IBM Predicts Massive Shifts In Advertising

Tech.Luver writes with news from IBM Global Business Services about its new report, The End of Advertising as We Know It (report PDF, summary PDF). It forecasts greater disruption for the advertising industry in the next five years than has occurred over the previous 50. Among the conclusions: broadcasters will have to change their mass audience mind-set to cater to niche consumer segments. Distributors will need to deliver targeted, interactive advertising for a range of multimedia devices. Advertising agencies must become brokers of consumer insights and guide allocation of advertising dollars amid exploding choices. All players must adapt to a world where advertising inventory is increasingly bought and sold in open exchanges vs. traditional channels.

Comments

The solution is simple

[NoMaster]

The solution advertisers will come up with is to be more devious. More ads in more annoying places, that are harder to avoid. Mass astroturfing, product placement, adware etc.

Really, the solution is simple and it's in our very hands. If you can put on a pair of gloves, or wear a watch without it falling onto the ground as you walk, you have the tools to stop this sort of crap.

Put simply, it is this: If you know or meet someone in advertising or marketing, punch them in the face as hard as you can.

No, this isn't some Bill Hicks-like rant. Just think about how all-pervasive advertising and marketing is - it's everywhere, it's inescapable, and it serves no purpose other than to separate you from your money. On top of that, in every waking moment - from the minute you get up and put on your clothes or make your breakfast, to the second you turn out the light at night - in a million different little ways, it impinges on your mental environment. In itself 99% of it is of no benefit to you, it's existence is detrimental to society as a whole, and there's a whole industry devoted to finding ways of force-feeding you more of it. In modern society, about the only thing you encounter more often than advertising is air molecules.

The only way they'll stop hurting you is if you hurt them first. Remember that next time you find yourself idly whistling a jingle...