My word, who needs the aggravation

A favorite online reference of mine is dictionary.com. I use it frequently for this blog and when I come across unfamiliar words during my online reading.

Hey, it happens.

A feature on the site is Word of the Day. For the most part, I’ve ignored it. Why? So many of the words are quite obscure, which means I’ll rarely have occasion to use them. That’s aggravating, and I don’t need more aggravation in my life.

I felt out of character today, so I glanced at the Word of the Day – obtest – and was immediately stumped. I’ve never seen the word in textbooks, articles, editorials, periodicals, novels and others reading materials, nor have I heard it uttered in any context.

Have you?

The definition

obtest  \ ob-TEST \  , verb;

1. To supplicate earnestly; beseech.
2. To invoke as witness.
3. To protest.
4. To make supplication; beseech.

Quite frankly, the first definition confuses me. Supplicate means to humbly entreat, petition or request; beseech conveys a sense of urgency. I think the tone of voice when one supplicates would be much more demure and deferential than when one urgently beseeches, which hints at subtle manipulation to bend another’s will in one’s favor.

Today I learned a word that confuses me. A word that confuses me is unusable. So much for avoiding more aggravation in my life.

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Take my word for it

Vituperative.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the word popped into my head this morning. I wasn’t angry or lashing out at someone. Nor was a verbal undressing given or received being replayed in the theater in my mind.

Nope.

In fact, there was nothing spectacular, inspirational or provocative coursing through my brain when the word sprung from the depths of my memory.

vi·tu·per·a·tion [vahy-too-puh-rey-shuhn], noun
  - verbal abuse or castigation; violent denunciation or condemnation.

Huh? Where did that come from, and why? I haven’t used or thought of the word in ages.

Wonderful word, though. It slithers off the tongue like a deadly snake. It’s bite venomous.

Take my word for it, in my line of work I’ll never be presented the opportunity to use vituperative. It breaks too many rules of writing today.

Fortunately, I have this blog where these rules don’t apply. Furthermore, I have dedicated and appreciative readers like you.

Thank you!

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Rain on me

It rained all day and that’s about as exciting as it gets when it comes to the weather here in Austin, Texas. Adding to the giddiness was the incredibly cool 70° F high temperature. It hasn’t been that chill in Central Texas since March.

We need a drought buster and this system could be it. A low pressure system near the four corners is trudging east at a snail’s pace. As a consequence, more precipitation is predicted through Friday.

Folks were seen dancing in the rain. It’s a bit pitiful, really.

Rain of a different cloud

It continues to rain on my copywriting parade. I’m tasked with crafting product briefs and videos. The instructions are always the same: make the copy brief and not too technical. People have little patience and short attention spans. If they have to think too hard about the features and benefits of our solutions, they’ll seek out our competitors.

Pitiful. Isn’t it?

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Don’t speak ill of the brand

The best laid plans sometimes go awry through no fault of your own. On Friday I wrote about my intentions to pay attention to some of the brands I would be exposed to on a 150 mile round-trip drive on I-35. Macro view first; individual brand analysis last.

I expected to be sharp of mind and fit of body for the drive. I woke up feeling anything but 100%. I wasn’t seriously ill, but the waves roiling in my stomach kept me from giving my utmost attention to my surroundings during the trip.

I tried, and I times I succeeded in taking in the branding environment, but other times, I was too aware of how unwell I felt.

Enough whining.

Here are two road trip branding observations:

1. In the metro areas, few company or product brands rose above the fray. There’s so much visual noise, it’s dizzying for drivers, so drivers tend to block it out. (That’s a good thing since distracted driving is a killer. We don’t need signage and billboards contributing to the problem.) This probably isn’t news for most of us; just affirmation.
2. In rural areas, I noticed the pitiful over the excellent and I’m not paying the pitiful a compliment. What was memorable was the neglect and that does not impress. Bad store signage and dilapidated billboards. When there’s little branding competition, why wouldn’t you put your best foot forward? Talk about a missed opportunity.

So that’s it and it isn’t much better than I felt (sorry readers).

Of course, pictures would sure help accentuate my observations, but I was driving and I would not be distracted.

SIDEBAR: Talk about not being on top of your game; I realized later that a better title for last Friday’s blog post: Branding At The Speed Of Drive.

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Branding at the speed limit

A while back I wrote a post about the countless number of brands we are exposed to every day. The thought occurred to me as I was driving on the interstate that at that particular moment, I was being bombarded with scores of brand messages. What troubled me was how until that instance of clarity, I was blissfully and completely unaware.

Tomorrow I will be taking that same route north but for a shorter distance of 75 miles. Will history repeat itself?

No, because I’m planning to make a conscious effort to absorb some of these brand messages and analyze my reactions to them.

First, I will make a macro observation: what is the environment like where the brands are competing for my attention.

Next, I will hone in on specific brands that capture my eye and I’ll quickly assess why I think they were successful.

I’ll be forced to make quick judgments since I’ll be driving through the area at 60 MPH or faster.

It’s not speed dating, but for a branding and communications guy, it should be interesting to see if I pick up any positive vibes.

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The more things change, the more the brand stays the same

I admire brands that stick with what works. It takes guts to stay the course when there’s so much change around you, especially in this swift-moving, reactive and highly impatient era.

Director:  “Our competition is doing X! We need to respond. We can’t keep doing what we’re doing.”

Brand Manager: “Why not? We’re firmly entrenched in the leadership position. The campaign rocks and the channel and consumers love it and they love the brand. What’s to change?”

Director: “Doesn’t matter; we need to change the branding campaign now.”

Consider ESPN and their SportsCenter program promotions. Very little about their commercials has changed in 17 years. It’s remarkable that they continue to produce highly entertaining, memorable and fresh creative year after year. And every promo ends with their tag line “This is SportsCenter”, appearing on the screen…seen, but not said.

The campaign never gets old.

How many product or service brands can match their stamina and success? Can you name any brands that have enjoyed even a 10 year run utilizing the same theme, creative formula and slogan? How about a 5 year run?

Write the brand and the number of years the same campaign creative and messaging has run in the Comments box. 

Thank you for your contribution and for reading my blog.

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Am I missing something?

Prevailing wisdom dictates that blogs, articles and web content will not be read if they lack visuals.

Really?

Precision in communication calls for utilizing all available tools to help convey ideas and knowledge. Where an appropriate infographic, picture, icon or graph visually punctuates a concept, definitely include it.

But I’m not for inserting an image simply because prevailing wisdom dictates.

Why?

Because sometimes it looks forced, and that’s just dumb.

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