This is the fifth in a series of blogs to mark National Storytelling Week 2017, focused on the words companies and brands use to tell their stories.
Corporations that grow and endure over time can be justifiably proud of building a sustainable business. But boasting about how brilliant they are to demonstrate their superiority over their competitors breaks the Cocktail Party Rule. This states: “If you want to be boring, talk about yourself; if you want to be interesting, talk about the issues that matter to those who are listening.” That’s one reason why content marketing has grown to be so popular and successful: businesses talking about what they know and so why they’re in business, rather than what they do.
Boasting can be perfectly comprehensible – like this passage from Norton Rose Fullbright (another law firm) – though the rambling sentence scores poorly on the Flesch Kincaid reading ease score (see Monday’s blog, Keep it simple).
“We are highly regarded for our work across all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment and labour law around the world. With dedicated teams in Europe, the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, we offer a full-service, cross-border employment and labour practice. We have substantial transactional experience, and regularly advise on the employment and labour law aspects of multi-jurisdictional corporate reorganisations and mergers and acquisitions.” (Flesch Kincaid reading ease score 14.9)
One of the reasons it scores so poorly on reading ease (see Monday’s blog) is that the writer felt compelled to mention every single region in which the company operates … which is almost every major region in the world. Similarly, saying ‘highly regarded’ and ‘substantial’ when providing a brief overview of the company’s expertise feels like overkill. This particularly true when those familiar with the industry are likely to be the main readers.
A good definition of both brand and reputation is “what other people say about you – particularly when you’re out of the room”. Lawyers Bird & Bird don’t make any grammatical or comprehensibility blunders with their text from their homepage. It’s more that the self-congratulatory tone makes this a good example of corporate brand language gone sour.
“Bird & Bird is an international leading law firm in business sectors where technology plays a key role. So, it’s no wonder we support innovation, regularly organising events and sharing our insight about groundbreaking ideas and developments.” (FK 40.5)
A little more modesty, a little more letting others say why they’re so brilliant (case studies, anyone?) wouldn’t go amiss. A little more understanding and application of the Cocktail Party Rule. It’s not as if lawyers as a profession are unfamiliar with the cocktail party …
In tomorrow’s final blog in the series, we’ll look at how and why brands should talk human. We’ll also be sharing details of how to get hold of our full report on the best and worst of corporate speak entitled “Heroes & Villains”.
Sam Knowles is a master data storyteller and the Founder & MD of the consultancy Insight Agents. His purpose is to help organisations make smarter use of data, talk Human, and sound like people. An established and sought-after trainer, keynote speaker, and podcaster, he is the founder and host of Data Malarkey podcast and chair of I-COM’s Data Storytelling Council. He’s a Fellow of the Market Reserach Society, the RSA, and the Professional Speaking Association.
Sam is the author of the ‘Using Data Better’ trilogy of books, all published by Routledge. These include the 2018 best-seller Narrative by Numbers, 2020’s critically-acclaimed sequel, How To Be Insightful , and 2022’s eagerly-anticipated Asking Smarter Questions. In 2023, Insight Agents launched Using Data Smarter, a comprehensive, online training course based on all three books.
Find out more about Sam’s approach to data storytelling in this 15-minute video.
