Rather than write something myself this week I’ll recommend a presentation I came across recently and which has the potential to be useful whichever form of international communication you are considering.
The presentation was given by Dr Bob Deutsch to the AAAA. You’ll know his work, if not the name; he provided the insight for Apple “Think Differentâ€, Budweiser “Whassup?â€, Compaq “Better Questions†and worked for Japanese clients as they tried to fight US tariffs.
In the presentation he discusses the importance of finding patterns in the behaviour when looking at people, and the need to be personal, particular and primal, when seeking to communicate with an audience. I won’t labour the point as he’s vastly better at it than me.
Finally, as I discussed in an earlier post we have to be prepared to challenge the ideas on which international communication is based – for those who ‘know’ marketing is about talking to consumers – Dr Bob wants you to throw out that idea; its about people.
The presentation is in available as audio or video.
While we are considering people, this recent LA Times article on Gallup polling in America and majority Muslim countries provides some interesting perspectives for those considering public diplomacy, developing habits of engagement or cultural relations. Muslim true/false