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August 3rd, 2006

Now With More Marketingese

One thing that I take regular potshots at is marketingese, particularly my favorite word, “synergy.” I do this mostly because, uh, people who use a lot of it sound very, very weird. Perhaps alien.

A couple of days ago I read that the Chicago Sun-Times (America’s most ad-laden newspaper website, perhaps) bought Centerstage, an events/happenings guide. Besides the instant use of Comic Sans on Centerstage, the occasion was marked by this awesome press release.

I mean, all you need to do is read the first quote:

“The acquisition is part of the Company’s strategy to make Suntimes.com the premier online destination for all there is to know and do in the greater Chicago area,” said the group, which includes the Chicago Sun-Times and a large number of dailies and weeklies in the Chicago market.

And:

STNG said the acquisition was one of a number of steps “designed to capitalize on new media opportunities to further enhance the company’s and suntimes.com’s position as the number one source of local news and information in Chicago.”

STNG apparently loves to put people to sleep. While I give them some credit for not using “synergy”, the whole thing still reads like it’s for robots. Why is that?

Why don’t companies just say things in plain English – or plain Spanish, even?

Posted in Everyday Life

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