Was it all a dream?

I felt a breeze of excitement the other day, just about everyone I knew said that a major change of attitude, from a major multi-national client, was about to occur.


I was told that this major change in attitude towards advertising was because of a new and admirable shift with regard to the total lack of accountability, and this was to be from a major advertiser!


On checking out the story I found that the evidence for this proposition was slight but the will to interpret it was great.


I am informed however that this major change has been prompted, in part, by the emerging scandals from the Television industry.


Yes it is a fact, or should be at least, that the big wigs of advertising and television have been seriously rattled by a series of deceits occurring recently, not only faking the outcome of several competitions but persuading a child to lie, in public!


One of the problems facing T.V. and not only TV, advertising agencies as well, is that their programming and advertisements often give the impression of being made by sniggering,chippy, twentysomethings with grudges and no sense of history or decorum, it is so because it often is!


It is about time that the media industry and thir partners in crime, the advertising industry, got together, because a lot of things these days are regrettable in modern TV and advertising. It's a fact, there's awfull rubbish om television (and this includes television advertisements)!


Anyone with a mental age over 14 must deplore much of the offerings on TV these days. Market forces have forced the stations to use a large number of independent producers, this in turn has filled the independents with what Michael Grade calls "young talent under commercial pressure who are not trained properly, cuts corners and doesn't understand that you don't lie to audiences".


And the research, measuring viewing figures and advertising effectiveness, which appears to support both the broadcast industry and the advertising industry, is tenuous to say the very least. So if the research industry can fudge the truth why can't young talent?


Certainly this young talent do not understand the process of communication, they do not appear to be able to grasp the fact that all advertising is a form of learning, most commercials these days are devoid of content - appearance is the new reality - sad to say.


With that thought in mind, the Web may be the richest source of news ever created, however more than a decade after the Internet went mainstream Americans "are less able to correctly answer questions about current events than they were in 1989".


It would also appear that citizens who call the Internet their primary news source know slightly less than fans of TV and radio news".


So much for advertising on the Internet.


Appearance is the new reality...what a dreadful statement.


In that regard I have an interesting little advertising story to tell, there is a communications technique that has been proven to be substantially more effective than conventional advertising. It is, without a doubt the most heavily researched concept in the history of advertising, in one stroke it could solve all the problems facing us to day in Media. It would sybstantially reduce clutter, but, more importantly, it delivers all the results that a Client could desire - and more!


When this technique was presented to a major advertising personality it was dismissed - why? In his own words "It's not sexy", see what I mean when I say appearance is the new reality?

Paul worked with some of the leading agencies in the 1970s. Having realised that advertising was the biggest confidence trick (no accountability) ever he studied the theory of communication, and then pioneered interactive marketing communication. He wrote and produced the worlds first regularly scheduled TV Game show, sponsored by P&G. Visit http://interactivetelevisionorinteractivetv.blogspot.com