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March 24, 2006
Angelina and Brad and Jennifer?
Usually I write this web log with a fairly developed concept, like “Why you should pay attention to what CIOs are thinking about.”
(That’s probably because I’m a Baby Boomer, and I can’t get over the notion that you only start writing when you’ve figured out what your point is. Retro, aren’t I?)
But this time I have some information that I don’t know how to leverage. I know it’s important, but I don’t have a clue how employee communicators can put it to use. Maybe you can figure it out.
Here it is: What’s the most popular content in magazines these days? Information related to celebrities. Here, for example, are some facts from Adweek’s March 6 Special Report on the hottest magazines (called “The Hot List”):
- 41.3% of magazine covers were devoted to celebrity and entertainment in 2006. That compares to only 4% devoted to national affairs.
- In 2005, there were 28,251 editorial magazines devoted to entertainment. That’s up from 6,794 pages in 1996.
- Compare that celebrity-page number—28,251—with the number of pages devoted to the next most-covered topics: health/medical science (8,577) and national affairs (5,692).
There’s absolutely no doubt: Brad and Angelina and Jessica and Nick sell magazines. But although I often advocate leveraging techniques you can find in consumer media, I can’t tell you how to put this one to use for your communication. It's true that we're fascinated by people’s foibles and idiosyncrasies, But are we as interested in Bill in Accounting as we are in Ben Affleck?
Short of recommending that your company board hire George Clooney to be CEO, any ideas how we can put this information to work for us non-famous communicators?
Posted by Alison Davis at March 24, 2006 02:59 PM
Comments
Make some stars in your company. Put regular employees with good stories on the cover of your publication or intranet home page. Tell how they're living the company mission, values, or making customers happy. Check back in with them occasionally.
Posted by: Matt D at March 27, 2006 08:17 AM
Alison, according to my teenagers, I am old and cranky. But I am SO GLAD that there are a few publications left where I don't have to see Brad's and Angelina's and Jennifer's mugs or anything about them. Same goes for Nick and Jessica. Anna Nicole, too. However, in my opinion, George Clooney is far from being overexposed...
Sorry, I know this isn't what you were asking...but I couldn't resist.
Posted by: Kathy Collura at March 29, 2006 03:18 PM
Any chance you'd like to start a grass roots campaign to eliminate the use of "leverage" as a verb? Or "impact"? Or the spurious adjective "impactful"? I'm begging here.
Posted by: Tim Bradley at May 22, 2006 06:17 PM
Dear Tim: I hate to see anyone suffer . . . especially someone who can use "spurious" correctly in a sentence. And I agree: These words (and so many others) are egregious examples of Corporate Speak run amok. Nobody really talks that way, unless they're trying to sound more important than they are.
I'm not going to start a Political Action Committee, but maybe I should at least blog about it . . . or if you're creating a petition, I'll sign.
Thanks.
Posted by: Alison Davis at May 23, 2006 12:04 PM