Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Research and ethics were the cornerstones of modern advertising.
Everything else is just a technology issue, not a "big idea"
You still can't get two people to agree on what's "branding"
"positioning" is mixed with many other things, such as "tag lines"

This could be a very interesting discussion. Are we talking about what are the things that have happened to influence advertising, or are we talking about what advertising methods are the most influential?

If it the former - (and if we are talking about the US) I'd put credit (cards, mortgages, etc.) at the top of the list. According to people who are much smarter, we have created an economy that is so consumer driven to own stuff we're facing a crisis. Advertising makes everything look so wonderful - If I just had that new Mac Airbook, life would be perfect - If I just had that flat panel tv - I'd be okay, etc. The Availability of credit has made advertising influential to an extreme.

Another influence in this category would be technology. Without it, we wouldn't have viral, interactive, opt in, etc. methods of getting our messages across to consumers.

I guess the third is also a result of technology. I am amazed at how small the world has become. Look at this list (and I am a relative "newbie") we have participants from around the world chiming in.

If you want us to only talk about methods - I'll have to think harder - but I can't disagree with what has already been offered.

Just a thought to broaden the scope of the discussion (hope you don't mind).
CVN

1. Results
2. Analysis
3. More analysis
Learning by results and learning to get results - no more seat of pants guesses, everything is tested and calculated beforehand.

I disagree with the whole idea....
the best advertising is old fashioned:
1) word-of-mouth (today it's called email forwarding or telephone)
2) face-to-face has always been the most persuasive
3) billboard (there are so few left they actually work!)
and
because I'm in the fashion biz I have to add
4) celebrity endorsement, which leads back to television

You can say utube to me, but I don't have the time to peruse the site. If someone doesn't send it to me with good recommend, I'll never see it.

Hi Steve,
By "pull" advertising, I mean something that is sort of requested by the user. For example, let's say I'm on a search engine looking for "books", and Google offers up an Amazon ad. There are many other examples, though. I could be on my mobile phone, searching for the latest song by Jennifer Lopez. My phone could serve up an ad for a Jennifer Lopez movie, knowing that I like her music. Or it could serve a coupon for a song download... you get the idea. The point is that the advertising is targeted to an audience that has already demonstrated an interest in the product, and instead of disrupting their life with an ad, it's giving them the ad while they're looking for the service/product.