Shouting Is Dead! Entertain. Inform. Provide Utility.

Spend too much time at conferences, or on social media, or reading magazines or "thought pieces" and you'll quickly come to the conclusion that advertising is dead.

Of course it is not dead. The first human cave dwellers walked by signs that said: "Drink Coke!"

It is silly to believe that advertising is now dead or that it ever will be.

It is equally silly to believe that you can have a glorious Facebook/Twitter/Google+ page/presence and that "social conversation" will carry the brand on its wings to glory. A conversation based social presence is necessary, but not sufficient.

There will always be a need to break through the daily clutter of human life and present your brand's value proposition. With fragmentation of attention, it is critical that your brand is good at doing that.

So what's dead?

Shouting.

Though to be fair, it is dying and not quite dead.

Take this example: There are only 22 million Americans really in-play when it comes to mobile phones. Yet there is a relentless barrage of ads for mobile phones on TV, in newspapers, on radio and via digital display. With ads you'll forget five seconds after they start playing. They are poorly targeted (spray-and-pray). They deliver nothing memorable.

These things are dying. One day AT&T will figure it out.

And what's not dead?

Ads that live and breathe these three strategies: Entertain, Inform, Provide Utility.

The above ad from Honda is a great example of Entertain and Inform.

It uses immense creativity to deliver a memorable message that you might remember for a little while. Chances are also high you'll share the ad, and increase its organic reach well beyond what Honda paid for (or could ever have paid for).

There are hundreds of examples like the ad above.

So the question you should ask yourself, regardless of your position in your company and regardless of what division you are in, is: Why is our company still aggressively pimping when it comes to advertising?

You might not have the power to change what your company does. But if enough people in the company ask that question, we just might start a movement that will bring blessings for our customers, higher advertising ROI for our companies and joy to the world.

Yes, I see the two of you reading this and casting skeptical glances towards me. For the two of you: We just went through the annual expensive advertising called the Super Bowl. Close your eyes for 30 seconds. How many ads can you recall? Of the ones you recall, how many were of the shouting variety, how many of the entertain, inform and provide utility type?

I rest my case. : )

Let's go save the world. Let's stop all the shouting.

PS: Before we go, the only ad from Super Bowl that I remember....

Photo: zoonabar / Flickr