But will you respect me in the morning?

I recently got into a debate with a friend in the advertising biz about the value of advertising to the consumer. He was arguing that advertising, big media buys etc., is here to stay and will always be critical to customer acquisition. As a passionate believer in all this blogging, web 2.0, self-expression, consumers customer's talking to consumer's customer's stuff, I find myself in a lot of debates on the efficacy of advertising these days. The traditional folks (yes, I hate to admit that they are mostly back East), hear my cry of the 'customer is in charge' as black and white and they miss the key point. Although, I am no fan of (most) advertising, I know it is definitely not dead. But the increased power of the customer voice means advertising is changing and morphing -- or at least it should be.

Advertisers who help me sort through the clutter are definitely appreciated. HELP is the key word here. Seems so simple, but advertisers/companies/brands all still insist on talking AT me and not TO me. Or even better - it would be great if they started LISTENING and ASKING.

We can label it any way we want (Cluetrain Manifesto, attention economy, etc etc etc) - but when it comes right down to it, the companies that "win" with me, win because they RESPECT me and I can tell that they respect me in lots of little and big ways - service, pricing, product design. They don't take me for granted. Sounds like a real relationship, ey - and it takes work. But hey, I am worth it..;)

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