A good campaign is likely to take it beyond oral and written communications and to involve some form of public action, at least where this is possible.

This action is of course also part of your communication, so much of the same rules apply. But in addition, the format of the action is a key element of the communication that we have not yet touched upon.

Mostly, the type of action and the other forms of communication of a campaign are aligned, logically because they emanate from the same teams. A team that develops a soft-spoken win-win approach one day is unlikely to throw garbage bags at conservative politicians the next day.

And yet it is often puzzling to see how actions and words are not playing towards each other, therefore undermining the campaign’s impact by creating conflicting messages. It is also disturbing to see some campaigns trying to trigger some specific values (for example diversity), and using formats of actions that contradict these (for example a protest of only white gay men).

The very well-known tactic of offering “free hugs” is again a very good example of how an action tactic can convey the values of your main message, in this case love, generosity, openness, friendship, etc.