How much is too much

OK, I admit it. I am an advertising and marketing junkie. I actually LOVE commercials and watch the Clio awards with great anticipation. I love analyzing why a company would pay good money to design certain ads, or look at some commercials just trying to figure out who they are targeting and how. I know, crazy huh? But that's one of the reasons I am in the field I'm in, I am just simply fascinated by it all.

However, I read an article in the NY Times yesterday that brought up an interesting point. As it is my job to find unique and intersting ways to get my clients' message out, some have taken it to the extreme. How much is too much? In the article a market research firm is quoted as saying that consumers are bombarded with 5,000 messages a day, and in a survey about half of the people felt that advertising was out of control.

So, have we gone too far? Are we turning consumers off with so many ads? Is technology helping or making it worse?

Most of us know that while in your face advertising may get attention, classy and clever advertising and marketing will always get the sale. What the article doesn't address is what to do to keep customers, once they have reached them with all this advertising. Or if advertising truly is "out of control" what do we do now?

It's an interesting article, read it at www.nytimes.com published January 15, 2007 titled Anywhere the eye can see, it's likely to see an ad. The author is Louise Story.

And just in case you are interested, the 2006 Clio winners can be found at www.clioawards.com Click on the 2006 winners in the left hand column.