'Communication should be designed to ignite the imagination of the audiences'

At the inaugural edition of e4m’s PR & Corporate Communication Summit and Awards, a power-packed panel discussed the topic - ‘Art of storytelling and power of effective communication’. The panellists for the webinar were Priya Bendre, Senior Manager - Public Relations, West Zone, Fortis; Communication Consultant Charu Raizada and Jyotsna Dash Nanda, Branch Director, Perfect Relations. The session was moderated by Tasmayee Roy, Assistant Editor, exchange4media.

Commencing the virtual session, Bendre shared her views on the need for effective communication. “We need to look at it as a brand dialogue instead of a product dialogue. I absolutely understand what society is needing at this point of time, be cognizant of the situation, be cognizant of what is happening with our consumers. And then model your solutions around it. I think it's also important to start talking about conversion and have a conversation over conversion. I think that is what is more important to understand if you need to repackage your products or to repackage the way you're communicating, I think understanding what the market is at this point is most important.”

Elaborating on challenges of effective communication, Raizada said, “With each passing day, there are more things trying to catch our attention and thousands of messages, information and videos, some true, some false, covering the range of emotions, all vying for our attention. And how are we responding? we are actually fighting back, our attention spans are dwindling, barely seven to eight seconds on an average, lesser than that of a goldfish, which has an attention span of nine seconds. So this is making it a lot more challenging to be communicated to, we have become an audience with an attention span less than that of a goldfish. It's clear to me something has to be changed, and it cannot be asked of the audience, we cannot be changed. So, we have to make the most of those eight seconds.”

She further stated that communication should be designed to ignite the imagination of the audiences. “Make that time more meaningful, start with the inspiration and communicate the why, and the shorter, the better. And that's where narratives come in, which have the ability to connect with people on an emotional level, your audiences certainly will need to be able to relate to what you have to say, if we want a message to be retained, we need to increase the stickiness quotient, possibly by designing communication to ignite the imagination of our audiences. And one important point to remember here is that people are getting better and better at sniffing out hogwash but authenticity is really key. To sum it up, we have to really be very focused, pointed, cognizant of a whole lot of things, be consistent, authentic and really know how to develop a sharper point of view and communicate in a more sharp way.”

Speaking about empathy and purpose-driven communication, Nanda explained, “I think we are in an entirely brave new world of communication and even advertising for that matter. Companies are communicating in ways that really move our hearts and minds, their stories tell about their value in the world and it's a new brave touching way to communicate. Some of the brands have come forward and done some great work. You have McDonald's, Burger King, etc., who’ve done great communication. In fact the Pooja didi Diwali ad for Facebook, which was done by Dentsu drew a lot of empathy for that matter. So insights and examples are useful. We should have the courage to commit to the values and lead with them in our actions and marketing. 

Even the mass marketing has to be in sync with them and tell stories that feature people who are relatable and express that vulnerability that is there, then people will be able to relate to you show the toggle that is there to reach the goal, to elicit that full range of emotion from them, provide value to people beyond the products and services that are there. And the most important thing is while you provide upliftment and inspiration, etc, there should be a call to action to spur people to take that action, you might have the courage to break with the normal conventional communication that is there and tell your stories that reflect your values, so they achieve the impact that you would want to have. They are all stakeholders, be it workforce, business partners, clients, etc., expect organizations to respect their concerns and values, not just boost profits that are there. And COVID has only intensified this entire shift that is there.”