Challenge The Bastards

It's time for all you spineless ad ferrets to get up off your asses and defend yourselves.Yesterday we talked about a new study that laid bare as a fraud the ubiquitous story that TV is dying.Unfortunately, the effect of this story is not just that our newspapers and airwaves have been full of bullshit for the past five years. There have been real-world effects on the lives and livelihoods of

I Love The Web. There, I Said It And I'm Not Sorry.

Because I have not joined the Divine Church of the Internet, and I do not believe it has to vanquish everything in its path to prove its value, many of my readers think I don't like it.I actually love the web. I spend way more time with it than is either prudent or healthy.Here's an example of its power. About three years ago I wrote a book called -- you guessed it -- The Ad Contrarian. In those

Facts Still Matter: The Death And Life Of Television

The New York Times, March 26, 2009: “Even though people have the opportunity to watch video on their computers and cellphones, TV accounts for 99 percent of all video consumed in 2008..."This is a story about a story. A story that has been repeated so many times, in so many places, with so much zeal, that it has taken on a life of its own -- despite the fact that it is false.The theme of the

The One Question Every Client Should Ask And Never Does

Earlier this week in a post called "Clients Ask All The Wrong Questions" I said...Any agency person who's ever participated in a new business pitch has been asked this question: "What is the process you use to develop advertising ideas?"I also said...There may be a process for developing a strategy; there may be a process for developing a media plan; but there is no process for giving birth to an

Advertising And Evolution

Yesterday we started a 2-parter about the death of advertising. We talked about a dumb piece written by a Wharton professor.Today we're going to talk about a smart piece written by Bob Garfield of Ad Age. Bob doesn't actually come out and say that advertising is dead, but he does say, "the post-advertising age is under way." I'm not sure what that means, but he makes a much better case for a

Advertising Is Dead Again

This week there have been two major pieces about the death of advertising. One was very dumb, the other was very smart.The dumb one was by some professor at Wharton with credentials from Cornell and MIT.The smart one was by Bob Garfield of Ad Age. (Give me a wise-ass over a PhD any day.)Let's talk about the dumb one today and the smart one tomorrow.The dumb one is called Why Advertising Is

Clients Ask All The Wrong Questions

Any agency person who's ever participated in a new business pitch has been asked this question: "What is the process you use to develop advertising ideas?"

Any agency person with an ounce of integrity has answered thusly: "Schmuck, there is no process."

In other words, no agency person has ever answered that way.

There may be a process for developing a strategy; there may be a process for