The process of repeatedly editing a straightforward sentence until it is entirely devoid of meaning, clarity, and grammatical structure, yet highly pleasing to the legal department.
What they actually mean
Let's replace all the clear verbs with vague nouns so we can't be held to any of these promises.
Heard in the wild
"Let's massage the copy on the landing page to make it sound more aspirational."
The untraceable sharing of content via private channels, usually consisting of employees messaging each other to ask if the company's new campaign is as embarrassing as they think it is.
Our latest promotional video is getting a lot of traction on dark social, though mostly via encrypted WhatsApp chats.
Translation
People are mocking our brand in private group chats where our tracking pixels cannot find them.
The delicate art of redesigning a corporate logo with a soft leaf motif to divert attention from the fact that the company’s main export is non-recyclable plastic.
"If we sponsor a local beach clean-up with a catchy hashtag, we can successfully greenwash our Q4 distribution metrics."
Translation
"We bought a handful of carbon offsets from an unmonitored woodland in Devon to ease our collective guilt."
A highly versatile verb used to avoid saying the word 'use', thereby making a mundane administrative task sound like physics.
"We need to leverage our existing brand assets to drive deeper organic engagement."
Translation
We are going to send another newsletter.