Dodgy briefs aren't just for Christmas

"I want to create...a feeling."

Probably my favourite brief of all time, from a corporate director to 'help' shape a video we needed to make to introduce our staff awards ceremony.

Closely followed by the fire officer so obsessed by a particular song (Jamie T, Zombie) that he wanted to build a fire safety campaign around it. No more detail, just had to have the song in it (don't get me started on the licensing issue...)

This is what we get to work with. The vague. The imperceptible. The aimless.

And we're expected to turn it into powerful, effective campaigns and comms. Lucky us.

I spent a fun day with a comms team talking through how we deal with these 'messy' campaigns and briefs recently - making sense of the chaos and confusion.

Here's our top tips:

• Define the problem - struggling to get them to tell you what the campaign needs to do? Just get them to answer two simple questions: where are we now and where do we want to be? And complete this sentence: We want to...so that...
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• Know your anchors - when information can be thrown at you in any order or state, you need to be able to visualise where it fits and what else you need to know. So campaign planning models like OASIS, the AMEC interactive online framework, or a narrative model like this are your best pals.
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• Don't forget the feeling - last week in this newsletter, we talked about finding the single human truth in campaigns. It needs to have emotional clout too.
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• Be fair on yourself - campaigns are messy. They are chaotic. They don't happen in straight lines. As we've talked about before right here. So roll with the punches and use those anchors as your sense-check.

DOUBLE FREE WEBINAR: resilience comms and creative campaigns

There's two free webinars coming up next week - grab a mince pie and treat yourself to an early Xmas pressie!

1. ​MONDAY (December 8): From the Blue Light Hub - Overcoming barriers to building resilience​
   ​With crisis comms expert Amanda Coleman, behaviour change specialist Dominic Ridley-Moy and me.​
   For anyone involved in Local Resilience Forum comms and emergency planning.
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2. ​THURSDAY (December 11): Comms For Xmas No 1 and more creative campaign ideas​
   With Zander Mills, Corporate Communications Manager at South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, and me.​
   The secrets behind South Yorkshire's bid to reach Xmas No 1 to highlight mental health challenges, plus more creative ideas and inspiration for your campaigns.

​USE THIS: content and campaign ideas​

Sharing difficult stories - or what to do if people don't want to feature in them - is something else we've looked at before here.​

So hats off to Devon and Cornwall Police for the way they've cleverly told this story with simple voiceover and animation.

(Get this type of creative and content inspiration first on the Creative Catch of the Day WhatsApp channel.)

​COPYWRITING: how to cut to the chase​

If you're struggling to sum up what you're trying to say concisely - or trying to get someone else to - here's a good technique.

Try the 15-second match report challenge, as illustrated by a BBC 5Live reporter here. Impressive stuff.

​MORE WRITING: the no BS word list​

Crowdsourced from LinkedIn by the brilliant Rachael Warner, enjoy, download and keep the definitive guide to words to use as alternatives to the corporate nonsense that you're presented with and expected to turn into something comprehensible.

​UNAWARDS: Good luck to everyone nominated! ​

I'm heading to the UnAwards, the public/charity sector comms Oscars in Birmingham tomorrow (Dec 5), where I'll be presenting the award for Best Low Cost Comms.

There were nearly 70 entries in the category and some incredible work achieved on next-to-no budget, so good luck to everyone nominated in that category and anyone up for an award.

​NEW FAVE FACT: defining the zeitgeist​

What does the zeitgeist really look like?

This little study from the Stat Significant email, based on Wikipedia page visits, suggests movie and politics, but less music and TV than it used to be.

AND FINALLY: just for giggles

Happy fifth birthday to the greatest display of Britishness ever captured on film.

Man receives one of the first Covid vaccines, complains about parking and hospital food. Still gets me every time!

Stig Abell @StigAbell Makes you proud to be British 4:25 PM • Dec 8, 2020 49 Retweets 430 Likes Read 22 replies

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ABOUT US

​Turn The Page is a story-led communications consultancy, using the power of stories to create memorable, measurable campaigns, strategies and narratives.

Campaigns and comms led by stories are measurably more successful and improve engagement and trust.

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