Ask HN: What kind of fresh ideas does advertising need?

Re:Ask HN: What kind of fresh ideas does advertising need? by apowell on Monday July 06, 2009 @10:01PM (#690773)

I question some of your underlying assumptions. Are you sure that consumers aren't compelled by advertising?

Is the decline of advertising really a result of declining effectiveness of advertising, or is it a symptom of the broader economic climate?

Ads are not ignored as widely as people like to believe. Many people claim to be immune to advertising, sales, and marketing -- and yet, they must base their purchases on something.

As an aside, I wouldn't spend a lot of effort worrying about ad blocking software. Accept that a certain percentage of users will run ad blocking software, and move on.

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Re:Ask HN: What kind of fresh ideas does advertising need? by mediaman on Tuesday July 07, 2009 @12:27AM (#690915)

Bingo.

Ads work. I work in advertising now and I see how the current economic climate has impacted the industry: ad spend always is one of the first expenses to be cut, and the trends I see in cutting today suggest to me that what we are seeing is not a long-term, secular trend.

And I do not understand why people keep talking about AdBlock. Statistically, few people use it. Most people see ads and react to them.

Generally, people are much more susceptible to non-rational psychological impact campaigns than they realize or admit. But it is true that advertising is slowly adapting to new mechanisms.

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