Antonis Samaras - The most successful PR campaign in the History of Politics by Andy Sols

θωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυι οπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδφγη ϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖ ANTONIS SAMARAS βνµθωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτ The most successful PR campaign in European ψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδ Political History φγηϕκτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυ ιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδφγ ηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχ ϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωε ρτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυιοπα σδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλ ζξχϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθ ωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµρτψυιοπασ δφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζ ξχϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθ ωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυιο πασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕ κλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβν µθωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψ υιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδφ γηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχ ϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωε ρτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχϖβνµρτψυιοπασδφ γηϕκλζξχϖβνµθωερτψυιοπασδφγηϕκλζξχ

Andrea Solomonidou

Advertising and PR

ANTONIS SAMARAS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PR CAMPAIGN IN EUROPEAN POLITICAL HISTORY

Introduction The rise and fall of a leader has always been a great factor in shaping eras throughout history. In a world where diversity is the main characteristic, some general rules seem to apply everywhere, whether it’s physics and math, or politics and culture. The cruellest rule that fits all previously mentioned is “what goes up, comes down”, sometimes crashing and burning. Having in mind “the rule” and knowing that an era indicates a span of many years which are numbered beginning at a specific date, which often marks the origin of a political state, dynasty, ruler, the birth of a leader etc, one has to comprehend the importance of our century’s achievement. Communication and to be more precise: Public Relations. In the name of honesty one has to recognise that Public Relations is not a “creation” of Y2K; on the contrary, it can be traced back to the early mid-‐20th century. Larry Tye, a Boston Globe reporter, believes we owe the birth of PR to Edward L. Bernays and awards him with the title “the Father of Spin”(1998). Edward L. Bernays is considered by many the pioneer that 100 years ago applied and combined theories that no one could ever imagine possible to turn into this huge industry that dominates pretty much everything nowadays. As Freud’s nephew, influenced by the Freudian Psychoanalysis movement and fascinated by the Gustave LeBon’s Crowd psychology theory, Bernays theories became the foundation of this mixture that would soon result in a series of books on how to “manipulate” the crowd’s opinion. Andrea Solomonidou

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Propaganda (1928), his most important book throughout 20th century argued that the scientific manipulation of public opinion was necessary to overcome chaos and conflict in society. Up to this day, this is the strongest argument anyone has ever spoke, the prettiest packaging anyone has ever used to sell tips on influencing public opinion. In the next chapters of this paper, we will thoroughly examine one of the oddities in European and Global Political history and PR’s role in it. Antonis Samaras can probably be considered the only exception of a rule that as aforementioned, can be applied everywhere. The rise and fall of a leader…but in this case the re-‐rise under different circumstances, during different decades, but most importantly in different Political Parties.

THE BACKGROUND The 1977-1993 era Born in 1951, Antonis Samaras graduated the famous College of Athens, founded by his grandmother Penelope Delta, author and one of the most prestigious figures of 20th century in Greece. Coming from a very controversial family background, he learned how to balance between two worlds. A world filled with Intellectuals, Politicians and Social Elite while he kept down to earth being in touch with the countryside due to his father. Kostantinos Samaras, was a self-‐made very well known and respected doctor originating in Pylos village of the County of Messinia. These two backgrounds played a significant role in shaping his personality and determined the man that he is today. Being close to the people of the countryside whilst at the same time easily relate to Socialites, was the two sides of the same coin.

The continuation of his academic education, places him in Amherst College in Boston Massachusetts as an Economics Major, followed by an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. During that time, United State’s youth started to be more politically active than the generations before, showing their opposition to the War in Vietnam. This could only result in consolidating Samaras feeling of responsibility as youth to his home country, suffering from a military regime. His return to Greece coincided with the beginning of a new era in Greek Political history after the fall of the Military regime (1967-‐1974). His strong beliefs and willpower found as an exponent the newly founded right wing conservative Party of New Democracy. At a very young age, he had the opportunity to interact with all the prestigious politicians and be granted their trust to built the Youth organization of New Democracy throughout the country. All this could only result in his successful candidacy as an MP of his home County of Messinia in 1977, declaring him the youngest elected MP in history. Throughout the next years he successfully ran three more election campaigns, always as a candidate of his home county, something that he keeps doing up till today. The 1989 -‐ 1990 elections resulted in New Democracy’s prevalence after 8 years of being the opposition. Antonis Samaras was placed in the Ministry of Economics, only to soon be moved to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he remained until April 1992. His mandate came to an end due to a public fall-‐out with the Prime-‐Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis regarding the change of Government’s strategy in the F.Y.R.O.M. Issue.

Sticking to ones ground

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The dispute with the Prime Minister, coming to a direct conflict with his beliefs, led him to the decision of leaving the Party of New Democracy as well as giving up his status as an MP. In the year that followed he founded a new Party with the name “Political Spring”. His request to colleagues that followed his leadership to the new party was to give up their status as a New Democracy MP as well. The voters drawn to this party were mainly affected by Samaras opposition to the change of strategy by the Prime Minister. A strategy that, as he believed, ought to be in the best interest of our country. Despite the odds, Political Spring managed to enter the Parliament in 1993 gaining roughly 5%. Throughout the 90’s one can understand that this Party was founded not as a protest Party, but as an alternative, or more precisely as a rizospastic proposal.

Opening New (Old) Horizons “Political Sping” failed to enter the Parliament in the 1996 election. This marked the beginning of new Era that will eventually bring him back to where he begun in first place. Only this time, circumstances will be different. By March 2004 “Political Spring” is formally dissolved with Samaras giving his unbinding support to New Democracy. In june of the same year Samaras represents N.D. as an Elected Member of European Parliament in European People’s Party. Soon enough, the next National Elections of 2007 find him being a candidate once again with N.D. after 17 years. At the January 2009 reformation of the government the Prime Minister appoints Samaras as the Minister of Culture, a Ministry that originally was under the “command” of

the Prime Minister himself. This was placed in a significant time frame when the Acropolis Museum was heading towards the grand opening after many years of preparations. The opening was an event of Global Reach where Heads of States throughout the world would attend along with many prestigious figures of the global economic, cultural and political scene. September of 2009 is a catalyst month in N.D. agenda since the Prime Minister decided to dissolve the government and declare early elections with a very strong possibility of N.D. ‘s defeat and the Socialists’ rise in power after five and a half years. Even though Samaras was against this decision, he ran as a candidate of N.D.

THE RISE OF A LEADER October 4th 2009, the day of Greece’s last parliament elections, the president of New Democracy and former Prime-‐Minister Kostas Karamanlis, due to New Democracy’s defeat, resigned his position and therefore launched an extraordinary Party Congress a month afterwards in order to elect a new President of the Party. After twelve and a half years of Kostas Karamanlis presidency and a historical massive defeat at the elections New Democracy was in urgent need to re-‐define its structure, ideology and vision through electing new leadership.

The strategy Antonis Samaras can be perceived as a credence brand. It’s a “product” that you don’t need to convince people for its quality on the contrary if you focus on its core values all you need to do is emphasise them. The determinants that led him to the 15th of October,

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when the first call was addressed to him by members of the youth in order to run for President, were controversial but strong enough to establish a consistency. Throughout all of his electoral campaigns, as an MP and later on as the Leader of Political Spring, consistency was the derivative. The prism effect transformed him from a figure very well known and respected by the supporters of N.D. to the exponent of a wider social spectrum. And this will be the main element of his campaign 16 years later. After 1996 and besides the fact that he was no longer part of the main political scene, Samaras never withdrew. His appearances still made a tremendous impact mainly because of the fact that they were strategically placed to be rare and focused on important issues. His goal was for people to understand that his low profile was a characteristic deriving from being true to his values and not because of any remorse. His appearances were complimented by the fact that he never neglected his own contacts; on the contrary his network was growing bigger. And by bigger, one should understand that part of the network was finding its way back to N.D. and by using word of mouth shifted the negative climate. At same time, after Karamanlis election as President, Samaras always let the people assume that his return was only a matter of time due to the fact that he supported every major decision Karamanlis was making. Furthermore the reasons for his 93’ withdrawal from N.D. seemed not to be the issue anymore. 2004 finds N.D. in a very critical place. The defeat of the 2000 elections left N.D. as opposition once again for 11 years in total. This time, all the parameters were important in order to win this race. The fact that many members of the N.D had joined the Socialist Party (PASOK) as well as that the newly elected Socialist President Giorgos Papandreou

was a personal close friend of Antonis Samara’s put Karamanlis in a very difficult position. Rumour had it that Papandreou was pressuring his dear old friend Antonis, to join the Socialist ballots. People’s anticipation was growing even stronger. Samaras strategy once again, to remind everyone that sticking to his ground was always his main concern, proved effective since the president of the Party himself on one of his speeches in the county of Messinia welcomed Antonis Samaras back to N.D. As aforementioned, in 2004 Samaras was elected MEP and in 2007 he was elected again, after 17 years of absence, MP of the county of Messinia with N.D.

THE 45-DAY RACE Samaras P.R. campaign for presidency was a mishmash of bits and pieces of 32 years of political experience. Every step he was taking was thoroughly examined bringing him closer to what he was destined to be: The president of New Democracy. In order to be successful a great leader is always surrounded by exquisite associates. In this case, the strategic design of this campaign led in 10 steps the effort into a great success. 1. THE CALL Even though he was prepared for some time, Samaras decision to run for president was perceived as a call from the people and especially the young people. Throughout the campaign he never really needed or requested the support of the MPs or any other officer of the Party.

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2. THE RULES By indirectly applying peer-‐pressure to his opponents, he always seemed to be playing by the book, reminding everyone that he is running in any case scenario, in any place given. Whilst the other candidates kept arguing about technicalities, he carefully laid down his political platform and kept being focused on what was important. And as far as the famous dilemma was concerned – congress vote or members vote-‐ he never suggested either, he just stated clearly the fact that the members of the Party needed to express their opinion especially after the historic low percentage the party received at the October elections. 3. THE PRESENCE He consolidated his presence in the Political scene by successfully inaugurating the Acropolis Museum in June 2009 as the Minister of Culture gaining maximum positive publicity for his excellent work. Later on, his MP campaign in the county of Messinia during September was the only successful campaign of a Party that was crashing after five and a half years of being in government. Parts of his final speech were broadcasted all over the nation giving hope to the supporters everywhere. Noted that it was the only speech broadcasted apart from the Prime Minister’s Kostas Karamanlis. All these facts engraved in people’s minds “at least we have a good one left”…and never faded ever since. 4. THE NEW MEDIA Vs THE TRADITIONAL MEDIA When Samaras entered the race, besides the sympathetic view, he wasn’t actually the favourite to win. Other opponents had significantly more time to prepare for it and without having the “rich” background Samaras had; they were leading the

race. Samaras’ strategy aimed to reach directly the people based on New Media. Traditional media were only used in the countryside where people are still close to their local media. Local channels, local newspapers and magazines in the countryside were the centre of the campaign. Big television stations radios and big newspapers were connected with the, not so long ago, defeat in National Elections, hence they were avoided. It was decided that people should be reached through social networks, blogs and channels where they were more freely expressed. 5. THE ANTICIPATION While rumours flying around seemed less and less like rumours each passing day, the anticipation for the launch of the campaign website was growing bigger and bigger. The only mean of communication was Facebook and the associates deliberately delayed the launch of the site in order to coincide with the official announcement of the candidacy. The video of the announcement as well as the speech itself was the first thing one could find in his website from day one to day forty-‐five. 6. THE NETWORK AND THE CORE VALUES People started to get more interested. The user-‐friendly site helped them learn more and slowly day-‐by-‐day a network of volunteers started to build and expand throughout the country. No one really ever needed to teach them what to believe in or what to say. The core values were there, as Antonis Samaras always expressed them in difficult times this country faced. Kernels were flying all over the place spreading the word of mouth. “This is our leader”. He never answered in any calls on showing remorse and apologizing for all the wrongs his opponents Andrea Solomonidou

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charged him with. Sticking to his ground in 1993 was an act of responsibility. Sixteen years were not enough to change that. This time, the people were with him. 7. THE MESSAGE From the beginning the campaign was not an issue of convincing people to vote for him, on the contrary, the campaign was focused on participation. They created special assistance points on how people can vote, what kind of documents they need, which is the closest voting place, in this way taking the role of the Ministry of Internal affairs and giving the electoral procedure the gravity that lacked at the beginning. Motivating people, the members of the party, to vote was a crucial bet to be won. This was a fight that needed as many participants as possible. 800.000 people voted on November 29th. One can say that the turnout was amazing. This will always be the reference point New Democracy’s and Antonis Samaras’ specifically. 8. THE PEOPLE Whilst the other candidates expressed with strong and clean-‐cut messages, Samaras addressed the people by focusing on their main concern. The Party and the Country was the main axis the campaign was build. “Lets take New Democracy higher”. “Let’s put Greece back where it belongs.” Most importantly, his associates kept his profile as simple as the next-‐door neighbour. The biography was title “Antonis” creating the feeling of an old friend giving his perspectives, passing us the torch of an effort to be taken successfully if we do it together.

9. THE SLOGAN HOPE was the word used. This party needed hope. Hope that it will be strong enough again, hope to take up the burden of being a serious opposition party, hope that all the wrongs its government made would be amended under the wings of a new leader. The previous one was loved. Hope was the only thing people saw back in 2004 when a new vote record was set for this Party. But 2009 finds them disappointed and disgusted from a government that never fulfilled its goals: the hopes of its supporters and the people’s in general for a better future. “Lets all participate in this elections and make New Democracy bigger and stronger. In order for New Democracy to be Greece’s hope again. In order to build all together the Greece of hope.” 10. THE LEADER Last but not least, Samaras never forgot his political identity. Besides being a candidate, he still was an MP and member of the opposition Party. His daily agenda was not just filled with events and speeches about the candidacy. He never neglected his obligation to represent opposition on a daily basis with articles and placements in the Parliament Assembly. People could not oversee the fact that his presence as opposition is what the N.D.’s President role nowadays is for. With a series of important actions in Governments first flaws he establish the significant connection of his name with the true fighter’s and therefore a worthy Leader’s. Andrea Solomonidou

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As aforementioned, if Antonis Samaras were a product, this campaign could be considered the most successful product re-‐placement in history. In essence that is what it was. A P.R. campaign is empowering its stakeholders and he empowered people by urging them to participate. He communicated what he always stood for and people now were ready to share their values. And as P.R. campaigns are not perceived as directly linked to the commercial objectives of a company, Samaras’ campaign was not about him. It was about a wider, bigger picture that he offered throughout all those years. There was never a leader in European and Global Political history that he replaced himself as a leader after deciding to withdraw from a Political Party. Many might say that Antonis Samaras fulfilled his destiny. Rumours were placing him as the main candidate for presidency in 1993, an honour that he rejected in order to never compromise his beliefs and the trust that others putted in him. After 17 years of absence and in 45 days people were able to see again the same thing they saw in that 38-‐year-‐old – young -‐ Minister of Foreign affairs. The fact that he preferred giving up a promising political career for the sake of his Country. Back in 1992 Kostantinos Mitsotakis tried to ridicule Samaras decision to leave the government and consequently the Party and the MP status “In 10 years nobody is even going to talk about it {referring to the F.Y.R.O.M. name issue}. “ On 29th of November 2009 Antonis Samaras is the newly elected President of New Democracy. It’s 17 years later and people still talk about it.