Branding
Excerpts from The Ad Contrarian … Bad Days for Brand Babblers
“In these times, clients expect their advertising to actually sellsomething. When it doesn’t, they get cranky.
Some years ago the ad industry decided that it no longer had to bother itself with the mundane task of selling. Instead, advertising could focus on the much more civilized practice of branding — whatever the hell that means.
The most effective, in fact, the only way to build a brand is to sell someone something.
It often comes as a shock to ad people when we find out how little the marketplace cares about our cleverness and our hipness. Apparently, consumers are more concerned with their own self-interest than with our brilliance.”
Bob Hoffman, ceo of Hoffman/Lewis advertising in San Francisco and St. Louis. Author of the blog, The Ad Contrarian
