As media technology changes, so do the strategies.
The New York Times reports on President Obama's recent appearance on Funny or Die's Between Two Ferns.
The pop-culture appearance is the latest public relations gamble that Mr. Obama and his aides have taken in their pursuit of new ways to deliver their message to the connected-but-distracted generation. “Between Two Ferns,” which satirizes the low-budget look of public access television, much as “Wayne’s World” did, has had episodes that have been viewed as many as 30 million times, often because of their outrageous content.
“We have to find ways to break through,” said Dan Pfeiffer, the president’s senior adviser and chief communications strategist. “This is essentially an extension of the code we have been trying to crack for seven years now.”
Aides said Mr. Obama’s immediate reason for subjecting himself to Mr. Galifianakis is to urge young people to sign up for health insurance on the government’s website, healthcare.gov. As a March 31 deadline for enrolling for 2014 approaches, the White House is making one final push to try to increase the numbers.
Although Mr. Obama has hardly abandoned traditional set pieces like interviews with network anchors, he has been more willing than his predecessors to ditch the oh-so-serious playbook that dominated White House communications strategy for decades.
The president has appeared on several late-night comedy shows, including once “slow-jamming” the news with Jimmy Fallon. He has held Google Hangouts and Facebook town halls, and did an interview about housing onZillow.com, a real estate listings website. He has sat on the sofa with the ladies of “The View” and done an interview with the basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley. His televised town halls have appeared on MTV, Black Entertainment Television, the Country Music Channel and Univision, the Spanish-language network.
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