Devolution: The Language of Life

Richard Laermer, Guest Author

Devolution doesn’t mean “opposite of evolution.” It’s actually a much more interesting and complex concept that business people better understand right now. The truth is devolution is the process of transferring power from a central government to local units.

Power to the people, so to speak. Language is the currency of communication. Anyone reading this knows that without language we have no purpose. Then why have we federalized language, refusing to acknowledge that the power inherent in language is within all of us?

Take jargon. Most of us don’t listen – you are likely super-tasking now – and don’t talk to people in their own language. So next time you’re in a meeting, create a real-life lexicon and DISCHARGE it with such force that you compel everyone in the room to use the words and phrases you chose.

Energy, man. We can develop a lingo and set about making it vernacular. But it doesn’t stick when the second we step outside the conference room we start to talk in form letters – a bunch of words that are brought to lips because it’s what we say everyday – and we forget the words we forged together as a unit!

In politics, devolution creates local bodies to perform tasks previously carried out by centralized groups. To protect the value of the currency of language, marketers must cease to behave as Big Brother of words – and learn to listen and speak to our audiences in the patois they understand.

On a planet where verbs are sometimes made of brands (see sidebar on the welcome lapse in this happening), both big and emerging companies make up words and phrases and then market them as cool, and their audiences have no idea what they’re talking about.

What’s a HUNGERIFICLICIOUS snack bar, Snickers? Sounds like full-fledged nonsensical sales jargon to us. Ah, sales. An audience that does not understand you will not buy from you. Look at McDonald’s. Boardrooms in Des Plaines hosted countless meetings (nay, thousands of focus groups) and from these confabs came a global marketing campaign that would cover everything from advertising to tray liners: I’m lovin’ it. Adorable, yeah, but this campaign has not made us long for a Big Mac.

Truthfully, it’s just three more words that say nothing. In order to shepherd the devolution of language: When asked for an explanation of the language during a marketing spiel, replace what is being explained with explanation. Use plain English – unless you don’t speak English – and then plain anything. Listen to audiences without preconceptions. Assume words used in your meetings only make sense there.

Remember that language is influenced by more than mere demographics. Geography plays an important role. For an illustration of this, try ordering pop in the United States in places that aren’t in the Midwest. If you get asked for an explanation, and the explanation makes sense, use the explanation and not the language of the life you lived thus far. It’s not our job to hope audiences are smart enough to hear what we’re saying.

That’s like writing a shit script and hoping the actors will make it better. Because you know the actors, like the people we’re selling to, have something better in mind.

This is a chunk derived from “stuff not in the book” 2011: Trendspotting (https://www.yeahwhatever.com/). Get a copy now. You won’t want the time back. For more, see https://www.laermer.com/. I’m CEO of RLM PR and author of several books worth looking into.