Ever notice how the communications and marketing industry has become so enamored with buzzwords over the last... oh ten years or so? "Content Strategy", "Disruption", "Digital", "Growth Hacking", "Conversational Marketing", and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Some of these "buzzwords" or "trends" have even been around like forever in the industry as a concept or something we actually already do. Take "Content Strategy", have we all been building content haphazardly for the last millennium or so? Or creating content that we don't think will draw audiences to engage with us? Ok, I exaggerate, and I am sure there have been, scratch that, there are communications and marketing folk who not knowing what they should be doing, have been drafting content in a disorganized manner. But I would like to believe that by and large, the professionals have had a strategic plan in mind as they develop content for the organizations they have been representing. Or is anyone going to put up their hand and say: "no, no, before 'cont
ent strategy' came about, I really didn't try to do it the right way"?
And what about one of the latest, "Disruption"? Hasn't the creative industry been all about "disruption" since we launched the very first ad or organized the very first PR activity? Isn't that what we've been striving to do every day for our clients or our organizations? No creative director or communications executive is trying her or his best to be just like everyone else, if they are, it might be time to find a new career. Aren't we trying to be distinctive every time? Aren't many of the most successful campaigns or programs changed or challenged the way our audience has experienced, perceived, or seen things?
Ok, I can so see some people arguing that there are some instances where there might be a need to not rock the boat, like in a crisis for example. Sure, you can argue that.
But my point is, let's not get hung up on buzzwords. They are great in that they get more people to understand what we do, it might build a little excitement, and maybe even help point some of the people coming up in our profession in the direction of what they should be doing. But it shouldn't dominate our conversations, presentations, and psyche. Playing buzzword bingo is not something we should be proud of. We in the creative industry pride ourselves on trying different things, doing different things, and being different. So let's not succumb to the lure of being a buzzword baron.
Oh, don't even get me started on "hacking"... Can someone please look up a dictionary...
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