Command and Control Advertising is Dead

Andrew Essex, a former advertising executive, has written a book called The End of Advertising: Why It Had to Die, and the Creative Resurrection to Come. Essex believes that advertising as we know it has “somewhere between five minutes and five years” before its end. He believes advertisers will have to spend their time and money creating something better. The New York Times‘ John Williams interviewed Essex, here’s some of their discussion:

Andrew Essex believes that “the end of advertising as we know it” is “somewhere between five minutes and five years” away. That’s what this former chief executive of the influential creative agency Droga5 writes in “The End of Advertising: Why It Had to Die, and the Creative Resurrection to Come” (Spiegel & Grau).

“Life is better without bad ads,” he writes. “It’s simply irrefutable.” Consumers have increasingly effective ways to avoid ads, and an entire generation has been raised with a different expectation of how — and how often — it will have its viewing, reading or listening interrupted. Yet brands still spend vast amounts of money in diverse ways to promote their products, and entire industries (like journalism) are struggling with how to replace traditional ad revenue. (In fact, in the past Essex has done consulting work for The New York Times Company.) These sea changes are the subject of Essex’s highly opinionated treatise. Below, he talks about how this era of television has inspired him, the origin stories of aspirin and heroin, and more.

Andrew Essex: The Evolution of Content – DigitasLBi NewFront 2017

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Debbie Young

Debbie, editor-in-chief of Richardcyoung.com, has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over three decades. When not in Key West, Debbie spends her free time researching and writing in and about Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, and practicing yoga.