Nobody yet appears to have hit upon a solution to improving marketing, and thus advertising,

yet it has to happen because they have both become a dangerous

monster in need of harness. It has to be said that people don't seem to like big

business very much, we really don't like the power that companies have and we

certainly don't trust them to use them in our best interests! Advertising is

not about hope but expectations, marketing is not about dreams

but plans.

The false prophets of modern marketing have warped more than the

language of consumerism. The future is unknowable, what can be known,

commentary suggests, is that social media and the Internet is replicating the

same errors old advertising and marketing committed. Somebody needs to make a

move, unilaterally determining that Social Media et al are not excellent

marketing vehicles . merely more clutter!

Over the past two years, that evolution [the difficulty of "influencing

customers by relying solely on one-way, push advertising"] has only accelerated.

More and more consumers are using digitalrecorders to fast-forward through TV commercials and

are consuming video content on Web sites such as YouTube and on mobile devices. Billboards

alongside train lines and bus routes struggle to capture the attention of people absorbed

by the screens of their smart phones. Meanwhile, today's more empowered,

critical, demanding, and price-sensitive customers are turning in ever-growing

numbers to social networks, blogs, online review forums, and other channels to

quench their thirst for objective advice about products and to identify brands

that seem to care about forming relationships with them. Individuals even are

posting their own commercials on YouTube. In short, the avenues (or touch

points) customers use to interact with companies have continued to multiply.

The problem for many companies is that the very things that make push marketing

effective tight, relatively centralized operational control over a well-defined

set of channels and touch points hold it back in the era of engagement.