The final verdict on the Pickens Plan campaign will not be known for months, if not years. The new president will not take office until January, and will require time to formulate a cohesive strategy. In terms of the action plan, the strategy to mobilize the grassroots in order to put pressure on the government has not succeeded thus far. The grassroots will give the new president his mandate, and the supporters of the Pickens Plan will ultimately take a back seat to that.

In terms of action, the most effective part of this public relations campaign has been the direct contact between Pickens and the candidates. This may or may not have occurred without the grassroots, but it is reasonable to expect that it would have occurred due to Mr. Pickens' standing in the business community.

In terms of exposure to the ideas of the Plan, the public relations campaign has been successful. The awareness level of the Plan is high, even if the engagement level is much lower.

The media blitz is expected to continue post-election, in an attempt to translate some of this exposure into stronger influence. This will be part of the next phase of the campaign. Ultimately, I see this campaign as failing to make up any ground in terms of action on the part of government. Aspects of the plan are too costly and too cumbersome legally, as to be practical.

The campaign has impacted the way Americans and the presidential candidates view the issue of energy independence. Yet, evidence shows that campaign will face a tough test in moving past the awareness component to the action component.
Viewed as a creative lobbying effort, the campaign is not likely to achieve all of its goals. There are too many practical obstacles. Yet, the boldness of this campaign hints at a new direction for lobbying in government. The public has never really been engaged in the lobbying process before, so the Pickens Plan campaign has added an entirely new element. It is unlikely that the campaign will ultimately succeed in winning government subsidies and use of eminent domain to support the endeavors of BP Capital Management, but it may succeed in changing the face of lobbying in Washington, which is already one of the most intensive forms of public relations in the country. With the Pickens Plan and increased public involvement in issues concerning the nation, lobbying may just change as a result of this public relations effort.

Works Cited

Pickens, T. Boone. 2008. "Pickens Plan" PickensPlan.com. [online] Accessed October 28, 2008 at http://www.pickensplan.com/about/

Lazarus, David. 2008. "T. Boone Pickens could gain from his energy plan, but so might we" Los Angeles Times [online] Accessed October 28, 2008 at http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus9-2008jul09,0,7890733.column

Rose, Charlie. 2008. "Pickens: My energy plan is the only plan" CBS News/60 Minutes. [online] Accessed October 28, 2008 at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/23/60minutes/main4541322.shtml?source=mostpop_story