“Incubate granular methodologies.“

“Mesh frictionless technologies.”

“Matrix enterprise schemas.”

 

Are simple words out of fashion?

That’s my guess as “Stanford-speak” reigns.

You can’t have failed to notice it. Or the fact that more and more marketing talk sounds like English but is often less understandable than a foreign language.

What does all this business jargon mean?

And who actually cares? Could it be those determined to convince you how clever they are?

An ad guy who was smarter than most, Bill Bernbach, said, “Our job is to kill the cleverness that makes us shine instead of the product.”

Another who had a masterful command of the English language commented, “Use simple words everyone knows, then everyone will understand.” That was Winston Churchill.

As far as marketers go, few are more plain-spoken than a Harvard MBA who achieved more than most of us ever will: Sergio Zyman, the former CMO of Coca-Cola.

In five years, when no one thought Coke could sell any more, he and his team increased sales by 50%, and the share price quadrupled.

What a success. One based on going after hard facts and actual results.

Sergio Zyman’s 2002 book, “The End of Advertising As We Know It,” is worth a look for its right and wrong ways to pursue marketing. It’s packed with straightforward, clear-cut, commonsense thinking.

Two hundred thirty-four pages of strong ideas.

With no expressions like “create Chinese walls,” “thought shower” or “administrivia,” or the word “architect” used as a verb.