Audience First

In communication always look first at the audience. When judging a communication intervention look first at the target group for which it is meant. I realized this again when attending a workshop ´How to make a communication plan?´ After a short introduction we looked at the video ´Love not Loss´ and were asked to discuss what was good about the video and what could be improved. What the audience was?  Youtube the best medium? Message? Right images? Tone of voice and music? Language? Technical terms? Was it evidence-based and is it important? A lively discussion followed. All assumed the video was made for the general public and policymakers. Nobody including the workshop organizers had checked this assumption.  

When the general conclusion was drawn that the video was too fuzzy and negative to have any impact, I could not keep silent. I explained that the video was made for the CBD COP  in Nagoya to stress to the conservation community the importance of communicating biodiversity to a wider public not in a negative but in a positive way, appealing to the emotion of love for nature that is inherent in all human beings. Every one agreed that for that audience the video was perfect. And I realized that putting it on the web without any explanation about the context, for whom it was meant etc. may easily lead to such misunderstanding. Again: "Audience First"!