Most agencies start a communications process by looking at what your message is, or by looking at what channels they think you should be communicating from. We think this is the wrong start-point.
The two most important factors in any communications programme should be identifying the people you want to reach and the desired outcome in terms of change of behaviour or attitude. Only by identifying the audiences and then determining what behaviours or attitudes need to be changed for commercial success, can stories, content themes and channel strategies be devised. We identify the outcome (the measurable change we want to affect), we qualify and quantify the influencers, we create the ‘story’ based upon behavioural insights, and then we apply and measure.
CREATING THE STORY
Employing this approach, the story becomes the link between the audience, its influencers and the outcome. Take Innocent Drinks, for example. In 1999, some friends sold smoothies at a music festival and put a sign up over a ‘yes’ bin and a ‘no’ bin asking people whether or not they should give up their day jobs. The yes bin was full, they resigned the next day and look where Innocent is now. What a story!
