We thought marketing jargon couldn’t get any worse than it was in 2020. We were so naïve. Welcome to the dystopian hell that is marketer abuse of language in 2021. And, yeah, spoiler alert, dystopian is one of the magic words. That’s because some of this year’s entries are viral prefixes that can hook onto almost any word with their spike proteins.

Meta – This prefix became annoyingly overused long before it became the name of Facebook’s corporate parent. Now it gives founder Mark Zuckerberg the opportunity to impact the virtual world just as he has the physical one.

Dystopian – Actually, dystopian is a perfectly wonderful word. It describes, among other things, a disturbingly vast literary and movie genre. What’s so, well, dystopian now is that it’s now used so often and appropriately. 

Metaverse – At first, it’s unclear why “meta” became the prefix to mash up with universe to signify a holographic world where everyone becomes a geek wearing a virtual reality headset (or someday just surgical optical implants). But since “meta” used to mean “self-referential,” maybe that really does make it the best descriptor for a world populated by wankers. Then again, Zuckerberg’s earliest metaverse prototype included meetings with avatars that have no bodies below the waist, which would prevent the Toobin effect.

See Ad Age’s 2021 Year in Review here.

Crypto – We’ve just begun to see how many things this prefix can attach to, unfortunately. But its use for “cryptocurrency” was always questionable. After all, facilitating organized crime transactions is only part of the proposition. Crypto means “hidden.” And what could be less hidden than something many people literally cannot stop talking about all the time? 

Social audio – Remember those halcyon days (March) when Clubhouse and social audio were the future of marketing? Back before the Metaverse (September) was the future of marketing? Or before Twitter co-opted the space? Social audio is too bland. Instead, how about the description one Twitter commentator gave it: “Blowhard thought leader dystopian hell” or BTLDH for short.

NFT – Non-fungible tokens are the real future of marketing—unless they aren't. So far the trend seems to have staying power, as brands embrace NFTs in a big way and consumers follow. Count Gary Vaynerchuk among the believers. He took some doodles his parents might have been embarrassed to put on their refrigerator and sold them for big crypto-bucks as a digital knickknack. Now that’s what marketing is all about. 

Zero-party data – Forrester gets credited for this, and maybe deserves blame for introducing other linguistic pathogens into the Marketerverse. It’s meant to describe any data a customer gives a brand or company intentionally. But then, this would also seem to describe “first-party” data. As opposed to “second-party” data (what you borrow from a publisher, platform, retailer, etc.) or “third-party” data (what you buy from a data broker, which is often not data at all if you’re a stickler for data being factually correct). There is zero need for this description. But party on. Just like with dimensions of reality, we should move forward, not back. For example, “fourth-party data,” (what hackers collect); “fifth-party data,” (what you use your cryptocurrency to buy from hackers in dark web marketplaces); or “sixth-party data,” (stuff you just make up to support your decisions).

Decision support – An oldie but goody—this describes market research in the most cynical possible way, as something you buy to support a decision you already made anyway.

Game changer – Another oldie but goody, describing “disruptors.” But, hey, we should have learned by now, it’s no game.

In house – We are reminded of Mandy Patinkin’s line from “The Princess Bride:” “You keep using that word. I do not think that word means what you think it does.” It’s ever clearer that things marketers take “in house” often aren’t in their houses at all. For example, “in house,” programmatic buying is often done with an outside demand-side platform. Unilever has a global network of “in house” marketing content studios whose people are employed by Oliver, a unit of You and Mr. Jones, and who work these days largely in their own houses, not Unilever’s house. The industry needs a new phrase for this phenomenon, like “screw the agencies.” But that sort of unvarnished truth is, well, inconceivable.

See Ad Age’s 2021 Year in Review here.