by Raziz Rashid
It was just after six in the morning when a social media posting caught my eye. “Ten-storey apartment built in 28 hours,” it read. I clicked, expecting something overstated.
What I saw instead was a time-lapse video showing a flat plot of land in Changsha, China, quickly transforming into a fully completed apartment block.
The feat, orchestrated by Broad Group, was not only technically remarkable but also profoundly instructive for anyone in the business of communication.
At first glance, it looked like a story about engineering speed. But as I watched modules being lowered with absolute precision and workers moving in a coordinated rhythm, I saw something else. I saw a message being delivered with clarity, control and confidence. The building was not just a product. It was a statement.
It was a demonstration of what preparation, design thinking and narrative control could achieve when communication is treated as a strategy, not a reaction.
More Than Construction
Broad Group’s project did not simply accelerate construction timelines. It compressed perception into a single truth. This is what Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver envisioned when they framed communication as a process: a source, a transmitter, a channel, a receiver and feedback. Their model emphasises that noise disrupts meaning.
What Broad accomplished was a near-perfect communication chain. Every module was pre-designed. Every crane movement was anticipated. The “message” of a safe, modern, rapid-build home reached the viewer without interference. No confusion. No hesitation.
This is the discipline that should govern strategic communications. In public affairs, policy announcements, crisis management and brand positioning, the message must be modular.
Facts, values, human narratives, data visualisations and credible spokespersons should exist in pre-assembled components. These can then be positioned with speed and precision depending on the scenario.
In moments of scrutiny or opportunity, the communicator who has these pieces ready will dominate the narrative. Just as Broad assembled steel units into a building, we must be able to assemble message units into a coherent public story.
The effectiveness of this communications architecture is further explained by Everett Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations theory. For an idea to spread, it must be observable, trialable and demonstrate a clear advantage.
Broad Group’s approach achieved all three. The time-lapse video provided perfect visibility. The modular design appeared repeatable, like a system that could be implemented elsewhere.
And the advantage was obvious. Finishing a ten-storey apartment in just over a day is not just efficiency. It is disruption. That clarity gave the message viral power, spreading from architecture blogs to TikTok with ease. The act of building became a tool of persuasion.
Communication as a Core Strategy
In my own experience working closely on strategic communications for government institutions, I have seen how the right message architecture can shape perception, align stakeholders and shield public trust. Through hundreds if not thousands of engagements, I have developed and deployed narratives that respond to public sentiment, distilled complex issues into accessible terms and maintained consistency across platforms.
If this approach were institutionalised, not as a personal craft but as an embedded function within ministries and corporations, it could transform how our institutions engage the public. We must stop treating communication as an accessory to governance or policy. It should be recognised as core infrastructure, designed with the same rigour we apply to legislation, regulation or budgeting.
A recent example that illustrates this need was when one of Malaysia’s sovereign wealth funds announced a proposed privatisation of an aviation-related entity. Although the offer had a sound financial rationale and preserved Malaysian majority ownership, the public reaction quickly turned hostile.
The media statement issued was formal and technical, lacking warmth, moral framing or cultural sensitivity. It failed to acknowledge the national mood at the time when many Malaysians were deeply engaged in the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.
The backlash intensified when it emerged that one of the foreign investors involved had ties to a firm widely criticised for links to Israeli-linked defence investments. In such an emotionally charged environment, the sovereign wealth fund’s reliance on a single static press release left the narrative vulnerable to backlash and moral outrage.
There was no effort to contextualise the move in terms of national interest, ethical considerations or public sentiment. A more strategic approach would have included early stakeholder mapping, narrative alignment with national values, sentiment tracking and trusted voices prepared to lead the conversation. The outcome could have been very different.
This type of communication gap not only weakens public support but creates a vacuum in which misinformation thrives.
This is not an isolated incident. The same dynamics are at play across a range of national initiatives. Whether it involves housing, economic transformation or energy policy, messaging must be framed not just for compliance, but for confidence.
It must demonstrate not only what is happening, but why it matters and how it benefits the audience. Visual proof, consistency and credible intermediaries are what transform information into belief, and belief into trust. Too often, government social media platforms function as ceremonial logbooks.
Photos of ministers or KSUs visits, officiating events and handshake moments are posted with little context, minimal relevance to the public and no effort to create a connection. Then the same agencies wonder why their posts barely receive one or two likes.
This is not a problem with the algorithm. It is a failure of narrative thinking. The public is not interested in protocol for its own sake. They are looking for meaning. A social media strategy should not just document where leadership has been. It should explain why it matters, how it affects people’s lives and what citizens can take away from it.
Government platforms must shift from broadcasting events to building relevance, trust and clarity. Without this evolution, institutions will keep speaking into the void and wonder why no one responds.
Built to Endure
As I watched the final steel module of Broad Group’s tower settle into place, I understood that I was not just watching a building go up. I was watching a perfectly constructed public message. It stood on more than a foundation of concrete. It stood on a foundation of preparation, precision and strategic clarity.
This is the future of communication. It is not spontaneous. It is not improvised. It is engineered. Malaysian policymakers and corporate leaders must begin to treat communication with the same discipline they apply to operations, procurement or risk.
Only then can we compete in a world where attention is limited, trust is fragile and narrative is everything. The skyscraper that rose in 28 hours is not just a symbol of innovation. It is a reminder of what is possible when strategy and storytelling are built to last.
If that ten-storey building in Changsha stands tall for decades to come and never wavers, it will be because its foundation was strong, its technique sound, and its planning precise. The same is true for the narratives we construct.
A message built to last cannot rely on deception, improvisation or emotional shortcuts. It must stand on truth, clarity and deliberate design. When we build our communications with integrity at the core and structure in the process, our stories will not just rise in the moment. They will endure. They will shape perception, define institutions and earn the trust that outlives the headlines.
Just like the skyscraper that rose in 28 hours, a well-built narrative needs no defence. It simply stands.
The views of the writer are entirely of his own. Raziz Rashid is a strategic communications consultant, former Head of Corporate Communications at the Prime Minister’s Department, and Chairman of Pertubuhan Sukarelawan Siber Selamat.