COI Chief Executive Mark Lund recently said that the new Government’s spending cuts will cause a fundamental shift in the way it does what it does.
For me, he’s right when he says we have to push the boundaries and rethink the channel mix. As an award-winning marketing and communications company which has worked with government departments, local authorities and NHS Trusts nationwide, we’ve seen the far-reaching positive impact a people-centred approach can have on our people’s health and quality of life. So, in my mind, there’s no doubt that “democratising communities” and harnessing the power of community partnerships is essential to supporting services in the “new world” of budgetary cutbacks Lund describes.
Using social research and people-centred insight to develop focused, co-created solutions which ‘free up’ communities to generate their own content is more important than ever. As writer and journalist Malcolm Gladwell famously put it, effective messaging must not only be sticky and in context, but it must also be delivered by trusted figures within communities; the connectors, salespeople and “mavens” (or accumulators of knowledge).
The point is, successful campaigns must be fundamentally based on real people and real connections. After all, some of the world’s most recognisable brands are synonymous with a personal identity and ‘human face’ – think Branson and Virgin or Gates and Microsoft.
We strongly believe that as part of public sector delivery, we should ensure users are part of the ‘experience’ rather than just focusing on delivering outcomes. Nike’s current Write the Future ad campaign, fronted by a plethora of superstar footballers, is famously using YouTube to motivate users to generate content and promote discussion. (More than 15 million hits so far and counting….) Our own partnerships with NHS Coventry on the Big Pledge and The Deborah Hutton Campaign on Cut Films are testament to the power of people generating their own content.
We must also differentiate between recall and action. How much of a campaign can someone remember and how much will it impact on their behaviour? A cornerstone of this approach is evaluation and measurement, and as Lund outlines, the challenge now for all public sector organisations is not only to get smarter about how they motivate and engage people, but also how they demonstrate a tangible return on investment.
Stuart Jackson, CEO
