The 4Cs of Truth in Communications: How to Identify, Discuss, Evaluate and Present Stand-Out Effective Communication

Even though we all communicate every waking hour of every day, truly effective communication isn't always easy to identify, much less execute. Consumers are deluged by messages with different purposes to inform, to persuade, and to entertain. This plethora comes to us courtesy of a variety of resources that are increasingly fragmented by advances in technology. With more communication to sift through, it has never been more important to make this communication clear. Don't let the size of this little book fool you. The 4Cs of Truth in Communications presents a remarkably straightforward and easy to apply framework for creating, presenting, and evaluating effective communication. The simple yet powerful framework will help you recognize, organize, and evaluate stand-out effective communication. Whether it's a television program, a package graphic, a brand logo, a political speech, or even an email message, this model gives you an essential communications pocket guide. After you learn how to navigate the 4Cs, you can be confident that your marketing efforts will cut through to true communication clarity.

About the Author

Since 1999, Isabelle Albanese, a 23-year marketing and communications veteran, has led the highly regarded consumer insight-driven consulting firm, Consumer Truth, Ltd. In this capacity, she and her business partner and former advertising agency veteran, Ken Quaas (who also happens to be her husband) have actively used the 4Cs of Truth in Communications model literally hundreds of times to objectively validate and optimize consumer response to the communications efforts of highly recognized and respected consumer brands including: Dove, Suave, Avon, Dunkin' Donuts, Lever 2000, Togo's Sandwich Shop, Del Monte Foods, Ikea, A&E Television Networks, Quaker Life Cereal, Dollar Rent A Car, and Breyers Ice Cream, as well as those of many other brands for advertising agency partners such as J. Walter Thompson, Foote Cone & Belding, Leo Burnett, Element 79, and Ogilvy & Mather.

She has presented the 4Cs of Truth in Communications model to rave reviews at international conferences among both client and colleague audiences, and through conducting upwards of 700 group discovery sessions, one-on-one interviews and in-home/on-site ethnographies, has developed an expertise for hearing and innately understanding consumers' truth.

Prior to starting Consumer Truth, she was a senior vice president at J. Walter Thompson Advertising where she spent 11 years in both their New York and Chicago offices, playing a key role in the strategic and communications efforts of leading consumer packaged goods brands such as Nestle, Helene Curtis (Unilever) Hair Care, Kraft Foods, and Warner-Lambert (Pfizer). Prior to that, Isabelle spent several years at the venerated Ted Bates Advertising Agency in New York in account management on the M&M Mars confection brands.

Isabelle has a B.S. in business from DePaul University and attended business school at the University of Chicago. She is an active member of the Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA).