A new brave word

Words mean things. Each word evokes a certain reaction or emotion because it is the most descriptive and direct form of human expression. Be it verbal or written, Greek or Chinese, words are highly effective communication tools. Without words, the human race and our civilization would not have evolved through the centuries. There are more words today than ever before in history and there will be more words tomorrow than there are today. How am I so assertive? Because I have coined a new word which I’d like to share with you today. It is a word which I created because I feel there is a need for it as no other existing word can convey the same meaning in such an all-inclusive, all-encompassing way.

PRANDING

It is coined out of four different words which jointly comprise three marketing communications disciplines:

•       Public Relations (PR)

•       Branding (PRANDING) – in Arabic P is pronounced as B

•       Advertising (the letters ‘ad’)

Pranding does exactly what the three disciplines do, only better, by reversing the traditional sequence of campaign origination; by having the end in mind it works backwards to achieve the specifically planned output.

Because of its complex nature and multi-meaningful disposition I also felt compelled to create a logo to help the word convey its core substance in a visual way.

Before Pranding

Company X briefs advertising agency Y for the launch of a new product. Y develops campaign, presents to X for sign off. Y’s objective is to create a campaign that sells the product regardless of any likely implications to the product’s brand equity or reputation.

Once campaign is signed off, Y will brief branding agency Z and PR agency Omega to support the campaign. Z and Omega discover many, some or few issues with the campaign likely to cause brand image or reputational risks.

That’s because branding (influential at the POS) and PR (influential in shaping consumer’s emotional response to a product), did not participate or input during the campaign’s development process.

Let’s take a look at how X is structured internally today and how its various departments are interfacing with Y, Z and Omega.

 

 

 

Even today, before Pranding becomes an established concept, the PR agency which works closely with the Corporate Communications department is already much more attuned to a more holistic picture of what is going on within X as it enjoys a 360 view of the entire operation.

It is actively involved in content creation for the financial reviews and quarterly results media material, it is privy to confidential and public sales targets and marketing strategy, it has also probably helped formulate content about X’s values, mission and corporate principles, is working on X’s CSR strategy, has helped put out a fire or two on operational level (crisis management) and has contributed in and attended numerous occasions where the CEO of X shared in public or during on-on-one media interviews his views or speech on certain industry issues with an impact on the company. And due to its contribution to internal communications, Omega understands HR and staff issues better than any other external supplier. Who would argue with that?

On the other hand, the branding agency is very hands on X’s various branding requirements, from letterheads to the newest web site design and from packaging of products to PoS representation. But have they ever heard the CEO talk? Do they know how the media perceived the latest corporate announcement? Do they even care to know? More or less the same could also be said for the advertising service team. Wrong? 

Post-Pranding

Omega receives client’s initial brief and plots the campaign’s holistic narrative having the end in mind. The end in mind is how the product is likely to be perceived by the consumer through its portrayal in earned and social media. If perceptions created at that level are negative, consumer mindsets will be resistant to any form of paid-for advertisement. Advertisers are not equipped or inclined to weigh in their campaigns the intangible cost of reputational backlash or lack of branding values and overall identity alignment between the master brand and the product in question.

In the age of Pranding, PR takes the lead by plotting the desirable happy ending to the story, then unravels Ariadne’s thread towards the drawing board for the planning stages of the campaign.

If an attempt at reinventing the marketing communications wheel doesn’t warrant the creation of a new word, then I don’t know what is.

Be Brave. Prand!