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PARTICIPATORY DESIGN OF MESSAGES AND DISCUSSION THEMES

2.1 Creating Basic Messages and Discussion Themes: An Overview

2.2 Developing the Creative Strategy or Copy Platform

2.2.1 Specifications

2.2.2 Creating Basic Messages

2.2.3 Creating Discussion Themes

2.2.4 The Process of Creative Design: Appeals

2.2.5 Selecting the Leading Medium and Media Mix

2.2.6 Developing the Basic Treatment

2.2.7 The Communication Brief (including outputs)

2.3 Preliminary Monitoring of Messages and Discussion Themes' Effectiveness

Objective

Chapter two illustrates how you design messages and discussion themes in a participatory manner.

At the end of this chapter you will be able to:

 

  1. Understand the difference between messages and discussion themes;
  2. Define situation Analysis Framework (SAF): Purpose and rationale;
  3. Know what message appeals and message presentations are, and how to use them effectively in the design of communication materials;
  4. Recognise basic media advantages and disadvantages;
  5. Develop a draft treatment; and
  6. Prepare a communication brief.

2.1 Creating Basic Messages and Discussion Themes: An Overview

Basic messages and discussion themes are the core content of what you want to say. You develop these into statements. Very often a description or a rough sketch of visuals accompanies such statements. At this stage the visuals pay very little attention to the appeals or the channels or media in which they are to be used.

Messages are information that is passed from one person or a group of people to another with the intention of producing an effect. Discussion themes are information or ideas designed specifically to focus the attention of a group on a problem and generate dialogue about possible actions to be taken. It can therefore be said that “messages” are usually concerned with information regarding a solution while “discussion themes” usually pose problems to be discussed by the people.

Generally, messages are presented in media like posters, radio/TV spots, jingles and drama. Discussion themes on the other hand get presented in picture codes, story with a gap, flipcharts, participatory theatre for development, specially designed radio/TV programmes and stories.

Box 3

Difference between basic messages and discussion thems.

Message

Discussion theme

  • It aims to pass on information and elicit action.

  • It is supposed to elicit a uniform meaning from the people.
  • It provides solutions or it suggests actions uses to be followed.
  • It usually includes some text.
  • It shows bene. ts of solutions to interaction group
  • It aims to persuade and motivate people to adept solution.
  • It aims to provoke discussion and dialogue.

  • It brings out di. erent perceptions of an issue
  • It presents a problem or a situation and it questions from a facilitator to provoke discussions.
  • It is composed only by images without any words.

  • It helps interaction groups to identify needs, solutions and opportunities.

  • It aims to generate views on possible causes, solutions, consequence of posed problem.

The creation of messages and discussions themes is one of the most interesting phases of the communication programme design process. In this phase, the core contents and themes identified in the previous chapter are creatively turned into appealing and thought provoking messages and discussion themes for various activities, channels and media. To obtain maximum effect, the interaction groups must participate in this highly creative process.

Be aware that the messages and themes you will be working on are derived from the field findings. It is therefore very important that every time you reach a critical point in the design process you go back to and review, even if only mentally, all relevant data such as NOPS, focal problems, causal links, people's perceptions, communication objectives and the significant features of the Interaction Groups profiles. This review is needed for the design of your creative strategy or copy platform.

The worksheet below shows you the process to be followed in designing messages and discussion themes.

Worksheet 1

The Creative Design Process.

Basic Messages and Discussion Themes

Specifications (Objuctives of Discussion Themes and Basic Messages

Appeals

Selection of Medium

Basic Treatment

Communication Brief, Creative Mode (including outputs)

           

2.2 Developing the Creative Strategy or Copy Platform

2.2.1 Specifications

The creative strategy, or copy platform, forms the basis on which messages and discussion themes are developed. It is a written strategy statement of the most important issues to be considered in designing the messages and discussion themes. It serves as a guide for the process of turning field findings into creative communication campaign ideas. The copy platform seeks to re-examine the questions who, why, where, when and how of the messages or discussion themes. At this point in the process a mix of data analysis, experience and creativity is required to design effective messages and discussion themes.

Ensure that all the relevant information discovered about the demographics and psychographics of the interaction groups and their perceptions of the problems are critically reviewed. A careful re-examination of these elements provides the information for the formulation of the necessary guide, known as the creative strategy or copy platform, upon which to develop appealing messages and discussion themes that can bring the subject alive and make the interaction group stop, look, listen and discuss.

The creative strategy or copy platform is based on the following:

(a) Review of the problems

- A careful review of the field findings, especially the community identified and prioritised NOPS. Are the NOPS from the community different from or similar to the original assessment of the situation by the project? What are the communication implications of the NOPS?

- A critical assessment of the focal problems identified with the community. Are they the major factors causing the main problem? Are they the only factors causing the main problem? Can they be effectively addressed by communication? What will be the more effective presentation - messages or discussion themes or a combination?

(b) Definition of the Priority Interaction Groups

- Who are the most likely candidates to be addressed by the messages or discussion themes?

- Have portraits of such groups been developed to describe their cultural, social and economic characteristics?

- Why will the interaction group listen to the message or discuss the selected theme?

- What will the interaction groups find interesting and believable about the message or discussion theme?

- What are the available and preferred communication networks and information sources of the Priority Interaction Groups?

- Who are the influential sources of information and advice in the community for the Interaction Groups?

- What are the sources' spheres of influence in relation to the problems?

(c) Assessment of the problem-solving approach

- Does it appear to be the most effective?

- Is it sustainable?

- Where does it come from (experts assessment or community based)?

- Does it really address the causes of the problem or just the effects?

(d) Assessment of the communication objectives

- Have the objectives been formulated in such a way that they give an indication of what needs to be achieved in terms of communication for the problem to be solved?

- Are they relevant and feasible?

- Are they consistent and directly linked with the focal problems?

- Are they SMART, hence easily measurable? What are the external factors that could affect their accomplishment?

(e) Review of the selected communication modes and approaches

- Are the selected modes and approaches the most appropriate for achieving the communication objectives?

- Can the approaches complement each other to effectively achieve the communication approaches?

(f) Formulation of specifications and objectives for each message and discussion theme

- What will each of the messages or discussion themes specifically accomplish in relation to each interaction group? How best can the message or communication theme be communicated?

Earlier, we said that the difference between messages and discussion themes is that messages are supposed to stand on their own and pass on comprehensible information leading to some change (e.g. increasing awareness, promoting a practice, etc.), while discussion themes are used to create dialogue and generate new information.

When designing your strategy always consider how you intend to associate the idea you are promoting or presenting with a certain image, feeling or status. This is known as image creation or positioning. This is widely used in advertising. An example of this is when a certain drink may be associated with beautiful cars and women. This is done in an attempt to associate the drink with a luxurious life style. In the social arena you may associate use of condoms when having sex with a young man who is considerate, keeps healthy, and has a small family and thus enjoys a better life style. Image creation, or positioning, requires that you start with thinking about the characteristics of the interaction groups and appealing to their cultural and social system in order for you to effectively position whatever you are presenting or proposing.

Once you have considered matters of positioning you move on to flesh out the design of the basic messages and discussion themes on the basis of the creative strategy or copy platform prepared in the preceding unit. You revisit your PRCA and baseline findings in order to improve the effectiveness of the messages and discussion themes (in terms of symbols, colours, beliefs, wording, etc.).

2.2.2 Creating Basic Messages

When you want to design basic messages follow the guidelines on the next page:

  1. Stress one major idea;
  2. Describe or sketch the preliminary illustrations or story lines;
  3. Write down the theme lines/statements and the key words that express the ideas or information to be conveyed by the message;
  4. Offer benefits and practical solutions that meet the needs of the interaction group;
  5. Emphasise these features of the idea or innovation that satisfy interaction group's needs;
  6. Keep messages clear, simple, lean and tight. Tell the whole story and when you have finished, stop; and
  7. Ensure that the message is comprehensible.

An example of a basic message is:

Build the new maize storage bin in your compound to protect your crop from pests.

2.2.3 Creating Discussion Themes

Remember that the discussion theme poses a problem or presents a situation and uses questions from a facilitator to provoke discussions. Follow the guidelines below for the design of discussion themes:

  1. Highlight one major issue;
  2. Describe or sketch the preliminary illustrations or story lines;
  3. Ensure that a problem and not the solution is depicted; and
  4. Ensure that the interaction group experiences the problem.

An example of a discussion theme:

Villagers lose a lot of their maize harvests to pests.

An example of questions normally asked by a facilitator while displaying material with a discussion theme goes like this:

2.2.4 The Process of Creative Design: Appeals

At this point of the process you are ready to add some spices to your communication recipe. Appeals define the cord you plan to touch in people's hearts or minds.

What Are Appeals?

Appeals are like bait you include in a message in order to lure the interaction through emotion or reason. Both messages and discussion themes need to target certain human wants or needs at two broad levels: emotional/social (the heart) and rational/physiological (the mind). While rational appeals are directed at the interaction group's practical, functional needs or wants related to the issues raised in the communication, emotional appeals target the group's psychological, social, or symbolic needs and wants. Physiological and social needs and wants affect to a great extent how interaction groups react to messages and discussion themes. Various appeals should be used in all messages and discussion themes. The most common appeals are listed in the table that follows:

Table 2

Some of the most common Appeals.

The Most Common Appeals 

Rational Appeals

Emotional Appeals

Cleanliness
Dependability in quality
Dependability in use
Durability
Economy in purchase
Economy in use
Efficiency in operational use
Enhancement of earnings
Opportunity for leisure time
Protection of others
Rest or sleep
Safety/security
Variety of selection

Ambition
Appetite
Avoidance of laborious tasks
Co-operation
Curiosity
Devotion to others
Entertainment
Fear
Guilt
Embarrassment
Health
Comfort
Colours
Humour
Pleasure of recreation
Pride of personal appearance
Pride of possession
Romance/love
Security
Sexual attraction
Simplicity
Social belonging/achievement
Social approval/respect
Sport/play/physical activity
Style (beauty)
Sympathy for others
Taste

 

Selection of Message Appeals

For messages, select appeals that attract attention and make the interaction group think that the issue in the message is important and should be attended to. To achieve this, appeals must embody the physiological and emotional benefits that groups will get from the message and what it is conveying.

Selection of Appeals for Discussion Themes

For discussion themes, select appeals that depict the emotions associated with the problem. Picture codes are especially ideal for this. Such appeals often deal with embarrassment, sadness, confusion or fear etc. In the story with a gap, it is essential to clearly depict the various feelings people in the different situations normally express. Particular attention must be given to the facial or vocal expressions of the subjects used in the materials.

The Process of Creative Design: Message Presentation Formats

The way you package and present your message is referred to as a format. Discussion themes do not have such a categorisation, as their nature is mainly to generate discussion in an open manner, without narrowing any possibility of dialogue. In this section you will be presented with the formats frequently used in the treatment of messages.

Messages are presented in various formats or combinations of formats. Depending on the specifications of the message, a relevant format could be selected from the list below. These are specifically called message presentation formats because most of them cannot be successfully applied to discussion themes.

1. Information

-This message format presents straight facts without an explanation of their relevance.

2. Argument or reason why

-This type of message format is structured in the form of an argument or rational discussion.

-The reasons utilised in the argument may be either facts or expected benefits to the interaction group (social standing and so forth).

-One-sided and two-sided discussion/argument.A two-sided argument works better with those who initially oppose the message.

-Direct and indirect discussion/argument. With issues that involve the audience personally an indirect/oblique approach may be better than direct salesmanship.

-Definite and open conclusion. Should the message draw an obvious conclusion or leave it to the audience to draw out their own conclusion?

3. Motivation

-This type of message in this format uses a combination of emotional and rational appeals to persuade and promote action among the interaction groups. It also tries to enhance the image of the innovation by attaching a pleasant emotional connotation to it. The message creates a mood for the innovation.

-Emotional appeals are commonly used to stimulate, love, hate, fear, anxiety, security, hope, happiness etc.

-Emotional appeals attract attention to the message, people remember.

-Negative and positive appeals. Negative appeals create a state of emotion (e.g. anxiety), which is counterbalanced with a positive reassuring outcome (a recommendation).

-Group and individual appeals. Everybody else is doing it, why don't you also do it?Use of social pressure, peer-group pressure to motivate people to jump on the bandwagon.

4. Hard sell

-Messages in this format are not supported by facts.

-The objective is to get the line across for the interaction group to remember.

-The assumption is that people will believe a statement if they hear it long enough.

5. Command

-This type of message in this format orders or reminds us to do something.

-The assumption is that the interaction group is open to suggestion.

-This type of message works best with services, ideas and products that the interaction group knows very well and thinks well of.

6. Symbolic association

-This type of message in this format associates an idea, service (innovation) with a virtue word, person, tune, or situation that has particularly pleasant connotations.

-The idea and the symbol become highly interrelated.

7. Imitation

-This message in this format presents people (role models) and situations for the interaction group to imitate.

-The assumption is that people will imitate those whom they wish to be like or whom they admire. This type of message will use famous people in testimonials.

8. Humour

-Messages in this format grab attention and are more enjoyable especially if the subject cannot be discussed in a straightforward way, but it must be used carefully!

-Humour is used in messages in order to reduce boredom.

-Very fragile: In messages, humour is like a gun in the hands of a child.

-You must know how to do it or it can blow up in your face!

2.2.5 Selecting the Leading Medium and Media Mix

The next chapter presents the most common media utilised in development and some related production aspects. By now you should have an idea of the medium, or media, you intend to use. In the next two sessions look at the characteristics, strength and weaknesses of these media. If you are still not sure which one/s to choose, ask the opinion of an expert before proceeding.

Criteria for Media Selection

When considering which media to use in the communication strategy go back to the problem addressed and to the stated communication objective. If you want to increase people's participation on a certain activity you may want to use discussion tools as a leading medium. On the other hand, if your aim is to send a message alerting people on a straightforward topic you might decide to use radio. Before taking a decision revisit your purpose, the situational context, the medium characteristics and the Interaction Groups' profiles.

An interpersonal approach (person-to-person or group discussion) is very effective in addressing individual needs and allowing people to express their ideas directly. On the other hand interpersonal communication approaches can reach only a limited number of people and discussions can get monopolised by influential individuals or go in an undesired direction. Indigenous traditional media (folk drama, theatre, story telling, songs, dance, etc.) belong to this group of approaches and have the great advantage of giving the driving seat to the community. Production of this sort is usually cheaper and allows a certain topic to be developed within the appropriate local context. The disadvantages are that it may reach only a limited number of people and that it may not be available when needed.

Modern media (video, radio, newspapers, booklets, posters, etc.) are very effective in generating interest and providing needed information. They can be divided into visual, audio (radio, cassettes) and print media (leaflets, books, etc.). Visual media (TV, video) have several advantages, namely clarity (explanations can be assisted by images), interest and retention (what you see stays longer than what you hear or read). Audio media (radio, cassettes) are a very good supporting and motivational medium, but it is difficult to sustain interest on longer programmes. Print media can be effective either in passing short straightforward messages (posters) or for treating issues in detail (booklets, books, etc.) however, they also require that people be able to read, which is a major obstacle in many areas. All of the modern media are expensive, compared to the other types. Very often they are developed outside the cultural context of the communities they are meant to serve. Even their level of penetration is generally low, especially for television, and, partly for radio and newspapers.

The table below has been culled from an FAO publication1 and it illustrates the basic pros and cons of different media.

Table 3

The Various Media in Rural Development.

PROS CONS

TELEVISION

  • Prestigious.
  • Appealing.
  • Persuasive.
  • Tends to be monopolised by powerful interests because of its prestige.
  • Not available in all rural areas.
  • Expensive production/reception.
  • Programme production for agriculture can be difficult.
  • Difficult to localise information for agriculture unless there are local TV stations, still rare in developing countries.

Summary note:

Although potentially powerful, television is not easy to use for rural development in most developing countries due to its high costs involved in the production and in buying TV sets.

VIDEO

  • Highly persuasive.

  • Constantly improving technology is making it ever cheaper and more reliable.

  • Electronic image/sound recording  gives immediate playback and production flexibility.

  • Allows more than one language to be recorded as commentary on single tape.

  • Can be shown in daylight using battery- powered equipment.

  • Multiplicity of standards/formats.
  • Requires talent, skill and experience to  produce good programmes for development.
  • Requires rather sophisticated repair and maintenance facilities. 
  • Dependent on the use to which it is to be put, may call for quite large capital investment.
  • Colour/visual quality mediocre in some standards.

Summary note:

Video has become the media in the minds of many (see chapter 3.3). Indeed, it is highly effective but as it has been frequently used, calls for a careful strategy and skilled producers.

SLIDE SETS/FILM STRIPS

  • Slide-sets quite to easy produce.

  • Low-cost equipment for production and projection.

  • Very good colour/visual quality.

  • Filmstrips made of robust material and are small, easy to transport.

  • Excellent training medium for all subjects except those few for which showing movement is an absolute essential.
  • Production requires laboratory process.
  • Cannot be used in daylight without special rear-projection screen.
  • Lacks the appeal of video (which relates to TV in most minds).
  • Turning slides into film strips requires laboratory process which is not always available in developing countries.
The Various Media in Rural Development.

Summary note:

Slide sets/filmstrips have proved an invaluable training aid in rural and agricultural development but they are tending to lose out to video, despite the higher cost of the latter.

RADIO

  • Wide coverage and availability in rural areas.

  • Cheap production/reception.

  • Relatively simple programme production.

  • Local radio stations facilitate localised information.

  • Weak as a medium for training and education since it is audio only.
  • Batteries for receivers are often difficult to buy or too expensive for people.

Summary note:

Excellent support medium, good for strengthening motivation and for drawing attention to new ideas and techniques, but weak for providing detailed information and training.

AUDIO CASSETTES

  • Easy and cheap to produce programmes.

  • Cassette players quite widely available.

  • Easy to localise information.

  • Good for feedback because farmers can record their questions/reactions.
  • Can be used well in conjunction with rural radio.

  • Audio only and so suffers some of the weakness of radio, though where possible repeated listening may help to overcome it.
  • When directly used by the community audio recorders need attention and careful maintenance. 

Summary note:

Very good low-cost medium. Potential has not been sufficiently recognised. Especially useful in conjunction with extension and rural radio.

FLIP CHARTS

  • Cheap and simple to produce and use.

  • Good for training and extension support.

  • Not as realistic as projected aids.
  • Care required to make drawings understandable to illiterates.
  • Lack the attraction of audio-visual materials.

  • May be thought of as “second-rate” by people with experience of electronic media.

Summary note:

Flip charts are very useful in helping extensionist/technicians in their work with rural people. Drawings are notoriously difficult to understand for people with low visual literacy, so careful design and pre-testing needed.

PRINTED MATERIAL

  • Relatively cheap, simple and easy to produce when using basic printing formats (e.g. one colour, simple binding, etc.) and for large numbers.

  • Can be taken home, consulted and kept as permanent reminder.
  • Particularly valuable for extensionists, technicians and community leaders.
  • Can be also expensive if a sophisticated printing  is required (i.e. full colour, proper binding, layout, etc.)  or if the quantities to be produced are very limited.
  • Of little use among illiterates, but bear in mind “family  literacy” as opposed to literacy of individual farmers. 

Summary:

Well designed, carefully written for their intended audience, printed materials can provide a vitally important and cheap source of reference for extensionists, and for literates among the rural population.

FOLK MEDIA (Theatre, Puppetry, Storytelling, etc)

  • It requires small capital investment.

  • Does not depend on external technology, often liable to break

  • May be highly credible and folk persuasive where media has a strong tradition.

  • Can treat sensitive issues in a culturally appropriate manner.
  • Intrinsically adapted to local cultural scene.

  • Requires skilled crafting of development messages into the fabric of the folk media.
  • May lack prestige vis-à-vis more modern  media in some societies down.
  • May be difficult to organise, and calls for close  working relationship between development workers and folk media artists. 

Summary

Creative use of folk media – in cultures where it is popular and well entrenched - can be a subtle and effective way of introducing development ideas and messages. Care required to ensure that the mix of entertainment and development is appropriate, so furthering the latter without damaging the former.

 

The Process of Creative Design: The Creative Element

Creativity has always been something regarded highly in human societies. It is because of their creativity that human beings were able to survive and evolve through a hostile environment. It applies in every aspect of human life but it plays an especially important part in communication. It is the added value in the communication strategy that can really make the difference between failure and success.

The Concept of Creativity

Ancient Greeks in the past associated creativity with “divine madness” and they considered it a gift of the Gods. At that time the highest form of creativity was to be found in arts such as poetry or sculpture. Creativity was therefore something added to man, a plus. Even during recent times many creative artists have been considered to be rather eccentric. The “divine madness” is accepted in them as a sign of geniality. However every human being, in different degrees, is capable of being creative. Every human being actually applies his or her creative powers in many everyday situations. How creativity can be learned or strengthened is a subject that has fascinated many thinkers. Graham Wallas, in his book, The Art of Thought, describes four stages of creation:

  1. Preparation.

In order to have creative insights, a person needs to know as much as possible about the issue of relevance. The availability of information and its assessment are important factors fuelling the creative process. People usually seem to have creative ideas only in their own field, i.e. artists in art, scientists in science, doctors in medicine, etc.

  1. Incubation.

It is the period of time, usually spent away from the issue or problem, needed to reflect upon the information available. It might have happened to you when thinking too much about a problem without finding a suitable solution, and then suddenly it comes to you when you are not even thinking about it.

  1. Inspiration.

This is the stage where you suddenly see a light flashing in your mind and you know you have found the perfect solution to your problem, or you have come up with an innovative, original idea. Whatever the case, you have been illuminated. Often this happens unexpectedly, even during your sleep. While most inventions in human history may appear to have happened “out of the blue”, they really “clicked” on the inventors' knowledge. These happened because the inventors knew their subject area very well. Their creative ideas only came up after a deep knowledge of the subject.

  1. Verification.

This is the application of your idea in the real world. Sometimes great sounding ideas do not work effectively in reality. In your communication strategy pre-testing would be the equivalent of this phase.

While working on the communication strategy you will probably go through a similar process as the one described above. Be sure that you, as everybody else, have creative powers, which come from knowledge, and experience accumulated from every day of your life. Remember that when developing the communication strategy it is not enough to ensure the transmission of information, but to use your creativity. Use your creativity to get people's attention! Once more, think about the advertising world where at times one word or an image makes a whole world come alive. Try to use similar approaches and techniques for the development world.

The Big Idea

The big idea is a bold, creative initiative that synthesises all that is known about the interaction group, the benefits of the innovation with the group's desires, needs and wants in a fresh and involving way to bring the subject to life. The big idea requires inspiration. To come up with the big idea, message designers rely on metaphors: the likening of one process or thing to another by speaking of it as if it were the other. They borrow terminology commonly used by the interaction group to describe something else. For example, immunisation is likened to an umbrella that you carry with you during the rainy season because you don't know when it is going to rain. Without it the rain will drench you.

To get their creative juices flowing, message designers keep a list of messages they have seen and liked. They do so because they believe that these might stimulate new ideas, so they experiment or play around with words and they write from the heart. A good way of keeping the stream of big ideas flowing is that of always keeping a small notebook with you, writing down every significant thing you see or that comes into your mind. As seen previously, good ideas apparently come out of nowhere, and they might go as easily as they come. Noting them down as they come could therefore be a good way of increasing your creative wealth.

To recognise a good big idea ask yourself the following questions:

2.2.6 Developing the Basic Treatment

This involves the selection of the possible wording, pictures or sounds to communicate the message or the discussion themes. The treatment must help position the idea clearly and reinforce it. For messages, especially the treatment must help ensure that they have the ability to generate the following in the interaction group: Attention, Awareness, Comprehension, Desire, Credibility/Conviction, Interest, and Action.

The purpose of any message is to get people to take some action to satisfy a need or want. But first people need to be made aware of the problem or the solution, if the problem is obvious. To create awareness, the message designer must first get the people's attention. Culture, attitudes, needs, wants, mood, beliefs, behaviour, assumptions, motivation, size, position, timing etc., can all determine what catches a person's attention.

Attention is the first objective of any message. Without gaining and sustaining attention, the message is no good. For the message to gain attention it must break through the person's selective exposure and attention screens. Selective exposure is the tendency for a person to expose himself or herself to only those messages that are in agreement with the persons existing attitudes, needs or wants and to avoid those that are not. However, under some circumstances, a person can expose himself, or herself, to a message that is not in agreement with his or her attitudes, needs or wants because he or she cannot judge the content of the message before hand. In such cases, the selective attention mechanism is activated. Selective attention is the tendency for a person to pay attention to those messages or parts of a message that are in agreement with the person's strongly held attitudes, beliefs, or behaviour and to avoid those that are not. One major key to getting attention is to make the message relevant to the interaction group's culture, attitudes, needs, wants, mood, beliefs, behaviour, assumptions and motivation.

Attention-getting devices for print media:

Dynamic visuals

Unusual layout

Vibrant colours

Large headlines

Provocative statements

Attention getting devices for electronic media:

Special sound effects: loudness

Music

Animation and Movement

This is the second element the message must generate in order to be effective. It carries the person who is interacting with the message from the attention stage to a more serious discussion in the body of the message. Interest is required to keep the excitement created at the attention-getting stage going on as the person gets into the more specific and detailed information in the message.

One way of achieving interest is to keep talking about the interaction groups' problems and needs, and how the action suggested in the message can answer them. Good message designers use the word YOU frequently to personalise the message. Use of a story, a dramatic situation, sound effects and catchy dialogue can help you maintain interest.

Another important factor of the process is to establish credibility for the action or information in the message. Your interaction groups are often sceptical and cynical. They want to know that the information or action suggested in the message is backed by facts: Can the action recommended produce the results claimed by the message?

To achieve credibility, you can use influential sources of information and advice identified by the community during the PRCA as spokespersons to give testimonials in your messages. Whenever such “proofs” are used, ensure that they are valid and not just manipulative. The dimensions of source credibility are:

- Trustworthiness. How much a particular source is trusted by the people.

- Competence. Is concerned with the know-how, as perceived by the interaction groups, of a person in relation to the issue of relevance.

- Charisma. Powerful personal qualities, that make a person admirable and respected by everybody else, thus providing instant credibility to what he/she says or does.

- Status. This is similar to the above, but rather than coming directly from personal qualities it is derived from the social position occupied by a person. The two - charisma and status - are often associated with one person. Sometimes you find a person with high status, but very low charisma, or a highly charismatic person yet with very low social status.

Remember that people are more prone to listen, and follow the advice, of somebody they hold in high esteem rather than some unknown person.

This is the step in which the most relevant benefits or advantages of the idea in the message are made manifest. In this step you are basically encouraging the interaction group to imagine themselves enjoying the benefits of the action recommended in the message. In advertising this is the phase where “people wants” are transformed into “peoples needs”, that is, convincing people that what they desire, e.g. a new car, a computer, etc., is what they actually need.

The purpose here is to motivate the interaction group to do something - “Visit your nearest clinic for more information”, “Go to your extension officer for a demonstration” etc; or at least to agree with the message. The call for action may be explicit e.g., “Visit your nearest clinic for more information”, or implicit: “Feed your children and not rats.” Calls for action are normally stated in the tone of a command.

For radio/audio messages:

Message designers first need to understand radio/audio as peculiar media. Radio, especially, provides entertainment or news, as the listeners are busy doing other things. To be heard on radio and produce any type of effect, the message on radio must be catchy, interesting and unforgettable. Radio listeners usually decide within five to eight seconds whether they want to pay attention or not. Therefore, to attract and hold listener's attention, the message must be intrusive, but not offensive. Try to make the programme alive and interesting. Some suggestions include:

2.2.7 The Communication Brief (including outputs)

The communication brief is a clear and written directive prepared for media producers to guide them in translating basic messages into communication materials, media and activities for use in the communication campaign. It contains all the relevant information to enable the producer come up with materials that are relevant, attractive and useful.

This communication brief includes the objectives of the campaign, message or discussion theme specifications, the intended interaction groups and their characteristics, preferred technical features such as colours or sound effects. It specifies where and when the messages will be communicated and also the context for the use of the discussion themes. Most important of all the communication brief has to specify the intended outputs. Even if some may have already been preliminarily identified at an early stage it is only now, after the messages and themes have been fully designed, the selection of the media finalised and the related treatment fully accomplished, that outputs can be accurately specified and refined.

Outputs are needed to finalise the work plan for the communication strategy. Therefore you should describe them in detail. If for instance you intend to use radio, specify if your quantitative output is a radio programme or a series of programmes, and what the objectives of this programme are. If you need to produce posters, specify how many copies you expect to produce and so on. It is important that after having gone through the creative design phase you clearly state the expected outputs necessary to address the communication strategy effectively.

2.3 Preliminary Monitoring of Messages and Discussion Themes' Effectiveness

Before even producing the materials the designers should share messages and discussion themes with as many people as possible in order to gauge their preliminary levels of attention, comprehension and relevance. This does not mean that the materials would not be eventually pre-tested with samples of the intended interaction groups before final production. Many elements to be considered in monitoring are discussed in the sections dealing with pre-testing of communication materials. Keep in mind that you will have to monitor technical aspects regarding the production of materials as well peoples' perceptions and effectiveness of the intended scope of the messages and discussion themes.

The best way to assess effectiveness is to compare it against set specifications. If a message has been designed to raise awareness on a certain issue you must measure if it does that. If it does not, you must find out why. The causes are usually stem from one, or sometimes both, of the following categories: the technical/ production area, (e.g. Is the sound quality good enough? Are the drawings technically valid and the materials used appropriate?) Or the design area (e.g. Have the materials been developed according to peoples' perceptions and background? have the proper appeals and formats been used?). Therefore whenever you produce something do not be absorbed by how good they look on sound, but how well they perform their purpose.

1 Guidelines on Communication for Rural Development. FAO, Rome, Italy.


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