So what is the wisdom for this week?
Internet trumps all?
Mobile is the new super platform?
Print is dead?
TV is passé?
Mail…? Forget about it!!
Newspapers? Don’t make me laugh….
And on and on it goes. Everyday brings us the newest pronouncement of what is in and what is out and sometimes the coolest, newest, hottest must have and what is a relic of the past before it even makes it to broad distribution and use.
What amazes me are the pronouncements by the arbiters of the new who write about items like music sharing or viral networking or out of home channels as if these are phenomenon that they have discovered or uncovered.
Mark my word, the release of the last in the Harry Potter series (I can’t wait) will be one of those moments as they struggle to reconcile the facts that they know—kids don’t read, people don’t buy books, brick and mortar bookstores are dead, sound bites are all that matter with the other facts of the human condition—some kids do read, many people buy books, there are actual book stores that flourish and Harry Potter is a big, long book..
So what does it all mean?
Beats me…but I loved the following and think it sums it up:
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.
Fran Lebowitz
And there you have it. No matter what the eating/dieting fad of the moment, at the end of the day, it’s all food.
Your thoughts?
Well there are lies, dam lies and statistics/trends/fads… Different strokes for different folk I guess, the most important thing is to eat life and lots of it
Ah yes, balance…. Balance requires awareness and awareness requires listening. All of the channels you list are immensely powerful when used relevantly, and how can we adudicate on relevance? Listening to our customers, they will tell us clearly.
Funny I almost used the lies and damn lies quote as a follow up to this one — and as Mark says its all about listening
The funny thing about research and statistics is that they can easily be manipulated to say whatever you need them to. In the right demographic, any book is a best-seller, any disease is the number one killer, any brand is the favorite, and any form of media is preferred.
I was in debate in high school – talk about opening one’s eyes to “compelling proof” for each side of every arguement. For any piece of evidence that clearly shut down an opponent’s position, they had a card that could counter the argument.
While research is valuable, we as consumers shouldn’t let statistics determine how we choose to take in the world. And we as advertisers can’t afford to shut down the ways we think about how we reach consumers.