Co-Creation of Meaning:Strategic Communication and the Sovereign Public

C. Botan

1. What is StratComm?

2. Cocreation View

3. What makes publics a sovereign power?

Public = group of people with common views and interests on a topic

Preview

Grand strategy = policy level

Strategy = campaign level (planning)

Tactics = application/execution

Overlap, look at essence

Authority flows down

Reality flows up

Grand Strategy-Strategy-Tactics

Communication campaign planning

Pays shows this (17th)

Brings strategic info into organization

Not tactical level

Pay shows

Most strategists do some tactics

Today is call to professionalize StratComm

What is StratComm

Big 3 Public Relations (PR) Marketing Communication and IMC Public Health Communication

Other fields Political Communication Anti-terrorism Public diplomacy Nation building

Branches of same tree

StratComm

Since Information Revolution

WHAT we communicate about has changed

HOW and HOW MUCH has changed

WHO communicates changed

Today publics create & share own views

We All Know . . .

Cocreation of meaning

Publics integrate own experiences and values with what senders say to create new understandings

Culture, family, religion, personal experience, goals, opinions of friends, etc.

Not new idea – just new to StratComm practice

Marketing communication (value)/PR lead

Cocreation

Clients/employers decide if we can pay our rent and buy food.

Publics decide if campaigns succeed or fail

Outside of campaign

We answer to publics, they do not answer to

Sovereign Publics

WANT to know if publics understanding different

WANT to know if publics negative, skeptical, angry

Publics make own decision based largely on the info they already have. So . . .

StratComm begins and ends with research

Sovereign Means . . .

Questions welcome

Thank You