Lady Gaga’s infamous meat dress is a graphic reminder of the role consistent and pervasive communication has played in her success, which includes huge global sales, entry to the Forbes rich list and countless awards.

A cynic might say that she’s as manufactured as Stock Aitken Waterman’s stable of 1980s acts, but fans view her as an indie artist who reaches out to “the freaks, the rebellious and the dispossessed”.  Regardless, what she does so successfully is use every brand touch point to reinforce what she’s about.  

Ideas Shop will soon be releasing its Internal Communications in New Zealand 2011* report and it isn’t a stretch to draw some parallels between some of the report’s key findings and what Gaga has done well in communications: 

Pervasive and consistent: Lady Gaga doesn’t take time off from being Lady Gaga – you won’t see her in trackies dissecting last night’s Coro!  Internal Communications needs to repeat organisational key messages at every given opportunity and have editorial polices that focus on telling stories about what matters to the organisation.  Supporting and equipping people-leaders with the same messages staff will hear from the CEO builds connection and consistency, and further awareness.

Channel management: Best practice communicators start a channel strategy by acquiring a deep understanding of their audiences and the communication modes that best work for them.  With 13 million Twitter followers, 35 million Facebook friends and high use of You Tube, Lady Gaga speaks to her fans through the channels they’re already using. Social media also allows Gaga’s fans to communicate with her, and it’s this two-way communication tool that New Zealand organisations are paying more attention to.

Build alliances: Successful Internal Communications teams work closely with other key parts of the business so that together they are helping to engage staff and earn their discretionary effort.  This means being involved with teams including HR, Strategy, External Communications and Brand & Marketing to ensure communications are targeted and effective and the results are stronger for collaboration. Lady Gaga famously surrounds herself with collaborators – designers, visual artists and like-minded celebs - who together deliver the Lady Gaga experience.

Staff bring the brand to life: Effective Internal Communications are anchored around people – helping staff understand how what they do each day builds success and celebrating their achievements.   This places staff in the driving seat for an organisation’s success and recognises their ability to bring a brand to life for customers and stakeholders.  Gaga’s the same – she loves her fans (“little monsters”), attributes her success to them and celebrates the weirder ones who most deeply reflect her brand. 

So while meat clothing isn’t looming large on the summer 11/12 fashion scape, consistent, pervasive ‘on message’ internal communication will continue to help organisations build their own troops of little monsters. 

* Ideas Shop’s Internal Communications in New Zealand 2011 report will be published in November and be available on our website and Facebook page. We’ll distribute the report to all our friends but please email us info [at] ideasshop [dot] co [dot] nz if you’d like to be added to the list.  The report is a result of research conducted with practitioners and other stakeholders earlier this year, and compares the results with best practice and international trends.