Why cubicles create static in communications

1. Cubicles are personal spaces open to everyone to violate. You can be busy as long as you don’t want to be disturbed. And if you don’t want a conversation, don’t bat an eyelid, stare right through your monitor.
2. Cubicles at the far end, with an opaque wall beside and behind, are the most sought-after. The more time it takes someone to reach it, the more time you have to close open application windows.
3. Cubicles of similar size don’t seem similar due to visual illusion brought on by an inflated ego.
4. Cubicle occupants close to a door, aisle, coffee vending machine, blind corner are in danger of being rushed to hospital with a deep gash in their skulls, scalding, or other occupational hazards.
5. Cubicle occupants closest to a cabin are most reluctant to enter it. Conversely, those who are seated farthest hover around the cabin waiting for an opportunity to be ushered in.
6. Decibel levels of instructions from the cabin are never too low for the fourth cubicle from it to miss any word of it.
7. Cubicles diagonal to each other have the highest chances of developing animosity.

Who owns the customer owns the communications

When an argument erupts between Lines of Businesses (LoBs) and staff functions (finance, legal, HR), it’s often the LoBs who have the last laugh. That’s because they own the customer, the basic reason for the existence of the business. What about communications?
Does the LoB, purely because it owns the customer, have the right to run a parallel communication channel of its own?

For a business to run, it needs people, infrastructure, a budget, a strategy. In a market place where competition is acute, you need a brand, a value proposition and a differentiator.
All well until the LoB decides it’s not getting enough support. A nice way of covering up it’s own shortcomings. Why would a customer not buy a solution if he sees a compelling value proposition? Because, according to the LoB, enough people with the specified skills were not hired in time (often impossible times), the air conditioner failed when the customer was in the room, the budget does not allow for a business class trip, and because the value proposition is not being communicated in the way the LoB wants.

It then takes matters into its own hands. It pulls up its sleeves and gets down and dirty. The corporate logo needs to be tweaked. The corporate presentation won’t do without a major revamp. The website stinks; it needs flash. “Don’t waste my time, do as I say!”
Communications specialists who deliver perfect collaterals suddenly turn into desk top publishing rookies. The blame really lies elsewhere…in having a vision, in sharing the vision long before it fructifies into action, in articulating needs and objectives in a commonly-understood language.

Who owns the communications owns the customer.

The Tipping Point

According to the book The Tipping Point (How little things can make a big difference) by Malcolm Gladwell, relatively simple changes in the presentation and structuring of information can make a big difference in how much impact it makes. Or, make a contagious message memorable. Or increase the Stickiness Factor!

e-Networking Etiquette

1. Don't network merely for what others can do for you; see what you can do for your contacts as well.
2. Have an updated and completed profile.
3. Have a recent photograph accompanying the profile.
4. Update your page. We network to keep in touch.
5. Personalize your messages when requesting contacts to add you to their network or vice versa.
6. When getting back in touch with a long-lost contact, don't start with "Do you remember me?" or "Hope you remember me!". If you dropped out of touch, there might have been a good reason to forget. It's best to start anew.
   
7. If a contact recommends you or sends a personal message, do respond.
   

Ideas at a Dime a Dozen?

I've been often at the receiving end of "An idea struck me. Can you do 4-5 options of the creatives and send them to me by tomorrow?" A creative brief over the phone, a rough idea of the objective and where the output will be used, and a tough deadline to meet.

My take: ideas or flashes of inspiration may strike at the oddest of times, even when one is oneself of the previous day's indigestibles. But it is the result of many days and hours of preparation and serious thought. For creativity to work one needs -defined and articulated objectives. The creative team then works on gathering and researching for information, relevant visuals and ideas. The various combinations are analyzed during brain-storming sessions. The designer / layout artist tries out designs, leaving it to the copy writer to see if the intended message is clear.

All the above goes into the converting one idea into a creative! So if there is a request for multiple options, one only needs to multiply the time and effort by the number of options required. And if you expect the creative team to squeeze in effort within a short time, it's bound to show in the quality of the output, the concepts remaining undeveloped.

And unless the client himself is a creative thinker, he is bound to be confused and left lamenting the unprofessional approach to the creative work.

Corporate Communications: Design Hotshop or Communications Solution Maker

Creativity and design are the means; communicating, creating an impact, building awareness, getting the target audience to act are the ends. In an ideal world. Often, it's not the way David Ogilvy felt: "A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself."

Shouldn't what a communication say or what it can make the viewer / reader do be more important than how it is said?

So many communications may have failed due to wrong or under- /over-stated creative briefs. So many communications fail because customers set the wrong expectations of the corporate communications teams.

Do you say, "I want a flash presentation" or "how can I make an impact"?
Do you say, "I want a page on the website" or "how do I reach out to a largely online audience?"
Do you say, "I want a great design" or "I want my audience to read my message!"
Do you say, "I want the mailer today" or "How best can we reach the target audience?"

How Many Times

One message 3 times (Naples, Krugman, Achenbaum), using emotions and warmth (Dusenberry), putting believable, known things into new relationships (Burnett) to bring out the benefits / rewards. Combat wear-out by spacing out the exposures over the 4 weeks.

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What creativity is

What creativity is

• An unseen, unfelt force that makes your readers grasp your message at the full-stop.
  
• The source of a déjà vu experience that your audience feels many years after they first saw your work.
• The dash of color that has different meanings to different people.
• Using the available or least resources and tools to create an everlasting impression.
• To be differentiated from innovation.

What creativity is not

• The reason your customers buy your products or services.
• An end in itself, but only a means to an end.