Chapter 13> Information Materials
Chapter 13 provides guidelines for communicating via a variety of information materials. The authors assert that wordings, depth of the information detail, and message channel should be carefully chosen depending on the target audience.
I’d like to bring Coca-Cola’s case into my discussion to talk about how the different forms of information materials have been used to reach different audiences. Coca-Cola Korea Company (hereafter called “Coca-Cola”) was one of my clients when I was working at a PR firm about a couple of years ago. Coca-Cola was suffering from the public’s misperception that cola is the leading beverage that does an excellent job of melting and decaying teeth. They wanted to alleviate the publics’ anxiety by distributing the message that tooth decay is not caused particularly by cola. Some of the solid and scientific information on which the message is based are: 1) Compared to those snacks such as chips and cookies that are more likely to stick to the teeth, beverage which is a liquid type is less likely to cause tooth decay, 2) In reality, soft drinks are quickly gulped down so that the liquid doesn’t stay long enough to cause melting teeth, and 3) A study published on US Journal of Dental Research proved that there is no direct association between soft drinks and tooth decay.
In the middle of this project, my agency decided to close our service for Coca-Cola because my boss couldn’t quite get along with this notoriously mercurial marketing manager of Coca-Cola. Soon another victim, I mean pr agency, was chosen to carry out the project. Anyway, back to the story, it was a few months later when these two information materials were released. (I know this case could be better described as “issue management.” However, I decided that it could also be looked at as an example of “care communication.”) The information materials were produced into two formats: cartoon and blog article. (I’ve added English captions to the cartoon below.)
This cartoon was published on one of the nationwide daily sports tabloid in Korea. Rather than presenting the scientific backgrounds, they chose to deliver the message in indirect manner. When considering that tabloids are mostly less serious than other newspapers, delivering the message in such soft manner was a good decision. In addition, a cartoon can be an effective format to appeal to our “visually oriented society.”
While the cartoon on a tabloid sends out the message with a sense of humor, the article that Coca-Cola posted on their corporate blog follows the traditional form of fact sheets. Although it contained the same message as the cartoon does, it also includes a series of detail information, research results, and statement made by knowledgeable figure like dentists. This information material must have somewhat fulfilled the needs of those audience who wants additional logical explanation. Furthermore, not only this blog posting provides scientific backgrounds on the related risk (cola’s influence on the health of teeth in this case), it also produced additional benefits that other traditional information materials cannot provide. Now I will briefly discuss about the benefit of such electronic format of information materials.
Although pretty much every information material that is mentioned in the textbook can be distributed in electronic format, there are some other forms that are unique on World Wide Web: A corporate blog is one of a kind. The advantage of using a corporate blog when communicating risk is that the speed of message dissemination is higher than other forms of information materials. The audiences and bloggers often times become the distributors of the information by linking the original posting to their own blogs for online forum. Coca-Cola’s posting that I mentioned above, for example recorded more than one thousand trackbacks. In addition, the technical support of the electronic format enables active public involvement allowing the readers to make instant comments on a distributed message. However, more than enough amount of information gets distributed on the Web. Often, some of the messages are contradictory to each other. Therefore, it is very important when communicating risk on World Wide Web to include the information about the precise source of data on which the message is based in the contents to avoid confusion.
In conclusion, it all comes down to the matter of analyzing the target audience once again. Even with the same message, you have to “scratch their back” in a way that suits best for each type of audience.
I’d like to bring Coca-Cola’s case into my discussion to talk about how the different forms of information materials have been used to reach different audiences. Coca-Cola Korea Company (hereafter called “Coca-Cola”) was one of my clients when I was working at a PR firm about a couple of years ago. Coca-Cola was suffering from the public’s misperception that cola is the leading beverage that does an excellent job of melting and decaying teeth. They wanted to alleviate the publics’ anxiety by distributing the message that tooth decay is not caused particularly by cola. Some of the solid and scientific information on which the message is based are: 1) Compared to those snacks such as chips and cookies that are more likely to stick to the teeth, beverage which is a liquid type is less likely to cause tooth decay, 2) In reality, soft drinks are quickly gulped down so that the liquid doesn’t stay long enough to cause melting teeth, and 3) A study published on US Journal of Dental Research proved that there is no direct association between soft drinks and tooth decay.
In the middle of this project, my agency decided to close our service for Coca-Cola because my boss couldn’t quite get along with this notoriously mercurial marketing manager of Coca-Cola. Soon another victim, I mean pr agency, was chosen to carry out the project. Anyway, back to the story, it was a few months later when these two information materials were released. (I know this case could be better described as “issue management.” However, I decided that it could also be looked at as an example of “care communication.”) The information materials were produced into two formats: cartoon and blog article. (I’ve added English captions to the cartoon below.)
This cartoon was published on one of the nationwide daily sports tabloid in Korea. Rather than presenting the scientific backgrounds, they chose to deliver the message in indirect manner. When considering that tabloids are mostly less serious than other newspapers, delivering the message in such soft manner was a good decision. In addition, a cartoon can be an effective format to appeal to our “visually oriented society.”
While the cartoon on a tabloid sends out the message with a sense of humor, the article that Coca-Cola posted on their corporate blog follows the traditional form of fact sheets. Although it contained the same message as the cartoon does, it also includes a series of detail information, research results, and statement made by knowledgeable figure like dentists. This information material must have somewhat fulfilled the needs of those audience who wants additional logical explanation. Furthermore, not only this blog posting provides scientific backgrounds on the related risk (cola’s influence on the health of teeth in this case), it also produced additional benefits that other traditional information materials cannot provide. Now I will briefly discuss about the benefit of such electronic format of information materials.
Although pretty much every information material that is mentioned in the textbook can be distributed in electronic format, there are some other forms that are unique on World Wide Web: A corporate blog is one of a kind. The advantage of using a corporate blog when communicating risk is that the speed of message dissemination is higher than other forms of information materials. The audiences and bloggers often times become the distributors of the information by linking the original posting to their own blogs for online forum. Coca-Cola’s posting that I mentioned above, for example recorded more than one thousand trackbacks. In addition, the technical support of the electronic format enables active public involvement allowing the readers to make instant comments on a distributed message. However, more than enough amount of information gets distributed on the Web. Often, some of the messages are contradictory to each other. Therefore, it is very important when communicating risk on World Wide Web to include the information about the precise source of data on which the message is based in the contents to avoid confusion.
In conclusion, it all comes down to the matter of analyzing the target audience once again. Even with the same message, you have to “scratch their back” in a way that suits best for each type of audience.
posted by Minji at
2/05/2007 01:23:00 AM
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