I have a new work friend who leads marketing for a major soccer organisation. Prior to taking this role, she had no experience in sports and knew little about the beautiful game. We met just before she took the job. During walks around the neighborhood we discovered we shared, we talked a lot about how she might approach the challenges and the opportunities ahead. We netted out that as long as she remained customer-centric–in her case, league and club fans, her own team– she’d be an exceptional leader. And she is.
AI has transformed how we collect data, generate content, amplify messages and more. I’m an active user, a believer and a diligent student of the advanced technology tools emerging every day. Yet, at the very heart of the work of communications– and where my ideas, strategies and solutions begin –are the voices, experiences, journeys, strength and resilience of real people.
In healthcare, the field I’m most involved in, stakeholder voices are driving a seismic shift that shapes public opinion, policy, research priorities, technology, and patient engagement. Sometimes it’s a single voice—someone with a particularly compelling story or unique authority—that influences preference, choice or action. Sometimes it’s a few voices. And sometimes, it’s a community that swells into a majority.
Keeping people at the core of healthcare strategies results in co-designed clinical trials and the inclusion of patients, doctors, advocates and families in education, outreach and support initiatives. These collaborations improve understanding, lifestyle, interactions at the point of care—ultimately delivering outcomes that are inclusive and empowering.
The value of keeping people at the center transcends industries. For my friend in sports marketing, her strategies revolve around all forms of soccer enthusiasts whether they are devoted or fair-weather fans, players at all levels, the parents who coach and drive their kids who play to their games and the people around her driven to the same goal. For private equity and venture capital firms evaluating investment opportunities, decisions are often influenced by the company leaders – their backstories, and how they communicate their vision, values, decisions, how they treat employees and partners, and their commitment to growth and integrity.
With so much data available–and numbers don’t lie, right? –one might wonder why people and emotion play such a powerful role in many aspects of business including marketing, communications, education, policy and access. Adam Guthrie-Brown, founder of Value Republic provided an explanation when he told me that it’s the human story that transforms data into impact, and how critical it is for the narrative to consider everyone involved: the storyteller, the person whose story is told and the audience whose actions are shaped by it.
For me, it’s the winding road to a positive outcome (or failure) and the experiences of people on the journey that provide the spark for an innovative idea, the reason to believe, and the trust.
The good news is that there are now countless ways to keep people at the center of a company or brand ecosystem. AI tools help us hear and capture voices, identify trends, find outliers, predict outcomes, and create digital twins—the list grows every day. Mastering these technologies and applying them to serve brand and company needs is both exciting and rewarding.
And, what we in communications can do now to find the voices that connect and give them airtime is very satisfying. The Cipla Health partnership with Neena Gupta for their brand Cipladine comes to mind here, given her cross-generational trust and appeal.
I recently read a statistic from the Brand Impact Index that said 86% of consumers say brands play an important role in creating a ‘positive human future,’ defined as showing consumers you understand their challenges and respond in ways that align to their values. To do that, I will make sure my compass is always pointed toward growth and the people who support it.
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
