"When a word increasingly annoyed me, it was healing to write about it"

m&k: Benno Maggi, your column for m&k started in 2016, after several years of interpreting and explaining technical language for the NZZ Folio. Why this focus?

Benno Maggi: I've always been fascinated by technical jargon. During my trial apprenticeship as a butcher, they talked about mincing, grinding, boning and hanging. These were all words that I didn't know and made me feel like an expert as soon as I used them. To this day, I still use the word "hanging" when it comes to judging something that I'm not sure is really good. Then I let it hang like meat and see if it's still good or even better the next day.

Why are there so many terms in the MarCom industry that require explanation? 

Technical terms are almost like a language of their own and should therefore be translated. This does not only apply specifically to the MarCom industry. This industry simply likes to steal more and more terms from outside the industry and make them its own. At least that's my assessment.

In the meantime, you have discussed over 150 technical terms for m&k. Where did you find the inspiration and what criteria did you use to select the terms?

I didn't have any criteria. I rather "random" chosen - to name one of the 150 terms right away. There's a list on my cell phone that I'm constantly adding to. Sometimes I pluck a word from it that has been on there for a long time, but just happened to fit a topical issue. Most of the time, these were words that I picked up in meetings, on train journeys, in canteens and corridors. Some perhaps only once, others regularly. And if I heard them again and again, that increased the chance that I would write about them.

What did this writing work mean to you?

I often knew the word and its meaning, but had no idea about its origin. The dictionary is great for that. So is ChatGPT, but sometimes I was overwhelmed or simply wrong. Writing this column often had a therapeutic purpose for me. When the use of a word increasingly annoyed me, it was healing to write about it or the people who used it excessively.

What was the feedback like?

At first I thought: "No one will read this." But I got a lot of feedback. Mostly positive and from a wide variety of people. Clients, agency colleagues and also from the private sphere. Sometimes just text messages: "Did you mean me?" or: "Do I really need this so often? I'll never say it again!"

Have you noticed a development in technical language in recent years?

Not really. Anglicisms are dominant, of course. But they always have been. When the financial industry was still subject to little critical scrutiny, perhaps more came from this corner. Today, it's more terms from psychology that find their way into marketing: Frames, Trigger, Resilience and so on.

In some cases, you have also been rather critical of the industry. Where do you see the pain points? 

The industry takes itself far too seriously. If everyone was as loud as the agencies, CMOs and marketing futzes, you wouldn't be able to hear your own words for all the noise. I also think that advertisers are often bad entrepreneurs. Instead of delivering clean offices and making their agencies sustainably successful, most of them want to make a lot of money quickly and win awards. They chase after big budgets or fancy brands, get tangled up in lumpy risks and end up being surprised when they have to lay people off, the agency goes bankrupt or is swallowed up by networks.

Are there any issues that you have not yet been able to tackle but now seem more urgent?

No. I've actually always attributed a certain urgency to the choice of terms. The first was "Funnel" for the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel, which last "end-to-end" before the auguration of the Trump/Musk administration in the USA.

As indicated in your last columnevery end also means a new beginning: Sarah Pally is taking over your column at the end of this year. Why the change now?

Sarah has also inspired me over the years. She always knew the latest shit and I borrowed a few terms from her. She is also a gifted writer and should finally publish under her own name in the industry - and not just as a ghostwriter for our clients.

Sarah Pally: I don't know if that's such a good thing to have been the inspiration for Benno's column. (laughs)

Sarah, what appeals to you about writing a column - and what doesn't?

I actually find writing under my own name a challenge, but that's also the appeal for me: no double bottom line. The deadlines certainly help you to jump over this shadow. Apart from that, it is of course a special form of text where the balance between relevance and entertainment has to be right - and in the smallest possible space.

To what extent would you like to continue Benno's column - or give it your own touch?

I will stick to my guns when writing this column. I am a linguist "by training". Our everyday life in advertising, marketing and communication is an endless source of remarkable things to do with language: from misunderstood text types to more or less successful language games - and the odd "latest-shit-would-be-technical term". I won't reveal any more.

What ultimately makes a good column for you?

For me, a good column is like an overlong aphorism: charming, clever, entertaining and, in the best case, enlightening. So it's not something you just "throw in".

Maggi: One that I enjoy reading and perhaps even remember afterwards.

Benno, what are you hoping for from Sarah's continuation of the column?

That she does her thing. With her own lightness, humor and sharpness.

Read Benno Maggi's latest column for m&k here, "End-to-end".