What does... "format" actually mean?

DIN A4, at least the older ones still know it, is a format. The whole series up and down from 0 (world format) to 10 (smallest format) is part of it. DIN stands for Deutsche Industrienorm (German Industrial Standard) and in the western world - excluding the Anglo-Saxon world - is a term with a leading character. For a long time, German industry also had a leading character. The fact that our northern neighbor is having a hard time right now has probably not escaped anyone's notice - and if there is gloating about this in Switzerland, it is not only ignorant, but also out of character. After all, the Swiss economy is largely dependent on the German economy. So if Europe's locomotive stutters, Switzerland's first-class car will no longer move forward either - regardless of whether we are in the EU or not.

However, those who suddenly use the word for everything that actually has other names also have no format. Perhaps they are simply not hip enough for the cool and creative people. "Hybrid work is the right format for me", "Stories are good formats for your social campaign", "Yoga is a good format", "Crèche", "Fondue evening", "Dry January", "Soup days" et cetera are all suddenly formats. Why is that?

From education to everyday life

The first people to start talking about formats when they meant forms were people in the education industry. And that industry is huge in Switzerland. The number of students at Swiss universities has been increasing for years. In the winter and fall semester of 2022/2023, a total of around 274,900 students were enrolled at public universities in Switzerland, of which around 167,700 were at universities, around 83,700 at universities of applied sciences and just under 23,400 at universities of teacher education. However, the market is currently oversaturated, and our sector is feeling the effects. Advertising for training and further education is now taking on dimensions in the high season that we only know from health insurance companies in the fall. Every conceivable poster space is being booked to advertise the training courses offered by schools.

The education industry has borrowed the term from the world of television. The term has long been used there for the various broadcast formats. During Covid, television was booming, while the education industry was facing tough organizational challenges. From one day to the next, plans had to be made to move away from face-to-face teaching and towards hybrid or remote teaching. Teachers and students alike felt increasingly lost in the jungle of terms such as face-to-face and distance learning, on-site teaching, traditional teaching, online teaching, digital teaching and remote teaching. So the whole range of teaching formats began to be called formats. That at least gave a bit of stability.

And support is needed when times are uncertain. Free churches can tell you a thing or two about that. But instead of praying to God straight away, we started to call all sorts of things a format in order to get a bit of a foothold in this world full of options.

* Benno Maggi is co-founder and CEO of Partner & Partner. He has been eavesdropping on the industry for over 30 years, discovering words and terms for us that can either be used for small talk, pomposity, excitement, playing Scrabble, or just because.