We were setting up cameras and I was about to interview a doctor. On a shelf behind him, in shot, was a photo of Sir Alex Ferguson. The curious thing about the photo was the way the doctor chose to position it. It was facing where a patient would sit. He made a deliberate decision to make sure patients saw the photo during the consultation.
“Did you know him?”
“No. Never met him”.
“Man U fan?”
“No”.
“Why the photo on your shelf?”
“It’s a conversation starter. It helps me understand who I’m talking to.”
I loved that tactic on so many levels. By finding a love/hate figure the doctor was inviting a different type of conversation starter.
The hard work for a doctor he explained is gaining trust. You need to get someone to open-up about what’s really going on in their lives. In his part of town there were a lot of Manchester United fans and Manchester City fans. Everyone else knew Alex Ferguson.
‘Fergie time’ helped reframe the conversation. More human – less clinical. More open – less tension.
Packing up the kit I realised this wasn’t just a nice human touch – it was a deliberate communications strategy. A trust-building cue in plain sight. A small, intentional cue to open conversations rather than direct them and finding a way to understand who you’re really talking to first to get the main messages right. That’s the same goal we have in audience research.
What lessons have you learned about creating connection in communications?
