Advertising's Final Solution

Good news!

We no longer need creative people in advertising.

We can finally get rid of those annoying, whiney, pains-in-the-ass.

According to The New York Times there's a new software program developed by an agency called BETC Euro RSCG,  that can generate advertising by itself.

But before we get to the software, let's talk about the agency for a minute.

Does an agency really need 8 initials

Does Your Brand Truly Care? Truly?

Last weekend I read a blog post in the American Express Open Forum. It was called Serving Is the New Selling: How to be a 'Brand Butler.'

That's right -- a 'Brand Butler.'

Here's what I learned...
"...customers expect that the brands they do business with truly care." Thank goodness someone in marketing finally gets it!

I want my brands to truly care about me! That's right, ME! I've had it

Leveraging Anxiety, Part 3

In the first two episodes (one and two) of this exciting story, we alleged that:
Creating client anxiety about the future helps keep us employed.
We maintain this level of anxiety by frequently declaring that something new "will change everything."
In fact, the things that are supposed to change everything generally have a modest effect on overall consumer behavior.
Then we asked the question

Leveraging Anxiety, Part 2

In Leveraging Anxiety, Part 1, we asserted that...
Part of what keeps us...employed is keeping our clients in a constant state of anxiety about the future....The more we can convince (them) that everything is changing... and they need us to interpret the changes -- the longer we stay in business. Consequently, every few years we come up with a new "thing that will change everything"Today,

Leveraging Anxiety, Part 1

Part of how we advertising and marketing hacks stay employed is by keeping our clients in a constant state of anxiety about the future.

The more we can convince our clients that everything is changing around them -- and they need us to interpret the changes -- the longer we stay in business.

Consequently, every few years we come up with a new "thing that will change everything" to get them

Why Is Advertising So Crappy?

Like most sensible people, here at The Ad Contrarian world headquarters we do our best to avoid advertising.

This keeps getting harder and harder.

Despite all the witless proclamations of new age marketing gurus about the death of advertising, advertising isn't just growing, it's metastasising.  Every click of a mouse brings us at least three ads. TV watching is at its highest level ever. Every

The "Give-Up" Strategy, Part 2

If you can't hit homers, declare that the object of the game has changed, and it's really all about good bunting. There are a number of popular beliefs behind new age, web-centric marketing thinking. They include the following:
The era of mass marketing & advertising is over
Markets are "conversations"
Consumers seek "relationships" with brands
The furtherance of this relationship is

The "Give-Up" Strategy, Part 1

Among my least favorite aspects of new age web-centric marketing philosophy is the idea that the "big idea" is dead.

According to Seth Godin
The secret of big-time advertising during the 1960s and ’70s was the “big idea.” In A Big Life in Advertising, ad legend Mary Wells Lawrence writes, “... our goal was to have big, breakthrough ideas, not just to do good advertising. I wanted to

6 Things A Creative Director Needs To Know

Here are six things you need to know if you're going to be a happy, healthy creative director.
1. Hiring is everything.If you have terrific people the advertising business isn’t that difficult. If you have mediocrities advertising is impossible. For your own self-preservation you must get rid of bad people and hire good ones. There is no other way to do good work and have a happy life.

The Conversation: Is Anyone Listening?

For the past few years, the marketing and advertising industries have been obsessed with the idea that marketing is a "conversation" and that consumers want a "relationship" with brands and companies.

Of course, being the dick that I am, I've gone out of my way to ridicule this obsession.

What if I said to all you conversation/relationship maniacs that most companies...
Dramatically

A Good Reason To End It All Now

If you are looking for a good excuse to stick a knife in your head, I can confidently recommend reading an article in Adweek this week called "Talking Tradigital."

That's right, tradigital. 

Apparently "tradigital" is the new Cringe-Inducing-Buzzword-Of-The-Week among the digi-drivel set. For sheer lexical horribleness, it will surely take its place right up there with "infotainment."

You Can't Handle The Truth

If The Wall Street Journal is correct, the federal government is covering-up its knowledge of the falsity of sensational accounts of "unintended acceleration" in Toyota vehicles.

Earlier this year, Toyota acknowledged that it had problems with floor mats that might interfere with gas pedals and condensation in pedal housing that might briefly cause a pedal to stick. It recalled all vehicles that

Doing My Twitter Homework

In my never-ending quest to educate myself on the many marketing marvels that Twitter affords, I decided to do a little homework last week.
 
I read an article called What Your Company's Twitter Account Says About You. Foolishly, I had never stopped to think about what my company's Twitter account might be saying about me. Here are some of the things I learned.
If your Twitter feed is "...mostly