Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Italy: Do MUCH Better!!

We are all proud of being European. At least many of us. With a really FREE press. Free from governments. Free from politicians and ministers. Free from major business interests. Free from improper intimidations during election campaigns.

Berlusconi has been and is doing exactly the opposite. And tries to hang on despite his well deserved defeat.

Italy: You can do MUCH better than that. Join the modern world of really free and independent media! You have the chance to get to grips with it. NOW!

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Involving people....

Today's world is funny. Sometimes even strange. Perhaps it was always like that. Let's take an example from now: The general perception that it is impossible to get citizens involved in politics and in particular in European politics.

Is it really impossible to get citizens involved? Absolutely NOT. But it is, of course, impossible if you only use ways and means from "communication the stone age". Forget about brochures, pamphlets and newsletters. Forget about meetings with a speaker or more. Forget about traditional visits by groups,who are confronted with (bad) speakers in an overcrowded room. Forget about boring websites, which are rarely updated and changed. Forget about TV and radio broadcasts and newspaper articles, which are (almost) only based on bad news, scandals and conflicts.

Yes, I realise that these many "forgets" can be a very difficult camel to swollow for many politicians and communication people. But that is the reality of today!

Don't blame the citizens! Blame yourselves, because you are not "up to it"!

Let me give 5 concrete suggestions:

1) Get your CONTENTS, your message, right. What do you want to communicate? Relate it all to people's daily lives. Show what it means and what it will mean to every one of them. Be absolutely correct and precise. And admit mistakes immediately, if you make any

2) Get your TIMING right. Plan, plan, plan. And ACT - don't (just) react!

3) Be very active and clear in your REBUTTALS. Do not let anybody get away with "murder". Wrong, false and incorrect information has to be addressed immediately - and with all appropriate guns blowing

4) Use a variety of the MODERN COMMUNICATION INSTRUMENTS - or even better: a coordinated number of them. Instruments which reaches and engages us citizens. Remember that we are all constantly bombarded with all sorts of information. And we are busy, busy, busy. So get to us by the means we use - not the ones we used to use. Blogs are good. So are Vlogs (video logs). And the new developments of the Internet are most helpful, esp. with the push and pull technology. Podcasting should certainly also be used in communication. The whole area of "On-line Communities" attracts millions of people. Just have a look at Lunarstorm. And many others. In all these cases citizens can subscribe (and un-subscribe) online themselves. Use sms and mms messages in the same way. Not least in communicating with the young people. Digital TV is making tremendous progress right now. It gives a lot of interactive possibilities. The instruments on offer increase and get better and better as we speak.

The limits do not come from lack of communication means. It comes from the very limited knowledge of those, who organise the communication. The grey cells and their lack of state of the art are at the centre of the stage.

5) And when you get familiar and confident with all these possibilities, then you should not shy away from using new ways of presenting your stuff. Use competitions, games, quizzes, story telling - INFOTAINMENT. The interactive means are super fit for exactly that. But really do it in ways, where we citizens feel and see that our points of view and our questions and suggestions are taken seriously and dealt with. Give us all a "WE-feeling" when Europe is concerned - not a remote "THEY-feeling".

This will change things. I am convinced of it.

What do YOU think?