News and views

Stay tuned

Working in television I would often hear the same programme requests coming from channel commissioners; “lifestyle, property, travel, wellbeing”. But is originality ever possible with such a tight remit on content? Can you continually entice an audience to tune in and make them feel they’re watching something new, something fresh, and a worthy investment of their time?

Well, if we take just one great lesson from television it should be its ability to reinvent itself. Star Trek was essentially the western series Wagon Train, except set in space. “Come Dancing” added celebrity interest and it became “Strictly…”  Jamie’s School Dinners rekindled the John Harvey-Jones legacy and made political history. Proof that the solution isn’t just great content, but also great delivery.

Meredith Chambers, Channel 4 Commissioning Editor for Documentaries, speaking of the hit series Jamie’s School Dinners said “If someone had come to me saying they had an idea for a series about child nutrition and obesity, I wouldn’t have been interested. But by finding a new method, a new format, the next explosive way of communicating a story, you’ve got yourself a hit.”

The challenge isn’t exclusive to television; it’s echoed across the world of corporate communications. How many great, new stories does a business have, and do they ever take time to consider “the next explosive way” of engaging their audience?  The answer is that every business has great new stories to tell, though few make the effort to seek them out; even fewer explore new formats of dialogue.

When business leaders speak they become, in essence, a commissioner. But do they ever adopt the role of the commissioner, taking time to picture it from the audience’s perspective, checking to see whether people are really listening or ‘reaching for the remote’?

Corporate communications face stiff competition from television—not to mention films, music and magazines; because if you don’t command interest then you can be sure minds will wander—quite probably to last night’s Corrie! 

Investing time to explore new stories and new ways in which to retell existing stories is crucial to getting an audience tuned in. At Triffid, we explore the wider world of communications, such as television, to discover the tools they use for successful audience engagement and interaction. These lessons are invaluable to us and to our clients because they are the essence of “pull” communication.

Companies cannot simply keep reinventing themselves to stay fresh and engaging; but they can reinvent the manner of their communications. After all, repetition needn’t be repetitive.

Andy