This gem of a job advert, crammed with corporatespeak, proves why communications from the BBC feature so frequently in this blog – although we’re sure they’re not the only corporate culprits who prefer pretentious jargon to plain English. With thanks to Private Eye, this advert is for a Head of Curation & Discovery for the BBC Children’s Channel:
“Your strategy will quickly impact our audience acquisition plans, ensuring we quickly engage a new teen-market, as well as continue to build on our children’s brands; knowing how to optimise their journeys of discovery, in a crowded market place (sic). Stretching across our entire business slate, your remit is to ensure that there is an on-going, holistic culture of innovation and creative renewal; where you quickly and bravely adjust the content plans and strategy to optimise audience consumption across all our platforms…You will be responsible for ensuring that personalisation is a central mechanism in securing increased content consumption for the child, the teen or the parent.”
Worryingly, while it should be impenetrable gibberish, I’ve obviously read too much of this stuff in my working life as I understand what they’re trying (and failing) to say. Are we sure that the hysterical show W1A is actually fiction rather than a documentary?
The average adult wastes 1.75 million words over a lifetime while struggling to make a point, according to a study. It found we litter our sentences with around 60 meaningless words every day, with most waffle reserved for when we are at work. This bad habit is not confined to speech but is also reflected in the majority of written communications. Like the BBC example shared here, many businesses use dry, jargon-filled corporate-speak rather than make the effort to get their message across quickly and clearly. With readers’ attention spans becoming increasingly short, this poor practice could cost firms dearly.
If you’d like help ditching the management speak and writing clear communications, please get in touch!
