How we do it : Host Universal Ethical Communications
Our collaborative-working concept
Experience tells us that collaborative working generates more focussed thinking, more powerful engagement and more exciting outcomes. Who knows, you may even enjoy it.
Personal interviews Audit interviews explore challenges and opportunities facing your organisation from a personal perspective of a cross-section of stakeholders - an exploration of the strengths and weaknesses; visions of success and the barriers and drivers to that success. The learning delivers insights and understanding and reveals positive and negative themes. And some very bold objectives. The themes and objectives inform the agenda of an innovation workshop.
Innovation workshop The workshop is a structured but fast-moving. A three-hour facilitated session engaging the core team, external specialists and Host members, brought together to provide a powerful springboard for new thinking. Typically there are 15 participants.
Innovation Workshop for the World Fair Trade Organization
The session is not designed to deliver a ‘eureka moment’ (though it often does) but rather to capture themes and insights that will inform the development of a new strategy. Or, whenever possible the creation of Hostscopes.
Hostscope future scenarios Hostscopes are large format big visual concepts evolved from a powerful workshop theme and they bring stratgy to life - usually in the most extraordinary ways.
Always illuminating and often surprising, Hostscopes bring strategy to life and take thinking to a new place. Hostscopes come in threes but the solutions they inspire can engage and unite the largest organisation or the most diverse stakeholder group.
Cultural brand strategy The insights and thinking from the audit, Innovation and Hostscope Workshops are distilled into a strategy that is inspirational, practical and, critically, has extreme relevance to the market or culture the organisation is engaging. A brand strategy is built with these components
Brand differentiators Brand Differentiators define the narrative of a brand. They are powerful stepping stones to the future. They are revealed by the audit and Innovation Workshop and they define the organization. The final strategic recommendations are drawn from this resource.
Example of a brand differentiator from Agrofair’s US initiative OKé USA
Positioning for maximum relevance We distil the brand down to a single-word positioning. A one-word positioning that will differentiate the organisation absolutely yet remain relevant to the full spectrum of stakeholders - critical given the complexity of the communications environment. A one-word positioning informs all activity and behaviour yet remains easy to manage and understand. we call this, the maximum point of relevance.
Propositions that talk A ‘proposition’ is, not surprisingly, often confused with a positioning but the two are not the same. A proposition is what an organisation needs to say to a stakeholder in order for them to engage with and believe in the brand's positioning. Propositions can change to reflect a target audience or are refreshed to keep the vision active.
Values build communities In a values-driven organisation, values are hard criteria for managing the culture and the community you are building. They’re simple, universally understood words that best describe an attitude and they inorm all behaviour..
Messaging framework The framework helps articulate the brand story across all stakeholder groups and defines the messaging hierarchy in terms of primary, secondary and tertiary levels of narrative.
Creative resources A realisation of the strategy in a creative or design format. A story, a website design or multi-facetted communications tool or a unique and memorable visual icon.
2009 Host Universal |