And the winner is …“Transparency” - voted 2016 Marketing Word of The Year

I kid you not, someone, somewhere in the world (the US) actually took the time to ask real people to name their “Marketing Word of the Year”. This year the word “Transparency” was crowned the winner. Apparently, “customer experience,” “content marketing,” “influencer” and “programmatic” were runners up.

It is, without a doubt, a really ridiculous poll. That said, it probably is the right word to sum up 2016. Which is a bit depressing when you think about it. Transparency has been a central topic during numerous industry discussions and articles, including how it relates to everything from advertising and media-buying fraud to the US Presidential election.

In our own small corner of the world at Big M, transparency has also been a topic of conversation, mainly in respect to billing. Having spent years and years client side, where agency accounting was often a black box, we have been determined to be completely and utterly transparent - no hidden costs, no mark-up, no kick-backs. But sadly, we seem to be the expectation, rather than the rule. Perhaps we are naive, but we think being open and honest is fundamental to a great agency / client relationship. And it certainly wouldn’t hurt agencies to be a bit nicer.

So, what about 2017. We have already marked the release of the Marketing Word of the Year 2017 in our diaries, as I am sure you have. Let's all hope the word will be something new and original. Please god, not Influencer Marketing. Here’s a thought, let’s band together and try and make the Marketing Word of 2017 , “Nice”. I know. It's never going to happen.

#Transparency