MACQUARIE DICTIONARY: PHUBBING

A campaign built on the idea that language isn’t a museum, it’s a living thing. To prove the Macquarie Dictionary was still the ultimate authority on modern culture, we didn't just talk about new words; we invented one.

The strategy was simple: dictionaries are often seen as passive observers of history, but to stay relevant, Macquarie needed to be an active participant. We identified a universal social tension - the frustration of being ignored for a smartphone - and gave it a name. By coining Phubbing (phone-snubbing) and orchestrating a global debate, we gave people a way to describe a behaviour they already hated. It turned a legacy reference book into a global conversation starter, proving that if you want to stay relevant, you don’t just record the vernacular, you help define it.