Messaging and stories are going to be a key element of snuffing out Coronavirus over what will be a tricky target.

Somewhere, but most likely spread, a bevy of government communications people are creating messages. You can’t envy their job.

It’s no easy thing to nail important ideas so that all of us understand and respond.

To add to the pressure, what’s at stake doesn’t come any bigger than Coronavirus.

Now ‘Stay home, save lives’ is good, but it could be better by applying the rule of three.

The rule of three has its own Wikipedia entry, and the Romans had their own version.

“Omne trium perfectum”

• Everything that comes in three is perfect, or
  
• Every set of three is complete

The statement is improved by obeying the rule of three, stretching it and upping its take home message (no pun intended, but…):

Stay home
Stay safe
Save lives

We provide a double hit of why staying at home is so important. Staying at home means we’re both safe ourselves, and helping others by doing so. We provide a why (stay safe) to the two requests.

The triplet has alliteration, and a useful double repeat of ‘stay’, which has different meanings in this case as well.

Finally, from a rhyming and lyrical point of view, a three punch poem is more pleasing.

This, of course, is just my opinion.

But if everything that comes in threes is perfect from the Romans’ point of view, it probably applies for us too.