[lit-ideas] Re: Conversation Without Implicature
- From: John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 25 Jun 2011 13:21:00 -0400
*Ambiguity in language is just as much a useful tool as precision. There
are times when each is to be preferred, but surely we use language to
increase ambiguity as well as reduce it, even in non-poetic contexts. *
Yes, indeed. Here's an example.
In the early/mid 1990s I was recruited by Paul Guilefoile, the best account
executive I ever worked with, to help with the pitches that won Hakuhodo
Lintas the relaunch of Coke Light and, later, the launch of Caffeine Free
Diet Coke in Japan. Together Paul and I worked out three important rules for
working with Coca-Cola.
1. Use Coca-Cola language and respect their taboos. Back then, for example,
the adjective "refreshing" could be applied only to classic red can Coke.
Using their language the way they used it demonstrated our familiarity with
their business and corporate culture.
2. Say something unexpected. Simply repeating what they told us would lead
to their concluding, quite properly, that we were adding nothing of value to
them. The art was in finding a new angle or line for development that they
hadn't thought of themselves, but presenting it to them in language that
they would find familiar and, thus, reassuring.
3. This was Paul's contribution, and I will always remember it. Appear to
speak as concretely as possible—but be sure to leave some wiggle room. The
rationale, in the context in which we worked, was persuasive: Planning and
producing advertising, especially TV commercials, requires input from all
sorts of people with different skills, and the better they are at their jobs
the more they insist on their own "creative input." So our presentations had
to leave room for on-the-spot modifications, in location, direction,
costuming, narration, dubbing, editing—modifications that would not be seen
by the client as violating the promises made in the presentation
storyboards. Changing, for instance, the cut of the model's dress might be
acceptable; replacing Coke red with a pinker or more orange red that caught
the director's or stylist's eye—that was definitely out.
I have since come to believe that this sort of what we might call "strategic
ambiguity" is an essential part of business and political activity, and one
whose importance grows with the size of the organizations and the diversity
of interests involved. I would even go so far as to suggest that it plays an
important role in academic life as well. After all, to become a "big idea,"
an idea has to start out with sufficient ambiguity to allow disciples and
colleagues to develop and refine it. Perfect solutions are, I suspect, more
often than not, simply forgotten, clearing the way for new debates.
Some of these speculations may seem over the top. But the example, at least,
may serve to illustrate John Wager's excellent point.
John
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
jlm@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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