Spring Full Awakening Moon
Into Minneapolis for a meeting on strategic communication. This event featured such words as messaging and brand; both seem to have cabalistic charm for certain groups of people, especially, ironically, those involved in communication. There is a desire here to make communications flow more freely within and among aspects of the organization, a good idea, and to have consistent messaging and branding for external communications. Hmmm.
“The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers…
Your brand resides within the hearts and minds of customers, clients, and prospects. It is the sum total of their experiences and perceptions, some of which you can influence, and some that you cannot.”
Messaging seems to mean, communicating through messages. Uhm.
I find all this jargon amusing, confusing and obfuscating. We need to present ourselves clearly to the public. Yes. We need to provide marks and symbols that give a consistent view to the public at large. Yes. We need to have clear messages within and among different aspects of the organization. Yes. Why can’t we just use language everyone understands?
We also need to help the public understand our organizations role and identity among the various organizations that do similar thing. Yes. An important work.
Communications will not, in the end, be my area. At least as long it has the most impenetrable jargon of any group in the organization.