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Caspian Ievers
July 25, 2008 10:33 AM

3 Comments

2b or not to be.

July 25, 2008 10:33 AM

There's a little itch I've been wanting to scratch for some time and I'm curious as to how many other people share my view.

Marketing chaps, advertising gurus and the wily designer all work in harmony like a well-oiled eel responding to the briefs that flick our way with the most up-to-date hard-(and soft)ware, using the latest technologies, keeping abreast of the latest trends, predicting the next big thing (animals are the next swoosh by the way) and inventing the future of business to business communication. So why have we attached a playground label to our noble profession? 

I'm thinking of petitioning a move away from B2B towards a more grown up BtoB. We're not at school anymore, scratching on the desk with a compass C+R4Eva. While Prince might be able to make a nice living writing cute pop songs like Nothing Compares 2U that doesn't make it OK.

There are numerous (pun intended) examples out there of companies who also suffer from the same symptoms - Phones4U, Talk2Me (not what you think, just google if you're curious), and Parcel2Go, as well as snackfoods/Golf solutions like Pro2Go (obviously H2Go, a New Zealand bottled water with a clever name and a blindingly sweet logo, is in a totally different league).

Shouldn't we advise our clients better? Just consider the continued hassle of giving out a url over the phone to a call centre inTimbuk2 trying to order the latest Zappasonic® C5.2 (or a crowded bar in oh-so-trendy-Shoreditch to that certain someone) that you are damn sure will fulfill your every business need, plus you have a coupon for 10% off orders over $499.99... "My email address? Sure, Alex at Eating 4 2 dot com" you say. "Alex at eating for too dot com?" crackles the reply. And you blame your IT's overzealous spam filter regime?

So rally round and join me with my 26 little alphabet friends and lets kick that 2 into touch.

N.B. If you happen to know what the word is that describes the word/number interchange shenanigan please post it in the comments!

 

3 Comments

Noël Ponthieux

July 25, 2008 11:39 AM

My best shot at the shenanigan for now is 'numeralise' or 'numericise'- serviceable if not exactly elegant.

Or you could scroll through the endlessly fascinating Dictionary of Number Words for inspiration.

As for the issue of the cutesy '2'...not so sure. It can be overused, but B2B is quite a tidy acronym in a business where so many acronyms are dull and clunky. I think B2B has personality and clarity on its side.

JB

July 25, 2008 1:31 PM

2true m8

Richard Bush

July 30, 2008 9:48 PM

Laziness surely?

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