The latest news and views from Peter Boyes and the team at Boyes Public Relations. We specialise in strategic communications counsel, brand strategy, crises and issues management, digital and marketing communications strategy, business to business and consumer PR, media and presentation training, lobbying, government relations and media liaison for a range of retained and project-based clients in government, corporate and non for profit sectors.
I am thrilled to announce that Intermediary Communications has signed Life Pharmacy Ltd. We will be providing Life Pharmacy with a coordinated marketing communications strategy, branding advice and public relations strategy.
Life Pharmacy Limited owns the Life Pharmacy and Care Chemist brands and holds a 49 percent shareholding in 19 pharmacy companies, representing 22 of the 36 Life Pharmacy and Care Chemist stores. The Company also operates 2 Life Outlet stores and is franchisor to 10 Care Chemist branded pharmacies operating throughout New Zealand. Stores are located in Auckland, Hamilton, Bay of Plenty, Wellington and Christchurch.
We are very excited to be working with Life Pharmacy. Life has ambitious plans to be the leading presence in the New Zealand pharmacy market and we are delighted to be able to be part of their growth strategy.
'jargon- noun - words or expressions used by a particular group that are difficult for others to understand. Origninates from the French term for twittering or chattering.'
Bearing this in mind, why oh why, do so many people insist on dismantling the English language with business babble and jargon?
Many people presume that those in the advertising industry are the main culprits. However, shamefuly, PR consultants are guilty too. I have endured meetings that have been almost entirely made up of strange metaphors, buzz words and acronyms. Sometimes you feel like you need some kind of jargon interpreter or dictionary, just to make sense of what is going on.
Here is a list of my least favourite words and phrases:
- 'Thinking outside of the box'- You mean we need to be creative? So, why can't you just say that?
- 'Can we touch base?'- This one makes me cringe. What does it even mean? Is it an invitation to play a few games of baseball (if it is, my apologies, I would love to. Give me a time and a place and I'll be there)?
-'We need to get all our ducks in a row' - I'm sorry, I know this is widely used in Kiwi businesses but I hate it. What does it mean? What ducks? What do ducks have to do with meeting PR or advertising objectives? Surely we can get our point across without bringing our webbed footed, feathery friends into it?
- 'We need to walk the walk'- Ummmm...
- 'We need to step up to the plate'- Can anyone tell me where this plate is and why it is so important?
- Acronyms- 'FYI, I will need those SME stats for the 10.30am WIP, ASAP.'
All of these words, metaphors and phrases are completely pointless and only result in confusion, amongst both clients and our colleagues. As PR consultants, it is our job to ease the lines of communication, not clog them with acronyms and made-up words. I think that every time a PR or advertising person utters one of these awful phrases, they should be fined $2.50, which would be donated to a deserving cause. We would be doing two great things- raising money for charity and stamping out jargon!!
Lumino is part of the Abano Healthcare Group and is New Zealand's largest and only national network of dental practices. We will be working on this account with our sister company, MMG Advertising.
We are all really looking forward to working with Lumino The Dentists. It is a great company and has the potential to become even more succesful than it already is. If you want to learn more about them, you can visit their recently upgraded website at http://www.lumino.co.nz/
You can read our original announcement release here.
