A low-stakes promotional trial designed specifically to shield the brand team from accountability when a campaign fails to yield any measurable results.
What they actually mean
"We have spent fifty thousand pounds on a platform we don't understand, and we have no idea if it worked."
Heard in the wild
"We're treating this new virtual reality campaign as a test-and-learn opportunity for the quarter."
A collaborative exercise wherein clients are gently guided to do the agency's creative work for them, thereby pre-emptively insulating the agency from any future blame.
"Let's run a workshop to co-create the new brand messaging."
Translation
"If this logo is dreadful, remember that you drew it."
The practice of placing unprompted, company-branded merchandise directly onto employees' workspaces to foster synthetic enthusiasm.
"We're coordinating a desk drop of reusable bamboo coffee cups to align everyone with our new sustainability pillars."
Translation
"Please accept this cheap plastic container in lieu of a pay rise."
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.