And from a blog advertising company, Henry Copland writes: "Each product started out as a twinkle in the eye of some deranged entrepreneur, then got tested on the entrepreneur's friends and family and finally got popularized through -- cover your ears Steve -- advertising."

And these days, with the growing popularity of blogs, I think that entrepreneur will find his product becoming a meme, if it's worthy enough.

And I am not a bleedin' civil servant, I run my own business, have done for 20 years. I've built brochures and advertising campaigns, and know the half truths, and misrepresentations they contain. I work in sales too, and know what it takes to get the sale.

One line I didn't cross - I never slept with any clients. I nearly did, just to keep the project, but thought better or it. Was it principles or that she was 45+ and I was 24? I think it was that she'd want more, and I couldn't keep giving.

No, I won't run ads on my site. And I'll be suspicious of anybody that does. I don't put ads on my car, have them on the walls in my kitchen, I dislike fashion labels, though sometimes I'm tricked into thinking the cut is better... It's a tough world. My blog is my house. No ads.

[Update: nice guy Henry emails:] Ads has some weird and hard-to-define social value that goes beyond utility (Google Adsense) or price aggregation (eBay) and comes closer to the signalling value of a peacock's tail. Like the elaborate tail, they often seem like a waste of color and energy, but the market would work a lot less efficiently without them.

I like that description, but still, I don't want someone else's cocky tails in my house!

1087 Also posted to: Home page . At: 4:53:15 PM  . .
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Other title(s) for this story: Blogads weblog: comments

After my yesterday's post re ads on blogs, Biz consultant: Rick E. Bruner: "Moreover, I honestly do believe ads play a worthy role in the consumer's decision process. Customers are increasingly savvy enough to see through most of the "trickery, slight of hand, bending the truth." "

If one works in sales/marketing/advertising, one knows that's not true. Some are, most aren't. That's why we have, in this country, The Advertising Standards Authority, and Trading Standards, where one can complain to.

He goes on: Give them a little credit.

No! Punters are stupid! If you buy from an ad, without checking from friends, or others, then you are stupid, and deserve to be burnt. This is why I think, and hope that one day, ads will cease to exist, utopian it may be. I get interested by what others say about a product, more, much more, than by the seller's sales pitch. Recommendation is far superior than direct marketing, and blogs and other FOAF/social networks will boost this. Sure, ads will always go where there's eye balls, but they'll become less and less important to the sales process.

And: In fact, where I see the industry going in the future is increasingly towards what I refer to as "invertising" -- ads that consumers seek out and opt to see, such as "advertainment" and "edutainment" (the ads on TiVo that people opt not to skip), search ads that correspond to users seeking out information, opt-in email retention programs, Ultramercials (e.g., Salon's free-pass for premium content in exchange for impactive ads), and so on.

Rick, my old mate, my old mucker, you live in a differnet world from me. MacDonalds does these things, damn, the kids like the place too much. Their quizzes, colouring in things, toys etc... I see through it, my kids don't and that pisses me off. Ads go for the lowest common denominator, the biggest bang for buck, if the business owner can get away with less and get more, they will.

Blogs don't survive like that.

1086 Also posted to: Home page . At: 4:50:46 PM  . .
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Other title(s) for this story: In Defense of Advertising