The crystal ball
Because you can't see the future, we're the next best thing.
Or some such hocus-pocus. If you’re churning out this type of work, the future looks bleak.
(38 votes)
The handshake
Partnership
A strong contender for the unholy mother of all B2B clichés. It has a firm grip on websites, corporate brochures, DM - and it does not want to let go. Please, please let go.
(26 votes)
The light bulb
What a bright idea!
The first person to think of this visual analogy could stake a strong claim to this. Now there’s not a retina on the planet that the light bulb isn’t burned on the back of. Let’s do everyone a favour and switch it off.
(25 votes)
The stopwatch
When time is of the essence.
Reached cliché status in record time.
(17 votes)
The jigsaw
We complete you
When was the last time anyone did a jigsaw at work? Someone’s workplace is where we’re sending this message when we reach for this cliché. So unless the audience is in the business of jigsaws, let’s just shelve it and complete something more relevant.
(15 votes)
The cogs
We'll integrate with you, like a machine
Great if you’re a robot, “This brand has utilised cliché number 009, my memory bank dictates that I respond with feelings of trust and reassurance. Why are my human colleagues displaying signs of fatigue?”
(10 votes)
The egg timer
Because time is money, use us.
Egg timers have done well for themselves in one place only. That’s right, the wicked witch’s castle in the Wizard of Oz. Traditional egg timers are practically redundant in the kitchens for which they’re designed, what chance do they have in business brand communications?
(9 votes)
The tape measure
A service that's tailored to you.
It doesn’t matter how you measure this idea, it’s both metrically and imperially clichéd.
(8 votes)
The baton
Let's work together as a team.
Yes let’s. On making our communications ideas much less obvious so people notice them. Keep the baton, pass me the sketch-pad.
(5 votes)
The eye
Vision.
All those who gaze into its mesmeric depths seem powerless to resist the clichéd charms of the dreaded eye. It’s just a picture guys, let’s exercise a little more self-control.
(5 votes)