Write a Message House in Minutes

Work with AI to make use of this classic communications framework

I was inspired to write this week’s guide after spending an evening in London with some public affairs pros who have been experimenting with AI to produce high-touch communications products. One of the use cases we reviewed? Using AI to produce a Message House. I was intrigued by this and went off to experiment.

What is a “Message House” in corporate communications?

It’s a strategic framework used to ensure your messaging is clear, consistent, and effective across all your distribution channels and target audiences. It’s a useful tool for getting your team to align on internal and external communications, providing a unified narrative that supports your communications objectives.

Structure of a Message House

The Message House is often visualized as a house with three components:

1. Roof (Key Message or Theme): This is the overarching message or central theme that encapsulates the core idea you want to communicate. It’s your elevator pitch or main narrative. It needs to be memorable and compelling.

2. Walls (Supporting Messages): These are your main pillars that support the key message. Usually, there are three to four supporting messages that elaborate on different aspects of the key message, providing additional context and detail.

3. Foundation (Proof Points): This is where your data, proof points, data, and supporting examples live. They add credibility and make your message more persuasive.

Benefits of using a Message House

• Clarity and focus: The Message House helps distill complex information into a clear narrative, making it easier for your team to communicate.

• Consistency: The structure ensures your communicators and products are aligned and sing from the same song sheet.

• Flexibility. You can adapt the details within the core structure to suit different audiences and situations (e.g. media interviews, internal communications, campaigns, etc.)

A Workflow for writing a Message House

Here’s how you would typically develop a message house:

• Define the key message: Start with a clear, concise statement that captures what you need or want to communicate. It should be compelling and easy to remember.

• Develop supporting messages: Identify the main points that support your key message. These should provide additional detail, covering the main components of your key message.

• Identify supporting proof points: Gather evidence, data, and useful examples that validate your supporting messages. These should be factual and verifiable.

Taking it up a notch with AI

Now that we’re aligned on what we’re working towards, let’s build a Message House using AI. Given the need for verified facts and data, we’ll use a combination of ChatGPT and Perplexity AI to build this out.

As always, I like working with a real-world example. For this one, I thought we could develop a hypothetical Message House for Airbnb as it confronts ongoing protests in cities like Barcelona, where locals have become deeply frustrated by the negative impact of tourism, especially on long-term housing supply.

Step 1: Provide ChatGPT with an issue brief