Use the Message House Method

Home of the Free Message House Toolkit

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What is a Message House?

A Message House is a method for increasing messaging discipline within your team. A Message House consists of an outline of a house with messages inside. Simply tell your internal stakeholders (salespersons, fundraisers, etc.) to “stay inside the Message House” when communicating about their project or organization.

Why is a Message House effective?

The Message House method is effective because it promotes a focus on a small number of key messages and turns an abstract concept (adhering to messages) into a concrete and “sticky” idea (staying inside a house).

How do you make a Message House?

The original Message House design features a roof, three columns, and a foundation. The roof contains your “umbrella message.” It usually conveys the value or urgency of a project. The three columns each have a supporting “core message.” The foundation includes ancillary information such as proof points, statistics, examples, and testimonials.

Creating a Message House is easy using the templates in the free Message House Toolkit.

Who uses Message Houses?

Companies, nonprofits, NGOs and governments around the world use Message Houses. Organizations (and their reason for) downloading the Message House Toolkit have included:

Apple, USA (“internal communications”)
Nestle, Switzerland (“align a team to key messages”)
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Finland (“coaching communications”)
State government, Australia (“key messages for an anti-bullying campaign”)
Red Cross, New Zealand (“writing key messages”)

There are more than 1,000 use examples from 65+ countries at messagehouse.org/testimonials.

The toolkit additionally includes an eBook with:

A framework for determining effective key messages for a Message House
Examples of real-world Message Houses
Advice for rolling out a Message House in an organization
A case study of a non-profit using a Message House
A simpler Message House version with just one “room” instead of the three columns, roof, and foundation

Click Here to Download the Message House Toolkit

Toolkit Contents

The eBooklet (20 minute read)
A quick-start one-pager
Templates in different formats

About the book (free pdf or buy on Amazon)
Create powerful messages and get your teams to use them! Communications expert Marc Fest shares his take on the classic Message House Method. Learn to create messages that inform, inspire, pre-empt skepticism, and trigger action. Then apply the Message House “trick” to get your team to remember and use them. This book is part of a pro-bono project and is available for free download at www.messagehouse.org/download.

Buy Paperback on Amazon Download here as free PDF

MessageHouse.org founder, Marc Fest

About the author
Marc Fest is a German American communications expert and the founder of ElevatorSpeechTraining.com. He is also behind MessageHouse.org, a toolkit used by companies, nonprofits, and governments worldwide for creating key messages and staying on message. He is a former vice president of communications for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the New World Symphony. He is the author of several books, including “Elevator Speech Frameworks,” “The Message House Method,” and “Farm Stories.” Marc lives on a farm on the edge of the Everglades with his Belgian Shepherd dog Zeus and an assortment of lizards, hawks, and raccoons. He occasionally shares short stories at mf.ly.

Organizations worldwide download it:

"Narrative with a client"
Hill+Knowlton Strategies, France
"training"
Infosys, India
"inspiration"
SAP, USA
"Creating more effective messages"
Amnesty Finland, Finland
"Communication Course"
Rolls-Royce, UK
"Internal comms"
Tetra Pak, Sweden
"Email messaging for work"
Habitat For Humanity International, USA
"transformation project"
Capital One, USA
"save time"
Shell, Barbados
"create campaign comms message"
greenpeace, China
"Marketing plans"
Canada Life, Canada
"New campaign idea"
Oracle, Singapore
"to help with corporate narrative"
Treasury Wine Estates, Australia
"Key message development"
Ministry of Children, New Zealand
"To build a communication strategy"
UA Government, Ukraine
"Engage with relevant stakeholders"
World Bank, Chile
"educate myself"
Liebherr Machines Bulle SA, Switzerland
"Create a message structure"
Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Singapore
"Develop Executive Presence (Gravitas)"
Boeing, Brazil
"Marketing"
Interaction Design Foundation, USA
"event"
Centrient, Spain
"Helping our nonprofit sharpen our core messaging"
Washington Wild, USA
"Learning"
Brink's, USA
"marketing strategy"
Alibaba, China
"Education"
UN WOMEN, Kenya
"Training communication students"
Journalists For Justice, Kenya
"To learn more about it"
Edelman Brasil, Brazil
"Developing messaging"
Swiss Re, Germany
"Customer conversations"
Microsoft, Ireland
"Curious if it gives me ideas for an internal meeting"
Bayer, USA
"Work planning"
Australian Government, Australia
"to serve as guide in creating compelling presentations"
Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippines
"Marketing"
Wipro, USA
"build message house for marketing programs"
Molex, Germany
"Generating great Inbound Marketing!"
Clockwork Logistics Systems, USA
"Internal communications"
Apple, USA
"Product positioning"
Dell Technologies, Spain
"organizing messages"
BASF, Hong Kong
"For the messaging"
Akamai, Israel
"Designing key messages for organisational change"
UNICEF, USA
"PR messages"
Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, USA
"improve child and family health"
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA
"messaging for our products"
Happify, USA
"NGO COMMUNICATION STRATEGY"
FUNDACION LIMPIA PANAMA, Panama
"For employee communication strategy"
Sensata Technologies, China
"fundraising for a not for profit working with communities in Haiti"
FOKAL, Haiti
"Strategic Communications planning"
Cardano Foundation, Ireland
"Align a team to key messages"
Nestle, Switzerland
"Media training"
Greenpeace, Lebanon
"idea creation"
Acuity Group, USA
"for office communication"
JMK FOUNDATION, Tanzania
"Composing a message for an executive"
The Home Depot, USA
"change strategy"
New South Wales, Government, Australia
"clarify and develop advocacy messages"
Swedish Embassy in Liberia, Liberia
"Project comms"
Cyber Capability, Australia
"I need to review it"
US State Dept, USA
"sustainability comms strategy"
Novelis, USA
"coaching communications"
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Finland
"Improving our pitches"
Orion Biotechnology, Canada
"overall messaging for my company"
Smith Trading, UK
"Heard about the writing strategy and it applied it to our communications."
Fondation Michaëlle Jean Foundation, Canada
"Helping turn policy positions into clear messages"
World Wildlife Fund, Belgium
"Release Marketing Messages"
Genedata AG, Switzerland
"Comm plan for business affairs"
University of the Philippines Los Banos
"communication strategy"
Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, Australia
"Get better grip on the broad perspective of the organisation"
Municipality of Nijmegen, Netherlands
"brand refresh, refine our messaging"
Trust for Public Land, USA
"Marketing"
Roche, Singapore
"Key messaging"
Nomad Digital Services, LLC, USA
"Annual branding plan for the company"
HuaYuan Computation, China
"For communication in different projects."
Kranj City Library, Slovenia
"key messaging for Board members, donors, other stakeholders"
West Vancouver Memorial Library, Canada
"Developing a content strategy"
Dragon Capital, Vietnam
"Campaign Plan"
SAP, Ireland
"key messages relating to sustainability and climate change"
City of Coventry, UK
"part of my course curriculum"
Deloitte LLP, UK
"Campaign"
Nestlé Deutschland, Germany
"improve communication skills"
UPS, Canada
"Internal and external comms"
Heathrow Airport, UK
"Better engage our stakeholders"
Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), Finland
"Help a customer create clear messages"
IKEA, Netherlands
"building a framework for messaging"
Gartner, USA
"Key messages for an anti- bullying campaign"
State government, Australia
"personal interest"
Accenture GmbH, Austria
"improve communications skill"
Boeing, Brazil
"To excel at talking about what I do"
Ford Foundation, USA
"Share methodology with colleagues"
Ministry of Education, New Zealand
"Messaging"
NZ Parliament, New Zealand
"project"
Visa, UK
"simplify messaging"
Siemens, USA
"Communications"
Danone, Egypt
"stronger messaging"
Health Foundation, UK
"Reviewing key messages"
Rainforest Foundation US, USA
"Create Keymessage"
1&1, Germany
"developing a narrative"
The Global Fund, Switzerland
"marketing course assignment"
Jönköping University, Sweden
"Influence"
Newcastle University, UK
"NFP Work"
Ministry of Justice, New Zealand
"workshop"
Heineken, Netherlands
"consistant messaging"
AT&T, USA
"presentations"
T. Rowe Price, USA
"power point presentation"
NHS, UK
"Writing key messages."
Red Cross, New Zealand
"Clarify thinking."
Edelman, Japan
"Engaging teams with change visioning"
Environment Agency, UK
"for teaching values to students"
St Theresa's College Cebu, Philippines
"Developing a digital strategy for unified external events communications"
Museum of Arts and Sciences, USA
"I will do a training inside the European Parliament"
European Parliament, Luxembourg
"Message strategy"
League of American Orchestras, USA
"campaign workshop"
political party in Germany, Germany
"Speaker Opps"
Autodesk, United Arab Emirates
"presentations"
Accenture, Germany
"Politics"
Grüne, Germany
"Work"
Roche, Colombia
"PR Strategy development"
Gen tek, Ukraine
"education"
Dallas College, USA
"making a brand strategy plan"
BCW, China
"message house use"
visa, UK
"Create an internal framework"
Maxeon Solar Technologies, Singapore
"forestry and fire management internal and external comms"
Forestry & Fire Management Victoria, Australia
"Brand positioning"
Helix International Group, UK
"staff message for covid response"
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, UK
"building a brand house"
Rank Media, Canada
"To build a communication strategy"
Legato Health Technologies, India
"marketing messaging"
Tata, India
"for client messaging"
ICON creative agency, USA
"Internal product message alignment"
Scotiabank, Canada
"For my profession a strategic communications professional"
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Philippines
"Internal communication in the company"
IKEA, Japan
"To develop communication message"
Edelman, China
"Defining communication messages"
Nestlé, Switzerland
"To develop key messaging for internal projects"
Accenture, Ireland
"Internal positioning"
IKEA Germany, Germany
"Creating messaging for environment initiative."
Ministry for the Environment, New Zealand
"For my work"
Governmental, Belgium
"I am hosting a workshop for a department determining their ambition."
Heineken, Netherlands
"Just looking for any new methodology than what we already use"
Accenture, USA
"Key messages for national campaigns"
Qatar Green Building Council, Qatar
"planning message structure. addressing an issue"
The Treasury, New Zealand
"visualize mission and vision of my department"
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands
"To create a message house in our PR strategy."
Suzuki, Germany
"learn about modern marketing methodology"
Konica Minolta Business Solutions, Germany
"Tech products"
Stripe, USA
"create message house"
Roche, Switzerland
"To prepare a comms strategy for a big project"
Ricoh, UK
"Teach students and enhance own message house"
FleishmanHillard, Germany
"Having a look to see what approach is about"
HSBC, UK
"compelling message for our brands"
AstraZeneca, Japan
"Learn more about"
State Goverment, Brazil
"for my work as communications advisor"
Dutch Police, Netherlands
"Creating messaging for a webinar"
The Nature Conservancy, USA
"messaging for a non profit"
YMCA, USA
"Heard about it on a webinar, interested to check it out"
Publicis Media, USA
"\ major organisational change for the Central Bank"
Bank of Jamaica, Jamaica
"For business"
EY, China
"Media releases"
Ministry for Primary Industries, New Zealand
"Supporting staff"
NHS England / NHS Improvement, UK
"Clarity across sales teams"
ABB, UK
"message house for the department"
IKEA, Sweden
"research for University"
University Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
"develop message"
tencent, Hong Kong
"communications strategy and plan for WWF Guianas"
WWF, Suriname
"COVID-19 message hierarchy development"
City of Rochester, USA
"Work"
NHS, UK
"Professional use"
L'Oréal, China
"Developing a key messages framework"
University of Cumbria, UK
"Prep. announcement"
Edelman, Belgium
"Aligning messages during pandemic"
Juilliard, USA
"Working on a strategic communications plan"
North Sea Foundation, Netherlands
"Build a strong awareness campaign message house"
Philips, Netherlands
"Internal Comms"
AARP, USA
"Deduct clear communication for anything"
KPMG, Germany
"to build a message for the coronavirus pandemic"
Habitat For Humanity Brazil, Brazil
"Corona"
Princess Máxima Center, Netherlands
"Product Marketing"
Atlassian, India
"For a campaign"
Korn Ferry, Singapore
"Better structure on messaging"
Red Cross, Norway
"For building a compelling piece of content"
Nokia, USA
"Refining our employer storytelling"
Accenture, France
"For Internal Comms"
Danone, Poland
"Explore the usage for my grantees"
Ford Foundation, USA
"work"
SAP, Germany
"To Learn"
Unilever, UK
"Program Development"
BASF, Germany
"for corporate communications"
Schindler, Germany
"marketing"
Intel, USA
"I am a communications specialist"
The UN World Food Programme, Egypt
"I work in marketing at the NHS"
NHS, UK
"Messaging of internal transformation campaign"
Philips, Netherlands
"formulate interconnection for overall theme and various subthemes"
government, Netherlands
"To build messages about resilient infrastructure"
UNOPS, Bangladesh
"Marketing Plan"
Huawei, China
"develop contents for website, media publication and broadcast"
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Nigeria
"I need to build a corporate message house"
Novo Nordisk, Switzerland
"a briefing to a comms team"
Suffolk County Council, UK
"To create a communications strategy"
EU, Belgium
"ensure that the msg is clear & correct"
JR McKenzie Trust, New Zealand
"Great messages to cascade through NGO"
Global Reporting Initiative, Netherlands
"A project I am launching"
Dubai Star Food, United Arab Emirates
"for other non-communications colleagues"
UNOPS, Nepal

(Click here to browse thousands more)

Survey finds that 25% of communication professionals have used Message House method

According to a recent poll conducted in a LinkedIn group of more than 50,000 communication professionals from around the world, 25% of respondents have used the Message House method. Additionally, a third of those surveyed were aware of the approach. The poll received 200 votes. To learn how MessageHouse.org became the home of the Message House method, check out this LinkedIn article.