Issue #8: Old Words New Meanings

June 24, 2008

I love words. My first job in broadcasting was as a writer. That experience has served me well over my career. Advertising after all is an idea based business. Ideas are communicated through language, simple concept. New combinations of old words and phrases are used today to reflect our times and technology. I thought in order to understand the new definitions of words that we should revisit their original meanings. (at least as I remember them).

For example:

New Word or Phrase / Old Definition
1. Viral Marketing / Advertising for an After Hours Clinic
2. Synergy / Having Strength to Sin.
3. The Big Bang Theory / Locker Room Gossip
4. Tipping Point / When to Leave the Restaurant
5. 50 Is the New 30 / (Maybe, But You Won’t Get The Music).
6. Carbon Footprint. / What’s left after Walking on Hot Coals.
7. Carbon Tax / A Practical Joke at the end of Walking on Hot Coals
8. Cross Platform / Where Jesus died.
9. Life Coach / Shrink
10.Sensitivity Training / Whatever
11.Opportunistic Parasite / Brother-In-Law
12.Skill Set / Tool Box
13.Deliverables / Shipping Cattle
14.Horizontal Management Structure / He’s asleep.

Marketing Is A Game Of Word Phrases

M$M: With such a massive flood of information and advertising, no one has time to listen, read, watch or surf for it all. People will tend to skim the vast amounts of information and catch only on certain words or phrases that interest them. Instead, people want the most value in the least amount of time and satisfy what they want. How then can your advertising or your clients’ advertising stand up and pique that interest?
Advertisers and consumers alike are simply seeking: knowledge, opportunity and value.
You must then use phrases and words that most immediately relate your product or business to those key areas.