“Don’t let go.
You’ve got the music in you,
One dance left,
This world is gonna pull through,
Don’t give up,
You’ve got a reason to live.
Don’t forget,
You only get what you give”
― New Radicals

Why do we at Brodeur Partners talk about relevance so much? Frankly, because it’s so important.

Allow me to explain how the idea of relevance came about, why it works, and how it has developed over the years into the platform and methodology that makes our company unique.

I’ve spent a lot of time working with clients in a variety of industries like healthcare and technology, and also nonprofit and government organizations. As digital technology changed communications, we found our clients struggling to make sense – and create meaning and relationships – in a world that is noisy and changing every day.

I remember the moment when it hit me that so many brands were becoming irrelevant because their meaning had become obscured. I was on a plane leafing through a 42-page document on Company X’s messaging strategy and just feeling that it was not going to connect with anyone. And more important, who was coming up with this stuff? I started to think brands were beginning to lose the ability to create a sense of meaning because they were just creating noise in a desperate effort to stay visible.

The fundamental idea behind relevance, and the book I authored with Paul Brown on the topic, is that it’s not sufficient to change minds and opinions. It’s more about finding insights that create meaning and then lead to behavioral change. So we set out on a journey to do just that – devise and demonstrate our programs to change the way people act (e.g., purchase, donate, vote, join, exercise and communicate). Today, the principle of relevance guides everything we do for our clients.

The seeds had already been planted as I grew up in the high tech industry, a terrific proving ground over the decades that challenges you to be in front of what people think, feel and ultimately do. I was also influenced in a big way by the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Red Rocks of Arizona, both early “staging” environments for my career and habit of looking at problem-solving differently.

With a busy but fun job, a family of six, a dog and two cats, I do my best to be personally relevant with triathlons and nonprofit boards. I’m also working on the next book. Because relevance is that important.