Messaging is Key to Success
Patricia Belyea
Einstein once said "The secret of creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." May I restate that as "The secret of creativity is knowing how to use your sources."
For creative projects, whether branding or marketing, much has been said about Strategy and Design. Strategy is the right place to start - with the challenge, background, research, and planning. Design is the packaging of the deliverable, with inspired concepts and impeccable execution. But what about the meat in the middle - Messaging?
For our projects with mid-sized companies, Belyea has a systematic approach to Messaging. It is a cross between a therapy session and an urban retreat. The 3-hour meeting allows us to glean an amazing amount of information from a few key company executives. The more these people know, the more successful our time together.
We have three different areas of inquiry: Key Messages, Corporate Personality, and Customer Wants and Needs. Armed with group worksheets, each subject is pursued in a completely non-linear fashion. Anything relevant can find a place in the hierarchy of information. Once complete, we have a veritable road map of all the important messages we need to direct the project.
Our next area of focus is exploring a Visible Vocabulary for the project. This looks amazingly like kindergarten, complete with scissors and something sticky. Each participant gets two magazines to cut out pictures and words that relate to the messages and corporate personality of the project.
Once everyone has their pile ready, we begin Show and Tell. Each chosen scrap is explained to the group in the context of the project. Some items are shown because they create strong negative reactions. All of the selections are taped to a nearby wall. Soon an expansive collage takes over the room. Its colors, images and words create a graphic expression for the project-in-progress.
The written worksheets create a foundation for the main copywriting, although additional research is often needed. From "The Wall", the design team has the ability to be on target with the whole tone of the project.
There are some factors that contribute to the success of these sessions: weekend wear is the dress code, and there is food, caffeine, and music. For us hardened marketing professionals, these small changes from our normal regime transport us back to our university days when we were so darn brilliant.
Three-hour brain dumps are exhilarating and exhausting. They definitely kick-start a project. The total value of the session becomes more apparent when a few nights of sleep allow all the information to cross-pollinate. From the intensity of the session comes powerful ways to tell the right story to customers.
This last summer Belyea created a 42-page Alaska travel brochure with Glacier Bay Cruiseline. Steve Gray and Megan McKinney-Rickey joined three of us at Belyea for an initial brainstorming session. In our morning together, we gained all we needed for main sales messages, additional tidbits about this small-ship adventure cruise line, and an action-packed wall.
Steve kept wanting us to know that Glacier Bay does not have luxury ships. Instead the vessels are more like "ocean jeeps." From this Belyea coined the phrase Sport Utility Vessel which they have since trademarked.
The development of the brochure was fast-paced and went very smoothly. Steve stated, "It really hit the mark for our type of guest." Getting key messages right, understanding customer wants and needs, and getting the perfect tone are how the project worked so well.
As Albert Einstein said "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." In the middle of a marketing project is Messaging. With Messaging as well-developed as Strategy and Design, the opportunity for success is great.
Patricia Belyea is founding principal and Creative Director of Belyea, a graphic design firm specializing in branding and marketing programs. She can be reached at patricia@belyea.com or 206-682-4895.