SMOG - simplified measure of gobbledygook

Thanks to FutureLab for this post. This is an interesting test for anyone claiming to use simple and accessible language

"SMOG-ing” or SMOG (aka. simplified measure of gobbledygook) allows you to measure the readability of a text by translating it into a score. This score reflects the years of formal education a person needs before being able to understand what is written.

Using the SMOG calculator of The Literacy Trust in the UK, I tested the SMOG score for some of our brand's using paragraphs from their "About Us" pages (if they were truly customer centric, the language they used should be understandable by the average customer checking them out). Most people understand a readability level under 10.


ClearView scored 20.3 = post-graduate degree required to understand what they’re talking about (the highest literacy level)

Coon scored 11.66 = some high-school needed

Hahn Super Dry scored 13 = some college/tertiary education needed


You can find the site here:http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/campaign/SMOG.html

Tweet your service

Thanks to NGT for this post on how our brands can make REAL use of Twitter, however, I can't imagine the amount of work involved in maintaining this kind of customer communication!

Jet Blue Tweets Customer Service
JUNE 11TH, 2008 BY ALLISON

More and more, smart marketers are scanning Twitter for mentions or creating Twitter channels for a brand’s “followers.” By microblogging, they can give consumers real-time company news, coupons, contests, etc. Some companies are even running customer service via Twitter. We recently came across a great case study on StyleITOnline.com, which chronicles a users’ actual experience:

For the rest: http://www.nextgreatthing.com/wordpress/2008/06/11/jet-blue-tweets-customer-service/

Orange let's the good times roll

A new website from Orange in the UK which smacks a bit of Sony Bravia, but is still a well integrated campaign complete with the new marketing 'obligatory' facebook component.



http://unlimited.orange.co.uk/flash/go