Author: robertjames1971

I'm wicked tall.

Corporate Buzzspeak

This is a further response to today’s daily writing prompt. I am being sarcastic here. You can laugh along with me. You can flip the finger at the buzzspeak mentality with me. If you want, you can even be offended by this. It’s all good. Here we go…

I asked Google Bard to, “explain why the term brand is a meaningless corporate buzzword.” Here is Bard’s response:

The term “brand” is often used as a corporate buzzword without any real meaning. It is often thrown around in marketing and advertising materials, but it is rarely defined or explained in a clear and concise way.

One reason for this is that the concept of “brand” is complex and multifaceted. It can refer to a wide range of things, including a company’s name, logo, products, services, reputation, and even its culture.

Another reason is that the term “brand” has been overused and misused in recent years. It is now applied to everything from products and services to people and places. This has led to a certain amount of confusion and cynicism about the term.

Here are some specific reasons why the term “brand” is often a meaningless corporate buzzword:

  • It is often used in a vague and unsubstantiated way. For example, a company might claim that its brand is “innovative” or “customer-centric,” but it may not provide any specific evidence to support these claims.
  • It is often used to sell products or services that are not actually that different from the competition. For example, two different brands of toothpaste might both claim to be the “best for your teeth,” but there may be little real difference between them.
  • It is often used to create a sense of artificial exclusivity or superiority. For example, a luxury brand might claim that its products are “only for the best” or that they are “the epitome of style.”

In short, the term “brand” is often used as a marketing gimmick rather than a meaningful way to differentiate a company from its competitors.

Here are some examples of how the term “brand” is often used as a meaningless corporate buzzword:

  • “Our new product is designed to help you create a more authentic brand.”
  • “We are committed to building a strong brand that resonates with our customers.”
  • “Our brand is all about innovation and creativity.”
  • “We want to be the world’s leading brand in our industry.”

These statements are all vague and unsubstantiated. They do not provide any specific information about what the company’s brand actually is or what makes it different from the competition.

To be truly meaningful, the term “brand” should be used to describe a company’s unique value proposition and the way that it differentiates itself from its competitors. It should also be backed up by specific examples and evidence.

https://bard.google.com

7:50am on Day Ten

The relapse is in full swing. Sort of.

I definitely feel worse than yesterday, but I’m still much better than I was at the worst of this Covid-19 experience. Obviously I’d prefer to be all better, but if I have to slide back a bit, here’s hoping it doesn’t get much worse than this. Fingers crossed.

We let ourselves oversleep a bit this morning. Maybe an hour or so for me. Will that help? Probably not, but it was worth a shot. I have a super busy work day scheduled so a little extra rest before kicking things off will hopefully be a good thing.

My nose is stuffier than it was last night. Not too much, just a little. I’m also coughing more than I was yesterday. It’s a wet, phlegmy cough where it used to be a dry cough. Does that make a difference? Who knows.

Okay then, I have had my morning vitamins and 16 ounces of water (Crystal Light Lemonade, to be precise), and I’ve had a protein bar breakfast. It’s time to get the day rolling on. Wish me luck, it’s going to be a tough one.

I Hate That Term!

Daily writing prompt
What brands do you associate with?
View all responses

I friggin’ HATE the term “brand”. Talk about your arrogant asshole corporate buzzword speak. We’re not a soulless corporation out to put profit over the wellbeing of the people, we’re a brand. Oooooh. No, screw you, jerk-wads, you’re a friggin’ company and no you are not people and no you do not deserve to have the freakin’ vote!

UGH! I HATE THIS TERM!

To answer the corporate buzzword bullshit question though…

Gibson guitars, specifically Gibson USA. I can’t afford anything from the custom shop. I own four of them (a Les Paul Custom, a Les Paul Standard, an ES-335 Pro, and an SG Standard) and am constantly drooling over the idea of owning more (a Firebird, a Les Paul Junior, and a Les Paul Standard with P90’s).

Apple. I’m quite the fanboy as I type this on my MacBook Pro while wearing an Apple Watch and looking at my iPhone 14 Pro Max sitting on the desk next to me, and knowing that I have an iPad sitting on a charger in the next room, and a pair of AirPod Pro Max next to it, and lamenting that my little AirPods fell out of my pocket at the airport the other day.

Still… I absolutely loathe the term brand. Fuck that noise.

7:28pm on Day Nine

I am exhausted. I had a decent night’s sleep last night. Six hours without interruption. It didn’t help though, by the time I got to my lunch break today I was 100% wiped out. I am also coughing more tonight and my head is a little stuffy again. I feel like my symptoms are back-sliding and getting worse. I am very unhappy about all of this.

I called my father tonight to see how he was handling my mother’s birthday. He’s doing okay, but he immediately noticed that I sound worse than I did yesterday. It’s bad enough that dad could tell just by my voice.

Tomorrow is going to be a tough day. I am in meetings for five of the eight hours including one meeting that covers my entire usual lunch break. I’m going to be exhausted to the core of my soul by the time the work day ends. It’s going to be brutal. Here’s hoping I manage a better night’s sleep tonight to prepare for it. Wish me luck.

Happy MacOS Sonoma Release Day

Today is the release day for the new MacOS! Sonoma should be available, but it hasn’t shown up in my Mac App Store yet.

I have to say that there isn’t a whole lot here that I am excited about, apart from the normal “newer is better (and hopefully faster and more efficient, but who really knows)” vibe. I might look into widgets. I don’t really use them on my iPhone and barely acknowledge they exist on my iPad. Maybe I’ll see what’s out there for hockey and baseball and notepads and weather and news headlines and blogging stuff and random things like that.

I don’t use Safari so even though some of the updates are interesting, I am never going to see them. Oh well. That’s the downside of using third party browsers, I guess.

Whatever, Happy MacOS Sonoma Day, Apple fanboys and fangirls. Enjoy the day (assuming the download actually becomes available in your neck of the woods)!

Ironic yet unrelated note, I was prompted to take an OS update in Windows on my work machine today. What a small world, huh?

ADDENDUM: I guess the Mac App Store was just waiting for me to start complaining on the blog because the OS Update download became available to me just a few minutes after initially I published this post. Thanks, universe!

I Could Do More

Daily writing prompt
What could you do more of?
View all responses

What could I do more of? I feel like I am lacking in so many areas of life. Nothing so much as to be a problem, but many things where I just want to be doing better than I am.

  • Helping/supporting/being there for my wife. I do some, but not nearly enough. Not even close.
  • Helping/supporting/being there for my step kids. Again, I do what I can but they are so far away from us now it’s very difficult. Any time there is the slightest hiccup in their lives I just want to drop everything and go running and I just can’t do it when they are a couple of hundred miles away.
  • Helping/supporting/being there for my extended family. This mostly includes my father, but also in a big way it includes my niece and my three nephews. I never feel like I am there for any of them. I chip in for my father when I can, but not nearly enough, and as for the four kids, am I the worst, most useless uncle on Earth? I think so. I am doing an abysmal job at being an uncle.
  • Helping/supporting/being there for my staff at work. I think I am doing an okay job as a supervisor, but I could be doing so much more.

Those are the big ones. There are a slew of other areas where I could be doing more that fall under personal, mental well being kind of things. More music, more photography, more travel, more exploration, more community stuff. Those sorts of things. They are clearly secondary to family and work though.

So I guess my answers for today’s daily writing prompt are pretty much the same as most of my prompt answers. Family, work, personal things. I feel like a bit of a broken record, but they are the most important things in my life, you know?