If we were to come up with the obligatory ‘cheesy’ ABC of communicating major transitions, we would probably focus on three things:
- Authenticity – will people believe you, and get on the bus?
- Boldness – will it meet the moment?
- Collaboration – is it joined up and do people feel like there’s a coalition for change, that’s got momentum behind it?
Firstly, was the Government’s launch of this initiative authentic – probably, although the misrepresentation (being kind with choice of word) of Toyota’s e-ute (which doesn’t currently exist as an option) did cast doubt on how factual
the wider messaging was.
Was the initiative bold enough? Given Al Gore’s ‘Inconvenient Truth’ – which scared the pants off us – is 15 years old… No! The initiative feels like tinkering and something you’d do in the days when
our neighbor (Australia) wasn’t regularly ‘on fire’ each summer. This initiative could have been bolder. The public were ready for bold. For example – and this is my ‘top of head’ idea, with my morning coffee in me - dropping the GST or FBT on e-vehicles would have put the foot on the adoption accelerator. Where was the roll-out of the charging network? Maybe the billion earmarked to be spent on the Auckland cycle bridge could have been better spent expanding the charging network?
Sadly, the initiative simply didn’t scream urgency enough for us and didn't really meet the moment!
And lastly, collaboration? We always need to ask “Who needs to be part of our coalition for change and help co-design this communication?” – an obvious answer is major car companies, a cross-section of consumers and Norway! Norway? The country with the highest
per-capita e-vehicle ownership in the world must have some learnings – maybe they were consulted? So, who are the people and organisations that need to work with us on this change? [Note: I’m trying to avoid using ‘stakeholders’, as this 1700’s term is progressively being linked to the suppression of indigenous peoples. Tip: if you are working with iwi and other kaupapa partners – drop the term]
So, it felt like the messaging started unravelling within 24 hours.
Most transition will involve strong lobby groups with resistance in mind – so going forward we will need to make damn sure our communications capability can match that resistance and better still, bring them onboard with us! Of course, if you are doing the right things, are on the moral high ground, have science, engineering and evidence of your side, it is going to make things a lot easier from the get-go.
In the case of Big Oil, since the 1970's the sector has been able to use communications and influence strategies to direct the debate about the impact of fossil fuels on the environment. Perhaps the effectiveness of an approach designed to confuse, distract and wash-over is coming to an end?.
Might be time to consider a refresh of what you are doing in Transition and the narrative that goes with it.
This weeks quote
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act"
-George Orwell
P.s There was a bit of confusion with last weeks article, my attempt to recover from a spelling error in the headline managed to confuse some of you even more! (sorry about that) The silver lining was though, we got some great feedback and ideas that will help improve the Edge going forward. If you didn't get to the original article its is essentially about the
art of reciprocity, you can read it
here.
