Word of the day: leave-behinds

So I was on a course recently and one of the speakers had prepared handouts for everyone.

Except he didn't hand them out - he left them behind. And he didn't call them handouts, he called them 'leave-behinds'.

I'd never come across this word before (although it makes sense). Googling 'leave-behinds' throws up a few definitions, including:

• A part or sampling of a portfolio that is left with a potential employer or exhibitor after a meeting or interview (Wikia)

• Things other than your resume that can be left behind with potential employers (About.com)

• Something you leave behind, compelling your audience to take a closer look at who you are and what you offer (Go-to-Market Strategies)

• A creative reminder of your particular style. Even if you don't get the job but your leave-behind is considered a "keeper," the designer or creative director will hang onto it in case they need a freelancer in the future (The Graphic Designer's Guide to Better Business Writing)

So this word seems to be most often used in the contexts of design and recruitment (and especially design recruitment). Perhaps these are fields in which the speaker had experience?

Vorsprung durch cockup

Audi, to the best of my knowledge, produces a fine range of cars, but the skill of the company's engineers is not matched by the skill of the copywriters in its advertising agency.

In its current TV ad campaign much is made of the technology that diverts otherwise wasted braking energy into charging the vehicle's battery. Capturing braking energy is not a new idea; some years ago, when still an inhabitant of JD's Engine Room, I was subbing technical reports of similar technology (regular Engine Room correspondent Clutchslip knows much more about it than I do).

It was described as a regenerative system, which my ageing OED Concise defines as "...breathe new and more vigorous life into". But in their search for an alternative word Audi's men in red braces have come up with recuperative, which the OED defines as "...recover from exhaustion, illness, loss etc". I wonder how much they were paid for describing their clients' products as exhausted and ailing?

BA: You can't smell a city from a plane

I took this shot with my cameraphone on full zoom, so apologies for the shoddy picture quality.

Anyway... does anyone else think this British Airways advert is bizarre? Granted, you may not be able to smell a city from a coach, but you certainly can't smell one from a plane.




Oh, someone on Flickr has had the same thought - and taken a better picture too. Never mind.

New Media Age News: British Airways launches global campaign

Product review: Azor from King of Shaves

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about blogging and product reviews, and how through Fuelmyblog I've been given the chance to review some slightly more mainstream products than pinhole glasses and e-books about facial tics.

Hopefully I can use this opportunity to find out more about the whole 'blogger review' business, as well as get some goodies to give away to Engine Room readers.

Anyway.

I can reveal that the first product I've been sent for review is an Azor razor (as pictured on the right) from King of Shaves. It came in a nice little media/presentation pack with shaving gel and a CD of logos and images - plus-points for KOS there, as it means I don't have to inflict my photography on anyone today.

I have to admit that I already use King of Shaves tea tree shaving gel (although the company didn't know that). Being tea tree, it's quite tingly, and it doesn't foam much, so I can see what I'm doing when I'm shaving. That's all I have to say about shaving gel.

As for the razor itself, it looks like something from a 1970s vision of the future - a good thing in my book. It's light, and being smooth plastic it doesn't get grubby. Most importantly, I've not managed to cut myself with it once in three weeks of use. This might be down to its rather odd 'tuning fork' shape, which means I have to hold the razor quite far down the handle. Makes shaving my top lip a bit tricky, though.

Moving on to the marketing side of things, I'd like to mention one of the slogans KOS is using to promote the Azor: "Prepare to shave closer, longer, for less." Shave closer: well, yes, great, as long as I don't cut myself more. For less: less money or less effort, either is good. But shave longer? Why on earth would I want to do that?

(I can only assume that it means the blades and/or handle last longer than the competitors'.)

And in the promotional material I was sent there's a quote that includes a nice portmanteau. "'Wilkinette' have a brilliant future behind them'," says the designer's dad.

Lessons learnt:

• Companies with good products are indeed willing to send them out to blogs for review.
  
• Those companies should include media packs with information and photos.
• Portmanteaux are good. Ambiguous promotional slogans, less so.
• It's OK to quote your dad sometimes.
  

Overall, I have to say the Azor is a winner. Hopefully I'll be sent something bad to review next time so I can really slate it and see whether that effects my chances of getting further products.

One last thing. I know I said I would try to give away any review copies of products to readers of the blog, but I doubt anyone would want a used razor. And if anyone did want a used razor, that would suggest they were exactly the sort of person not to be trusted with a used razor. So I'm keeping this one for myself.

McCain makes high-profile apostrophe error

I don't want The Engine Room to become one of those blogs that is fixated on misplaced, missing or inappropriate apostrophes (not that there is anything wrong with that in itself, of course; it's just that other blogs do it so much better).

However, this one is a real cracker (click for a larger image):



So this is an ad by multi-billion-dollar food company McCain. A full-page ad, on the outside back cover of the London Lite newspaper – which has a readership of 1.1 million. And look at that apostrophe.

I suddenly feel much better about my own mistakes. And can anyone come up with a higher-profile apostrophe error?

I do quite like 'caressive', though.


(For those who can't see the image, the copy in the advert reads: "Stop! Stop! I lied, as I bit into the pert roundness of the goose fat smothered potato, instantly sending caressive plumes of steam gushing from it's soft, fluffy centre like a hot breath on my lips.")

Marketing gets saucy: HP

Today's award for marketing hyperbole goes to HP Foods, maker of HP Sauce. According to the label on the bottle, HP Sauce is a "legendary and uniquely distinctive taste sensation" and also "everyone's favourite".

I love this for a number of reasons.

1. Everyone's favourite. Just not true.

2. Legendary. I'm not aware of any legends surrounding HP Sauce. If anyone else does, please let me know as I would love to hear them.

3. Taste sensation. Not just a taste but 'a taste sensation'! This sounds impressive, but remember that sensations can be unpleasant as well as pleasant. (I think HP Foods is hoping for association with 'sensational'.)

4. Uniquely distinctive. If it is unique, surely it is also distinctive. Or does HP Foods mean the sauce is distinctive in a way that no other distinctive taste sensation is distinctive? Perhaps - but what does that mean?

(Incidentally, the HP website says the firm has been "providing the nation's sauce solutions for over 100 years" - one for Private Eye's 'Solutions' section perhaps.)