Today I want to look at two cases that suggest questioning about contemporary communication phenomena, or at least give us space to think.

Daniel Noboa and Luisa González offer ‘off script’, what happens to what is not included in their work plans?

The first question refers to the campaign for the second round of presidential elections. In the absence of surprise and ingenuity, the strategy seems to have been to not take risks instead of providing value through a creative proposition.

Cardboard Daniel Noboas are ‘kidnapped’ to party, dance, eat and even travel by bus

Creativity can be an element of uncertainty and, in a way, that risk has increased with what we might call the meme phenomenon. Although there is a solid strategy, with well thought out and elaborated parts and messages, any isolated, temporary, passing phrase can become a viral event that resigns the candidate in an unwanted way. In this context, we could end up believing that what is not said is more important than what is said, and perhaps this paralyzed the creative engines of both lists. Cardboard figures of one of the candidates stand out, mass reproduced and distributed to infiltrate homes and stories circulating with humor on social networks. A simple action, without conceptual complexes, which achieves a positive effect thanks to the environment in which it appears, contrasting the climate of violence and disqualification of the communication scene.

(…) communication does not work in a linear, isolated and predictable way, now less than ever.

The second topic I want to refer to is a campaign that an airline recently launched through social networks, where without fear of consequences, or the naivety of the case, he dared to motivate his users to participate. Ahead of the rebranding launch, the brand tried to generate excitement with the #QuéPasóConLaA campaign, where it deletes the initial letter of its brand and invites users to look for it. As we have already said, communication works in contexts, and the context is given by the environment or determined by the relationship, in this case with clients, and if there is a significant number of customers who are not satisfied with the service of the airline, the consequences are predictable. : “she is lost as well as her clients’ luggage”, “they put her on another flight because hers was overbooked” are some of the interactions.

Avianca has mobilized 821 passengers affected by the closure of Equair

What connects these two cases is the understanding that communication does not work in a linear, isolated and predictable way, now less than ever.

To help us understand these phenomena, a review of Byung-Chul Han’s new book, The Storytelling Crisis, helps, where he contrasts the current craze for storytelling with the narrative void. We are talking about the immediate and ephemeral nature of information, which turns individuals into screen consumers, lonely and isolated, devoted to moments. Someone called them “Homophones”.

Ahead of us is a strategic communication crisis? Perhaps, if we understand that communication is based on sharing meaning, that meaning is in people, not in words, and that people change quickly and permanently. (OR)