My client base is largely Mom & Pops little guys, how does all this high flying branding strategies apply to a local Jewellery store…..the paper is still the most cost effective way to reach this crowd.

Generalize much?

I’m no socialist, Cap, I just know what I’m talking about. Check the stats at the Economic Policy Institute - wage based income, adjusted for inflation, isn’t rising, period. It isn’t whether your beloved “fossils” can afford the $12 a month for the service - it’s whether the service is potentially worth giving up something else to have. Believe it or not, some people don’t have the financial capability to have it all, unless they spend themselves into debt; a bad move considering how much more difficult it is to declare personal bankruptcy than it used to be. You may have all the discretionary income in the world, Cap, but you’re definitely not the majority.

BTW, the “meaningless number” you refer to was the tens of millions of fossils you cite in your initial post - read your own words, schmuck, you may learn something…or maybe not.

It’s interesting that you can interject a socialist talking point about income growth into your comment. Yeah, everyone is broke but can somehow afford two homes, hybrid cars, iPods, $4 lattes, and lawn service these days.

It never fails. One mention of “fossil” and someone always gets offended.

I can’t fathom how Paw can discern the exact number of fossils that I imagine. Whatever the meaningless number, Luddite fossils are a shrinking demographic - not to mention an advertising audience not as coveted as the higher spending 18-35 year old population.

If someone thinks they can’t afford an extra $12 a month for a dvr, then they are stupid. What is 12 bucks? Two extra brown bag lunches? Three less lattes?

Lines up with my view of the world, big time - as anyone who has been listening to me for…”

- like you said, big brand clients don’t want to give their money, or at least significant budgets to small and nimble agencies. My client is huge, spends many millions on advertising and wants all work to go through their 2 agencies-of-record, so there’s really no room for a smaller agency to get their foot in the door.
- people who work at these large agencies tend to be set in their ways. They get moulded. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. People don’t want change because they’re so used to the way in which things have been done, and they’ll hold on with both hands. They’re glued to display media. What little online stuff we do on my account is not engaging. For a recent campaign, the online component was just some banners on large general sites and a few e-mail blasts. Lame. The people in the creative department are seen as the only people in the agency with creativity. Creative marketing ideas don’t come from account management or strategy departments.

I also believe the TV station business is done for good. At some point soon, over 90% of homes that watch ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox will be doing so through a cable system. Why keep the station going at that point? All the networks mentioned above are owned by studios, all of which have tons of library product that can be used to fill the hours of the day the network currently doesn’t program. Local news? Cable systems have that too as does the Internet. Think of what could happen when broadcast networks are free to create a RESCUE ME or THE SHIELD…

Finally, a word to CaptiousNut: there are a lot more of those “fossils” out there than you might imagine, and since real earned income hasn’t grown for the vast majority of the population in years, maybe they have a point about not wanting to pay for the new whiz-bang services offered by their cable companies. I still believe there is a significant portion of the population that just wants to be passively entertained, without monthly a la carte entertainment fees to worry about. Isn’t life complicated enough, after all?…

Inertia isn’t limited to just ad agencies and marketing gurus.

There are tens of millions of fossils who:

1) Don’t even know what a dvr is.

2) Would never consider anything that might raise their cable bill $12-$15 per month.

3) Are intimidated by further complicating the remote control.

This is a rapidly aging and shrinking demographic.

Interesting news in the UK; ITV, second commercial TV station, is $400m in the red with huge downturn of its advertising sales…

You’re spot on with this one, but I fear that you’ve got two sets of folks dragging their feet. The agencies for one and the marketing execs that hire them for the second. I’m seeing a lot of internal decison makers think in terms of the internet as a top down delivery vehicle. Send out a message and tell ‘em how great we are.

Solid interactive methodologies are now being developed, but at times it’s with client reisistance. The education process is a battle. But at least now they’re listening.