Posts tagged “buzzwords”

The dumbest buzzword yet!

Oh, jeez. This is the dumbest buzzword yet!
House Calls
by Larry Dobrow, January 2005 issue of Media (reg req’d)

JUST AS PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT GURUS learn about the capabilities of new products by watching consumers interact with them, media strategists are gaining a better understanding of media consumption behaviors by observing consumers at home. Deploying so-called “adthropology” strategies, they conduct in-home observation and interview sessions. A typical adthropological endeavor begins when an individual shows up at a consumer’s door, camera in tow. The observer tours the home, noting details like the location of TVs and piles of magazines that may have been saved for reference purposes. “When we were doing this for Kraft, we saw so many TVs in the kitchen. That’s an incredibly significant detail for a food company,” notes Jane Lacher, senior vice president of consumer context planning at MediaVest.

Information gleaned during home visits tends to bolster, and occasionally trump, intelligence gathered via focus group interviews, Lacher adds. “People tell you about their habits, but they tend to script a little bit. When you go into the home, you see if the newspaper has been read, or if there are coupons on the refrigerator, or how many TVs are on,” she explains. “People generally won’t tell you ‘my life is in disarray.’ So [with a visit] you get a better sense of where media fits into the picture.”

Marketing speak

I was recently involved with a corporate retreat for marketers and was amused by the jargon I heard in the warmup session, including:

  • boredom busting
  • a light and airier eat
  • laddering up
  • slice and dice the consumer
  • cut up the consumer
  • the consumer
  • need states
  • more simplistic taste profiles

Once we had a chance to interact in a less formal setting I found them to be very personable, great storytellers, curious about people and the world, open-minded, funny, and everything great you’d want in someone that is honestly trying to satisfy needs. But why, then, does this horrifying lingo emerge so prominently when they are forced to strut for each other?

Series

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