Arthur: I can only speak from the creative side, but I genuinely try to create work that entertains and informs people. I think Chris Moerdyk said, “It’s not about what the client wants, it’s about what the consumer needs.” As for Grandpa, the research probably showed people wanted a tablet (and that powder is rather vile).

Yep nothing capture the brain dead adventure of advertising that BRRRRRR.

If you had used the Wimpy coffee add or even the original ” with eish” then I would have said you know w3hat you are talking about.

The we have the turn around like Appletiser who took a lousy add. With edited to make a good on with a message.

So in essence.. I have been lied to.. by an advertising agency.. for money..

So does anybody in advertising do it for the love of connecting consumers with valuable product information.. or is it all just a money game?

I prefer sardonic/ironic and tongue in cheek advertising which is subtly funny in an intellectual way, most ads are fodder.

Most ads bore me to death and I would rather watch paint dry.

The ad industry has to me become akin to telemarketers, you just want to kick someone.

Flea, don’t feel sorry for the agency; they had probably already drunk so many free samples of the brandy, that they could no longer stomach the stuff.

My pure joy in life is now to be too old to be an advertising target. I don’t feature in the segmentation (not that it ever pinned me down) and it’s deliciously easy to turn a blind eye to TV ads (make another cup of tea during one ad break and go to the loo in the next one). I no longer read print, so print ads pass me by and I only really listen to radio news, so switch off before the ads. Of course, there is still the Internet, but those ads are so easy to ignore…
Gone are the days when my next-door neighbour and close friend would say: ‘The Sunday Times is boring because I see every ad in it passing across your desk weeks before they appear there.’ Freelancing was the most fun; Spar, Pick-n-Pay and Checkers one week; Nedbank, Absa and Volkskas the next.
The best thing about medical agencies, btw, is that it’s clear that when a woman has thrush, she really, really needs that antibiotic!

and you are right, it is a result of this customer segmentation. i think it can be applied very erroneously and i have seen that many times. i run a small business intelligence company for the past ten years and have blue chip companies as my clients. but trust me, there is nothing blue chip about the analytics practiced at these companies. it is so bad if you come with a model you have done in a similar company overseas you can almost used it as a template in this country. it is fine to have international experience. however, it speaks to a lack of effort to want to adopt everything international in our speed to do so.

speaking of the ads, they do not have to be exciting. why should they be? just make your point! one said ‘fill them up with bread’! i mean, really?

edwin matlapeng