The essence of a communication strategy

A good communication strategy is simple and sticky like a good metaphor. It should be so clear and concise that it can be written at the backside of a beer mat. You may have to go through a rigorous and complex planning process, but the plan should be simple. I learned this from art, music and literature:

“A bolt is not round but octagonal, a bath tube is smooth and not small,
A door is two meters high, everybody knows why!”

This is how Dutch architect Mart Stam – the inventor of the steel-tubing chair (see picture)- explained in the first half of last century his approach to modern industrial architecture and design.

“Listen: you strings are weaving a carpet with all kind of warm colors, and you - the hobo – you have to imagine that you are the silver thread that gives the carpet its heavenly appearance.”

This is how I remember Joop van Zon, conductor of our student orchestra, explaining us how to play the adagio of a Mozart symphony.
In section 4 of the CEPA toolkit on page 31-39 strategic communication approaches are explained in more detail.