Hail Caesar!

Over the past two decades or so strategic communication has emerged as a popular aspect of communication or public relations. Designed largely to persuade, such an effort represents a comprehensive attempt on the part of an organization or entity to influence various publics to generate support or patronage. It contains a range of specific strategies along with comprehensive elements of research and evaluation. Interestingly, the seeds of strategic communication can be traced to the military, particularly in efforts by governments and ambitious leaders to utilize armies to overwhelm or defeat enemies.

This brings me to Julius Caesar. As a man, Caesar was nothing if not ambitious. He very much coveted positions of power and influence. Unfortunately, he was not held in high esteem by the Roman Senate, which was the doorway to Caesar's ultimate goal. Even victories on the battlefield and a reputation as a successful general were not enough to sway the Senate to make them want to allow Caesar to become a member of this governmental body. To get the Senators to change their minds, it was Caesar's idea to enhance his popularity among Roman citizens in the hope they would take it upon themselves in what today we would label a grassroots effort to demand that he be elected to the Roman Senate.

To generate such public support and action, Caesar began creating regular communiques which emphasized his many military victories on behalf of Rome and his great skills as a leader. The communiques were distributed throughout the Roman populace as well as to members of the Senate themselves. Even though the Senators recognized what Caesar was doing, they were also very much aware that his efforts were working. Begrudgingly, they eventually voted him into the senate. From there, of course, he eventually went onto become Rome's most famous emperor. To complete this story, Caesar was eventually assassinated by a group of Senators who never stopped feeling jealous and resentful of his rise to power via an impressive public outreach effort.

Caesar's plan comprised many of the key elements that we associate with strategic communication today: targeted audiences, consistent messaging, research and evaluation. Except for the assassination part, it worked very well. So, at least in this one aspect of proactive communication, prospective and current communicators can all hail Caesar.