The Times They Are A-Changin'

Media placement, i.e. media planning and buying, gets a lot of attention these days, and having been in media for many years, I’m happy to see that. For most of my career, media planning and buying was an afterthought. Creative was everything. What’s changed? What’s brought media to the forefront again? I say “again” because, believe it or not, there was a time when media placement– not creative – was the main business of advertising agencies.

The ad business is going through some wrenching changes, but it’s not the first time that major change has occurred. To better understand the present and future of advertising, it pays to take a good look at its past. To that end, I’d like to share with you a few stories of the people and events that helped shape the advertising business, and highlight some of the significant changes that occurred over the years as a prelude to our ongoing examination of where we are now and where we are headed.

(to be continued....)