“Many corporate communicators tend to struggle with the ‘emotional engagement’ element of their job.” Mike Oliver talks about how to keep it real in communications

There were a couple of buses doing the rounds in SW London, enticing us all to go watch a Brentford FC game. The buses were fully liveried in Brentford colours (which are, cunningly, red) and the proposition reads ‘Real fans. Real football. Real value.’

Now, if I were to have a blacklist of words I think are over-used to the point of nausea in marketing and communications, ‘real’ would be pushing for a top spot. It would have to fight off ‘integrity,’ ‘quality’ and ‘passion’ but I reckon it’d be in with a good chance.

‘Real’ means a million different things to a million different people which is why, I guess, it gets used so much. It might as well be code for ‘well, you know…’ It is ubiquity itself and so we find it becoming more and more prevalent in corporate communications. ‘Delivering real value for stakeholders’ is a term that can mean everything from ‘better returns than last year’ to ‘quantifiable benefits;’ and from ‘more impressive than our competitors’ to ‘we’re not quite sure what we mean by value, but we’re sure whatever it is, it’s real.’

It is both lazy and insidious. It can’t put its finger on what it’s based on, but it suggests a deep connection with the audience. ‘You and I both know what matters and what doesn’t’ is the inference seeping out from between the lines. I think that’s why I detest it so, especially when there’s nothing to back it up.

Take the Brentford bus message. What exactly is ‘Real football?’ Not Playstation football? Not football on the rec? Not ‘ponced up’ Champions League football? Not Chelsea? What? And come to that, what exactly are ‘Real fans?’ Friendly community types or crazed nutters? Or just anyone who isn’t a Chelsea fan? What exactly? As they sidle up to me and put their arm around my shoulder, I haven’t got a clue what they’re saying to me and that makes me feel most uncomfortable.

All great communicators know to whom they’re talking. They know how to connect rationally and emotionally to build total engagement, to engender our trust. We love reading or hearing stuff that seems to talk directly to us, that builds on our shared world views and adds value to our knowledge or outlooks. It makes us feel something.

But corporate communications comes from a world of facts and figures, of points of information and features and benefits. Many corporate communicators tend to struggle with the whole ‘emotional engagement’ element of their job. They fall back on terms like ‘real’ because they’re don’t know how to look deeper. 

And that’s why much of it fails. It fails to connect, to resonate or to be remembered. And with so many brilliant stories to tell, what a shame that is. Things are changing for the better, however, driven by both necessity and better practice. The sustainability agenda affects us all without exception and is a topic that brings enormous emotion to the table. Talking about it to properly balance the connection between hearts and minds is an art form, and one that the likes of Unilever is perfecting. Its Sustainable Living Plan is communicated with exactly the right mix of emotional context-setting, offset against pragmatic and committed business sense. Both plan and progress are coloured in with supporting facts and figures and everyday stories of ideas and successes. It’s both interesting and inspiring.

As a result, I believe that Paul Polman and his team will make a positive and meaningful difference to the world. And I feel that way because they know what I want to hear. Purpose, commitment, honesty and evidence. The four magic ingredients to helping engender trust, communicated in colour. That’s the way to do it. For real.

Mike Oliver is head of brand at Radley Yeldar