The speech that cost £500m 8 June 2010
How could one speech spell out the end of a business reputation? The story of Gerald Ratner is a cautionary tale about the power of words in business. What was misguided banter meant the failure of a high street brand. It’s unfair, because Ratner’s comments seem to have been twisted into a sweeping statement about his products. And almost two decades on, ‘Doing a Ratner’ is still shorthand for a business leader inadvertently undermining a company in just a few sentences. Whether they’re in writing or not, there is intrinsic value in the words we use to describe a company. If they don’t add up, people notice and remember. The moral of this and other ‘foot in mouth’ tales? What we say about a business – and how we say it – really does matter.
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Camilla Zajac, Green Light Copywriting, June 2010
Written by Camilla Zajac
Camilla Zajac is an award-winning copywriter dedicated to uncovering what’s exciting and unique about organisations and empowering them to communicate that with impact. Learn more about copywriting services from Green Light Copywriting.
