Worn out words

A few months ago I railed against clichés (the story was picked up by the marketing section of The Australian newspaper. Mention in the ‘real’ media! Quite a proud moment for AdNotes).

Little did I know a federal election was around the corner (oops a cliché!) It’s been an opportunity for both sides of politics to join up lots of clichés and call it a campaign.

But more irritating, to me anyway, are individual words that just get used too often. These are not strictly speaking Cliches, just words that suddenly seem to appear in every sentence or conversation.

There’s one that seems to be everywhere at the moment.

This little word has seen active service for centuries and used to evoke images of knights in armour battling dragons.

But recently it has evolved into a monster itself: a kind of irradiated moth from a sixties Japanese movie.

News-readers use it. Politicians use it. My 14 year old uses it. I try not to use it but it comes out anyway.

This overworked word is … challenge.

It can stand for anything from an ‘almost impossible task’ like plugging an oil leak in the US, to a ‘chore’ like peeling a potato on Masterchef.

But, I knew 'challenge' had lost all value when I picked up a flyer at St George Bank. The flyer invited me to ‘Challenge us for a better home loan deal.”

Poor ‘challenge’ now means nothing more than 'to ask’.

Like printing too many Zimbabwean dollars, overusing a word devalues it to the point where it has no worth or particular meaning.

If you have a creative advertising problem call Tony Richardson on (02) 9929 0588 or visit Tony Richardson Advertising or TacticalTV.com.au

You are welcome to reprint any AdNotes article on your website and in your e-newsletters for FREE. All I ask is that you attribute me, Tony Richardson and include a link to http://www.TonyRichardson.com.au

Cliches

Like them or hate them, they’re here to stay. At the end of the day, clichés are just a part of doing business, aren’t they, part of the landscape?

Well, yes and no.

Clichés are so entrenched in marketing communication that they are hard to pin down.

Ok I really have to stop this now.

My Granny thought that clichés were just plain lazy, like swearing.

Chris Pash thinks they’re fun.

Chris is director of content licensing at Dow Jones & Co Asia-Pacific. Among his many duties is the running of a kind of “cliché-ometer”. This digital marvel sifts the Dow Jones Factiva database, currently holding over 25,000 newspaper, magazine and online publications.

According to Chris, our old friend ‘at the end of the day’ is the current winner and has been used 21,000 times worldwide in the last three months. That’s a lot of wasted column inches.

Chris’ main focus is journalism. You can see an interview with him here:

http://player.video.news.com.au/theaustralian/#L_DPbjOKBi5xN6traoEczl2StKFzYU1N

But we in the wider marketing world are not guilt-free of the heavy use of clichés.

To test my claim I visited four advertising agency websites. I felt there was a certain sameness to a lot of the words used.

Agency 1 – Information rich, compelling strategic idea, engaging ideas.

Agency 2 – Integrated communications, committed to a holistic approach, strategic collaboration, consistent message across all touch points.

Agency 3 – Brand architecture, long-term customer relationships, strategic customer engagement programs, executing personal and engaging customer experiences.

It’s not a crime to trot out business clichés … unless what you sell is creativity, originality and ideas. It’s ironic that each website professes to an expertise in communication and connecting with consumers and yet, does so in such a hackneyed and interchangeable way.

They tell potential clients that this agency has no imagination.

I suspect with a list of the right buzz-words almost anyone could write copy for an agency website … and possibly win a few pitches.

If you have a creative advertising problem call Tony Richardson on (02) 9929 0588 or visit Tony Richardson Advertising or TacticalTV.com.au

You are welcome to reprint any AdNotes article on your website and in your e-newsletters for FREE. All I ask is that you attribute me, Tony Richardson and include a link to http://www.TonyRichardson.com.au