberals, while 32 per cent of Generation Z currently favours Conservatives, compared to 24 per cent for Liberals.
"Max Valiquette will likely be tasked with trying to reverse those trends."
It certainly confirms that elections in Canada are not held so that the people choose their representatives and mandate them with the agenda they want for the country. On the contrary, branders and marketeers in competition with one another make the choices.
Max Valiquette was hired in December to serve as Executive Director of PMO Communications. Media reports say Valiquette is "a marketing guru with self-described expertise in 'understanding Millennials and Generation Z.'" They add that Valiquette was president and founder of the now defunct Youthography (2001 to 2010), which claimed to be "North America's first youth-market focused research and marketing firm." Its website described Valiquette as "a specialist in understanding the pop-culture landscape, consumer habits, brands and youth culture. Over the course of his career, he has worked on brands as diverse as Budweiser, Beer.com, Hershey, Taco Bell and Ford of Canada."[1] Valiquette also worked with Toronto-based Bensimon Byrne, one of Canada's largest independent advertising agencies, which has "counted both the Liberal Party of Canada and the Liberal Party of Ontario as clients."
Valiquette's LinkedIn page boasts that Marketing Magazine called him "one of 'Canada's Most Influential Marketers' [and] one of the country's best known marketing leaders, strategists and presenters, with a 20-year career focusing on brand building, marketing, innovation, and understanding Millennials and Generation Z."[2]
In January, Supriya Dwivedi, a political pundit featured on CBC's Power and Politics and CTV's Question Period, started as senior advisor in the PMO. Most recently she was director of policy and engagement with McGill University's Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, and a former consultant with Crestview Strategy.
Writing in the Toronto Star about her decision to take on the job, Dwivedi wrote that while she is "not an overtly partisan person" and would normally avoid the "toxic hyperpartisanship that plagues Ottawa," she believes there is "too much at stake not to get directly involved." She cited a "digital information ecosystem ... not attuned for truthful or factual information."
According to Dwivedi, the digital information system "has all sorts of implications for our society, including how we relate to one another as algorithms try to wedge us apart." The Liberals have mastered the art of deploying "wedge politics." Indeed, use of divisive “wedge politics” of all kinds by the cartel parties is widespread. This was seen during the 2021 Federal Election where vaccine mandates were used as a wedge issue. It is all part of disinformation to keep the polity embroiled in this discussion rather than discussing an agenda based on the vantage points it establishes for itself.
The new members of the PMO's Communications Department are individuals referred to as "exempt staff." They are political appointees who report directly to the Prime Minister, exempt from the legislation governing civil servants and the hiring procedures that are supposed to be based on a merit system. A 2006 Library of Parliament backgrounder explains: "In addition to staff allotted to Members of Parliament and Senators for their parliamentary and constituency offices, ministers of the Crown can hire political staff [...] They are expected to provide ministers with the political support and advice that the non-partisan public service cannot."
This article was published
in
Volume 54 Numbers 1-2 - January - February
2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/M540014.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca