What does... "ETA" actually mean?
In his column "What does... actually mean?", Benno Maggi looks at terms from the marketing and communications sector. This time he deals with the term "ETA".
Welcome back. The first employees are starting to trickle back into agencies and marketing and communications departments. So everyday life in the industry could start again. Could. Because the first few days after the summer vacations usually consist of getting an overview, deleting emails with missed deadlines and exchanging all kinds of detailed vacation and travel reports.
In short: it's everyday life after the summer vacations. A situation beautifully described at the beginning of the book 39.90 (original title: 99 Francs) by Frédéric Beigbeder. The author had used his experiences from his first day of work as an advertiser at Young & Rubicam in Paris after the summer vacation (which in France, it should be noted, is only the beginning of September) to start a shallow novel. After an endless summer break (grandes vacances), there was no work to be thought of for the first few days, which really surprised the newcomer. Although the book is not exactly required reading for young advertisers, it is still worth reading more than 20 years after it was first published. Perhaps during the next summer vacation.
The charming sister of asap
Summer vacations are an organizational challenge. Not only in France, Italy or Spain, where long summer vacations are a tradition. Even in busy Switzerland, the summer vacations are getting longer and longer. It has become a Herculean task to place a project or order on time during the school vacations, which are staggered across the cantons. Before the vacations, everything is shunted off to the agencies in the feigned ignorance that no one will be working there either. And if the agency doesn't have a query for the client, an absence report is usually sent just one minute after the order has been sent. In 2024, the rate of such absence reports was a perceived 80 percent and the few people who still had to cope with everyday work were completely under water for the last few weeks. It's no wonder that this new acronym emerged in dialog between those who stayed at home and those who stayed at work: ETA. It sounds like a cry for solidarity and commitment. But what does it mean?
This does not refer to the separatist Basque nationalist underground organization, which has long terrified the vacation destination of Spain with its attacks. ETA stands for Estimated Time of Arrival. And that sounds a bit like a vacation, even for those at home. "Do you already have an ETA for me?" There could hardly be a more charming request as to when the long overdue work that was expected before the summer will finally be delivered.
A real blessing, since nobody took "asap" seriously any more. And, it should be noted, it always had a slightly aggressive undertone. The consequence of this over the years was that the "s" in "soon" was usually never made possible. It's more difficult with the charming question about ETA. ETA literally means "estimated time of arrival". The acronym comes from logistics, transportation and aviation. ETA is an indication of the time at which an aircraft, vehicle or delivery item is expected to arrive at its destination. With online trading, the term has also found its way into the offices of customers. Instead of: Deadline asap. Is it now: when do you think the ETA is? This doesn't make getting back to work after the vacations any easier, but at least it's more charming.
