Is what you see what you get?

A present is handed to you in a re-cycled, wrinkled, brown paper bag: are you inspired to open it?

You see a picture of a famous movie star without her make-up on: would you offer her R5m to star in your movie?

I somehow doubt that the answer to any of those questions would be “yes”. So - why is it not “yes”? As it happens... the food you ordered is a culinary masterpiece worthy of Ducasse, the restaurant is renowned, the table setting is impeccable; a diamond ring is in the wrinkled bag; and the picture of the movie star is a dull monochrome.

Why do we take great care to garnish food and arrange it aesthetically on the plate? Why do we wrap presents in neat boxes and trim them with bows? Why do women wear make-up? In each case - to attract, to entice, to arouse interest. The common denominator is - packaging.

It's all in the packaging! We are inspired by things we have been conditioned to, and we've been conditioned to want only the best packages in the best packaging. The successful marketing machine has conditioned us - so successfully that the packaging has pretty much become as important as the content!

The people who work for your company have been conditioned just like everybody else - so it puzzles me why it is that when an organisation wants to implement a strategy, or a policy, or to instil certain behaviours, the leaders don't see the relevance and importance of the ‘packaging'. Packaging applies to the intangibles as well as to the tangibles.

The buy-in of those who need to execute it is what enables strategy. A mundane e-mail with a list of instructions won't catch anyone's imagination. The packaging of strategy is probably more important than the strategy itself, because if the executioners are not inspired it won't happen.

How do you go about packaging strategy? You use the same methods marketers have employed successfully for so many years to market to their audience. The packaging that creates the buy-in and makes strategy a reality is, by and large, the communication of cleverly thought-out and executed campaigns.

The point of all of the above is that there are still so many organisations who do not see internal communication and marketing as a strategic enabler, categorising it as some ancillary activity that belongs somewhere in the HR department. Wrong! If corporates want to achieve their goals, internal communication and marketing or ‘internal brand engagement' (new buzz term) must be right up there where it matters, working with the CEO's and COO's to catch the imagination of every employee in the organisation and make the strategy a reality.
It's all in the packaging - and as a genius of note once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”