Weapons of mass media more lethal than weapons of mass destruction -
MTI CEO
During his recent visit to Sri Lanka, MTI’s Bahrain-based CEO Hilmy
Cader, as part of MTI’s ‘Think Tank’ initiative, shared their learnings
on the impact of media on world opinion and what governments around the
world can learn from businesses.
The cold war and the ensuing threat of nuclear warfare has always
pre-occupied the world with the fear of weapons of mass destruction in
the cause of which billions of dollars are spent on the defense
industry. The mind-set of governments around the world has been to build
more powerful attacking and defending capabilities. The unfolding of
socio-political problems around in almost all parts of the world means
this emphasis will continue.
Hilmy Cader |
However, as governments around the world are fast realizing, weapons
of mass media are proving to be more lethal than weapons of mass
destruction. Think of Kosovo, Egypt, Syria, Rwanda (and the list goes
on) and one realizes how ‘battles’ are fought over mass media (including
social media) and how world opinions are formed on what such media
portrays.
Governments around the world are now responding by better
appreciating how world opinions are formed, how public perception
(mind-set) works and what stimuli are needed to influence the perception
in favour of a particular cause.
This is where governments can learn from businesses, as business
success depends on, not just how good your product or service is, but
how well you understand the consumer mind-set and then work backwards to
‘craft’ your message.
Governments around the world can also learn from businesses on crisis
management, for instance the classic case study of how Tylenol accepted
its mistake, did a product re-call and in fact came out much stronger.
In more recent times, how Coke handled the crisis in Belgium and how
Nestle handled the Perrier crisis should serve as good learnings.
Otherwise, it could be like winking in the dark, we know what we are
doing, but not the world. |