Luis Miranda On Why Communication For A Cause Is The Need Of The Hour

At the launch of the BW Businessworld Marketing Whitebook 2017-18, the discourse around marketing for social progress was one of the most thought-provoking ones. The likes of Luis Miranda, Chairman, Centre For Civil Society, Safeena Husain, Founder and Executive Director, Educate Girls and Lynn de Souza, Founder, Social Access came together to discuss the role of communication and movement building in social progress.

"Communication is the bedrock of everything we do," said Hussain, as she elaborated on how she raised money for her initiative Educate Girls just through impactful communication.

Miranda also spoke about how social media has the potentiality to tug at the most cynical heartstrings and get people's attention towards a social cause. "Facebook is a tremendous way to get stories told," he remarked.

He also highlighted the potential of impactful storytelling that can drive people to action. "I am fascinated by the fact that there are so many people who do such great work but people don't know what they do due to poor storytelling as the work is packed with facts and data. It is due to this that the essence of it all doesn't come out," pointed out Miranda.

He cited instances when he could grab people's attention towards a societal issue just due to potent communication. "You think that people want to see data but it is something that gets lost.  So it's important to speak beyond it."

Lynn de Souza, Founder, Social Access explained the importance of brands to be building an affinity with the consumer through establishing an emotional connect through their content. "For us, the power of communication is intrinsic to what we do and is about taking a brand to the consumer in an intangible and emotional way which is only through communication and storytelling," she explained.

Emphasising on the need for brands to unleash a good side to them, she said, "If you are a tea brand, you don't just sell a cup of tea but you wake up India and that's how goodwill prevails."