Let’s be honest. Most business jargon sounds like it was cooked up in a corporate kitchen where no seasoning ever touches the pot. “Synergy.” “Stakeholders.” “Value-added deliverables.” That’s not gumbo—that’s unbuttered toast.
Branding shouldn’t sound like a boardroom PowerPoint presentation. It should sound like people. Real people. People who laugh at commercials, remember catchy lines, and repeat them years later because they stuck. That’s what branding is supposed to do—get in your head and stay there, not put you to sleep.
So, let’s forget the buzzwords and talk about what actually works: speaking like a human being.
Why Biz-Speak Misses the Mark
Business lingo often gets used because it sounds important. The problem is, nobody outside the office knows what half of it means. Walk into a coffee shop and tell the barista you’re working on “leveraging stakeholder engagement to maximize synergies” and see how fast they hand you a double espresso and walk away.
Customers want connection, not confusion. When people hear branding that sounds too stiff or scripted, they tune out. Nobody remembers “multi-tiered holistic solutions.” Everybody remembers “Have it your way.”
The point is simple: humans don’t talk in jargon, and customers don’t think in jargon either. If the message doesn’t sound like something someone would actually say out loud, it’s probably not going to resonate.
The Magic of Plain Talk
Some of the best slogans of all time worked because they were easy to repeat. “Just do it.” “Got milk?” “Finger-lickin’ good.” These weren’t dreamed up in a committee obsessed with market share analytics. They were short, punchy, and sounded like something you’d say to a friend.
Plain talk works because it feels familiar. It taps into everyday language that people already use. It’s the kind of phrase that slips into conversation without anyone noticing, and that’s the real power of branding.
Humor Helps (When It’s Done Right)
One of the most underrated tools in branding is humor. Not the kind of humor that makes people groan, but the kind that sparks a grin. Humor makes people feel something, and that emotional jolt helps them remember the message.
Think about it. A joke told well gets retold. A funny commercial gets shared. A witty slogan gets quoted. Humor makes the brand less like a company and more like a person people want to be around. And in a world where every business is fighting for attention, being memorable is half the battle.
Of course, humor has to match the brand. An accountant might not want to advertise with slapstick comedy, but a pizza shop can probably get away with more jokes than a law firm. The key is balance: enough personality to stand out, but not so much that people forget what the business actually does.
Speak the Way People Live
One of the best parts of being in New Orleans is the way the city itself reminds us that language is alive. People here don’t just talk—they season their words. Expressions, jokes, little turns of phrase all carry flavor. Branding should do the same.
Instead of leaning on tired buzzwords, pull from real experiences. Talk about the sound of a brass band rolling down the street, the smell of beignets in the morning, or the feeling of sitting on a porch swing while a storm rolls in. Those are things people can picture, taste, and feel. That’s how branding comes alive.
Lessons from the Classics
It’s worth remembering that some of the most enduring campaigns didn’t rely on high-tech graphics or data-driven jargon. They relied on human hooks. Nike told people to act. McDonald’s reminded them of simple pleasures. Apple challenged them to see the world differently.
None of these needed “stakeholder synergy.” They just needed words people could actually use in conversation. That’s the blueprint.
How to Ditch the Jargon
So how does a business drop the corporate buzzwords and start speaking like a human? Here’s the recipe I use:
- Start with clarity. If the average person wouldn’t understand the sentence, rewrite it.
- Cut the fluff. Replace long, abstract words with short, simple ones.
- Add flavor. Sprinkle in humor, local color, or everyday references.
- Test it out loud. If it feels awkward saying it to a friend, it’s probably not going to stick with customers either.
Think of branding like cooking. Too many buzzwords are like dumping every spice in the cabinet into one pot. Nobody wants that. A few well-chosen ingredients, seasoned just right, will always win.
Branding People Remember
At the end of the day, branding that works is branding people repeat. It’s the line they tell a coworker, the jingle they hum while stuck in traffic, the phrase that makes them grin because it feels familiar. That doesn’t come from boardroom jargon—it comes from real, human language.
So the next time someone suggests “leveraging integrated touchpoints for stakeholder alignment,” remember this: no customer has ever walked into a store asking for that. But they have walked in humming an ad jingle they couldn’t get out of their head.
That’s the kind of branding worth creating. Simple. Human. Maybe even funny. And definitely not something that sounds like a meeting agenda.
