Before, During, and After
Before Advertising, there was word of mouth.
Products and services that could solve a problem got talked about
and eventually got purchased.
The best vegetable
seller at the market had a reputation, and her booth was always
crowded.
During Advertising, the combination of increasing
prosperity, seemingly endless consumer desire, and the power of
television and mass media led to a magic formula: If you advertised
directly to the consumer (every consumer), sales would go
up.
A partnership with
the right ad agency and the right banker meant you could drive a
company to be almost as big as you could imagine.
After Advertising, we’re almost back where we
started. But instead of products succeeding by slow and awkward
word of mouth, the power of our new networks allows remarkable
ideas to diffuse through segments of the population at rocket
speed.
As marketers, we
know the old stuff isn’t working. And we know why: because as
consumers, we’re too busy to pay attention to advertising, but
we’re desperate to find good stuff that solves our
problems.