2011 has been a bad year for bad boys. Berlusconi between jobs, Mubarak out of office and Gaddafi no more. Granted, their levels of badness vary, as do their motives for stepping down. Uniting them, however, was a common desire to control information and a will to extensively use propaganda. Both these traits are especially unhelpful for anyone hoping to succeed in today's transparent media landscape. Apparently, not even owning every media channel or gun in the country can help you.
Historically, the role of information departments has been to control the unit and transmitter of information (read: corporate propaganda). This used to work when controlling channels also led to control over the message. I assume that most people working in communication have realized that attempting to exert control is futile. However, it only takes a handful of visits to some online corporate press pages to conclude that the tonality is frequently very propagandistic, and out of step with how communication must be done these days.
Information or communication
Inevitably, what must follow the industry’s loosening of control is the realization that the terms ‘information’ and ‘corporate propaganda’ are very different to ‘communication’.
Firstly, information is rarely left unchallenged. People triangulate, Google, ask friends, compare sources, and then make up their own mind. Secondly, information is free and supply plentiful. To conclude, the marginal value of your information is pretty low. You simply need to offer something extra.
Everyone appreciates a gift
In the year that has just passed, we have seen many examples of where good communication has become a worthwhile gift. For example, some of the biggest awards this year went to communication projects that had either helped to save their customers time, enabled them to express their opinions or earned them more money. In the USA, American Express is continuing to pursue the Small Business Saturday-concept to support local small businesses. The South Korean Cannes Lions Grand Prix winner, Home Plus Subway Virtual Store enabled their customers to do their grocery shopping while waiting for the train, using their smartphones. UN’s special prize in this year’s IPRA Golden Awards went to Electrolux and its Vac from the Sea-project. In this campaign, the company had gathered plastic debris from the world’s oceans and used it to build vacuum cleaners, thereby making vacuum cleaning a bit more worthwhile, and helping green communities by drawing attention to an environmental issue.
Start the bribing
Offer something and you get something back. The cynic may call it a bribe; others may prefer to call it an exchange. It is pretty intuitive and similar to how any healthy personal relationship is built. Yet, when people put on their work outfit, enter the office and start up their slideshow software of choice, this intuitive logic tends to get thrown out the window. This is a mystery. Whatever the reason – be it too much left brain power in the office, or committees that methodically take the edge off original and gift wrapped ideas, or that the political stability within the organization is preferred to risk taking - how can we keep reminding ourselves, and others, of the ultimate function of communication? To give something.
Not another marketing model
Theorising about something that should really be intuitive feels a bit awkward, and if you pardon my language, “smartass”.
Anyway, I have customized a classic. McCarthy's four P’s. I tend to ask four questions more frequently than any others during planning and concept development stages to make sure we look for valuable insights and solutions in the right places, just as you would while shopping for any other gift.
Personality
Your safest bet in order to appear on the audience radar – RSS feeds, Google sessions, Twitter - is to be personal. Control: Is what we put out there confirming the receiver’s emotions, values, mood and situation?
Packaging
Content and text may be king in PR, but it needs wrapping in order to attract. Control: Can we make this visually attractive?
Predictability
Predictability should be kept to a minimum if you really want to wow people. Control: Is what we are offering already half-expected, the same or similar to what others are doing?
Pride
Perhaps the greatest thing about having been given a gift that you love, is that you can show it off to the world. Control: Would someone who saw or heard about this then pass it on with pride?
If you want to make an impact at meetings, you might say something along the lines of “I believe the best communication is not predictable but personal, well packaged and instils a sense of pride”
Good luck!
