The development of new technology invariably leads to the emergence of new words to describe exactly what this tech can do. And with the emergence of programmatic ad-buying and a range of other digital tools, marketing has become flooded with acronyms, intialisms and buzzwords that wouldn’t make sense to anyone outside the industry. Attend an agency lunch or dinner these days, and you’re more than likely to hear a few of these phrases thrown around by individuals who are either in the know or doing their best to feign it.
Jargon overload can be frustrating, but we’re actually pretty lucky. At least we aren’t in the business of selling Turbo Encabulators.
In a short clip that’s been bouncing around the internet recently, a presenter is shown speaking about a new innovation in language that no common bystander is equipped to understand. What is most remarkable about the clip is that the presenter doesn’t fumble at all. He reads and delivers the script flawlessly, despite the fact that he’s using an incomprehensible series of words.
As one Facebook commenter said, “He had me at Modial interaction of magneto-reluctance and capacitive directance.”
I literally have NO idea what this guy is talking about.
I literally have NO idea what this guy is talking about
Posted by Awesome Videos on Wednesday, 11 November 2015
Interestingly, this isn’t the only video like this. Another one, posted to YouTube in 2007, shows another man reading a similarly mystical script.
Our industry is unlikely to ever descend into these jargon-laden plains, but programmatic language isn’t entirely innocent. So, in an effort to undo some of the semantic complexity, several tech players are finding creative ways to explain the most common abbreviations and phrases used.
AdRoll, for instance, recently released a jargon dictionary to help ad:tech attendees navigate their way through some of the more complex speeches at the event.
And AdRoll isn’t only ad tech player looking to make the core concepts more accessible to more people. One of the best examples of demystifying programmatic was in Chango’s video series titled ‘How to explain programmatic to your grandma’.
