Liberals’ PR strategy is a nightmare

QUEBEC HAS THE CASH TO OFFER AN ARRAY OF BENEFITS — KELLY MCPARLAND

Justin Trudeau has an array of public relations assets: he’s good looking, emotionally intelligent, from a famous family, and able to strike the right chord and stay “on message.” From Davos to Delhi, the prime minister has generated impressive international publicity and helped to boost the Canadian “brand.”

Yet, as someone who has spent 20 years in the communications business within Asian and American markets, I can say that Canada’s current public relations strategy is unsuitable to the task at hand: securing Canada’s trade interests with foreign governments who think differently than we do. The Trudeau government’s public relations framing has become way too obvious, and its rhetoric is now starting to crash against the rocks of international realpolitik.

The government is currently pursuing free trade deals on three fronts: with the Americans (and Mexicans), where NAFTA hangs by a thread; with the Chinese, who just rebuffed our “progressive” trade deal pitch; and with a host of other Asian partners, many of whom were appalled by Canada’s recent decision to abruptly avoid attending a Trans-Pacific Partnership leaders’ meeting where an agreement-in-principle was supposed to be announced.

Trudeau has staunchly advocated for each of these trade deals to include strong labour rights, environmental standards, gender balance provisions, and so on. These are all worthy values to champion — at least for most Canadians. But every PR professional knows that persuasive communication requires addressing your target audience’s point of view. Rather than seeing things through the lens of the leaders we need to convince in foreign capitals, the Trudeau government is communicating messaging that resonates with domestic constituencies at home, whose support it needs to get re-elected (particularly if it’s going to outflank the NDP on the left).

Another golden rule of the public relations business is to keep the PR planning out of the frame, so that it doesn’t become too conspicuous. Why? Because people will otherwise regard what is being communicated as too biased to be believable, like advertising copy in marketing. Here, the federal government’s PR effort also falls short. Its continual repetition of simple sound bites and self-promotional slogans is so superficial it grates on target audiences’ sensibilities.

Last week, for example, the editor-in-chief of the Global Times newspaper (China’s state media mouthpiece) went out of his way to say that “Canada has very little influence on China.” This statement was tweeted, with a video accompanied by English subtitles, to remind international audiences — while Trudeau was still in the country no less — that Canada is not about to influence China’s policies.

Having lived for 13 years in Korea, Japan and Singapore, while focusing on Chinese business, I know that showy leaders, such as our prime minister, often fail to sell well in the region, where they can appear sanctimonious and conceited to their hosts. The Global Times, for instance, criticized “the superiority and narcissism of the Canadian media,” but one wonders if “media” was a coded reference to Canada’s leader. Asian leaders — consistent with the cultural communications dynamics of their countries — are more comfortable with humble, understated, and context-rich narratives. The Chinese in particular tend to favour long-term policy perspectives over shortterm posturing and “today’s talking points.”

China is already the world’s biggest trading country and will soon have its largest economy. Under the China-centred mercantile system that the country’s leaders are building, Beijing believes that countries like Canada should know their (subordinate) place in the new hierarchy of nations. “Obey and do what we say — or forget about the China market.” This mindset is known and understood and feared throughout Asia.

So is it any surprise that the Chinese — not to mention the Americans and the TPP Asian countries — may be reluctant to do deals on Canada’s terms, when we’re obsessed with sloganeering that fails to articulate the respect they seek, and fails to outline policy positions that can help all trade partners meet their own political needs? I am all for public relations, but effective PR communicates reality — it doesn’t create it.

REPETITION OF SIMPLE SOUND BITES... GRATES ON TARGET AUDIENCES.