We Live In A Box Culture

As 2015 starts, the British Medical Association launch a campaign to try and get us all to eat healthier.

According to Deputy Chair, Dr Kailash Chand, two-thirds of all patients visiting his GP surgery have food-caused ailments. Sugar the number one enemy. Closely followed by all manner of fat, salt and fast convenience food in general.

Whilst applauding such campaign, I was taken with his framing of it.

We’ve heard this all before, right. Yet the nation continues to get ever more obese.

So how do you re-present in a new and captivating way?

(As a sidenote, I often show salesteams that their job title – sales representative – is actually about how they must re-present ideas to prospects, as standalone once-off pitches never work.)

His first mantra was to evoke three words for policy makers and consumers alike so they think hard about what’s being ingested;

acceptability affordability accessibility

One example I heard was when on long motorway journeys, you know the service stations are burger-ridden, so work inside the speed-of-modern-life and prepare culinary fuel for the drive ahead of time.

Dr Chand acknowledged this can be tricky to start with. Then deployed this winning picture;

We live in a box culture.

We live in a box, go to work in a box, work in a box, sleep in a box and when it’s all over we’re put in a box

The inference clearly for us to get out of our box.

(Although that phrase can have scandalous meaning to someone of my generation beyond the comfort zone beating, lateral thinking teachings of today!)

There’s a couple of lovely pitch steers here for us.

I do like the concept of a box culture. Is your prospect boxed in somewhere?

And if they are, is there a trio of words you can find (alliterative or rhyming will definitely help) that similarly to ‘accessible, acceptable and affordable’ will allow you to frame their plight?

One that is unique to you. As I’ve blogged before, shape the language, own the bid.

Break out that box.