Is it just me, or have we all lost our ability to clearly describe what’s happening around us?  The old adage of Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) appears to going the way of the do-do bird.

As agencies, we are struggling lately with one of our core “reasons for being” – making things easier for consumers to understand.  Could it be that one of the key reasons organizations are abandoning agencies is that we have simply stopped making sense?

In a marketing world of fractured audiences, a virtual shutdown in spending and unprecedented levels of consumer input direct to brands, agencies should be the one cutting to the benefit quickly and succinctly.  Have we forgotten how to avoid marketing speak in what we say and write?  Case in point, isn’t it easier for consumers to know what a “sale” is versus a “savings extravaganza” or a “sales event”? 

And since when was it OK for a non-personalized direct mail piece to become an “exclusive” offer, or a promotion “reserved” for the “Current Resident?”  Let’s give people more credit folks… 

I worry that the only thing we’re trying to sell sometimes is each other on how smart we are by including as many buzzwords, jargon and platitudes as possible. 

A recent Robinson and Maites blog talked about how consumers are actually growing more literate thanks to social networks, texting, eBooks, etc.  No matter the literacy level though, it is still an agency’s responsibility to provide communications that are clear in delivering the end benefit.  Because in today’s world of talking head pundits, blog postings, and user reviews, sometimes less really is more.  Simpler really can break through, just because it is so different than the norm…

As Ralph Waldo Emerson simply stated, “It is proof of high culture to say the greatest matters in the simplest way.”