News and views

Keeping it real

Why is it that employees will pay up to £5 for a magazine at WH Smith, but won’t read the in-house magazine you give them for free?

Well, it’s because the commercial magazine is more interesting, contains information they want to know, is presented in a way that engages them – and it’s their choice. Right?

There’s no reason why the in-house magazine can’t be like that, too. After all, employees spend a large proportion of their lives in the work environment. They have friends and concerns there that they carry home with them. Why wouldn’t there be great potential for interest, information and engagement in an in-house magazine?

The truth is that we often forget how sophisticated our audiences are. It’s no good putting a committee-produced, corporate-flavoured newsletter in front of them when they’re used to reading Vogue or Heat or the Financial Times. The comparisons will be unfavourable.

So here at Triffid, we like to take the lessons from the worlds of commercial media, cinema, politics and art. We have what we call our ‘Table of Elemental Forces’ to remind us what drives good communication, because if it works for Obama or Dan Brown or Big Brother, it can work for you, too.

Messages and audiences may vary, but the techniques for grabbing interest and shaping opinions don’t. Whether that’s Machiavelli or Davina McCall...

Matt