• Reworking the strategy of strategic communication

  • Feb 19 2025
  • Length: 10 mins
  • Podcast

Reworking the strategy of strategic communication

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  • Summary

  • "Achieving information dominance is an indispensable prerequisite of combat action."
    Editor's note: This style of article is also a move from our more traditional analytical articles. However, we valued the first person experience it offers and think it is of interest to our readers.
    The current Labour government is having a hard time of it from mainstream media and with the departure of Sue Gray as the Chief of Staff at Downing Street and a budget that already seems to be unpopular. Downing Street it is going to have to work hard to reverse what has been an unsteady number of weeks in the headlines.
    How can it do this and why?
    I have recently returned from Operation ORBITAL (the UK presence in Eastern Europe) as the media officer. During this time I was fortunate enough to work alongside Task Force Thunder in Grafenwoehr. I saw multiple elements of the NATO effort to support Ukraine from a J4, J7 and J9 perspective. Whether that be helicopter pilot training to medical serials, the state of the art facilities being used, or witnessing the biggest movement of kit and equipment across Europe since WW2. The effort from every nation and individual involved is staggering.
    But it seems that absolutely no one outside of military circles is aware of it.
    When on rest and relaxation I attended two weddings. When chatting to fellow guests I was often asked, 'Is there still a war going on?' Why has everyone forgotten about the conflict in the Ukraine? It would be very easy to blame the 24-hour news cycle and the constant demand for new stories and viewer fatigue for the war falling down the priority list in newsrooms. I would argue, however, that poor strategic communications has also diminished understanding and interest in the conflict.
    This opinion piece is focussing on strategic communications and not strategic command.
    Finding the equation
    When discussing the Labour Government Tony Blair's former spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, offered a solution in the New European. Campbell offered "strategic communications, which is the simultaneous development, execution and narration of the driving strategy of government." Campbell provides a solid definition of strategic communications and one we can work with, "create narratives, deliver narratives and sell the story."
    But how do we do it?
    A simple strategy model that I have used before is one developed by Arthur F. Lykke Jr who gives us the ends, ways, and means model. Many officers will be familiar with this 3-tier framework. The formula is simple: strategy = ends + ways + means.
    This gives us three simple questions to ask; What is the desired end-state? How can it be achieved? What resources are required?
    The strategic communications strategy for the war in Ukraine has a well-defined end state which is to ensure continued support form the UK public for the work being done by NATO and the UK Armed Forces. The strategic talking points and lines to take are comprehensively circulated and updated as needed. We have the ways in which we wish to do this, whether that be a certain number of views, shares or likes on social media posts, headlines or column inches in traditional print, content creation from interviews and documentary series (I highly recommend watching the INTERFLEX series on YoutTube that was created by BFBS) all underpinned by narratives we design.
    Where we come unstuck is the means. What resources are required to do this?
    I will offer a sports analogy to help explain this. What do all premier league football teams want to do? Win the league.
    I accept that small clubs merely wish to survive and some mid-table clubs just want to turn a profit. I am being reductive for simplicity. We have our end state: win the league.
    The ways are the styles of football a team or how the team coach wishes to play. Some teams want a high press and to counterattack: traditionally in England we have played a long ball attritional style with passes limited to between 6-8 from goalkeeper to a strong ...
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