Post by Moses on Apr 12, 2005 14:29:21 GMT -5
IS THE AD INDUSTRY HEADED FOR CHAOS?
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Questioning Bob Garfield's 'Chaos Scenario' Theory
BACKGROUND: In an epic 5,500-word front-page article in the April 4 print edition of Advertising Age, columnist Bob Garfield laid out a sweeping vision of an advertising industry caroming toward chaos and disruption wrought by the digital media revolution. Boiled down, his theory goes something like this: The marketing industry is currently whistling past the graveyard and largely ignoring signs of massive, fundamental changes in how the business of mass marketing will be conducted in the near future. The broadcast TV model is working less well each year and will eventually cave in on itself as it reaches ever-fewer viewers with a fare of low-quality programming and mind-numbing clutter. Marketers will increasingly abandon it. But despite their glitzy promise, the aggregate of new digital technologies -- from Web sites and e-mail to cell phone content and video on demand -- lack the infrastructure or scale to support the minimum amount of mainstream marketing required to smo!
othly sustain the U.S. economy. The result, as the old systems are abandoned and the insufficient new systems struggle to carry an impossible advertising load, is what Garfield calls "The Chaos Scenario" -- a period of serious disruption moving like a tsunami through the marketing business as well as the economy and the broader society itself.
The article has sparked widespread discussion and debate since its publication. Some say Garfield has spoken a painful, frightening truth that the industry is doggedly refusing to face. Others have called Garfield's theories the ravings of a sensationalist fear monger. What do you think?
THIS WEEK'S POLL QUESTION: Do you agree with Bob Garfield's advertising industry 'Chaos Scenario' theory?
VOTE & COMMENT for possible inclusion in next week's print edition of Advertising Age at www.adage.com/poll.cms