I Wish I Could Still Win Just By Being Clever

Like a lot of creatives, I got into advertising because it offered a chance to get paid for being a bit of a smartass. Those were back in the heady days when the brands that won were usually the ones that were just a bit more clever than the others. And usually, that clever advertising was done by a smartass type who could look at the world in a funny, ironic way.

Now I have to accept that just being clever isn't enough. Mainly because I don't know if anybody is viewing, reading or listening to advertising even if it is clever. Instead of listening to the radio, people are plugged into their MP3 player and getting new music from the web. They're blowing right past commercials with their Tivo. And newspapers? Well, we all know the fight they're in.

Now, as Seth Godin notes, blogs are hoovering up audiences and their time. If people spend hours reading blogs, how much time do they have left to read a newspaper?

The numbers are definitely there, but I'm not sure when blogs will become a great advertising vehicle. I think they will. How is something I'm not willing to predict.

— Dean Gemmell