EPISODE 20

The vocabulary of marketing

Words are project.

The language of marketing is full of words that carry negative connotations. Words worn down by overuse, repeated so often that they have lost much of their original meaning. We use them automatically, without stopping to ask where they come from, what they reveal and, above all, what view of the world they carry with them. But do we really need to keep using them? Let’s take a few examples.

  • Brainstorming
    A storm of brains. It sounds energetic, almost explosive. But why should creativity have to be a storm? Not every idea is born from conflict. Sometimes ideas emerge through exchange, listening and the ability to find harmony. Perhaps we could think of it as a symphony of minds, an interplay of thoughts. Great ideas do not necessarily emerge when thoughts collide, but also when they meet, influence one another and build on each other.
  • Target
    A word borrowed from military language. As if our customers were targets to be hit. But design and psychology teach us that understanding means moving closer, entering into a relationship, observing and listening. Not reducing someone to an objective to be reached. Perhaps it would be more interesting to speak of people to meet, territories of relationship to explore, interlocutors with whom to build a dialogue.
  • Consumption and consumers
    They define people by what they consume, by what they take away, rather than by what they seek or create. They reduce the relationship to an act of depletion rather than exchange. But people do not simply consume resources. They assign meaning, choose, interpret and transform. They are where value takes shape, not where it comes to an end.
  • Niche
    A narrow word. A confined space in which to place whatever does not fit the norm. And yet life is made of details, differences and micro-worlds that hold deep meaning. Perhaps we could speak instead of territories of meaning, areas of need, communities of affinity.

If it is true that we shape the world, our thinking and our future through language, then perhaps we should occasionally stop and choose more carefully the words we use every day. Because words do not simply describe reality. They shape it. And the thoughts they contain eventually give form to things.

This matters even more for brands. When we define a tone of voice, we are not simply deciding how to speak. We are choosing what kind of relationship to establish, what perspective to adopt, what kind of reality to help create. Design, branding and communication are not merely aesthetic or functional tools. They are forms of language. And when language has the power to influence behaviours, perceptions and desires, it has the power to create reality.

Rethinking our words, then, is not an academic exercise. It is an act of design.

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20

EPISODE

The vocabulary of marketing

Words are project.

The language of marketing is full of words that carry negative connotations. Words worn down by overuse, repeated so often that they have lost much of their original meaning. We use them automatically, without stopping to ask where they come from, what they reveal and, above all, what view of the world they carry with them. But do we really need to keep using them? Let’s take a few examples.

  • Brainstorming
    A storm of brains. It sounds energetic, almost explosive. But why should creativity have to be a storm? Not every idea is born from conflict. Sometimes ideas emerge through exchange, listening and the ability to find harmony. Perhaps we could think of it as a symphony of minds, an interplay of thoughts. Great ideas do not necessarily emerge when thoughts collide, but also when they meet, influence one another and build on each other.
  • Target
    A word borrowed from military language. As if our customers were targets to be hit. But design and psychology teach us that understanding means moving closer, entering into a relationship, observing and listening. Not reducing someone to an objective to be reached. Perhaps it would be more interesting to speak of people to meet, territories of relationship to explore, interlocutors with whom to build a dialogue.
  • Consumption and consumers
    They define people by what they consume, by what they take away, rather than by what they seek or create. They reduce the relationship to an act of depletion rather than exchange. But people do not simply consume resources. They assign meaning, choose, interpret and transform. They are where value takes shape, not where it comes to an end.
  • Niche
    A narrow word. A confined space in which to place whatever does not fit the norm. And yet life is made of details, differences and micro-worlds that hold deep meaning. Perhaps we could speak instead of territories of meaning, areas of need, communities of affinity.

If it is true that we shape the world, our thinking and our future through language, then perhaps we should occasionally stop and choose more carefully the words we use every day. Because words do not simply describe reality. They shape it. And the thoughts they contain eventually give form to things.

This matters even more for brands. When we define a tone of voice, we are not simply deciding how to speak. We are choosing what kind of relationship to establish, what perspective to adopt, what kind of reality to help create. Design, branding and communication are not merely aesthetic or functional tools. They are forms of language. And when language has the power to influence behaviours, perceptions and desires, it has the power to create reality.

Rethinking our words, then, is not an academic exercise. It is an act of design.