http://www.ephrononmedia.com A lending library of off-center thinking about the advertising business. http://www.ephrononmedia.com/article_archive/cover_article.asp In the early years of Television, advertising was thought to work the way teaching did—through frequent repetition. http://www.ephrononmedia.com/article_archive/articleViewer.asp?articleID=155 Chaos is what? Even all-knowing Wikipedia hedges the answer with a note "This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject." http://www.ephrononmedia.com/article_archive/articleViewer.asp?articleID=180 Recently a group of leading marketers was given a list of simple statements about marketing. The marketers' assignment was to identify all of the statements listed that were actually true. They did poorly, correctly identifying only about one-third. http://www.ephrononmedia.com/article_archive/articleViewer.asp?articleID=177 If we think about what the Recency model says, the real advertising target isn't consumers, it's their purchases. And In-Store advertising is obviously the most cost-effective way to reach those purchases. In-Store is an on-the-spot Recency medium. http://www.ephrononmedia.com/article_archive/articleViewer.asp?articleID=178 One of the few miss-steps of TV's celebrated series is how agency people dressed. The mad men of the 60's and 70's looked more like Woodstock than Brooks Brothers and often went shoeless in the office. Only clients and account people dressed for daily business and for doing that we called them "suits." http://www.ephrononmedia.com/article_archive/articleViewer.asp?articleID=176 With each attempt to explain how advertising works we seem to grow more confident. The ARF's 1961 advertising model, "Towards Better Media Comparisons" sounds hesitant. http://www.ephrononmedia.com/article_archive/articleViewer.asp?articleID=175 The recent industry proposal that spot media change from a cost-per-point to a cost-per-thousand currency measure ignores important differences -- and has competitive implications that go beyond the numbers. http://www.ephrononmedia.com/article_archive/articleViewer.asp?articleID=174 I'm not one to worry about the far off future. Remembering to pick up my laundry is challenge enough. Then Steven Spielberg casually mentioned civilization's inevitable move from a carbon to silicon base, his matter-of-fact way of saying Robots will take over the earth. At that point Data, now the new creative, will also be the creative director. http://www.ephrononmedia.com/article_archive/articleViewer.asp?articleID=173 The TV series Mad Men set in the 1960's, has been an invitation for many of us to remember. This is about Carl Ally, the agency that fired clients and often thought that advertising deserved a life of its own. These memories are dedicated to Carl. http://www.ephrononmedia.com/article_archive/articleViewer.asp?articleID=172 CPMs are the value measure of media. But it's trickier than apples, three for a dollar. For example, when buyers say "NBC CPMs are too high," it's clear they're saying NBC wants more than buyers are willing to pay. But when buyers say "Outdoor CPMs are too low," they don't mean Outdoor doesn't charge enough. They're saying its measurement overstates its audience.