On RNZ’s Checkpoint this week, John Campbell ridiculed comments by Genesis Energy CEO Marc England on the basis that he “could hear the media training” in them.
Campbell meant that the England’s message about Genesis becoming an energy management company was boring and unnatural.
His frustration revealed that a lot of what CEOs say to journalists is not the slightest bit interesting.
That’s because the words are either rubbed into blandness or rendered meaningless by internal codewords.
Journalists want to convey, and audiences want to hear, words that say and mean real things.
What Campbell revealed is that even when these messages are carried by media, they’re passing straight through our audiences. They’re not sticking.
If you really want to make a reputation, you need to make an impression. To start, you need to say things people understand.
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