Brands often come to us because their language has lost its way. It’s overcomplicated, hedgy, and formal. It’s costing them business and stretching the complaints team. In theory, they want a clearer tone. But when it comes to the crunch, they’re also nervous about language they see as “too simple”.
So let’s try a test. We’ve found examples of writing from famous big thinkers. Can you guess who they are? And does any of it really sound like “dumbing down”?
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We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.
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Stephen Hawking.
Famously a bit of a simpleton, obviously.
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There are some four million different kinds of animals and plants in the world. Four million different solutions to the problems of staying alive.
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David Attenborough.
Four million times better than a school biology textbook.
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Tell me where you want the man to land, and I’ll tell you where to send him up.
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Katherine Johnson.
She was talking to her boss at the time.
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There was a moment when I changed from an amateur to a professional. I assumed the burden of a profession, which is to write even when you don’t want to, don’t much like what you’re writing, and aren’t writing particularly well.
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Agatha Christie.
Making it sound like coming out with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is just a matter of persistence.
You can be on the level and still sound profound, engaging, direct or inspiring. If you’re still worried about overshooting and sounding more Trump than Hawking, that’s when to call in the experts.
Written by Alex Goldtsein, Creative Director at Definition.
