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Origins Of Postcoherent Advertising

A few days ago we discussed the idea of "postcoherent" advertising, i.e., advertising that has evolved to the point that it is baffling to viewers.

I commented that I thought "postcoherence" was a trend in advertising, and several readers seemed to agree.

It seems remarkable that an industry that is supposed to be all about communication could grow to be so effete that people can't even

Testing Social Media Theory

The research department here at Ad Contrarian World Headquarters has asked me to help them conduct a little project.

You see, we've been ragging on social media maniacs for quite some time.

We've gone on record saying that we believe social media is a good vehicle for some tactical things -- short-term retail promotions and customer relations, for example. But we've also said that social media

Why The Web Has Been A Crappy Ad Medium

Digiday is running a 12-part series called Why Hasn't The Web Lived Up To Its Brand Promise? This is just an awkward, mealy-mouth way of asking "why has the web been such a crappy ad medium."

In the first installment, Digiday talked to some CEOs and presidents of companies who have been instrumental in either creating or selling web advertising.

The real news is that for the first time we're

Bulletin: Ad Campaigns Now Dead, Too

Okay, so we all know that advertising is dead, and television is dead, and everything related to LBTI (Life Before The Internet) is also dead.

It was just two weeks ago that I reported here that I was dead (here's proof.)

Now it turns out that Ad Campaigns Are Dead, too.

It's all part of the new age of Idiot Journalism being practiced in the advertising and marketing press. Here's how it

What Steve Jobs Taught Us About Advertising

I pompously call myself The Ad Contrarian, but Steve Jobs was a true ad contrarian.

He knew what his company stood for and didn't care what you thought. He assiduously avoided every false turn in the "marketing fad of the month" playbook. Reportedly, the only research he ever did was to ask himself whether he liked something or not.

In his own way, he taught us everything we need to know about

Volunteering For Advertising

In the early days of the web, it was thought that the web would hasten the downfall of the "interruption" model of advertising and be the catalyst for the rise of the "permission" model.

In other words, the old paradigm wherein your favorite TV show or radio program would be interrupted by advertising was supposed to die. A new paradigm would arise in which you would grant permission for brands

Postcoherent Advertising

Have you been noticing what I've been noticing?

Is the ad business cultivating a movement toward "postcoherence?"

Have you been seeing a type of advertising that is logical to the people who create it, but is bewildering and incoherent to the people who are supposed to respond to it?

This type of advertising seems to be popping up in all media, but most evidently on TV and on line. Watching