David Meerman Scott, using Dow Jones Insight, has analysed 711,123 US press releases from 2008 for gobbledygook i.e. words and phrases that do not mean anything.
He found 51,390 instances of the word "innovative". Although he does not say how many releases this relates to, since some releases may use the word several times, it is fair to assume that tens of thousands of releases use "innovative" to describe new services, new products or even the company behind them.
But just because the use of the word does not make the release stand out, does that make "innovative" into goobledygook?
I would argue that it is perfectly reasonable to use the word "innovative", if it is true.
It is a perfectly good adjective to distinguish the subject from something that talks about price cuts, re-organisation, customer wins, and many other important aspects of business which are not necessarily innovative.
The crucial thing is for the press release to be able to describe what the innovation is in a clear way that convinces readers that it is something new, and just as importantly, something significant.
Significant, that is, to the reader. If it is only significant to the company issuing the release, then it is not worth mentioning.
Monday, September 28, 2009
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