Text is the New Multimedia

(NOTE: This essay draws on a chapter in my new book, Bright Lights & Dim Bulbs, which identifies nine radical branding and marketing insights for innovative business leaders to watch as we roll into 2010)

If video killed the radio star, wasn't video supposed to obliterate text?

It hasn't. Not even close. Who would have thought that 2009 would witness instead the continued resurgence of the written word?

The language was sometimes indeterminable, and the conversations often unrepeatable without a blush added to the shrug, but text has proven amazingly resilient as a communications medium. Words "work" on printed pages and mobile phone screens (i.e. cross-platform), find utility for marketing strategies old and new (you can use them to declare, or to converse), and prove convenient and adaptable for users young and old.

Think back to a few good creative communications ideas that had to be translated into imagery, and then required deconstruction by viewers. Seems like a long way to go to make a statement, doesn't it? I'm all for a funny clip, and it's very true that a picture can tell a thousand words...but most of the time, 99% of those words get misused, misinterpreted, or outright ignored.

For something so immediate and compelling, you couldn't find a medium better able to substitute the simulacra of a connection for the transfer of actual content or meaning.

As opposed to video, text is a "hot medium," if you buy into Marshall McLuhan's theories about media (and I do, for the most part). Even when viewed online, words engage a single sense, and thereby establish a direct connection that is richer in specific information and meaning than more participatory, or "cool" multimedia experiences.

When we're blown away by a video, we translate it into words to label our reactions, code our memories, and subsequently share our thoughts. Even reduced to tweets and abbreviations, text remains the most facile communications engine available to us, only you wouldn't know it from all of the media excitement and agency sales efforts to tell us otherwise. 

Worse, it's not just that companies have been misled by the lure of the moving image; 2009 has been a banner year for slogans and gibberish in business communications, from nonsense adjectives in press releases, to incomprehensible statements about branding. Companies spent time orchestrating faux conversations instead of contributing to real ones; corporate strategies were described in blatheriffic doublespeak; popular phrases, like "innovation," were used to obfuscate the purposes of new management teams, as well as new products. 

Why do businesses use words so poorly?

Maybe because words seem free when compared with the cost of producing a video or sound file. Perhaps because social media conversations are so fast and frequent that specific word choices seem less important. One of my pet peeves is that we still use words to satisfy ourselves; we talk to our aspirations for our brands, and not to make those direct connections to readers.

I think the year proved that what companies say matters, whether as the inputs into social media, or as the tool by which they make those direct connections with their consumers. But it has to be accurate, honest, and credible. It's harder to get away with a lie when it's literally spelled out; conversely, if we use words to state truths (and avoid all of the nuances that distract or lessen them), then text is a powerful tool that transports across technology platforms, and works with all age groups.

I believe that 2010 will give us great and useful opportunities to use video and other media to communicate with our customers, but I suggest that there’ll be even more, better, easier, and more cost-effective chances to wring more impact and value out of the lowly, simple, written word.

The Bulb Asks:

• Do your press releases need so many adjectives? Is your product really “world class,” and what does that mean, anyway?
• Are you telling your social networks things that really matter, not just what your brand lexicon might dictate?
• Will your next communication tell something meaningful, relevant and useful, or will you expect your customers to decipher something? Think less secret code, and more direct statement.

(Bright Lights & Dim Bulbs contains 10 tips on this topic and 8 others)

Comments

[Jonathan]

Really interesting observation! Could the clarity of written expression "free" minds to build/explore? Our 14 yr old has always been an avid reader, and all the kids her age who seem to be the most engaged and creative are also hardcore readers.

[Minter Dial]

My daughter (10) said to me this afternoon that she preferred reading a book first before seeing the film, because the book allowed her imagination to spin freely.

Is the power of text linked to the freedom of expression?

In any event, is there a Gen Z in the making in the 10-year-old's words?

[Jen Luna]

Well done Jonathan, couldn't agree with you more.

The use of text messaging to communicate is so interesting and I don't imagine it slowing down. In fact if I had to choose just one feature to keep on my phone it would text messaging (over voice communication, internet, camera, music, video etc, etc.).

I am commenting because I want to add my thoughts on why text messaging is so appealing. It's like getting a little unexpected gift that you get to open and enjoy in the middle of the day. The whole experience is great. From hearing the "ding", seeing the little envelope icon, the surprise of seeing who it's from, opening and reading your little "gift", then sending back another "gift" by replying. I mean who doesn't love getting that random, unexpected message from a friend that you haven't spoken to in a while, that makes you LOL inappropriately and get the church giggles in the middle of a boring work meeting? It's the best!

I know my comments are a bit off topic, but your article made me think about why I personally love text messaging so much and why it is such an appealing form of communication - it's easy, effective, instant, personal, available and fun.

Thanks for the awesome posts Jonathan! Love your work and am looking forward to reading Bright Lights & Dim Bulbs!

[Deborah Shadovitz]

During the first internet boom '96-'98 at they myriad internet-topic networking events in Los Angeles, I'd ask a person what he or his company did. Rarely (never?) could I comprehend the response. The responses were many pop phrases chained together and separate or chained, *said* nothing. (Remember the gibberish generators that grew out of this trend?)

Jonathan, I love that you are saying this and writing it.
As I have been saying, too, for years, words matter!

I'm glad my friend led me to you. Now I look forward to reading your books.

[Mark Karnes]

JB,

Pure raving genius! The more companies hype, the more plain speak stands out.

Mark

[Joe]

Just wanted to let you know I referenced this post in a blog entry (http://unclebubby.blogspot.com/2009/11/simply-communicating.html). I would do a trackback but I'm on Blogger and it doesn't support it.