Empty boots lined the Capitol grounds in honor of fallen soldiers.

[Editor's note: This is John Reinan's weekly marketing column for MinnPost. To see the original, go to http://tinyurl.com/59x9es.]

As the marketing noise from the Republican National Convention dies down, I want to take a moment to remember a quieter message that was delivered during the gathering.

On the grounds of the state Capitol, rows of boots memorialized the ultimate price paid by more than 300 fighting men and women from five Midwestern states: Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Illinois.

On green grass under a patchy blue sky, with the glorious golden horses of the Capitol dome as a backdrop, the display by the American Friends Service Committee was powerful and moving.

A few blocks away, downtown St. Paul was a mass of parties and protests, a gigantic exercise in political gamesmanship. But here among the ranks of polished, black boots, each bearing the name of a fallen soldier, was a reminder that the actions of our political system have real consequences. Some boots were decorated with flowers, small flags or stuffed animals; others stood alone, stark and shiny.

In memory of PFC Elden Arcand of White Bear Lake.

“A visual display sometimes speaks to people on a different level,” said Emily Knight of Minneapolis, who worked with the Friends’ Chicago office to coordinate the event. “I would say this is not a political message; it’s a silent witness for peace.”

I don’t doubt her sincerity, but I also don’t doubt that a message of peace has always been political, especially when the nation is not actually at peace.

The event also memorialized Iraqi civilian deaths with circles of ordinary shoes, again bearing names and ages of the dead. As the father of a young child, it was especially heartbreaking for me to see a pair of tiny pink sneakers laid out in honor of a dead 1-year-old girl.

As the hour changed, Friends quietly read aloud the names of the fallen soldiers. Meanwhile, people filed silently past the “Gold Star boots.” Unlike the rows of boots on the grass — which were generic Army surplus items – the Gold Star boots were actually worn by fallen soldiers and donated by their families.

Battered, scuffed, caked with mud, their presence was a startling contrast to the polished, orderly display laid out in front of them. Moving as the main display was, the Gold Star boots and the personal mementos and messages accompanying them were a more searing reminder of the human cost of war.

During the convention, I saw every kind of event delivering every kind of message. But this is the one that’s stayed with me afterwards.

John Rich attends the PoliticalChicks event in Minneapolis. Photo credit: Amber Procaccini/Lifetime TV

To be honest, leading up to this week, I hadn’t planned on attending any aspect of the Republican National Convention. I was excited to see St. Paul on the national scene, but my patience for traffic, lines and security is infinitely low after spending three years in our nation’s capital.

However, this Monday while enjoying a peaceful night out before heading back to the daily grind, my personal phone rang, my work phone buzzed and my quiet dinner was over. I was headed to the convention craziness.

Side note: One of my favorite aspects of Fast Horse (third only to our great clients and our shared love of cupcakes/cookies/baked goods) is my ability to remain a volunteer of the American Red Cross. Jorg, our agency founder and president, encourages us all to volunteer.

Due to the recent landfall of Hurricane Gustav, RNC party organizers decided to turn their Monday night festivities into Red Cross fundraisers. To deal with national events such as the RNC and impromptu fundraisers, the Red Cross has a team of national volunteers and staff situated around the country who work with the local chapters to assist with national media queries. Thus, Monday night, I hustled over to downtown Minneapolis to share the Red Cross message with attending media.

At the PoliticalChicks event, my colleague and I shared Red Cross service delivery information between John Rich performing and red carpet arrivals. Around 2 a.m., I called it a night and headed back to prepare for a busy week of work.

It wasn’t quite how I pictured my involvement with the RNC, but, hey, it was better than waiting in the never-ending line for the Daily Show.  

Side note 2: Both political campaigns advocated for hurricane relief donations using their various mechanisms. One aspect that I loved is the new TEXT2HELP program. About 90 percent of the cell phone users in the United States can text “GIVE” to 2HELP and donate $5 to the American Red Cross. The $5 is billed on the next month’s phone bill.

The swag at the Republican National Convention is pathetic!

What’s swag? It’s free stuff — you know, like those yardsticks and cap snafflers they give out at the State Fair. Most big gatherings like this have any number of people handing out product samples, pens and various other branded tchotchkes.

I didn’t spend my time actually hunting for swag, but I sure didn’t run across much of it. Above you see my entire haul from 2+ days at the convention. It’s mostly books and tracts from the politically passionate. In fact, I could have collected a lot more literature, but I turned down most of it — too heavy to carry.

 A few months ago, I went to the annual convention of the National Auto Dealers Association on behalf of a client. You couldn’t take two steps without someone offering you a pen, a flashlight, a deck of cards, a golf ball, a model car, a fanny pack – I had to stop taking stuff because my suitcase wouldn’t have held it.

RNC, you’re no NADA.

This is a pretty great gimmick. CNN took over the Eagle Street Grille, right across the street from the Xcel Center, and turned it into the CNN Grill. They did the same thing last week at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, transforming a joint called Brooklyn.

CNN broadcasts some of its programs from the grill, but it’s also quite a hangout for the journo-politico elite. Not for the Peepshow, however — we lacked the proper fancy credential to get in.

The program is inviting teens to share their thoughts on the issues that matter most to them. Then Best Buy will direct its philanthropic dollars to programs of teen interest that will help the kids make an impact on their communities. It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

As for me, I was grateful for the chance to scarf down a few jumbo shrimp and teriyaki chicken skewers. Thus fortified, I was able to make the long climb back up Summit Hill.

I stumbled across a made-for-media event today that turned out to be a fascinating exercise in spokesmanship.

Randall Terry is the founder and director of Operation Rescue, one of the nation’s most visible pro-life groups. I had parked my car on Summit Avenue and was walking down to the Xcel Center when I saw a few people gathering in front of the Cathedral of St. Paul. It turned out to be Terry, who had a press conference scheduled.

There were 10 people at the event: Terry; five of his supporters; a reporter and photographer from the Associated Press; a reporter from Pacifica Radio; and me. A couple of nervous-looking cathedral maintenance workers and a young priest milled around at the top of the long stairway, on the lookout for trouble. A few minutes into the event, two passers-by stopped and watched. But this was all about getting a message out through the media — no audience was necessary.

Terry introduced himself in friendly fashion to each media person there, asking our names and shaking our hands. His supporters unfurled a large banner with a photo of an aborted fetus (see below). Before Terry started to speak, he leaned over and told the people holding the sign to “lower it just a little, so it’s level.”

He turned to the radio reporter and asked, “Can you get decent sound?” The skies were gray and threatening, and he told us all that if it began to rain, “I don’t mind going through the cycle more than once.”

Speaking without notes, he began delivering his message. Abortion is murder, he said, and Catholic bishops have a duty to tell their parishioners that they cannot vote for the Obama-Biden ticket.

“Any abortifacient that masquerades as birth control must be made illegal,” he said, mentioning birth control pills and Norplant. “These are human pesticides that have taken the lives of probably 300 million people.

“Human sexuality is a gift from God,” he continued. “We are not animals. We have a duty to treat each other with love and respect.”

Then he turned again to the radio reporter and said, “Did that sound horrible to you?” (He was referring to sound quality, not the content of his remarks.)

I’ve seen many officials speak in public settings, but I’ve never seen such conscious stage-managing up close and personal. I’m not knocking it — this guy is good at what he does. Of course, he speaks in public about as often as you and I go to Starbucks, and it would be silly of him — unprofessional, really — not to be aware of things like setting and sound.

As I left, a reporter from the Minnesota Independent showed up. Terry greeted him warmly and said, “Don’t worry — I’ve gone through this twice, I don’t mind doing it a third time.”

Very nice little marketing device by Coca-Cola over at the State Capitol. There were dozens of these recycling stations all over the Capitol grounds. I’d never seen this particular container before. It’s an excellent marketing tool: well-designed and functional. It delivers a marketing message that’s logically linked to a necessary and immediate action.

Paul, who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP presidential nomination, appeared at the Borders bookstore to sign copies of “The Revolution: A Manifesto,” his call for a return to Constitutional principles. A Borders spokeswoman said the store laid in a supply of 1,300 copies for the event, although many of the attendees already had copies.

It wasn’t just locals — in fact, I’d venture to say the outsiders outnumbered the locals. I talked to people from Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Tennessee, Texas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Arkansas. Most of them were also planning to attend Paul’s big rally later that night.

Paul signed books at a breakneck pace and didn’t make time to talk to the media. But his supporters were happy to make up the deficit.

Melina Brajovic and Jim Barr from Pittsburgh and Hank Lane from North Carolina (L-R) donned Revolutionary-era garb to make their point.

If you look closely at the photo above, you can see that Brajovic sports a poster showing Paul with the Founding Fathers, applying defibrillator paddles to a copy of the Constitution.

“The fact that he’s not on the ballot doesn’t change anything,” she said. “He’s still my president.”

Paul shocked the political world last year when his supporters dropped a couple of Internet “money bombs.” In November, Paul supporters raised more than $4 million in one day online, then topped that in December with a $6 million online haul in 24 hours. At the time, it was the largest amount of money a presidential candidate had ever raised in a single day.

He’s not on the presidential ballot this year, but he’s clearly got a movement going. We’ll see if he has more staying power than other outsiders of recent years.