The State of Strategy in Advertising.

you thought this was going to be a negative post. Cynical? Down on Advertising.

Only a little.

Strategy in Advertising has come a long way. It is thought of as important at most of the larger agencies - and clients ask for it by name.

In an increasingly complex world with millions of bits of information and disinformation flying at us - the huge departure from the old days of 'captive audiences' moving into the two-way dialogue philosophies of the early 2000's _ entering the world of Influencer - against a backdrop of the digitization of EVERYTHING...

Strategy is positioned to be a siren call for how to organize our efforts.

And to what end? Stimulate and shift mindsets. Nudge and influence new behaviors - create culture that surrounds brands and all the points in their ecosystems - fancy word for all the ways in which consumers and customers interact with the brands we call clients.

So many opinions.

so many unquestioned truths.

The commanding sovereignty of Big Data. And no one exactly knowing what to do with it.

Focused on the blade of grass so long that we wonder where growth is actually going to come from - Conversion be damned.

Some of the problems enter in when we get stuck inside the same box - and only call them different things.

Not all - but enough to warrant talking about it - many agencies whether they believe it or not are still beholden to the Big Idea being rooted in 'TV' - a piece of blockbuster advertising - that in today's age less and less people actually see. OR they go the other route and dance on the head of a pin against micro audiences and get mesmerized by the data they are seeing there - the crumbs and microcosms of consumer responses. THERE ARE TONS OF AGENCIES WHO ARE DOING EXCELLENT WORK - AND I HAVE WORKED WITH MANY OF THEM!

And clients - still think of advertising as a 'campaign' as well as the first place to make their bottom line work out (by cutting budgets) - looking for short-term movement with proof points they can elevate up the line to show their bosses ' Look it's working! Or that EVERYTHING they want to communicate somehow get jam-packed into every communication. Play lip-service to Branding - To Brand Positioning or sometimes just by accident there is a big disconnect between Brand Strategy and Communication Strategy and Tactical expressions.

If you like having these kind of chats - reach out to me. Its what gets me out of bed every morning