Vibrancy Is Oh-So-Vibrant!

Reading WIRED's September issue, I had a William Safire moment: The magazine announced a few design changes, among them "enhanced color in photos and illustrations to increase vibrancy." Vibrancy. There it was. The marketing word of the month. The term du jour that everyone is just so in love with. Consumer brand marketers include it in marcom briefs, B2B marketers use it to talk up their web sites, and now even Wired! Vibrancy for vibrancy's sake. Like "compelling," "sexy," "engaging," or "authentic," vibrancy is the new best friend of marketers who are constantly on the search for attributes that are not trivial, not overused, and that appear to originate from some remote outside-of-marketing-jargon universe where the language is still compelling, sexy, engaging, authentic and -- yes, vibrant.

The dictionary defines "vibrant" as "pulsing or throbbing with energy or activity," "vigorous, lively, and vital," "exhibiting or characterized by rapid, rhythmic movement back and forth or to and from vibrating." But vibrancy is all of that and so much more. It is a force entirely unto itself. It derives its special charm for marketers from sounding like a hybrid of "viral" and "vibe." If hybrid-abilty is a parameter of marketing jargon-ability, then I hereby place a big bet on the next marketing buzz word: "socialistic" ("social" + "ballistic").