Guide to transformational communication

Guide to transformational communication

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Guide to Transformational Communication Author Team of the area of Education for Social Transformation of the Association of Friends of the RASD in Alava Basque translation: Nagore Tolosa Arabic translation: Bachir M. Rayaa French translation: Bakun English translation: Bakun Publisher Asociación de Amigos y Amigas de la RASD de Álava (Association of Friends of the RASD in Alava) Funding Agencia Vasca de Cooperación para el Desarrollo (Basque Agency of Cooperation for Development) Printing EPS Comunicación Design and layout Amagoia Murua Illustrations Agencia de comunicación IMPLÍCATE.ORG

Social movements should base their communication strategies within different theoretical frameworks to those of conventional communication, which is based on persuasion and the conveyance or regulation of the public opinion.

A communication for social transformation not only aspires to change the issues that it discusses; it must also base communication on other imaginaries such as social change and the building of ties within the social fabric. It is essential to change the model of communication and opt for horizontal, dialogical models. Communication is understood as a process that involves the people.

Víctor Marí Sáez Professor of the Audiovisual Communication and Advertising Area of the University of Cadiz Extract from the interview “Communicating to transform, transforming to communicate” Portal de los estudios de la comunicación

CONTENTS Prologue: Why a communication campaign for social transformation?

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What does a transformational communication campaign consist of?

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Where do we place our attention now? The Briefing

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Getting the creativity going

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How to go about dissemination

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A good social media dissemination plan

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How to make a low-budget video

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Robokoop, a transformative communications campaign

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Why a communication campaign for social transformation?

Prologue

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Our group is facing a challenge, a situation that it wants to change. But in order to meet that challenge, we need people at our side. How can we reach those people? And more importantly, how can get them to join forces with us?

Sooner or later someone is going to suggest launching a communication campaign. Is a press release enough? How about messages in the social media? Signs in the neighbourhood streets? Should we promote it on TV? Who? Where? Where? When? Why? How? It may not be that simple, but we already have a double objective: to shed light on a specific problem; and to convince people of the need to act to change it. Thought and action.

Let’s open people’s eyes To transform any problem, we must go to its root, rather than just working to mitigate its consequences. This requires an in-depth study of its causes and the context in which those causes take place. A campaign that aims to change a given situation must communicate the causes of that situation and generate actions to reverse them.

The global economic, social and cultural system that we live in is ruled by a logic of maximising profits at all costs and concentrating them in the hands of the few, in a world with finite resources and founded on inequalities of gender, class and origin. This system generates

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a contained structural violence through the concealment of its mechanisms, consequences on majorities, threat and repression.

The inputs of feminism, environmental protection movements, and anti-capitalist and indigenous peoples’ movements, for example, are essential to a critical reading of the system that provides the framework for the problem that we wish to contest. The alternatives proposed by these movements and the tools that they use can help us to design specific actions.

We must go back to the specific cause that has motivated us and broaden our gaze from there: How is that cause affected by the power imbalances, inequalities, and the social, economic, and / or cultural ways that sustain that system? Who else is affected by it? How do those other people or groups experience it?

As the famous adage goes, “If you want to change things, you’ve got to start by changing the way you do them”.

Our experience This work stems from the desire to share what we have learned at the Association of Friends of the RASD in Álava, Spain, through the project “Trans-forming communication: a campaign against the plunder of natural resources in the Western Sahara”, which aimed to denounce the sacking of the natural resources of the Western Sahara, an area illegally occupied by Morocco, and the backing of Morocco by companies and western governments.

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The idea emerged from the cooperation with a group of Saharawi activists and communicators from the occupied territories (Equipe Media), who clearly believed that plunder was a powerful reason for the occupation and its prolongment; an opinion shared by the Association.

The aim of the “Robokoop” campaign was to inform people of what was happening in the Western Sahara and to help put an end to the situation. We wanted a transformational action and we moreover knew that we needed the input and thought of many friends along the way.

This guide was conceived as an attempt to explain what we have learned and to describe the experience of creating an alternative and transformational communication campaign.

What do we mean by that? According to Víctor Marí Sáez, alternative communication is configured in opposition to conventional communication. Hence, it is open to all the social sectors, it is non-profit and it does not seek the support of any political party. Instead, it aims for social and cultural profit; it defends the public interest and it lends a voice to social movements; it takes in plurality and diverse contents; and it attends to a vastly extensive array of information sources. Its media respond to democratic and participative structures, it seeks horizontal emisor-receiver models and it aims to spur social transformation.

We hope these teachings serve to move forward along this path of transformation, starting with a re-thinking of and change in communication itself.

Association of Friends of the RASD in Alava (The contents suggested in this guide are based on a free interpretation of the training received within the context of the Sahara Gurea Campaign).

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What does a transformational communication campaign consist of?

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Unlike a conventional or commercial communication campaign, a campaign that aims to generate deep change in our society or to mobilise the people not only has different objectives but also seeks a development based on practices that in and of themselves integrate the very values that they promote. Therefore, a communication campaign with a transformational purpose will avoid certain practices that are typical in conventional advertising and communication, while promoting other practices that are coherent with its principles. Such a campaign will not lose sight of the initially established objectives, and at the same time, it will respect the ideas that it aims to convey throughout the process, as well as the people who take part in the different phases of the campaign.

There are countless proposals that invite us to implement different ways of doing things in our communication campaigns and generate changes, not only in the way we communicate, but in the ways that we interact within the campaign promotion group and with our target audience. Many of those ways take in the proposals of historic fights of social movements, while others have to do with the possibility of drawing on marketing and advertising strategies, by subverting their objectives and approaches.

In this guide, we have compiled what we feel to be the ideas of greatest interest, among our learnings throughout the process.

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ARE WE ALL THERE? Before we establish our objectives, one of the first issues to be addressed in this type of campaign is to think about who will be conducting this campaign; in other words, who will make up the driving force behind the campaign and what allies that group will have during the different phases of the campaign.

The problem to be targeted by the campaign is one that undoubtedly affects more than one group. By setting out to inform, listen to and involve groups or individuals who are in some way affected by the problem, we can enhance the project and make it more complex, while gaining greater support and dissemination through the creation of networks of cooperation and involvement.

Nevertheless, we must take into account that not all of those individuals or groups that might be interested in the campaign will participate in it with the same intensity. Hence, it is important to come together with them to decide on their degree of involvement, assessing the objective options and the interests of our own group, as well as the real options of the other aforementioned groups.

Similarly, we must not forget to involve our own group, as they too are busy with their own tasks. It is important to keep team members informed of the aims of the campaign and bring them into the envisaged processes and activities. We often put great effort into obtaining external alliances and forget to keep our own group well-informed and involved in these sorts of campaigns.

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What does a transformational communication campaign consist of?

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK Organisations usually work on projects that require results in the short or medium terms. This leads to a certain degree of stress, where it becomes important to learn and execute proposals as fast as possible. At the same time, it is also important to plan the communication from a long-term perspective. Many social organisations lose sight of the notion that communication is a slow process. If we want a change of mentality, a change of framework in the collective imaginary that will give rise to deep change, it is imperative to design types of campaigns that go beyond the specific projects and accompany us through time in many different ways.

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FEMINIST COMMUNICATION It is paramount to create a campaign that takes into account the fact that reality affects men and women* differently. The feminist approach can be applied to any campaign, regardless of the theme at hand.

We do not usually succeed in getting the feminist logic to run through the campaigns and forms of communication that we generate. In other words, it is difficult to bring in a deeply feminist perspective, and issues related to women are often introduced, though feminism is not taken as a tool of study that runs through everything.

To bring in this perspective, we can begin by questioning the sources. Whom do we ask? In other words, what are our sources of information? This will largely determine the perspective of our campaign.

Language is also an important factor to bear in mind. Inclusive language can be so difficult that it complicates the creation of a slogan, yet we must think about it in all the pieces of the campaign.

One of the most difficult and most important aspects to implement is the approach.

How are we going to talk about a given issue and what perspective will we take?

Though our point of departure is an androcentric reality, we must take into account other inequalities that exist among the women themselves *, which are often based on origin, class, sexual diversity, etc.

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What does a transformational communication campaign consist of?

The use of the images is also a central theme. It is important to distance ourselves from the usual portrayal of women in communication campaigns. Not only objectification, which is more typical of advertising, but also the portrayal of women in traditional roles or the fact that such campaigns continue to promote the gender-sex system. What types of actions are the women engaging in when they are portrayed? What attitudes do we see them in? What type of body language do we see and what is the backdrop behind them? In a word, it is essential not to fall into the stereotypes of sexist roles or clichés.

The supports are also important. What media will we use to transmit our message?

Who will our influencers be? Our message can either be strengthened or distorted, meaning that we must be careful in selecting the people who transmit it. If our message is clear, it is then easier to come up with the right formula to convey it.

Humour is always a complex matter from the feminist point of view, so we need to ask ourselves if it really has its place in our campaign and whom it is targeting; and of course, we must also establish its limits.

Finally, we must bear in mind the “informal” aspects of a feminist communication.

What schedules are we dealing with in the production of our project? Do those schedules contemplate a balance among work, home life, friendships, personal care and the care of others? It would be far-fetched to consider the result of the campaign as feminist if these aspects are not taken into consideration during the process. * Here we will use an asterisk to state that the feminist movement of Euskal Herria proposes that all bodies oppressed by the heteropatriarchy be included within the “woman” category.

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ANTI-RACIST COMMUNICATION Along these lines, a very specific perspective is necessary in any campaign that we take on. The predominance of prejudice in the mass media, and to a large degree in society itself, makes it important to think about and take a position in terms of our treatment of people in the campaign, particularly vis-à-vis people and groups that are stigmatised for their birthplace and autochthonous and racialized individuals.

Any information sources consulted to set up the bases of the campaign must be varied. We must not limit ourselves to the mass media or official state information sources. We must seek references in alternative media and direct sources.

We must be very careful not to reproduce existing stereotypes about certain individuals and groups, so as not to participate in those types of perspectives or reinforce them in any way.

Similarly, a Eurocentric and paternalist viewpoint must also be avoided in our proposals. Organisations often run “goody-goody” campaigns that emphasize a vision based on a colonialist image that still speaks of victims and saviours. It is time to banish that vision. Instead, it is important to seek images and texts that break away from a typical, cliché vision of migrant or racialized individuals and groups. One of the most effective ways to avoid these practices is to include these people in our campaigns. It is important to share our space and include diverse opinions that add to and are conveyed throughout the campaign. Whereas in the past, they were objects (defined by others) in campaigns, now they become subjects (defined by themselves).

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What does a transformational communication campaign consist of?

COMMUNICATION AND ORGANIC DYSFUNCTIONALITY There are increasingly more style manuals with politically correct guidelines for the mention of or approach to the issue of functional diversity. Nevertheless, things are often just left at that, in an attempt to be politically correct. Much like other areas, paternalism and condescension are constants in the approach to this issue. Sometimes, the attempts to bring this in and the attempt to please are forced, becoming comical and even pathetic, while failing to take into account the real needs of the people who truly experience this diversity.

There are two images of disability that are typically promoted: one that transmits pity for the misfortune of living in a given situation; and the opposite image, which pushes for the spirit of achievement, the idea of a person who fights against all odds. Both images share the common denominator of an able-bodied perspective and reflect a very trite vision. We can promote a communication that understands functional diversity in a less limited way, by taking the condition into account while not defining people exclusively by their physical condition.

In practice, we must think about the accessibility of all the rooms and places where we hold meetings, gatherings, interviews, street campaigns and events. We must also think about the formats and supports for the dissemination of the campaign. The signs/posters, the website... Who can read it, hear it, access it? It is important to consult groups that work in this area, to obtain guidance for both form and content.

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SEXUAL DIVERSITY AND COMMUNICATION In a social context that takes heteronormativity and the gender binary as the rule, it is not common to see diverse sexual orientations or the trans reality represented in the media or in communication campaigns, whether of a commercial or social nature. Campaigns almost exclusively present normative bodies that respond to their assignment as man or woman and a hegemonic sexual orientation. The invisibilization of this reality is therefore the most frequent option and it is uncommon to find campaigns that include other bodies and sexual orientations, unless they are directly geared to defend LGTBI+ rights.

Taking these realities into account in our campaigns and giving them an appropriate treatment with the help of groups that work in this area can help us avoid reproducing clichĂŠs and visibilize diverse realities, while enhancing our discourse.

Very often, we do not know how to include this perspective when we consider the theme of our campaign to be removed from or unrelated to these issues, for example. Nevertheless, any area that we are working in can be favourable to the integration of this transformational vision, and particularly for the non-reproduction of an LGTBI-phobic language or point of view. Humour, for example, which is widely used in communication campaigns, can be a place where we can reproduce certain messages, almost without realising it, yet where we can have a positive influence at the same time.

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What does a transformational communication campaign consist of?

Communication and sustainability The capitalist development model that we live in today and where we are trying to do our work has generated an unprecedented environmental problem. A communication that seeks social transformation cannot ignore this problem. All the contrary, it must contribute to fixing the problem in some way, generating awareness and environmentally respectful practices.

Regardless of the theme and objective of the campaign, we can always influence issues related with environmental impact, our ecological footprint and sustainability.

We can include this in the discourse, adding a transversal perspective that takes ecology into account at all times and incorporating, for example, the voices of groups that are already working in this area. This is an opportunity to create alliances and share learnings.

This aspect can also be included in the campaign’s preparation processes, revising the different aspects that we will be deciding on, such as whether or not there is a need to travel long distances, the use of recycled material and the commitment to bartering, as opposed to the purchase of new material, for example.

Finally, it is important to bear this in mind in the products that are selected for merchandising, and the things that are consumed or used during the events. Here, we can systematically opt for organic, seasonal, recycled and fair-trade products.

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REAPPROPRIATION Communication helps to create a collective imaginary, and large corporations have no problem appropriating our language, interests and concerns in their campaigns if it means increasing their economic profits. So, let’s do the same thing! Let’s use the marketing strategies that they bombard us with, for our own social campaigns.

We can reappropriate them, hybridise them and adjust them to lose that commercial nature and to foster the reconciliation of interesting proposals for the largest number of people possible. We can use these marketing tools, yet with a different perspective.

Moreover, we will not always have the means and media that we would like, so it is important to draw on these tools and make them our own.

It is important to lose the fear of insistence. In other words, we must not be afraid to repeat our message infinitely in the most diverse ways. All of today’s campaigns are competing for our attention. In this society, which is oversaturated with sales campaigns, it is repetition that will position our message.

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What does a transformational communication campaign consist of?

NEW NARRATIVES Today, we are easily distracted and always doing many things at once. It is difficult to focus and work on long-term issues. People have become the product, and the most valued thing of all is their attention. We now live in an attention economy. All the communication campaigns are competing for and trading with our attention. The winner is the funniest campaign, the one that screams loudest or the one we identify with the most.

In their campaigns, the large corporations use a language that we identify with. They have more resources and can easily capture our attention. They use a close, positive language. They break every sort of taboo and use a language typical of our organisations. This is something that we need to get back and strengthen for ourselves, as it obviously works.

People want to tell stories, create tales. We are influenced by a very audiovisual culture. Not long ago, communication theory realised that we were returning to a sort of oral storytelling communication. That is precisely what is used in advertising and the social media: classic tales. We must bear in mind that it is easier to truly reach people if we personalise ideas, yet without distorting the message. The challenge in this is for our story not to be so closed that we forget the main message.

Today’s new means of communication shy away from bureaucracy and the administrative language. Instead, they seek closeness. It is people who are the heart of the story, rather than organisations. The group and shared actions are key elements. These 21

proposals are inclusive, rather than hierarchical, patriarchal or Eurocentric. These campaigns show us the context. They appeal to our emotions, yet they also speak to us at the rational level, without casting blame. They offer a close and coherent tale that can transmit a well-told story. Personalising the message to connect with the audience is an important communication strategy, yet it is also a challenge, as we must avoid falling into stereotypes and distorting the political message along the way.

Committing to communication from a different perspective and framework can be very powerful, as it can adapt to changes and reflect them. Moreover, it is a tool of social transformation, of mobilisation, that provides nuances and many different visions.

INFINITE TOOLS There are infinite tools for the construction of those stories and there are constant changes. As a result, this communication can generate vast anxiety. We must fight the algorithms, those systems that gradually weave the different networks, tools that favour certain data and hide others. We need to find out how to manage it all and manoeuvre through it, without losing sight of who we are. Moreover, we must take into account that we are working with transmedia communication, meaning that we will use all sorts of formats: video, social media, theatre, text, podcast, street actions, storytelling, games, websites, and more. This is a demanding type of communication in ongoing construction where we create powerful ideas that are transmitted to the society.

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What does a transformational communication campaign consist of?

CONVENTIONAL MEDIA, ALTERNATIVE MEDIA As organisations, we tend to spread our messages in the media that are somehow related to us or in alternative media, often due to economic reasons. Yet if we want extensive impact, we must also find ways to introduce ourselves in the conventional media. We tend to conceive of them as an inaccessible block where we have no place.

However, the media are made up of journalists, professionals among whom we can find points of mutual understanding that will help us to bring our message to the largest number of people possible. We must not reject this option without at least trying it.

NOT FORGETTING WHO WE ARE We are a group, an organisation that works with objectives that are different from those of companies. Moreover, our campaigns aim to spur social transformation. Hence, point of view is everything. We must use diverse tools, all the tools that may be necessary, yet we must not lose sight of our objectives, the content or the message that we want to transmit. Nor must we lose sight of the fact that it is important to work locally, alongside the local agents, while at the same time broadening the scope of distribution of our message as much as possible.

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Where do we place our attention now?

The Briefing 24

Time to get to work. We can begin with the design of our campaign. To start, we must assess our resources. As a general rule, we usually have major objectives and few resources, though this is not always the case. Sometimes we have few economic resources, yet we abound with human resources; other times it’s the other way around. In any case, to launch a successful campaign, we need to be efficient with our resources, whatever type they may be, and we must join forces to be spot-on with our proposal.

Another important issue to be taken into account is that, if the campaign has original ideas and attractive pieces but a weak or confusing strategy, we will not achieve our goals and we will not reach our target audience. On the other hand, if we have a solid strategy yet a boring or poorly made campaign, once again we will not reach our target and our campaign will not achieve its initial objectives.

Therefore, to run a powerful communication campaign by optimising our efforts and resources, we need a good strategy that takes in all the important aspects; and to accomplish this, we need a good, solid briefing. This will serve as a roadmap that we can always go back to, so as not to lose our way.

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PLANNING THE BRIEFING The briefing is where it all begins. This is the document that will set in motion the creative process. The briefing must contain all the information necessary to define the strategy and it will help us to pinpoint the important issues that must be clear from the beginning, as well as others that will be cropping up along the way. This is a way of assessing ideas. In this document, we record all the choices we have made thus far and we organise them in a way that will help us to remain focused at all times on the objectives, the needs and the possibilities of our campaign.

Clearly define: What do we want? How are we going make it happen? Where? When?

Specify the message and tone of the campaign. Who are we targeting and what do we want to achieve?

Where is our target audience and how can we reach it? Define our media and our strategy of messages and channels.

Explain the context, the environment and the situation. Here it is important to analyse the campaigns that have been run thus far, as well as the circumstances that surround our point of departure.

The competition and other external factors. We must observe what the others are doing and saying and find our own specific messages, which are different from the rest, creating our own unique personality.

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Where do we place our attention now? The Briefing

Challenges and difficulties. What are we up against and what obstacles will we have to surmount (lack of knowledge, lack of interest, media censorship, saturation, lack of resources, etc.)?.

Opportunities. Data or information that we can use for our purpose (media attention, an influencer, related media, an appropriate message, public awareness, etc.).

Message and objective. Any good briefing must conclude with a very clear and specific sentence that defines the objective.

Target. Analysing whom we are targeting, what motivates them, what frightens them, what holds them back, etc. Knowing where they are and how we can reach them.

Timing and estimate. What resources do we have and how much time do we have to meet our objectives?

WHAT NOT TO DO IN A BRIEFING Sometimes we can draft briefings that do not help us and can instead become an obstacle and hinder the proper development of the strategy. Here are a few of the most common mistakes: Too many objectives that are not specific enough.

Scanty and confusing information, without a good analytical base and strategy.

Conditioning factors. Not clearly knowing our objective (to be sure that we do not offend the subsidizers, and to guarantee that our elderly target understands it and that young people like it, etc.).

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Getting the creativity going

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To get the creativity flowing and come up with good ideas that will enable us to create a “viral� campaign, there are no formulas, though there are habitual paths, tricks and experiences. The ability to generate concepts or brainstorm ideas can be stimulated by exploring different paths, through both classic and innovative techniques. Yet the most important thing is to promote the right place and environment for the entire team to express themselves and offer ideas within the scope of their power, skills and fields of interest.

As we have said, there are no magical formulas. Moreover, we live in an information-saturated society that is constantly bombarded with the advertising or communication campaigns of organisations that are economically more powerful than ours.

We can choose to view this as either an insurmountable obstacle or as a challenge, an opportunity to develop a campaign that breaks away from aggressive, intrusive, condescending or one-directional ways of doing things. In fact, we can make our proposal a tool of transformation in and of itself, where the results are not measured exclusively in terms of numbers, but also in terms of the quality of the processes.

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brainstorming This technique is a classic that never goes out of style. In the early stages of a project, it helps to generate a non-stop flow of ideas and share them with the people in the group. This phase allows us to gather as many ideas as we like. We can decide on them at a later time, repositioning and dismissing some of them.

WHO IS OUR TARGET? It is important to build the profile of the person that we want to reach with our campaign. Hence, we create profiles with names, surnames, ages, lines of work, origins, income levels, objectives, life goals, interests and curiosities, as well as their values, ethical motives and more. By imagining a fictitious person with real traits, we can analyse the message that we ought to convey and how to make it reach that person. It is important to select the right media to be used to reach the target, in keeping with their personal characteristics (Instagram, Facebook, conventional media, etc.).

It is advisable to specify “what it is we want to get from that person�: Do we want the person to volunteer? To give us a donation? To join the campaign? Do we want a click in the social media?

In case we lose the perspective of our target or we do not know how to convey our message to that target or what tools to use, we can simply go back and consult the profile that we have drafted.

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Getting the creativity going

STEALING FROM MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS One good formula is to appropriate the commercial tactics and strategies of major corporations, to apply them in our own communication campaign. Corporations mercilessly steal resources from the art world and any other fields. Why not “steal” their ideas, their tactics and advertising resources and use them in a communication campaign for social transformation?

THE BEST WORST IDEAS When we begin to think of ideas, we tend not to dare to express the ones that just occur to us because they do not seem good enough. One good formula to release a stream of proposals is to take the road backwards, thinking of the worst ideas that we can come up with. In this process, we can give free rein to our imagination, reaching original places that help us to generate alternative reasonings, and avoid repeating what we have already seen in other campaigns. At the end of this exercise, we can see what ideas and proposals can be rescued and used for our campaign.

Another useful exercise that will help to plan the campaign from a different angle is to think of a campaign from the opposite point of view, a sort of “enemy campaign”. This helps us to explore concepts and situations that we would never touch on in a more conventional thinking process.

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CRITIQUING OTHER COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGNS We can engage in different exercises to critique other campaigns, yet without losing sight of the fact that the criticism must be aimed at something specific. The idea is to observe what has been done in other campaigns and reflect on which decisions we would change, which concepts we would maintain, which ones we would get rid of, what formats we believe those campaigns need and which ones we feel are superfluous. In a word, the idea is to look at what has already been done, so as not to make the same mistakes.

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Getting the creativity going

CAMPAIGN PIECES As we have said before, there is no single magical formula that ensures that a given campaign will go viral; yet there are a few recipes that work well. As to the campaign pieces and the way they interact with one another, we could follow this outline. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that we can always add in variations.

Something viral

Campaign website + info

Action proposal

Social media

Press

Dissemination Organisation website

Actions in the “real� world 33

FORMATS Video: If we want to spread our message among a large and diverse audience, this is the fundamental tool. We have different variations of this format: video, micro video, 360° video, interactive videos, live video, etc. Given its importance in a campaign, we will devote an entire chapter to the making of a low-budget video.

Websites: Creating websites for the campaign that we are designing or drawing on those that our organisation already has is a tool with great potential that magnifies dissemination, thanks to the ease of access and the large and assorted amount of information that it can contain, as well as the option of maintaining it through time.

Social media: Every organisation out there is aware of the multiplying power of the social media. At the same time, it is important to know our way around them, in order to use them effectively. We plan to devote one full chapter to dissemination in the social media.

Urban actions: Intervening in the public space is an important resource to connect directly with the local town where we are working. These actions can moreover be combined with a social media campaign, creating an on- and off-line communication; in other words, a direct communication with the environment around us and at the same time, a virtual campaign.

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Getting the creativity going

Guerrilla marketing: This is a type of intervention that uses unconventional advertising strategies and techniques that require a minimal investment for maximum media coverage. The element of surprise is important in this type of format. To be effective, this type of marketing needs to be innovative, attention-grabbing and imaginative.

Taking the media: This format makes use of existing conventional spaces and media and “takes them�, subverting their original intention and message. It politicises spaces that were not initially envisaged for such purpose, meaning that it generates great surprise and immediate impact.

Inboud marketing: This marketing is used very often in advertising and we can make use of it for our campaigns. It is a non-intrusive type of marketing that attracts the target audience by offering them contents that are relevant to their interests, in different formats. Taking a tale, a story with a message as its base, this marketing uses a technique of serial attraction. This is a good system for the management of large contents and to attract people who want to collaborate with the organisation. It uses interesting contents that remain online, to allow the people to visit them or for people within a secondary target who wish to give us their contact details to receive information or lend a hand.

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CREATIVE AVENUES We can use infinite different creative avenues, yet we must never lose sight of the ideological bases that govern our campaign, while avoiding falling into stereotypes that degrade the dignity of vulnerable people and groups. Here are some examples: Humour: Follow the Frog, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JoS4KzDDhw Parody: Africa For Norway, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJLqyuxm96k Countercampaign: Book Burning Party, https://vimeo.com/35758683 Prescriber: Entierro de Bentley, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVmlf2Sgpdo Invented product: Pastillas contra el dolor ajeno, https://www.msf.es/colabora/dona/ pastillascontraeldolorajeno Threat: Climate Name Change, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eImoDX7748A Role change: Most Shocking Second a Day, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBQ-IoHfimQ Character: El Cobrador del Sur, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00KlHH9lJFs Anti-ad: The Dark Side, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXndQuvOacU Collective work: Palabras contra el hambre, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaiAxwC27jM. 36

Getting the creativity going

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How to go about dissemination

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As we already know, dissemination is one of the essential aspects for a successful communication campaign. Getting this phase of the campaign right will multiply the propagation of our message and complete the previous phases into which we have put so much imagination, effort and time.

The dissemination media include conventional or traditional media, which are not to be slighted, as well as other newer channels, including the social media, which are fundamental. All these channels afford us opportunities that must be assessed in terms of our budget and the style of the campaign.

As we have reiterated throughout this guide, the most important thing, which must be kept in mind particularly during this phase, is that all the work we have done to achieve a horizontal, participatory, feminist and inclusive communication, in other words, a communication with a spirit of social transformation, must not be forgotten in the campaign’s dissemination phase. This is an especially delicate phase, where we want to maximise dissemination. For this reason, it is important to draw on all the platforms, channels and media that we have on hand. Moreover, this is the time when other agents come into play; people that do not form part of our organisation. Therefore, it is important to be careful in this final stretch of our campaign.

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AMBASSADORS AND INFLUENCERS The ambassadors, people from whom we can request support for our campaign, help us to catch the attention of both the target audience and the media. They take on different levels of commitment, although even the most minimal nod or mention can become a major loudspeaker for these types of communication projects.

Influencers are a medium in and of themselves. They help us to leave our circle and access other audiences. It is important to assess which influencers fit in with the message and tone that we want to transmit, so that their involvement is not counterproductive or damaging to our transformational communication proposal.

ADVERTISING IN THE SOCIAL MEDIA As we have mentioned earlier, we will be discussing the social media in a separate chapter, as they are an essential means of dissemination today, given the numbers of users, the ease of accessing different platforms and because they are inexpensive, in comparison with the conventional media. Much like the other dissemination channels, we must be careful not to allow the message to be distorted amid the hodgepodge of information.

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How to go about dissemination

PRESS We already know how dissemination works in the press. Paying for advertising in a related or highly popular written medium, for example, will have a positive effect on the dissemination, although it is usually expensive.

Another option that works very well is using what we would call “.... Day�, a day on which the theme of our campaign is covered by the mass media. Our message is multiplied if we make the phases of the campaign launch coincide with news related with the theme at hand, as that will increase the possibilities of our message coming out in the press.

SPOKESPERSONSHIP Organisations need to prepare the issue of spokespersonship, in order to answer the media in a press conference or interview. It is advisable to see that the responsibility does not fall on a single person alone and that there is some backup from the team.

It is advisable to draw up a set of arguments, possible questions and answers, as well as a conclusion. Next, we must carefully select the information to be conveyed and insist on two or three clear ideas, a couple of direct sentences that can be recovered as a good title or tweet. If the spokesperson is going to be meeting with the mass media, it is important to bring along a press release that meets these requirements.

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DIRECT MARKETING Sending a special piece out to journalists can also increase the possibilities of the campaign’s publication in the press.

THE WEBSITE Websites are key for any social organisation. They must have a great deal of movement, and the best way to achieve this is to follow the guidelines of SEO, a set of actions that aim to improve the positioning of a given website in the list of results in a search engine: generating well-written contents of their own, making sure they are more than 900 characters long, using downloadable materials (PDF), the organisation’s own images and not uploading the videos directly, but instead going through platforms like YouTube.

LAnding pages With enough resources, we can develop a landing page, a destination page where the theme at hand can be discussed in greater depth, rather than saturating the organisation’s website. It can be assumed that we are currently only using images and this aspect must be looked after carefully, although there are many people who are also looking for reliable information and references when they want to support a project.

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How to go about dissemination

Newsletter Though it sounds old fashioned, it still works. Organisations usually have a list of quality contacts and it is favourable to use this database of people with related interests. This medium allows the organisation to tell people about the phases of the project and important events.

YOUTubers Drawing on YouTube users has become a common practice for advertising firms. It is also an interesting resource for organisation campaigns. Of course, it is important to take great care in selecting the person who will be promoting and disseminating the message. watsap marketing This type of marketing can create large communities of wide-ranging ages, and it uses voice, text, video, images and smileys. WM can serve to disseminate the campaign among people with similar interests to those of our organisation, though it is important not to overwhelm them. social streaming Transmitting directly through the social media is inexpensive and affords interaction with the audience. Platforms such as Periscope, YouTube Live, Facebook Live and others are ideal for this.

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A good social media dissemination plan 44

As we have reiterated several times, it is essential to use the social media in our campaigns. On one hand, these media multiply the impact of the message that we want to transmit, and they are moreover a very important tool for the proposal of a transformational communication action. Below we will explain the reasons why we consider this to be the case. The first reason is that we are transmitting our own message, with our own contents and ideas. On the other hand, we can create a space to hear the voices of those who are not usually heard. We build alliances with other groups to reinforce our campaigns. The social media contribute to building a two-directional communication, fostering dialogue and public participation; they facilitate participation, collective creativity and the mobilisation of people, both offline and online. Hence, their transformational potential.

To ensure that a campaign is effective in the social media, it is important to have a strategy, a well-designed plan, rather than leaving it to improvisation. We must draft a plan in which we establish the objectives, campaign materials, calendar and actions. Many of the results can be measured (increase in followers and /or greater scope of our messages), which means that once the campaign is over, we can determine the effectiveness of our plan.

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KEY POINTS OF THE ONLINE MEDIA PLAN To undertake a campaign in the social media, we must decide on and design the following points: Objective: To increase the social base of the movement, raise the awareness of a specific audience regarding a certain issue, etc.

Campaign material kit: Videos, illustrations, photos, reports, data, posts for the website, microsite and hashtags.

Campaign calendar: Length of the campaign, different phases, launch dates of the different materials.

Getting possible allies involved: List of profiles of the different networks that could become allies and whom we want to involve in the campaign.

Making use of other materials: Viral or potentially viral material of other groups that helps our campaign: their videos, hashtags, messages, other campaigns, etc.

Set of messages: Preparing original messages based on our own materials, to call our target audience to action, personalising such materials to appeal to influencers, etc To promote / not to promote: Deciding whether we are willing to pay for greater scope.

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A good social media dissemination plan

DAMNED ALGORITHMS Hitting the mark with the algorithms, the formulas that determine the positioning of information in the search engines, is usually a challenge in any communication campaign. Those formulas change from time to time, complicating our work. Paying for positioning is an option, although we can also pay attention to what the updates measure, reward and penalise. Here are a few examples that have worked thus far: An organisation’s own, original contents (data, articles) afford a better position.

Bad translations and cut-and-pasted texts stand in the way of being a reference. A wide range of vocabulary, a well-written text and a greater number of characters position a site better.

The PDF format is preferred, although Power Points also count (they index).

Link your own website or link to other pages. Alternatively, link your own website with another website of your own.

New photos of your own or original photos.

Videos, uploading them to YouTube and Vimeo (with the same title).

The most important thing is to be up to date with the algorithm systems, to find out what is being rewarded when running the campaign.

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KEYS TO THE DIFFERENT SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook: The most global yet least friendly network.

In this network, we depend on unclear and unstable algorithms. The scope is determined by changing and unknown algorithms.

Fanpages and groups, the most interesting possibilities. Working from their personal profiles, several people can manage the pages of organisations and create communities of people united by a shared interest.

Directly posted videos and long texts are rewarded with greater scope. This is a highly visual network; therefore, we must support our content with memes, illustrations, gifs, etc.

We must not step on the heels of our own contents on Facebook. Although Facebook rewards the pages that post frequently, it is not good to post back-to-back publications, as we will lose scope.

We must create events and photo albums, and send private messages to people of interest, to present our website or our campaign.

Careful with the expiration dates in posts: Because the posts are not arranged chronologically, it is not advisable to use time references that can expire.

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A good social media dissemination plan

Inviting people to share and comment: The impact of posts is greater when many people comment on or share our contents. We need to encourage people to go beyond the simple “Like�.

Careful promotion: To expand the scope of our posts, this network allows us to promote the contents for an audience that we can segment. Nevertheless, we must allow the posts to run their own course before we promote them.

Twitter: weaving networks in just a few characters.

This is a very simple tool without any particularly complicated algorithms, that promotes an agile and direct dialogue. It enables people to reply to the tweets of other people, mention a given person to introduce our campaign to him /her and tag the people we want to involve, in the images we post. Nevertheless, it is important to be careful with our dialogue with those who mention us.

Hashtags: We are interested in hashtags that can be shared easily and that have not been used. If it is shared a great deal, it can become a Trending Topic.

Twitter’s hangers: Making use of hashtags, and particularly if they are trending topics, tags of our field and tweets that have had an impact, to transmit our messages.

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Following people and groups of interest to us, entering into dialogue with them, re-tweeting, introducing our campaign to them, and weaving networks.

Making it clear where to find further information. A single tweet is not enough for the launch of a campaign. Hence, a link to our website or to the source of information is important.

Tagging people, influencers and groups of interest in our images, to get them to share our message.

Producing original messages makes our positioning clear, whereas sharing news with copied headings does not add any special value.

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A good social media dissemination plan

Instagram: an image is worth more with a thousand tags We need to post quality images with a good message that will catch people’s attention.

The more the hashtags, the better. We need to research what hashtags are related with the content and our positioning and include many of them, so that we are easily located and to gain more audience.

We must post one image a day if we want an active profile.

We need to interact with our followers and follow interesting people. Engaging in dialogue with followers, replying to their comments and finding out what type of content has had the greatest impact can help us to increase our scope and redefine our strategy.

YouTube: Your own television channel YouTube enables us to upload and organise our videos, to see them at a glance.

A good description of our channel and of the videos helps them to be seen. It is essential to use tags, think of a good title, briefly describe the video and carefully select the miniature.

Using the note tool, we can invite visitors to come to our website. That way we can get them to join the campaign.

We must set up our channel, organising our playlists by theme or campaign, to make the visit to our channel more user-friendly and to allow the visitor to get to know us better.

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How to make a low-budget video 52

As we have pointed out in the chapter on creativity, the video is the essential communication tool. We can have many different materials for the communication campaign, though they will lose power if they are not in audiovisual format. In this last chapter, we will review the most important aspects to take into account when making a low-budget video.

The communication campaigns of non-profit organisations and associations do not usually have much of a budget to create audiovisual material, meaning that it is important to maximise resources, be creative and combine and focus all efforts.

There are experiences that we can look to in order to make our video stand out among the rest, despite its low budget. We need to seek the available technical and human resources near us to create the script and for the postproduction, yet above all for the shooting of the film, which requires an extensive deployment of resources that demands maximum efforts in a limited period of time.

It is important to bear in mind that the idea and the script are the base of a video.

This is the time to develop the concepts most clearly and effectively. During the production, we must plan out all the issues to be taken into account during the shoot, and during the shoot, we will execute everything planned. The details that will make a difference in the video will be added in the postproduction phase.

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THE SCRIPT A good idea + a good text Here we must take the briefing as our point of departure, as it is there that we have all the general objectives that we have set out for ourselves. By carefully looking at everything that has been constructed in that document, it is easier to see how to optimise our resources.

Who we want to reach: When we select a given creative and aesthetic avenue, it is essential to know who our target audience is. This will help to determine the right idea and tone.

A good text: If a text, a slogan or a hashtag is well thought, it shows.

Elements of the script: In each scene, the following premises must be crystal-clear to us: Where are we? What time of day is it? Who is in the scene? What are they doing? The camera, sound, art and lighting instructions must be clear. And we must think about directing the actors and actresses.

The closure: The video will usually finish with a call to action. There is a break in the editing to enable the organisation’s message to enter loudly and clearly, with a different atmosphere and at a different cadence. We can rely on resources such as captions and animations, voiceover, other music and final logos.

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How to make a low-budget video

THE PRODUCTION This part is just as important as the creative aspect, as there are usually many different elements to bring together and the variables to be managed are complex. Hence, it is important to follow a set of guidelines: Draft of a schedule: This means planning the envisaged time lapses (or the calendar) for the running of a campaign.

Have resources from the organisation: It is important to examine all the resources of all types that we can obtain effortlessly and at no cost.

A budget: We must list all the possible expenses that might stem from the different phases of the audiovisual production. This list should be as detailed as possible.

The casting: This can be held through a call for actors, having candidates send in photos, holding a street casting or by word of mouth.

The location: There is a scouting of the possible sites for the shoot, photos are taken and technical aspects are examined, such as the lighting at different times of the day, the space for the camera angle, sound capture problems, furniture and others. If the location is in a public space, it is important to think about the issue of permits and the taxes that might be charged.

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THE SHOOT We can explore with different types of shoots: Social experiment: This type of shoot requires a script to organise the day and the staging.

Conventional: With actors and a studio or locations.

Documenting an action: When we hold a street action, it is very important to document the action well. This makes planning essential.

DEPARTMENTS Directing: Shooting, planning, directing actors, editing.

Production: Timing, planning, budget, postproduction coordination.

Camera: Proposed lighting and camera.

Sound: Sound capture planning, in keeping with the location and the action.

Art: This department handles the elements and colours that appear on the camera screen.

Wardrobe: This department is responsible for all the clothing and wardrobe.

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How to make a low-budget video

CAMERA AND LIGHTING DEPARTMENT Equipment: It is ideal to have two cameras, to record the important moments from several angles.

Camera: Most photographic cameras can record video in HD. We need the size to be 1280x720p and it must have an audio input.

Mobile phone: There are phones with high-quality video and audio. We can ask the people to record key moments. It is important to take into account the battery capacity and range.

Batteries: There must be spare batteries and chargers and we must remember to charge them.

Memory cards: It is important to have several memory cards (16GB or 32GB) on hand, and be sure that they are all properly formatted and have free space.

Tripods, gantries, steadycams and GoPro-type cameras. The camera assembly accessories can give the filming an added touch.

Camera position: We will usually record with the camera positioned horizontally, although there has recently been an upsurge of vertical formats for Instagram and other social media.

Shots: Situation shots, general shots (panoramic or fixed shots. An elevated place can be interesting). Tracking shots. Close-ups and detail shots (to point out and place more importance on something. We will be grateful for these during the editing phase).

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LIGHTING For a low-budget production, professional lighting is not used, as it requires transport and specialised technicians for its handling.

One good ally is always an element that reflects the natural light (light reflector).

There are also warm and cold LED lighting sets, which are inexpensive.

It is important to find places with enough lighting, as video cameras are very sensitive to the lack of light.

SOUND If there is a plan to record in a very noisy place, an external microphone will be needed to capture the voices properly. Even if there is no anticipation of much noise, an external microphone usually improves the sound quality.

The sound equipment is usually made up of a lapel microphone or a mic on a pole, a headset to monitor the sound and an external recorder, in case the microphone cannot be brought to the camera

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How to make a low-budget video

EDITING AND POSTPRODUCTION There are different editing styles that have to do with the spirit of the piece. For this reason, it is important to obtain the approval of the directing team in the final phase.

Resources: Depending on the nature of the piece, we can use archival footage or photos that we may not have to produce ourselves. We usually use images of public domain, Creative Commons or Copyleft.

Offline version: This is the first version of the edited film. It can have reference music.

Voiceover: We recommend holding a casting for voices and recording them in a studio.

Online version: The editing changes, voiceover, final music and captions or animations are all added to the film. If the budget permits, a colour treatment and sound effects can be added.

DISSEMINATION Depending on the chosen dissemination channel, the video should be exported in special sizes and codecs.

If the social media are the selected channel, we recommend subtitling.

The video must be properly labelled in the platform where we plan to post it.

To draw up a social media plan that supports the channel, for greater visibility.

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