30 days of human comms: #day 37 KFC parodies Donald Trump

Being human doesn’t always have to be a public sector thing as this tweet from Kentucky Fried Chicken shows.

McDonald’s leader Ronald just stated he has a “burger on his desk at all times”. Will someone from his big shoed, red nosed regime inform him that I too have a burger on my desk, but mine is a box meal which is bigger and more powerful than his, and mine has gravy! #nuclearbutton

— KFC UK & Ireland (@KFC_UKI) January 3, 2018

There are risks of straying into politics. Especially if you are public sector. The reaction online to this private sector company has been largely positive. Given that this is a US-based company I wonder if the UK operation had any interesting phone calls from head office.

But for public sector people, smile at it if you like. But do keep clear of taking the rise out of any politics. Even American politics. With the mooted visit of Trump that will be a live issue. Already civil servants have been asked not to post anti-Trump content.

30 days of human comms: #28 A newspaper interview with medics who treated Manchester bomb patients

So far in the round-up of human comms we’ve looked at digital content that the organisation has shaped itself. But it doesn’t have to be digital to be human.

More than 20 people were killed in the Manchester Arena bomb earlier this year.

Manchester as a city rallied and there was an outpouring of pride and determination.

Leading all that was the public sector across the city with police, paramedics, hospital staff, fire and the Mayor’s office.

In the very front line in all this were the paramedics and the hospital staff.

In the weeks after the bombing, the Press attention turned from the immediate impact to the stories of survival and recovery. Requests for interviews were made. But not all requests for granted.

Careful handling by Salford Royal hospital’s comms team led to a set of interviews and pictures with the local newspaper the Manchester Evening News. You can see the full story here.

Human comms is not just what you create but also what the Press can create with you.

Be more human. Like the A&S staff of Salford Royal.

30 days of human comms: day #16 Queensland Ambulance Service takes a dying patient to see the ocean a final time

This is beautiful. 

A dying patient asks to see the sea a final time and an ambulance driver takes a small detour.

Anyone who has lost a loved one can feel this.

Anyone who is human can see this as pure gold. Not as a piece of comms but as a gesture to make a dying wish complete.

What makes this that bit more special is that it moved from being an anecdote at the water cooler to a perfectly weighted piece of communications that works beautifully. It works because it is not contrived and not staged.

It reminds me, funnily enough, of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club. They were determined to shed their post-Hillsborough disaster bunker mentality by a new approach. It was simply ‘do the right thing’.

As the post says, sometimes you don’t need drugs to do a good job just empathy.

Be more human.