The other day I was faced with a dilemma. I had a terrible cold, but I wasn’t sure whether I should merely ask my pharmacist for advice or go to the doctor. I decided to start by visiting the pharmacy, and I ended up leaving with a big bag of decongestants, Paracetamol and vitamins.
After a few days, I started to feel better, while knowing that it could have simply been my allergies. In retrospect, I could have saved myself a lot of unnecessary pill-popping had I gone straight to my doctor for a proper diagnosis and the right prescription.
My dilemma can easily be compared to the one faced today by organizations in the Middle East when communicating with their stakeholders. Just as I referred to my pharmacist, most companies are used to referring to advertising agencies for advice, and when the agencies’ campaigns fail to deliver the desired results in terms of their bottom line or stakeholders’ reactions, they merely decrease their advertising spending and declare the advertising business in the region ineffective. Yet, it is paramount to point out that the problem certainly does not lie in advertising, without which the client would undoubtedly miss out on significant opportunities to build a brand and fulfill key goals. The real problem is efficiency and effectiveness in communication — choosing the right messages that answers the proper diagnosis.
In order to understand the communication scene in our part of the world today, it is best to take a look at the evolution of communication in the West. Only a few decades ago, reference to “communication” was reserved to the realm of telephony and telecommunications, whereas advertising was limited to commercial publicity and promotion. Soon the lines began to blur, in which we consume what is essentially one type of content coming at us in different forms, through different channels, with no clear categorization of the “serious” versus the “commercial”.
A big brand name like Coca-Cola, for example, began in the late 1800s by promoting its carbonated soft drink’s “secret formula” and continued to focus on the drink’s original taste throughout the 20th century. As Coke’s clout grew into an international symbol of American lifestyle. Coca-Cola’s image and brand equity became dependent on a variety of factors, including its public relations, social responsibility as well as its marketing and advertising.
The “ad agencies” that were purely dedicated to advertising and serving their clients under one roof as a one-stop-shop of communication solutions realized the evolving communication needs of consumers and the public were becoming more mature and demanding. They began to set up standalone units that are specialized in a specific discipline of communication and can thus offer specific solutions in advertising, public relations, corporate social responsibility, corporate identity, media planning and buying, and later online and digital media.
In the Middle East, big communication agencies originally entered the immature market at the time with their eyes fixed solely on the “cash cows” of advertising and marketing communication, selling “communication cures” over the counter without any prescription.
This approach has had its downside despite the original ‘boom’. With agencies prescribing and selling the medication, companies in the region soon became wary of the obvious conflict of interest. Balancing out this conflict meant always negotiating hard and pushing for reductions in the proposed advertising spending budgets. This has lead to a losing situation, with the client not getting the desired communication results and the overall sector seeing low per capita advertising spending.
In such a situation, we are in dire need of a fresh perspective that can tackle organizations’ communication issues and benefit both the client and the industry. This perspective is provided by the extra pillar that the West has long since added: the strategic communication consultancy. Going back to our analogy, the consultancy, like the doctor, has the objective perspective, free of any conflict of interest, which allows it to properly diagnose the situation and recommend just the right amount and type of medication needed to effectively address it and fulfill the client’s goals. The addition of this pillar makes the triangular relationship between the client, consultancy and advertising or other communication suppliers a winning one, whereby the clients’ objectives are met, meaning only that they will come back again and again, to both doctor and pharmacy, leading ultimately to catalyzing the ad sector in the region.
Furthermore, strategic communication consultancies treat communication holistically. This does not mean that they merely view public relations, marketing communication and advertising as connected but rather that they look at all communication messages and channels as part of a larger strategy to interface with external and internal stakeholders and achieve a set of defined objectives.
Since corporations and the public sector today have their image under the microscope and many organizations have faced demise because of a tarnished reputation, strategic communication consultancies offer advice that can build an organization’s image and immunize it by helping build a “trust bank” with its stakeholders to draw on during crisis.
By brining together the added value of these complementary elements to the organization’s communication, a synergistic effect is created — one that is in the service of the client’s interest, leading to a win-win situation for all.
Ramsay G. Najjar, Chairman S2C
