Navigating Messaging Workshop Outli

Navigating Messaging
Workshop Outline



Introduction
WATCH - Subway “Jared - the Subway Diet” Commercial
● First aired in 1999
● One of the most successful adverts in advertising history
● Subway sales increased by 20% after this commercial first aired
● Jared Fogle became a celebrity in the USA
● Subway has just become the largest fast-food chain in the world, passing up McDonalds this year
DISCUSSION: Why was this commercial so successful?

Learning Objective
To communicate an idea that STICKS
S - Stories
I - Images
M - Magic
P - Plain
L - Legitimate
E - Emotions


Example: Wrong car commercial

Plain
To make sure an ideas sticks the essence of the message needs to be simple & clear
ACTIVITY: Writing a lead sentence for a local newspaper based on the facts below.
● Ministry of Education will host an educational congress on Friday (date)
● The congress will meet from 08:00 to 18:00
● The National Convention Center is hosting the event
● The Prime Minister is scheduled to give an opening speech
● All public school teachers and administrators in the city will attend
● Parents and students can watch a live broadcast of the congress on national television channels
How to simplify your communications:
● Avoid Curse of Knowledge - Sometimes our message can get lost in our overabundance of information.
● Communicate the Core - The key t o making an idea simple is to i dentify the core message and c ommunicate the core message.
● Keep it Simple not Simplistic - Making an idea simple doesn’t mean dumbing it down. Simple ideas are easy to understand, but can be extremely profound at the same time. Proverbs are examples of simple messages that are not simplistic.
○ Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth (King Solomon)
○ Those who overcome others have strength. Those who overcome themselves are powerful. (Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching)
○ Don’t bite the hand that feeds you (English Proverb)
● Plant seeds one at a time instead of dumping a truckload of seeds.
● Less is more. Simplicity focuses attention on what you want people to remember. Think of the great products and companies out there. A common factor in their greatness is their extreme commitment to simplicity in their products and communications.
○ Apple products and advertising
○ Google search engine Subway Advertisement:
What was the core message in the Subway advert?
Eating at Subway helped Jared lose weight and could help you lose weight too.

Legitimate
People don’t like to be deceived. You message needs to be credible and believable.
It needs to have legitimacy.
ACTIVITY: Small group discussion. Make a chart of things that make messages believable or suspicious.
Sources of credibility
● External credibility
○ Authorities (experts) - scientists, doctors, professionals, celebrities, statistics. Logic tells us that expert opinions carry more weight, but that’s not actually how most people judge ideas. In the information age, we’ve become suspicious of authorities.
○ Anti-authorities (lay people) - Normal, everyday people. They are actually more credible than authorities because they are just like us which is why we identify with them.
■ CDC Tips from a Smoker Ads
● Internal credibility
○ Reputation
○ Try before you buy
Subway Advertisement:
What made the Subway commercials trustworthy or credible?
Jared is an anti-authority. If you’re someone with a weight problem, then he’s just like you.

Impassioned
● Ideas wrapped in emotions are powerful
● Look at the following images. Which images are more powerful?
○ Statistics about poverty - pictures of suffering from poverty
○ chart about human trafficking - pictures of victims of trafficking
○ Statistic (1200 people die from smoking every day) - 1200 body bags
● Think about a boring teacher you had in school. Chance are the teacher was boring because he/she just taught you facts. Now think about one of your favorite teachers. Chances are that he/she was very passionate while teaching and often showed excitement about the topic he/she was teaching.
● Some common emotions used when communicating:
○ Excitement
○ Humor
○ Fear - International news are experts in selling fear
○ Passion
○ Anger
○ Sadness
○ Guilt and Shame
○ Compassion
● ACTIVITY: Emotional Introductions
○ Participants will receive an emotion card (funny, sad, fear, excitements, anger).
○ Participants say, “Hi. My name is _______. I live in Hanoi.” However, they must express their assigned emotion with their facial expressions and voice.
○ Activity purpose - to show that emotions can color and even change the meaning of our message.