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Traditional advertising isn’t dead, but its health is poor. TV, radio, cable, newspaper, yellow pages, coupon mailers and outdoor advertising, are becoming weaker by day. Those old stand-bys just don’t work in our time-compressed society. The business model is shot. If the players in those mediums don’t or can’t change, they’ll go away—for good.

Inherently we like good commercials. We grew up with them. From Clara Peller pitching for Wendy’s with “where’s the beef” to the “wuz-up” stuff from Budweiser that became part of modern day lexicon, we enjoyed the end result of a fine creative process. As good as those ads were though, times are different. We are overworked, overwrought, overcommited and crushed by hundreds of messages every day. Singer and songwriter Harry Nilsson had these lyrics, “Everybody’s talking at me. I don’t hear a word they’re saying, only the echoes of my mind.” Sound familiar? What were the last two billboards you saw? How about the products pitched in the last two TV spots you watched? When did you last pull out the yellow pages?

The Internet deserves a lot of the blame (credit?) for the decline of traditional advertising. So does TiVo, MP-3 players, and Sirius Radio. The Internet, while far superior to broadcast in reaching a target audience, has its faults too. You realize that every time you have to adjust a pop-up blocker or reconfigure a Spam filter.

The problem is a desire to attract and retain new customers isn’t going to go away, but advertisers are becoming more frustrated trying to figure out what works. They’ve built a better mousetrap, but can’t get anybody to beat a path to their door. The marketplace looks fragmented and filled with indifference.

We advise our clients to not just think smarter, but also think different. If everyone else is doing it, it’s tempting, but don’t. That means don’t advertise in the Sunday paper because all of your competitors are there. This is a time to stand-alone and really think about where you can reach the biggest share of your prospects. If you’re confused, ask your customers how they shop—why they come to you—what are their hot buttons.

The business owners who will flourish in the years to come will let go of old ideas and undertake bold and innovative online, e-mail, paid placement, and pay-per-click campaigns. They’ll harness the power of direct mail and word of mouth advertising. They’ll understand how to build strategic partnerships to build a referral network. They will understand the importance of customer loyalty and telling their story like its never been told before.

Change comes fast and furious in the 21st century. How do you morph new business models from old ones? How do you think out of the box? How do you get out of your comfort zone? The simple answer is any way you can! You can’t afford not to bring something new to the table. “If you keep on doing what you always did, you’ll keep on getting what you always got!” “If you keep on doing what you always did, you’ll keep on getting what you always got!” “If you keep on doing what you always did, you’ll keep on getting what you always got!”

Brian Grinonneau is the General Manager of McMann & Tate Advertising a midwest agency that insists its clients tell their story like it has never been told before