After a brief meeting here at the studio (discussing new phrases & words to be used as a tagline for one of our clients), it occurred to me just how much emphasis people put into a single phrase pertaining to their brand – and how, with the right combination of words, it can either completely give life and meaning to a brand, or completely confuse and insult its audience.
Words have a power so great that when a single word is used to define a specific genre, group, place, whatever, it can invoke personal reactions like fear, joy, pride, affection, jealousy & anger to an individual who hears or sees that word. In fact there are people out there who make their whole careers off of developing new combinations of words to describe the same product/terminology/location but invoke a completely different emotional response with each new combination of words.
Take for instance the term “global warming”. For most of us, this term invokes unpleasant emotions – anger, guilt, fear, etc. – because of all of the negative connotations we have seen, heard & read associated with this phrase. Politicians started using the term “climate change” to describe the same phenomena because it sounds much more natural & subtle and not as harsh & alarming as “global warming”.
Right now there is the debate to eliminate the use of the term “gamer” because it is associated with the idea of a “cult” of young males who are solely devoted to playing video games into long hours of the night, in a dark room, and so on and so on (I suppose that I myself can fit into the category of “gamer”). The debate is to change the terminology to allow for a broader range of audiences to try and enjoy video games, rather than the stereotypical audience deemed by the term “gamer” (the full article posted on Newsweek.com can be read here).
Words have power, so choose them before you use them – think about the audience you are trying to reach, current words and phrases that are trendy in pop-culture, and how a culture, subculture, & an overall cultural ideology of a nation view and react to words and phrases both cliche and trendy in present day. Using the right combination of words can make a huge difference in how you reach your audience for your next big idea.
