Selling the 'sizzle' and not the 'sausage' - a message for communicators

Greetings Everyone:

Sell the Sizzle – the new climate message. An unlikely title? It is indeed. This new (and refreshingly brief) publication comes from the Futerra communications agency. I’ve featured their publications before on this email list and this is another one worthy of your time. 

First – for those of you who are not mother tongue English, before you read on you may need to know that  ‘sizzle’ is the sound a sausage makes when it’s frying in a pan!

The authors of Sell the Sizzle – the new climate message make the point that climate change “. . . science is unequivocal .  So climate change is no longer a scientist’s problem – it’s now a salesman’s problem” . This is not to say that there is no point in communicators  trying to help scientists communicate better. But it’s more about what do we, as communicators ,do with the information on climate change from scientists? According to the authors, climate change communicators are selling the sausage and not the sizzle – we’re selling climate change (the sausage) and of course the message is typically gloomy – rising seas, increasing water shortages, food supply problems and so on.  As communicators we are often NOT selling what people are likely to buy so we are largely losing the battle to change global behaviour as a means to dealing with climate change.

So how do we change our communication tactics? Have a look at what they suggest – the tactics and tools suggested are simple, well illustrated, and written with humour (although sometimes perhaps a bit culturally insensitive).  And mercifully  for those of us with overloaded mailboxes, you can get through this in less than an hour. 

It’s worth a look – http://www.futerra.co.uk/downloads/Sellthesizzle.pdf      

With best wishes, Sandra Hails, Ramsar Secretariat
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Sandra HAILS
CEPA Programme Officer
Ramsar Convention Secretariat
Rue Mauverney 28, 1196 Gland, Switzerland
hails@ramsar.org
Tel: +41 22 9990176
Fax: +41 22 9990169
www.ramsar.org (go to Activities  >  CEPA Programme)