Messages in time.
From the Flickr of: F3R/n@nd0 (FJTU)
Yesterday I posted about how I think the switch to digital communication tools is leading to a decline in the nuance, subtlety and range of our communication overall. Last night as I was talking about this with my wife, we also realised that one of the reasons for this is that we tend to use digital communication tools in the most efficient way possible and remove everything but the main points we’re trying to convey. We lose texture and context in doing so and we also lose pacing and timing.
There is clearly an emotional message to time. Quick pacing conveys entirely different emotional content than slow pacing, however I think that informational content also differs according to pacing and time.
Here’s what I mean: take the same message (almost any message) and communicate it first quickly, and then slowly with repetition. I think the first will elicit a quick mental response. You will decide quickly whether it’s relevant to you or not and just as quickly decide whether it requires a response or not. In the second instance, while you may become bored and tune out, it’s also quite likely that you will start to consider the ramifications and extensions of what’s being communicated more deeply. The time accorded to the communication makes you think more about it and therefore (almost certainly) brings more to the overall communication even though not more is actually being said. (I think this is also one of the reasons why frequency continues to be effective in broadcast much to our chagrin).
This is very similar to the quote attributed to Saki, “in baiting the trap with cheese, always leave room for the mouse.” The best communications will enable the listener to bring his or her own texture to the message. There is really no substitute to time as the way to do this and the time each listener needs will probably vary.
Time is something that we often consider in traditional advertising, but it’s usually only the time we need to communicate our message, not the time you need to think about it. In fact, I’d argue that the time you need can’t really be built into a communications plan because it is impossible for a communications planner to really know how much time each individual listener will need. Leaving time for you to listen also fights quite hard against the main effort of most communications plans – trying to get you to listen.
