Koroberi Blog

N&O Photo by Robert Willett

Last week I was interviewed and photographed by the Raleigh News and Observer about the Future of the Internet, mobile devices and living a connected life. The article was to coincide with the release of a new study from the Pew Internet Project. It appeared today on the front page of the print edition (pdf) and was the lead story on the web (screenshot) this morning. I thought the article did a great job summarizing my connected life, and quotes me about the importance of putting your life online.

“People will feel a stronger connection to you in a business environment if you put yourself out there personally.”

Here’s a link to the complete article on the News and Observer website.

Although it’s likely not a topic of interest outside the writing professional’s circle — and possibly of waning interest even there — the serial comma and its usage are nevertheless of abiding interest to this long-in-the-tooth copywriter.

Also known as the Oxford comma or Harvard comma, the serial comma is the comma used immediately before a grammatical conjunction that precedes the last item in a list of three or more items. Having started down my career path back in the days when pencil, legal pad, and a copy of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style were the basic tools of the trade, I’ve undoubtedly passed the millionth serial comma usage milestone several times over.

But, alas, there’s a conspiracy afoot to banish my hard-working little friend. Aided and abetted by the wankers behind The Associated Press Stylebook, the assault on the serial comma extends even into the ranks of the young. One of our interns, an earnest, committed, and eager-to-learn English major, reports that profs at the UNC School of Journalism regularly rail against the serial comma. Although I have no idea why journalists are so repulsed by the diminutive and ever-so-useful character that they’re willing to sacrifice clarity of expression for paucity of punctuation, I’m incensed, outraged, and just plain hopping mad at the blatant abuse of authority teachers of journalism display when dealing with an impressionable audience.

As an integrated agency engaged in both pr and advertising, Koroberi has adopted a schizophrenic policy regarding serial comma usage: press releases, magazine articles, and other material intended for publication toe the AP line (as misguided as I believe it to be) and are produced sans serial comma — albeit reluctantly on my part. But when it comes to everything else, the serial comma reigns supreme, sublime, and, I hope, eternal.

Thanks largely to the infectious influences of mass media, technology-induced shorthand, and a language- and vocabulary-challenged commander in chief, proper grammatical usage is in a state of rapid decline in the USA, with the quality of both spoken and written communication overall becoming ever more abysmal — even among the ranks of so-called professional journalists.

That’s why it’s time for all writers who truly care about their craft to draw a line in the sand, throw down the gauntlet, and confront the enemy in his own backyard. Only by being steadfast, determined, and unwaveringly committed to preserving the sanctity of the serial comma, will we succeed.

Bruce B. Olive, CEO of Koroberi, was named a 2008 Marketing Impact Leader by Business Leader Magazine.

A North Carolina native and CEO of Chapel Hill-based integrated marketing communications firm Koroberi Inc., Bruce B. Olive has spent a lifetime helping clients communicate complex subject matter clearly and concisely. With nearly 30 years in the advertising industry, Olive began his career as a copywriter, working overseas at some of the world’s largest international advertising agencies. He started Koroberi 10 years ago, with a determination to build a leading technology-focused, business-to-business marketing firm. Koroberi has since become one of America’s leading business-to-business agencies, leaving Olive justifiably proud of his business, his employees and the industry leaders who make up his clients. Outside of the company, he is active in Durham’s Saint Philip’s Episcopal Church, where he serves both as verger and on the vestry, and enjoys organic gardening and flying his aerobatic airplane.

We recently attended the launch event of the first installation of our client’s solar plant and we just had to have a cool picture taken under the solar trees.

Solar energy startup, MegaWatt Solar, based in Hillsborough, NC, is a technology-centric renewable energy company committed to delivering scalable solar power generation systems to the utility market. Here’s the press release about MegaWatt Solar’s installation.

Koroberi President Kathryn Olive and Account Executive Jeff Cohen