|
A major market for
Clarica is retail customers. Clearly, the organization knew, or found out, that
its audience valued clear communication. No surprises there.
But clear
communication is for all. We need to remember that at the end of the day, when
the people who manage institutional investor organizations and corporate
clients go home, those same people are retail customers and retail investors.
In that capacity, I bet they want the documents they have to read to make
sense, to be clear, and to be easy to deal with. And I bet they feel like that
about the documents they have to read at work too—when no one would see
them as a retail customer.
5.2 The international
accountancy firm KPMG
In Australia, KPMG
uses the slogan "It's time for clarity". Fair enough too. Yet the firm's
primary audience is not retail consumers. Far from it. And although I'm sure
the firm is a good corporate citizen, I'm equally sure it didn't adopt that
slogan in support of the plain-language movement. Surely KPMG adopted the
slogan "It's time for clarity" because the large corporations it values and
seeks as clients—and the people who work in those organizations—value
clear communication. So do we all.
5.3 Law firms lead
with plain language
Several major law
firms in Australia are committed to plain language. They have rewritten their
precedents in plain language and have trained their lawyers in plain-language
skills. These firms see the clarity of their writing as a distinguishing
feature of their business—something that gives them an edge, something
that benefits their clients. Some of these firms go further than that. They
provide plain-language rewriting services. These firms have had tremendous
successes with plain language. For example:
- The firm I used
to work for as Head of the Plain English Department, Phillips Fox, (with
offices throughout Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam) conducted a brand audit
in 2000 to find out what clients and potential clients thought of the firm. The
survey showed that the clarity of the firm's advice and documents, and its
plain-language rewriting services, were highly recognised and valued. Even many
of the survey participants who were not clients of the firm knew of Phillips
Fox's plain-language expertise.
|
