In Defense of Advertising

In Defense of Advertising

In many quarters it is extremely popular, to the point of seeming politically and culturally correct, to hold advertising in low regard. Commercials are dissed, advertising as a general entity is treated as a distasteful matter.

That shit wonít fly with me.

Many hardworking and creative people ply their trade in the ad business. And even more people ñnot on the creative sideówork alongside them, in support, research, technical and administrative areas.

Coming up with concepts to promote products and services is no mean feat.

Selling these concepts to the client (the company paying for the ad people to create spots and buy the space, time, billboard, banner, et al) and then getting them produced/printed/taped/ and distributed is a mammoth job. Now the ad campaign (you know, the mixture of print, radio/tv/cable, outdoor, plus promotional support and basic brand promotion) must be put into action.

Time buyers are a part of this. Media planners. There are people who make a living determining how much budget goes to radio, tv, print, et al. There are others who work very hard to properly place the ads. Should the print ad run in USA Today, in 17 Magazine, in People, in Macaroni Weekly (there really is such a newsletter), in Popular Science, in The Wall Street Journal, in Rolling Stone, in Vanity Fair, in Car & Driver?

How about TV ads? Should they run on ESPN as a ROS ("run of schedule") campaign? On 60 Minutes? During Ally McBeal? During Brady Bunch reruns on TV Land? Should it go on the Golf Channel? The evening news? Network News? Maybe a mix?

Researchers, checking various aspects of brand and product awareness, usage, perception, recognition, familiarity, and so forth, develop data to be analyzed and utilized in deciding where to place the media. This is complicated, sophisticated work.

Then thereís the simple and basic way of looking at it. Create a good product and it just sells. It does it by itself, by virtue of it being so right and timely and well-conceived a project. Make it, and it will sell, right? Thatís okay if youíre watching or reading [1] fiction, even good baseball fiction like Field of Dreams [2], but not if thereís a product or service to be sold.

Say, for instance, you come up with what strikes you as some great idea for a product or service. Call it YOUR GREAT THING You do all your development work, and you are ready to bring your item to market. Do you realize how much development work that was? You had to formulate it, test it, package it, come up with a name for it, get the legal work done, protect it, maybe patent it, manufacture or prepare it for distribution.

Thatís a considerable amount of work. You should be pretty tired, exhausted, really. If you have any kind of budget, youíve outsourced some of that. By this point youíve probably wondered what the consumer or target market response will be to YOUR GREAT THING.
After all, to build awareness, to bring it to market, you have to get the word out. YOUR GREAT THING may be the best idea or product since the Styrofoam cup, but how are you going to have customers buy it? How will they know about it?

You must advertise it.

Is advertising now more palatable a concept, now that you are trying to create some sales for your idea, YOUR GREAT THING? Is this suddenly not so repugnant a concept? Does this now have some rooted meaning and value? After all, YOUR GREAT THING needs to be brought to market. The buying public will surely be well served by hearing about it and learning the benefits and attributes of YOUR GREAT THING.

If all goes according to your plan, it will also get them in a mood to spend their money on it. Certainly you seek to profit from YOUR GREAT THING, right?

And whatís wrong with any of that? Well, nothing, actually, unless you choose to live under a different economic system [3] than the one we have here. And if thatís the case, you can take YOUR GREAT THING with you, donít let the screen door hit your butt on the way out.

It is a truth of marketing that some products merit a different approach, using store placement and promotion (as opposed to advertising) as their method of bringing THAT OTHER GREAT THING to market. Some items, merely by being on the shelves, will move.

The point here is that advertising can be considered a necessary element of the introduction and support of products and services in everyday commerce. Advertising is not evil.

Some ads, of course, are terrible. Yet there are other forms of advertising which are so good, so creative, so wonderful they become a part of the vernacular, a part of the fabric of everyday life. There are also cases in which the ad campaigns prove to be superior to the actual products.

Certain creative and well-conceived ad campaigns build warmth and good feeling toward products. Others create such mirth they become aspects of pop culture (Budweiser [4] is the best at this: think of the frogs [5], of tastes great/less filling, or the WHASSUP [6] ads).

There are phrases from ads that can be used as markers for certain times and places. ìMother please!! Iíd rather do it myself!!î ìWhereís the beef?î ìHey, Culligan Man!î ìMore Parks Sausages, Mom [7].î ìIíve fallen and I canít get up!î

Slim Whitman [8] may be noted for those late-night TV ads than for the music he plays on those records, cassettes and CDs the ads promote. Zamfir [9] and his Pan Flute are famous for showing up on TV at 3AM or so. Those might have been ads of longer than a 60 second duration. Or maybe they just seemed that way.

Many of the people working in the ad world are incredibly creative. It is a tough task, making commercials. The ad campaign has to please the client (not always one who even slightly fathoms the business, science, or art of advertising), and at the same time do the job with the target audience.

People complain that advertisers ìcompartmentalizeî them. They fit statistical or demographic profiles, which are often held in contempt, as though they diminish the individuality of the members of a group.

Well, guess what? Everyone fits into a plethora of demographic profiles. Thereís really nothing wrong with that! It is, frankly, normal!

Do you use a brand of toothpaste? Do you always buy the same brand? Then you are a member of the ìusers of [that brand of] toothpasteî consumer group. You are a statistic. Does this make you any less of an individual? Has something been taken from you, or have you been unjustly accused? Of course not!

The simple truth is that there are people who brush their teeth, and there are companies that sell toothpaste. Thereís Crest, Colgate, AIM. Then thereís Tomís Natural, and Rembrandt. And a host of others.

Toothpaste companies want you to try their product. If you try it and you like it, maybe that will be the brand you always buy. Coupons, television ads, print ads, even those ads before movies (which do perturb me, but only because if I am going to be shown ads, then why am I paying to see the movie? Let the sponsor foot the bill! Or at least buy me the popcorn.), are a part of the marketing and advertising effort of the toothpaste companies.

Is this something about which people should be so upset? Does this impinge on freedoms? Does it mar or lessen the quality of everyday life? Is advertising preventing the pursuit of freedom, life, liberty, happiness?

Making matters even more absurd in terms of those who hold advertising in disdain is the ability of the regular person to simply ignore the advertising.

You donít care to be exposed to advertising, or for some reason advertising bothers you? Fine, deal with it. Be pro-active. Throw away the coupons section in the paper. Get up and go to the bathroom or just stretch your legs when the ads come on the TV. Turn the radio down between songs or whatever talk one might be listening to on the radio. Donít read the posters, billboards, or even those little cards some grocers put on the inside of shopping carts.

Advertising is not forced upon the individual. A common complaint is that the average Joe or Jane is ìbombarded by advertising messages and impressions.î That is only true among the Joes and Janes who are incapable of thinking or acting on their own behalf.

One can choose to ignore, to tune out. One can watch or listen to commercial free radio and television. Skipping past print ads is a matter of turning the page. This is an evil? A disreputable concept?

Not in my book.

I like advertising, actually, and I respect and admire the people in the ad business. It is hard work, and takes a special talent. Soon the Super Bowl will take place, and the ads will be reviewed and discussed in much the same way as the football game.

Donít snub advertising, it demeans those who work in the field.