There should have been a warning.
Had we been properly advised, we would have taken a day off or at least cancelled a few meetings because that's the kind of time investment needed to process Grant McCracken's blog this week. The latest bit is this: "But it's not clear to me that the beast called advertising is dead. There is no meaning maker in the marketer's tool kit as powerful as advertising. A TV spot can use 15 seconds to astonishing effect. It can make meanings, build relationships, construct brands at a stroke. When this is followed up by the smaller message and the more delicate interventions made possible by the new media, then we've really got something. But it seems to me too early to dismiss the mass media advertising instrument. I think it will be with us always."
At a time when all attention and energy seem focused on virals, that kind of talk is almost shocking. Imagine: mass media, new media -- working together for a more meaningful tomorrow!
But my favorite part is this which really applies to anyone in advertising: "Design will have to become deeply knowledgeable about contemporary culture and increasingly skilled in the ability to read its shifting trends.... The designer will have to have a deep and systematic knowledge that takes them outside the aesthetics and design communities they normally inhabit. (This is another way of saying that living in NYC, going to the right clubs, and reading the right magazines, will no longer be enough.)"
Oh my.
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