The reasons behind the death of advertising is very similar to the story of the boy who cried wolf one to many times.
Over the years bogus claims and the ample use of the * has made consumers have no faith in the marketing communication of companies.
Why should they trust any claim made in an ad that is paid for, made by and distributed with the companies funds?
It’s about time ad agencies realized this and became moral custodians of the products and the communication they use to advertise them. It’s important to tell a client when their claims are only marginally true and often misleading. Cause this will hurt the brand the most in the long run.
But sadly today ad agencies are seen more as vendors and not as partners.
This leads to a “shut-up and do it our way” mentality on the clients end and a “Do it or else the client will go to some agency that does” on the agencies end.
In all honesty both parties are guilty of focusing on short term gains at the expense of long term success. It is important for the client to understand this and it is the ad agencies duty to make them understand.
A marketing manager wants to change his job every 3-5 years. A brand wants to stay in business for much longer. If an agency desires a long term relationship with the brand, it must understand and communicate this conflict of interest.
A brand might move to PR, seen as significantly more believable, but an ad agency will cease to be an ad agency.