Advertising Agencies & The Internet – The Contrast Principal!

If you have ever listened to one of those Internet Advertising Geeks you will understand completely what I have to say next.

They talk so much gobbledegook that when they say that they can advertise your product on Web 2.0 you become pathetically grateful.

Well they talk like that so as to make the job seem harder and more expensive and the end result looks like a miracle.

There is nothing more dangerous in Advertising than their ability to think delusional. My working experience with advertising figures suggested that they had repeated the optimistic lines about their performance so often that they themselves actually believed them! And nothing in advertising is more dangerous than delusion.

And so to day it is almost an article of faith among advertising people that advertising will not change because "it works"!

However facing the truth is the first essential step in devising a sensible strategy for the perpetuation of advertising.

But even if the most optimistic spin on the benefits of advertising were true, which they're not I hasten to add, they would still be facing a major problem!

And that is the way they obtain their financial rewards militate against them ever changing the current system!

As one large Client recently explained: "In to day's marketing landscape, building a brand is about a whole lot more than advertising. An advertising agency alone cannot deliver everything we need – even though agencies may claim to deliver this, it's a myth".

He argues that the cultural weakness of agencies explain why they have struggled to develop their own digital capabilities".

However agencies are fighting back in their own nonsensical way, John O'Keeffe, executive creative director at BBH is sceptical that there is anything unique about digital marketing skills. "There is a very, very simple truth to all this," said O'Keeffe recently. "Nothing is more important than the idea. The people who espouse the view that digital specialists have some kind of technological advantage are diminishing in number. It's just not the case."

He added: "The technology is functionally very simple. It's not difficult to find the right button. What's difficult, and what's always been difficult, is getting people who can have great creative ideas."

See what I mean about delusional?

They never address the problem of "communication", they still waffle on about "Kreative"! There has been around for years a system that is far more effective than advertising, it is totally accountable and would allow Clients to, literally halve their advertising budget, it was immediately killed by Advertising Agencies because it would have depleted their huge profit structure!

If there is an Advertising Agency out there searching around for a mission statement, here is a suggestion. Come down off your high horse of superiority and confront your most important asset (no it is most certainly not your creative director!) it's us, the people who you want to buy the products that you advertise.

On no account use Focus Groups because they have been completely discredited as a complete sham and will not give you the answers you need!

And then interact with us…I guarantee that you'll be horrified and surprised by the outcome.

Oh…and by the way "creative" has never been the sole criterion for the success or otherwise of an advertising campaign…and don't you forget that either!