Government Affairs Blog

The message that matters

All communications professionals face the same challenge: how do you get your message noticed in a sea of information?  All of us are inundated with images, words, opinions and advertising from the moment we get up to the instant our heads hit our pillows at night. 

This question has recently moved from being a concern of those who work in public relations and advertising and into the public domain with various writers grappling with it.  Malcolm Gladwell - http://gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom/ - tackles the problem in his books “The Tipping Point” and “Blink” while Steven Johnson - http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/ - addresses the issue in “Emergence” and “Mind Wide Open”. 

In June 2006 Maurice Saatchi announced in the FT – www.ft.com – that one-word brand equity was a possible solution.  He argued that brands must associate themselves with just one word.  That word and the brand would thus become interchangeable, and the brand would not be forgotten.  A good example is Google and the word search.  Think about searching the web and almost everyone thinks Google.   

There are, of course, tried and tested techniques that have been used for a very long time.  For instance, in advertising you repeat your adverts at least six times.

As technology changes and as we understand more about the human brain, the more communicators must adapt to succeed.  And that is partly what makes the job so enjoyable.

Derren Brown’s – www.derrenbrown.co.uk - television shows on Channel 4 are an entertaining example of making a message stick.   His live show broadcast over Christmas illustrated the point well.

Brown’s coup de theatre was to reveal that he had circled the word influence in a newspaper and had it locked it in a case.  He manipulated the audience so that anyone who was picked would choose the right paper, tear the paper up to leave the word influence visible and make sure the person picked the right page number.  Then the case is opened and the paper inside matches the one the audience member is holding.  After the trick he played back bits of the show to his audience revealing his use of key words during the evening. 

Brown is a master of misdirection.  His explanation could yet be more trickery.  Yet it made sense.  Use the words in the right place, keep repeating them and influence your audience. 

I am not suggesting all communicators start adopting Brown’s techniques.  But there is something in what Brown does that should at least give us pause for thought.