Neil O’Brien MP, appointed by Boris Johnson to lead the charge on the ‘levelling up’ agenda, is due to publish a White Paper on the topic this coming Autumn. As he finalises his work, he might want to consider the role of language and an effective narrative as he seeks to direct change on this issue.

Politics aside, it is evident that few people are clear what levelling up means – according to the newspapers, a Number 10 member of staff has called it a “slogan without a purpose”, it has been called ‘opaque’, ‘vague’ and a ‘meaningless soundbite.’ The Conservative MP Laura Farris has commented that “He [Boris Johnson] seems to be throwing the kitchen sink at it, which suggests there isn’t much of a coherent idea behind it.” Levelling up is often taken as referring to place-based inequality and was a major theme in the Hartlepool by-election in May. However MPs based in the South of England have been reassured that levelling up applies across the UK, which leaves us none the wiser.

Some have, rightly in my view, pointed out that this vagueness has some political advantages. By setting out the idea only in broad terms, Johnson is aiming to ensure that all MPs stay onboard. It also buys further time to evaluate how the pandemic has impacted commuting patterns, city centres and so on. It is also difficult to oppose a nebulous concept.

Nonetheless, it is also the case that the lack of clarity around the idea will, ultimately, hinder its effectiveness. We have recently been speaking with those in senior policy and academic positions for our clients and it’s apparent that the obfuscation around the levelling up agenda has seen the term in an unenviable position. It simultaneously feels overused and undersold. If clarity is not brought to the idea soon then it is likely to be too late to salvage the concept.

In both politics and the corporate world, it’s clear that words matter, and slogans matter too. Simon Lancaster has written an interesting piece on the value of the positive (‘up’) in such a phrase and notes three metaphors which have so far been associated with levelling up – firstly water and rising tides, secondly gaming and progressing through different levels and finally the idea of the combustion engine and changing gears.

I think the problem for levelling up from a language point of view goes further than the opaqueness of its meaning and the wide variety of metaphors that have been associated with it to date. The major challenge is that there is no clear narrative associated with it. Why is levelling up desirable? What will life be like once we have levelled up? Effective communications need a clear sense of story and direction, with a hidden frame of support to help on the journey. This is what a good narrative should provide. It’s a structure or framework which allows you to tell your story, whether that’s about your political idea or your corporate brand.

Why is a narrative so important? There are several reasons, but most notably because, as my colleague Matt Carter points out, “the appeal of a narrative comes from a simple insight – that people increasingly want more than a rational list of reasons why to buy a product or engage with a company” – and we can add ‘support to a political idea’ to this. Narratives are a highly effective way of personalising a story and making them memorable. Levelling up may elicit a shrug, but a narrative about, for example, providing more opportunities for people to get on in life, rooted in specific success stories, starts to garner the emotions and stand out in our memory. We know from our research that an effective narrative is based not just on what an organisation wants to say but needs to be grounded in where this intersects with what the audience wants to hear.

A narrative is also important because it helps us to know what success looks like. Otherwise, how will we know when we have levelled up? An effective narrative demonstrates a sense of momentum, showing the journey we are on and therefore providing context for the setbacks and a finishing line, so we know when we have got there. This is important in politics and in the corporate world too. Individual set-backs, like delays to HS-2 have the potential to completely derail the levelling up agenda (forgive the pun), but not if the narrative is greater than the sum of its political parts and speaks to a wider change than infrastructure alone. Levelling up could be part of a wider transformation towards longer, healthier lives for all, for example.

It’s important to remember that narratives exist whether we write them or not, and so we want to oversee our own story, without risking it being written by our opponents or competitors.

There are several tools one can use to help develop a strong narrative, which we utilise to support our clients. For example, we can use character archetypes and/or in-depth interviews and focus groups to start identifying the key insights that will form the basis for the narrative. A Message House is also a highly effective and robust way of structuring a narrative. Key aspects to consider in this process are:

Starting point - What story are you in? What character are you playing? It’s important to ask questions of your organisation and your audiences
Connection – Find the place where the story and our character intersect. What’s the simple idea?
Evidence – Show how we bring our character to life in practical ways. Find credible truths without creating something static
Future – Lean forwards, rooting the story in the past but pointing to how the story will unfold over time

At the moment, levelling up feels like an over-utilised slogan with no substance. Give it a clear narrative and it could be an idea that helps drives change across the political agenda.