Odd Marketing Terminology

Last I checked, the purpose of marketing is communicating and, therefore, selling. I came across a particularly funny marketing term in a job search - "MARCOM" (which, I'd regrettably never heard before). MARCOM is an abbreviation for "marketing communications." Marcom is targeted interaction with customers and prospects using one or more media, such as direct mail, newspapers and magazines, television, radio, billboards, telemarketing, and the Internet. A marketing communications campaign may use a single approach, but more frequently combines several.

In other words, "Marcom" (or, sometimes "Marcomm") means marketing. Or, more to the fact, MARCOM is a very poor way of communicating "marketing communications".

Pos-Mens, which was introduced as a joke word (much like "truthiness" and "wikiality") on "30 Rock", is finding its own place. I highly recommend watching this weeks "30 Rock" on NBC.com before it gets replaced by tonight's show tomorrow. Pos-Mens is a term for "Positive Mentions", product placement in which a character "purchases and is satisfied with" a particular product.

*disturbing note - More interesting is that both "30 Rock" and "Studio 60" have an episode about product placement and company layoffs in the same week that NBC announced its own layoffs. Topical, though it wasn't meant to be. Both episodes were filmed a few weeks ahead of time. Even further, NBC bought more episodes of both shows, despite declining raitings.