Hearts & Minds: Why symbol beats soundbite every time

It is obvious that the best way of dealing with Donald Trump, at least by those world leaders who wish to curry favour and avoid crossing the US president, is to flatter and ingratiate. That has been Sir Keir Starmer’s approach and there is evidence of it having succeeded. Even so, Trump’s visit to his Scottish golf courses, tested the methodology to the limit. What the media witnessed at first hand, because they were there, and viewers saw, was subjugation. The prime minister was made to look like a guest – ‘a ghost’ was one commentator’s verdict – in his own land.

The entire trip to Trump’s Turnberry resort was visually off-beam. There was Trump standing atop the steps, looking like the Monarch of the Glen, the Boss. There was Starmer, below and therefore reduced. The warmth of the welcoming words, which would explain Starmer’s strange behaviour, was lost as Trump’s bagpiper drowned them out.

Starmer played the role of someone who had turned up at the wrong wedding. The press conference that followed saw Trump occupy the central chair and therefore the camera line, with Starmer sitting off left. They were not even side by side. This, in Britain, in Starmer’s domain!

After that, it did not matter what the words were. Of course, they were picked up and studied, but it was the presentation that dominated and proved to be the main talking point. If ever there was a clear reminder of the power of image over language it was here.

Comms people spend our lives immersed in language. We finesse messages, prep quotes, debate whether ‘ambitious’ sounds too try-hard. But Turnberry wasn’t about words. It was about the optics. Semiotics, scenery, staging.

In corporate life as in politics, the person who controls the setting often controls the story. That’s why CEOs give interviews in hard hats, not head offices. Why the annual strategy video gets filmed in the warehouse, not the wood-panelled boardroom. Not only does it make for something more aesthetically pleasing than business suits in a room but it conveys dynamism and connection. It says they know their company.

Nevertheless, the Turnberry charade should make us question: are we thinking hard enough about the pictures, or are we still placing too much faith in the words? Because in a visual world, symbol beats soundbite. Every time.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.