The medium is not the message

With apologies to the late, great Marshall McLuhan, it seems as though we continually try to cram communications vehicles into media packages regardless of whether they fit there or not, hoping against hope that modern media will carry the weight on their own. I suppose, in a broader sense, that reinforces what McLuhan said, but in an odd way because if we force a message into a "digital" package for a demographic who won't read it, then the message is a failure because of the medium.

I'm reminded of a Paul Newman movie called Cool Hand Luke where the central theme is pronounced through a single sentence, uttered twice in the film; "What we have here is failure to communicate." This was, indeed, a communications failure, and since it was recognized as such, all that the warden had to do is change the medium he was using. Clearly physical, mental and psychological abuse was not working. He did not change and, as a predictable result, it did not end well for anyone. Still, what we learn from that is if your medium does not deliver your message, change media.

When I lived in Calgary I was part of a writing group of brilliant artists, one of whom was writing a story about her one-year personal trial preparing for an ironman distance triathlon - something she had never done before. Eventually, the printed word took a back seat to readings before the story actually began to make sense. Even that wasn't enough to convey her message of endurance, obsession, loss of resilience and hope, so she produced "Endure - A Run Woman show" that combines elements of recorded sound, dance and theatre in a 5km long trail as the stage. These media became the package that worked for her message, and it's an amazing show.

So I guess in the end Mr. McLuhan was right in that the medium truly does influence the message. But more importantly, when your communications do not work as planned - if you have a failure to communicate - go back to your communications strategy, check the tactics and how they align with your target audience, and see if you need to find a different medium, or media, for your message to be a success. If you don't, then you're doomed to failure like the Luke's warden.

I'd love to hear your feedback, please take a moment to tell me what you think.