Advertising as information

I am sure I posted this before but can't find it:

Once advertising becomes pertinent enough and unobtrusive enough it becomes information. I want to buy stuff, I need to buy stuff, I want useful information about stuff - I just don't like being shouted at.

Prompted to repost by Doc

Comments

[hugh macleod]

Ironically, the ad agencies would like nothing better than to deliver exactly that- it would cut their media spend by 98%.

(A TV ad only needs a 2% sales conversion rate to be copst effective, according to Shel & Scoble).

[Jon Husband]

One can imagine the possibilities ... feedback from a wide range of individuals via clickthrough rates, eventually some realization that usefulness is a key criteria, better context matching, etc., etc.

I suppose, hugh, that there's a likely future consolidation of ad agencies (of some sort) implied ?

[Brad Hinton]

Advertisers are often more interested in image than in information, certainly product information. Naomi Klein's "No Logo" is an interesting read, especially when she explores how companies appropriate edge culture and convert it to mainstream. Also of interest is the book, "Paradox of Choice" by Barry Schwartz that talks about whther choice, brands in particular, may not lead to happiness after all. Skip the first quarter of the book and get stuck in to the rest.