A communication planner’s job has never been tougher. Blame all that new TV hardware and the additional viewing options they represent. Blame the new radio formats, out-of-home signs, magazines, and newspapers that spring up like fall mushrooms.
Special training in the art and science of assemblage could be more useful now than ever. But you can’t assemble without instruction. And you can’t instruct without some form of language. That’s why I find it so interesting that the newest, fastest-growing language around is a language that’s all about instruction, a language I call…IKEAZIAN.
IKEAZIAN is the hieroglyphic-like language used in millions of little white booklets which communicate assembly instructions to purchasers of desks, tables and bookshelf systems from IKEA. I think I can safely call myself IKEAZIAN literate. Within the last six months I’ve read 10 separate IKEAZIAN titles, thanks in large part to my daughter’s empty, four-story, Montreal walkup.
By the sixth book I discovered patterns and communication techniques that could be applied to the challenge of assembling the right communication plans for my clients. IKEAZIAN shows us how to turn pieces of wood and metal, plastic bags of nuts, bolts, strange fastening devices – plus the ubiquitous Allen key – into a ‘DILLING’ bed. Similarly, a communication plan shows clients how to assemble one, optimal, finished communication effort out of a thousand media bits and pieces.
So here’s what IKEAZIAN has taught me about how to assemble the right communications plan for my clients.
IKEAZIAN was born out of the need for one instructional language – the universal language of assemblage. The bolt in Canada is the same bolt in the U.K. The bolt is applied to the leg in the same way, for the same reason in Spain and in Germany.
Communication plans need to be designed with the same universality in mind. That means understanding and then resolving differences in media metrics that exist between countries. For example, it is necessary to create a listing of average competitive media weight levels by country as a starter. A GRP has no universal meaning. Differences in media terminology, media weight definitions and audience measurement methodology must be understood and then resolved. It is a task as important as it is difficult.
A second parallel between assembling media plans and bookshelves relates to the need for clarity through minimalism. Communication plans need to be consistently designed and internationally applicable. They need to be devoid of all superfluous information. The chart doesn’t instruct? Lose it! The colour doesn’t help? Drop it! The pictures are a distraction? Gone! Too many words? Cut!
IKEAZIAN is the minimalist ideal communication planners should emulate. Two of my favorite IKEAZIAN titles are ‘GALLANT’ and ‘EFFECTIV’ but I would also strongly recommend the ‘FLARKE’ and ‘BILLY’ books. The front covers are simply white. The titles are simply spelled out in bold, black, sans serif font. Everything in the booklet helps produce the final assembled piece of furniture.
A further instructional parallel between communication planning and IKEAZIAN relates to target group definition. Key to every well-thought-out communication plan is a three-dimensional target group definition, which also addresses need states, warnings and sources where additional information can be obtained. And this is precisely what you’ll find at the beginning of every IKEAZIAN booklet. On page 2, you will find ‘Mr. Roundy-head’ (the target user), a pointy toed, two-fingered cartoon-like character, portrayed in a series of panels that communicate three critical thoughts. Mr. Roundy-head sees a screwdriver (that’s the need state), has a frowning face and a broken piece of furniture at his feet (that’s the warning if things go wrong) and is calling IKEA on the phone (the source for additional instruction).
The fourth point has to do with laying out the ‘pieces.’ In our business, that means scanning and evaluating the landscape of media vehicles available for consideration. From the infinite array of possible media options, we need to isolate the optimal by laying the media bits and pieces out on an evaluative grid, like they do in IKEAZIAN.
On page 3 of the BILLY book, you’ll see a dictionary in the form of small black and white illustrations, representing pegs, screws, bars, metal plates and the like. Each symbol comes with its own six-digit number that is referenced later in the book’s text. In order for the IKEAZIAN reader to correctly identify the right screw or bolt, they must be compared to each other. Only through relative comparison does correct identification emerge. Likewise, the communication planner must compare the shape and size of media approaches before the most appropriate selection can be accurately identified.
A fifth instructional technique, frequently employed in IKEAZIAN text, is ‘flipped perspective,’ which provides a picture of assemblage from two vantage points; right side up and upside down.
Because communication plans are created from the planner’s point of view, they reflect a media world that exists from the planner’s vantage point. But critical to a plan’s success is recognition of the target consumer’s media vantage point. The end consumer sees an upside down media world relative to the media planner.
For example, the planner sees the TV medium as a collection of a hundred or so channels and weights expressed as targeted gross rating points. The consumer sees five TV channels and a handful of specific programs. The planner thinks in terms of reach/frequency; the target group does or doesn’t pay attention. The planner sees a niche Internet ad; the consumer sees another annoying pop-up.
Just as two perspectives are explored in IKEAZIAN, the communications plan needs to articulate the planner’s macro perspective and the consumer’s micro vantage point. There are many terms for this planning approach: ‘consumer-centric’ planning, ‘target user-friendly’ media plans, a ‘day in the media life’ micro examination of the target group. These are simply fancy ways of forcing the planner, and the IKEAZIAN assembler, to turn things upside down.
And don’t forget the patented fasteners! The IKEAZIAN bolt insert thingamajig allows wooden parts to magically join together with a mere turn of the screwdriver.
No communication plan is complete without a patented media analytic – perhaps a TV optimizer, or a Media Mix estimator? Or perhaps the proprietary device takes the form of a snazzy target group segmentation system or global ‘attitude’ analyses. All too often, communication plans focus on the device, which like the IKEAZIAN fastener, has no value beyond the role of holding the final product together.
Like a well-constructed ‘EFFECTIV’ table, a well-assembled communication plan needs all of the above to maximize its effectiveness.
There’s nothing more satisfying than IKEAZIAN well followed and communication plans well constructed. But there’s nothing more disturbing than finally assembling the product and finding yourself with a handful of leftover bits and pieces.
Rob Young is one of the founders of Toronto’s PHD Canada (formerly HYPN). He can be reached at ryoung@phdca.com.
