The Hindu Business Line : From `attention span' to `zakazukha'

If you are an expert in marketing, you may perhaps know that "aspiration is bound up in the ownership of the product, rather than its purchase." Or that PESTLE is "a popular acronym for six influences to which a market is subject, viz. political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental."

To the rest of us, here is Daniel Yadin's The International Dictionary of Marketing, from Kogan Page (www.vivagroupindia.com) , with `over 2,000 professional terms and techniques.' Let's begin with `attention span', which is just about 45 seconds in Australia, it seems, because "the average length of a scene" in soaps is no longer than that!

`Best before' is a phrase we are used to, as indication of "time limit by which the contents should be sold." But it can be a source of confusion, says the author. Because `use by' and `display until' are also date code phrases used in retail packaging. "Some packs bear both `best before' and `display until'."

CPT sounds like the new proficiency test conducted by the accounting body; for marketers, though, it is cost per thousand, that is, the cost of reaching a thousand members of the target audience. Another metric is cost per enquiry, which may be calculated for a single ad campaign or for a period.

De-dupe is de-duplication, to remove "duplicate data from a database mailing list." Yadin mentions that a dormant or unused database deteriorates at up to 10 per cent a month, owing to "gone-aways, deceased, movers, and duplicates." Dustbin research is "a field research technique where panels of consumers are given containers in which they are asked to keep their discarded packages." Then? Researchers analyse the contents, collected regularly, for clues about "purchasing frequency, stores, brands, prices and packaging."

Between `family brand' and `fat face' is FMCG or fast-moving consumer goods. "The ordinary consumer seems not to care over-much about brands, being concerned more about price and availability," says the author about these goods. "One exception is tobacco products, which despite high price and adverse publicity, still retain a great deal of brand loyalty."

What do you call `a nebulous background in the shooting of commercials'? Limbo, says Yadin. "The term is deemed appropriate since it is elsewhere defined as `a region on the borders of hell'." What are marcoms? A contrived word, like `viscom' and `masscom', to mean `marketing communications.'

Next matter is "press advertisement appearing right next to editorial"; and there can be reservation for OBC, that is, `outside back cover.' PC is not the FM but political correctness; "a particularly nasty and damaging form of political censorship, practised by ambitious individuals and groups lusting after power," chides the author.

As you may know, Qwerty refers to keyboard layout, named after the arrangement of keys on the top line, left; but not many know that `on French language keyboards, the top line begins AZERTY'. Magazine, we are familiar with, but what is `ragazine'? A cheaply produced magazine or news-sheet devoted to gossip and mild scandal, in US media jargon, explains the dictionary.

In the `Z' section is `zakazukha' — a Russian term indicating paid advertising masquerading as news. "In 2001 a Russian public relations agency exposed the practice by offering a number of Moscow newspapers cash in exchange for editorial coverage of a store opening. Sixteen publications entered into negotiations, with 13 running the story. The agency later revealed that no store actually existed."

Useful reference.

http://BookPeek.blogspot.com

D. Murali