{"id":365,"date":"2017-02-05T19:46:03","date_gmt":"2017-02-06T03:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joesays.ca\/?p=365"},"modified":"2017-02-07T10:15:28","modified_gmt":"2017-02-07T18:15:28","slug":"address-to-the-american-marketing-association","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/?p=365","title":{"rendered":"address to the american marketing association"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb 2, 2017 Philadelphia PA<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Friends,<\/p>\n

We live in exciting times. For we are on the cusp of a new and golden age for our industry.<\/p>\n

I make this pronouncement will full acknowledgement that ours is a trade overly fond of \u00a0hyperbole and spectacle, ever too keen to announce a glittering new chapter in the history of consumerism – The Age of Whatever \u2013 which will, we promise, be the Best Age Ever, and annoint it with an abundance of superlatives.\u00a0 But in this case, friends, I do not exaggerate, nor do I over-praise.<\/p>\n

For we are<\/em> on the cusp of a new and golden age.\u00a0 No more must we abide by outdated rules and archaic traditions; the shackles and chains that have constrained us for so long can now be cast aside.\u00a0 For we are free, at last, to tell the stories we wish to tell as only we can tell them: thrillingly, passionately, persuasively.\u00a0 And \u2013 yes \u2013 completely fictionally.<\/p>\n

Because, my friends, we are now officially in the Post-Truth era.\u00a0 The Oxford English Dictionary has made it official, and our nation\u2019s leaders have endorsed \u2013 nay, enshrined \u2013 the principle.\u00a0 Inconvenient truths are out; alternative facts are in.\u00a0 I should not have to spell out what this means to our industry, but given the appallingly poor level of cognitive thinking abilities among many of our junior ranks, I will.<\/p>\n

Simply put, friends:\u00a0 Truth in Advertising is sooooo last year<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This day has been a long time coming. \u00a0Indeed, it does in many ways bring us full circle, back to the liberating lack of standards and glorious unaccountability that flourished in our industry\u2019s early years, those halcyon days when pioneering ad men could ply their trade free from over-mighty regulators and interfering watchdogs.<\/p>\n

Hard to say when the changes began but as with so many industries, once the government got involved, it all went to hell.\u00a0 Some customer complained that there wasn\u2019t a real<\/em> tiger in their tank, or that things didn\u2019t<\/em> go better with Coke, or whatever and all of a sudden the edict is handed down that we in the advertising business actually base our claims on facts.\u00a0 How ludicrous a notion was that<\/em>?<\/p>\n

And I don\u2019t need to tell you where that has led us.\u00a0 Ads that are 90 per cent disclosure and 10 per cent apology.\u00a0 Agencies that look more like legal firms than creative powerhouses.\u00a0 It has led us, my friends, to an industry on its knees.\u00a0 Enfeebled, defensive, and rule-bound.<\/p>\n

Well, I am here to tell you: that all ends now.<\/p>\n

So what has changed?\u00a0 In a word, everything. \u00a0But as with so many movements, real change began at the top.\u00a0 Political power in this great country has finally been passed to people who understand what we in the ignoble profession have known for decades.\u00a0 We\u2019ve proven it again and again, in campaign after campaign and test after test: People make decisions based on what they feel<\/em>, not what they know<\/em>. \u00a0\u00a0Facts are unimportant; what matters is what one believes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And when it comes to making people value feeling over fact, we have long been the undisputed masters of the craft.\u00a0 Not to brag, but consider some of the wool we\u2019ve pulled over the world\u2019s eyes in the past.\u00a0 Take tobacco.\u00a0 We kept the people puffing for years after its health hazards were known.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because we made it cool<\/em>.\u00a0 No amount of fact-based fear-mongering could compete with that bit of persuasion. \u00a0Junk food?\u00a0 Awful stuff, and awful for you.\u00a0 Everyone knows it.\u00a0 But pass it off as an opportunity for quality family time, salted with a bit of parental guilt remediation, and bingo \u2013 of course we\u2019ll have fries with that.<\/p>\n

I could cite any number of other examples but I would be, as they say, preaching to the choir. But whilst on the topic I would be remiss if I did not shout out our esteemed colleagues at (redacted) for their progressive work in this arena.\u00a0 They have been named, as you may know, AOR for the EPA and have been tasked with a particularly challenging assignment, over-turning decades of propaganda to promote a new public mind-set.\u00a0 Their new campaign – Greenhouse gases: Good for You, Good for the Planet \u2013 rolls out nationwide next week.\u00a0 I was privileged to \u00a0preview the creative last week and it is a masterpiece of misdirection.\u00a0 Kudos to all involved.<\/p>\n

In short, my friends: we are now free to do what we do best, and do it with Washington\u2019s blessing.\u00a0 Perhaps the best news of all: this is not a narrow, provincial development. Like our industry, post-truth looks to be going global.\u00a0 Britain \u2013 as usual, \u00a0ahead of the industry curve – signed on in July, a few months ahead of us.\u00a0 Early indicators are that several EU countries will fall into line later this year.\u00a0 Of course, Russia and China have been in the program for years, so they\u2019ll be glad to see the rest of the world finally seeing the light.\u00a0 Or what they think is the light.<\/p>\n

In summary: I think someone once likened advertising to America\u2019s religion.\u00a0 If so, the comparison has never been more apt. For now, at last, we are free to operate entirely in the realm of faith.\u00a0 We don\u2019t need to prove anything, we just need to persuade.<\/p>\n

So go forth, I beseech you, to dissemble and distract.\u00a0 Do your jobs.\u00a0 Push your products.\u00a0 Build your brands.\u00a0 And do so with the liberating breeze of our new reality filling your sails and pushing you to ever great heights of invention and ingenuity.<\/p>\n

Because in advertising, as in politics, it doesn\u2019t have to be true; it just has to sell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Feb 2, 2017 Philadelphia PA Friends, We live in exciting times. For we are on the cusp of a new and golden age for our industry. I make this pronouncement will full acknowledgement that ours is a trade overly fond of \u00a0hyperbole and spectacle, ever too keen to announce a glittering new chapter in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facts","category-filosofy-c","category-rants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=365"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":370,"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions\/370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joesays.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}