Global communications platforms:
Cutting corners without cutting results

Can you create effective global communications platforms without breaking the bank? At our second THINK INTERNATIONAL seminar, Eye for Image's co-founder Jonathan Winch offered tips for cutting corners without cutting results.

Creating an effective communications platform on a shoestring budget is a daunting task, but a remarkable message doesn’t have to cost a fortune. At Eye for Image’s second THINK INTERNATIONAL seminar, Jonathan Winch stressed the importance of creating a ‘purple cow’, of carefully structuring your messages, and of using people with the right skills to handle the challenges of international communications.

Marketing and communications departments everywhere are looking for ways to save. But there’s no need for savings to come at the expense of impact in the marketplace. According to Jonathan, many companies were paying too much for branding and other strategic communication services before the recession, and he gave examples of companies spending from DKK 200,000 to DKK 8 million – for the same basic service!

“Right now is a great time to get more mileage out of what you’re doing. It’s time to work smarter. After all, 10,000 spent wisely is probably better than 100,000 spent wrongly,” says Jonathan.

Enter the ‘purple cow’
So how can you spend wisely when building or refining your communications platform? One way is to make sure your product or service is a ‘purple cow’ – something that stands out in the marketplace and can become an industry talking point.

If your product can’t deliver this, get creative on the concept. Your concept is potentially your greatest money maker and the key to a successful campaign, but finding one takes a great creative team. “Upgrade your creative team,” says Jonathan. “Don’t use people who lack the creative, strategic, cultural and political skills to navigate in international waters.”

The impulsive mind
Marketers also need to clearly define the structure of their communications platform. Using Danisco and Volvo as examples, Jonathan showed how companies can work with such structures – and how customer decision-making processes can be influenced by applying cognitive psychology and behavioral economics.

For example, Jonathan urged advertisers to emphasize the emotional component of their messages, particularly if customers are attempting to deal with complex decisions with many factors.

This recommendation flies in the face of conventional marketing wisdom. But studies have shown that the more choices you give people, the more likely they are to make irrational decisions. Says Jonathan, “When people are given too many decision-making factors, they are most likely to make the final decision on an emotional basis rather than a rational one. Or they won’t make a decision at all. So if you don’t help them, either by reducing complexity or clearly pointing the best option, you hurt your chances of making a sale.”

Jonathan says, “Making a decision even slightly more complex can be enough to get us to choose irrationally. When the decision is complex, the brain looks for simple signals about which way to go – and marketing can really guide that decision.”

The right ideas
So with a little help from a purple cow, the right messaging platform and the right creative team, you can create easy-to-understand messages that people will remember – and repeat. Get this right, and you’ll have an efficient process and effective results.

Want to see an example of a high impact campaign run on a tight budget? See what Danisco did with an interactive publication and some creative thought.

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