Technical jargon: What does tangible mean?

In an increasingly complex world, the desire for tangibles is growing. So it's no wonder that in presentations by advertising agencies up and down the country, everything suddenly becomes tangible. But what does that mean? The word finds its origin in the Latin verb tangere, which means "to touch" and from which, for example, the adjective tangibilis ("touchable") can be derived. Today, it has taken over from the well-worn words "concrete" (that's so 80s), "real" (90s) or "authentic" (00s) and describes complex issues or crazy ideas that should be tangible, palpable, graspable or tangible for the customer.

Stolen from the financial industry

Like so many things, it only became really sexy in its English version and found its way into the advertising and communications industry via the financial industry. The financial world has long loved its "tangible assets" (pronounced with an "sh" instead of "ng") because they are so steadfast. In the context of finance, the term is usually applied to tangible assets in physical form such as real estate, machinery and land, as well as to current assets such as inventories. We live on non-physical assets such as ideas, brand awareness, copyrights, goodwill and patents, which are difficult to show as assets on a balance sheet. But that shouldn't stop anyone from being tangible with their 360° strategies, concepts and approaches. After all, we all want one thing: to be touched.*Benno Maggi is co-founder and CEO of Partner & Partner. He created the section "Vom Fach" in the NZZ FOLIO and was in charge of it for years. He presents and decodes words and terms that can be used either for small talk, being important, getting excited, playing Scrabble or simply for fun.