uiscZ

Seth Godin
TV commercials are the most effective selling medium
ever devised. A large part of the success of the American
century is due to our companies’ perfecting this medium
and exploiting it to the hilt.
Our cars, our cigarettes, our clothes, our food – anything
that was effectively advertised on TV was changed by
the medium. Not only did marketers use television to
promote their products, but television itself changed the
way products were created and marketed. As a result, all of
the marketing Ps were adjusted to take advantage of the
synergies between our factories and our ability to capture
the attention of the audience.
Of course, it’s not just TV that’s fading. It’s newspapers
and magazines – any form of media interrupting any form
of consumer activity. Individuals and businesses have
ceased to pay attention.
The TV-industrial complex lasted a half-century –a long
time. So long that the people who devised the strategies and
ads that worked so well are gone. There’s no one left at
Philip Morris or General Foods who remembers what life
was like before TV created the bureaucratic behemoths.
And that’s the problem. The TV-industrial complex is
hemorrhaging, and most marketers don’t have a clue what
to do about it. Every day, companies spend millions to recreate
the glory days of the TV-industrial complex. And
every day, they fail.
The old rule was this:
Create safe, ordinary products and
combine them with great marketing.
The new rule is:
Create remarkable products that
the right people seek out.
16