stage-setting for your message

Call it a messaging environment. Call it a context. The message you (as a planner) have decided is the most important to communicate, needs a world to belong to.

This is where a manifesto can play a huge role, or a tonal board, brand film or brand book. These tools have been created (most likely by planners) to give a big picture personality and tone to their message.

Found this about context & meaning from the book Beyond Buzz, some examples of context:

• "fast-food companies talking about their products and values in the context of healthy eating
• car makers talking about hybrid vehicles in the context of being less dependent on gas and being better stewards of the environment
• insurance providers talking about long-term care in the context of aging and health care policy.
  
• Today, public policy is framed in the context of security and the war against global terrorism.
• As you can see, marketing anything requires explaining ideas within people’s existing frames of reference–that is, in a context they already understand.”

A term you'll hear a lot these days is Brand Relevance: making brands seamlessly fit within a consumer's lifestyle so that all elements of the marketing mix make sense to both the brand and to the consumer. It is largely the planner's responsibility to make this relationship seem effortless and simple.

Here in New York, there's a lot of developing going on in the departments for experiential marketing and digital strategy. Both of these are so distinguished because they're disciplines built around the importance of the user's experience, the messaging environment and brand relevance. Planners, get your fingers in this dirt!