Terminology

Member lesson

The words agencies use that mean nothing

Lesson 10 of 11 in Terminology.

Where Did Cringey Corporate Jargon Come From? | Otherwords · Storied
Lesson

A handful of words turn up in almost every brand document and change nothing at all. The worst offenders are authentic, premium, innovative, curated, iconic and disruptive, and each once meant something specific before being worn smooth by thirty years of use.

An ink drawing of a shopper puzzling in front of a shelf of eight different coffee packs that all carry the same gold rosette sticker, with one plain pack at the end showing a drawn coffee cherry.
Eight rival packs all wear the same gold rosette. When every company makes the same claim, the claim no longer helps anyone tell them apart.
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  1. Question 1, locked

    How can you tell that a word like authentic is doing no work in a brand document?

    • It sits in the mandatories rather than in the proposition
    • No company in the category would ever claim the opposite
    • It cannot be attached to a KPI, so nobody can prove it
    • It describes the customer rather than the product
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “A word that survives because nobody can disagree with it.”

    • KPI
    • Empty term
    • Deliverable
    • Mandatory
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “If the opposite is absurd, the word is doing no work.”

    • Falsifiability test
    • Trim
    • Bleed
    • Disruptive

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