Bulletin: Ad Campaigns Now Dead, Too

Okay, so we all know that advertising is dead, and television is dead, and everything related to LBTI (Life Before The Internet) is also dead.

It was just two weeks ago that I reported here that I was dead (here's proof.)

Now it turns out that Ad Campaigns Are Dead, too.

It's all part of the new age of Idiot Journalism being practiced in the advertising and marketing press. Here's how it works. You work for some kind of web marketing outfit. You're looking to drum up business. You write a piece called "________ Is Dead." The only requirement is that whatever it is that is dead had to be slayed by the web, and preferably by social media.

It doesn't matter that you have no facts and no data, you just concoct a bunch of bald assertions add them to some unrelated baloney, and the idiot press, desperate for clicks, prints it.

Last week, Ad Age ran the latest in the ever-expanding library of moronic "________ Is Dead" pieces called "Ad Campaigns Are Dead."

The gist of this piece is the usual "the consumer is in charge" baloney (boy, I sure miss the days when I was in charge and zombie consumers would do whatever I said.) According to this piece everyone needs to stop wasting money on ad campaigns and put it all behind social media because...

"Suddenly, it's no longer about the campaign...

...By examining your business through a social filter, you'll not only cultivate social awareness, you will bring the inherent power of your brand graph into fruition..."

Wow. Apparently, the new purpose of advertising is to bring the inherent power of our brand graphs into fruition. Who knew? All these years I've been wasting my time trying to sell stuff.

So here's a question. I know there are a lot of dopey marketing people out there, but is anyone really dim enough to swallow this bullshit?

You see, in the social media dream world, everyone is on line having conversations about the pickles they buy and the mufflers and the shower curtains and the socks and the toasters.

In this brave new world there is a growing movement to marginalize the very idea of having an idea. A campaign is no longer useful they say. Social media has made campaigns passe, they say.

The shocking thing is that there are marketers so clueless and dazed they actually buy this baloney. And there are marketing "experts" who take this nonsense seriously.

This point of view, of course, is the ultimate refuge for people with more software than talent.

Social media madness has reached the point where the best idea is no idea.

The article "Ad Campaigns Are Dead" reminded me of one of the most hilarious brand babble videos ever done. I thought I'd re-post it. Try not to kill yourself.