Seems like I'm running across a lot of people suggesting that advertising has changed and doesn't work anymore given the realities of the new world.

A few weeks ago, I read an interesting interview with Al Ries (of The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding Fame) He was pimping his book, The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR.

Today, I'm pointed to a presentation by Joseph Jaffe called A World without Advertising. I couldn't get a good read on what he thinks is going to replace it. He mentions consumer generated content a lot, and consumer control -- real Clue Train Manifesto type stuff.

I decry Big Content (like the music labels) who refuse to recognize that their business model is broken, and that rather than trying desperately to hold onto the past, they need to find a new way to thrive in the new reality.

I find it harder to do that with Advertising though. I guess it's different when it's your background you're being asked to reevaluate.

I don't know that Ries or Jaffe have the answers. I don't even know if they're right. It may just be that I'm primed for that because the marketing for my new business isn't working the way I'd planned that it would.

Still, it feels to me though like everybody is saying there's an iceberg up there you'd better turn, but nobody seems to know where the steering wheel is. I need to work on finding that. I don't know how to make consumer generated content work for distributing a message. I understand a bit better about how PR might work, but I'm not a PR guy. I've never been a PR guy, so I don't know how to function in that kind of a world.