If I had a dime for every time a self-proclaimed expert
labeled something as dead that went on to have a long, and fruitful lives, I could
have retired to my own private island and have a bevy of bikini clad beauties
to serve me cool beverages.
Andrew Essex, the former CEO of the much vaunted ad
agency Droga5 is the latest in a long line of folks to take on the mantle of
undertaker and proclaim the death of something. Essex directs his embalming
fluid in at his former industry in the new book, The End of Advertising: Why It Had to Die, and the Creative Resurrection
to Come.
The reasoning behind Mr. Essex’s proclamation is that
millions of folks have downloaded ad blocking apps/software or are signing on
with subscriptions services to avoid ad content that advertisers will wake up
and stop spending/wasting money on ineffective advertising. His concerns are
not without foundation, but perhaps his conclusion is a reach; and maybe that
was the goal here, to be just provocative enough to sell books.
The real problem isn’t that advertising is dead, but
more simply put, IT FLAT OUT SUCKS! Seriously…watch just long enough to see 100
ads…about two hours of network viewing. 99 out of the 100 ads will feature the
always enlightening “stupid man”; you can’t help but wonder how these clowns
manage to dress themselves in the morning. Is it any wonder that even more
people aren’t tuning out or blocking ads.
Essex settles into a meandering pace here; at times a
little inside for the average reader, at times redundant, and at others a
little off track. At the end of the day he makes a reasoned case, I’m just not
certain he gets to a solid solution to the problem he posits and that it couldn’t
have been done in the form of a long article rather than a book.
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