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Smart Propaganda
Image taken from anarchosydicalism.net
The definition of ‘Propaganda’, according to businessdictionary.com, is “a message designed to persuade its intended audience to think and behave in a certain manner.” In 1933, Adolf Hitler came to realize how potent and effective it is; therefore, he appointed Joseph Goebbels as the Minister of Propaganda during the former’s political regime in Germany.
In that position, Goebbels used all media of education and communication forms for the benefit of Nazi aims: the concept that Germans were leaders and rulers of the world. Moreover, his successful ideas have prevailed throughout history and still apply not only in political aspects but also in commercial ones.
Propaganda might have a negative connotation because of its importance and effect back then; however, nowadays it could be used in a more positive way. Not like “white propaganda”, where the methods of persuasion are gentler. It is more of smart propaganda.
Let us focus on the following points, taken from Goebbels:
6. To be perceived, propaganda must evoke the interest of an audience and must be transmitted through an attention-getting communications medium.
12. Propaganda may be facilitated by leaders with prestige.
14. Propaganda must label events and people with distinctive phrases or slogans.
Suppose you were to persuade your target to get a recycling culture. First of all, the idea supports a social cause for a better world, and therefore your brand will gain an activist reputation; nevertheless, saying so is not enough. Choosing the right media to communicate the message is the first step. Then again, not the end of the process.
Catching attention means telling the audience why it is important to do something about the issue your brand is concerned about and why it is necessary to act as a whole. As a society. Creativity is a must to construct the right message since a severe tone might be a little overused.
Leaders with prestige could be the brand itself, famous people as ambassadors of the cause…but it would be necessary to make alliances with actual activists who are into the cause already. How about a Non Governmental Organization? Openness in this sense may lead to a greater participation.
Labeling events and people is translated into segmentation. As simple as that. The key is keeping in mind who you are talking to; hence, the catchy or punchy phrases will come easier.
Social responsibility goes beyond selling an idea. If it turns into an ideology that will bring social benefits, then it is smart propaganda we are talking about; thus, the cause becomes much more powerful and creates awareness.
Awareness that your brand started it all up.
Tidbit Friday
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Social into Social
As part of the marketing tendencies, brands involve into social causes in order to empathize with current issues such as global warming, breast cancer, alcohol consumption and so on. Responsibility involves the introduction of a more human and concerned side for the benefit of a community; therefore, the image of said brands goes far beyond the selling of a product.
In the specific case of breast cancer, Carolina Herrera, Energizer, Canon, Skechers, the NFL, Comercial Mexicana (Mexican supermarket) and Voit joined the cause to fight this issue in their very own way through their products and services in 2010 as shown below:
Images taken from merca20.com
It is true that by making their empathy evident, the exposure will be greater, and therefore, the target might perceive the brand in a positive way. On the other hand, it would be harmful to just keep the focus on those actions instead of inviting the people to join and be part of it. For example, the NFL reminded how important it is for 40 year old women to prevent the cancer through the campaign A crucial catch: annual screening saves lives. Not only the fans who attended the matches held banners with that message, but also the players wore pink as part of their outfits to show support.
Therefore, the involvement from both sides was active and constant.
On the other hand, social networks can work as a vessel to create awareness and get some more participation in a personal way. They may work as discussion forum without actually creating one on a website; pictures and the use of the wall-post, on Facebook for example, are the tools needed in order to start the interaction.
However, content is what truly matters at the end of the day. The ‘moderator’ (or the person in charge of managing the account) must be aware of what kind of information will be added, and above all, how to encourage people to interact and discuss constructively.
So here I present some ideas that can be useful on Facebook to bring social responsibility into a social network:
- Add pictures, videos or any kind of graphics constantly. Users will notice that there is always something new so that they can comment or share them on their own profiles.
- When adding content, do not stick to statistics only. It is true that numbers provide important information, but be creative too. Make analogies out of them so that the participants have a better idea of what they mean. Just like Coca-Cola did on its most recent TV commercial Reasons to Believe.
- Make questions to let the constructive discussion start. Not only provide information of what your brand is doing, but also let the participants see that what they say is very important. They might share their own anecdotes.
- Encourage them to look for further information. Supporting a great cause also means creating awareness and therefore, more compromise from the target. At the end of the day, it is all for the benefit of our society.
For instance, getting so deep through your brand will result in building a much stronger relation with the target.
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