Richard III sends communications lessons from the grave

The UK ... and much of the rest of the world ... was gripped last week by the re-internment of King Richard III.  After more than 500 years of ignominy the tide has turned.  It seems we all got the story wrong.  The legendary villain was, in fact, a decent guy who probably got on the wrong side of one of the most effective PR machines in history.

There's nothing new about usurpers using communications to consolidate their new administrations, whether it's medieval kings or a board running a modern takeover.  What lessons in communications strategy can we learn from the Tudors' alleged blackwashing of their predecessor?

ONE. Take control of communications.  Maligned by critics as a boring paper pusher, Henry VII was smart enough to understand the importance of message control.  He made sure every channel was immediately on side with his story: the noble underdog here to rescue the country from horror with peace, stability and good management.  Anything that interfered with his narrative (like the claimed of one Perkin Warbeck to be one of the lost Princes in the Tower) was quickly and brutally controlled.  Henry's channels were aristocratic gossip, architecture and stately progresses.  These days we look at PR, internal communications and social media.  But the strategy is the same.  Try to gain control with a consistent story that shows positive change, as soon as possible.

TWO. Demonise the enemy.  In just three generations, Tudor messaging transformed Richard into a malformed beast who betrayed his brothers, murdered his nephews, was a sexual predator making moves on his niece and was hated by his supporters.  The past 70 years of scholarship has chipped away at that story, showing a decent and popular king.  But the Tudor's knew that support for one side is more passionate when the other side is a stark, frightening contrast.  In today's politically correct world of incestuous business relationships, where a company may be your partner and competitor at the same time and no individual can afford to burn a bridge, it's hard to create a bad guy to fight against.  But you needn't demonise a company or an individual.  Look to a situation.  Here's what success means, and here's what happens if we don't get it right.  Let the numbers and the consequences speak.  Demonise failure to prompt people to embrace success.

THREE.  Hire the best.  I'm not suggesting that some shadowy Elizabethan PR man gave Shakespeare a brief and paid him to glorify the Tudor regime.  I am, however, celebrating this early example of great content marketing.  Shakespeare did everything right on the storytelling front, giving us a rollicking piece of entertainment that also embedded key messages for generations.  Richard = bad.  Tudor dynasty = good.  Every piece of modern marketing content we create is trying to get key messages across.  Spend the time and get the right people to create things that tell a great story, captivate the audience and entertain.  Yes, entertain.  Your messages might not last for 500 years, but they'll at least stand out from today's crowd.