Why Coca-Cola is better than Pepsi (grammatically speaking)
Image: Refresh Yourself for 20 Cents via PhotoPin (licence)
To what degree is good grammar a predictor of overall success? According to a recent study, there may be a correlation between good writing and how a company performs against its competitors.
Grammarly, a creator of automated proofreading software, compared the LinkedIn profiles of famous rival companies: Coca-Cola and Pepsi, Google and Facebook, Ford and General Motors. In each instance, Grammarly found that the more successful company made significantly fewer writing mistakes in its posts. For example, the posts by Pepsi contained four times more errors than Coca-Cola’s.
While acknowledging that ‘brand dominance can be a fickle thing’, the study’s authors did go on to say that ‘writing is often a good predictor of the top brands because it demonstrates professionalism, attention to detail, and credibility’.
This neat little infographic provides a summary of the study’s findings.
The power of good writing isn’t limited to the commercial sphere. Back in 2012 an article on behavioural economics from The Economist magazine explored how ‘nudge theory’ is being used to improve the effectiveness of government.
In one trial, non-payers of vehicle taxes were sent a revised, plain language version of the standard letter (apparently along the lines of ‘pay your tax or lose your car’), resulting in a doubling of the number of people who made good on their debt. The effect was tripled when the revised letter included a photo of the car.
In another example, French authorities were able to improve the performance of girls in technical drawing classes by changing the name of the subject from ‘geometry’ to ‘drawing’.
These different instances reveal much about using the power of the well-chosen word to influence human behaviour.
