Amateur_Barbarian:
Marketing has levels of theory and implementation just like any other craft, and that there are many thousands or even millions of those who work at prosaic, everyday levels has nothing to do with the way the industry works at higher levels. Thousands of people formulate Coke every day, and many thousands distribute it, without knowing secret formula 7X.
I have indeed spoken with industry figures who are candid about this alternate focus for major advertising campaigns, and seen white papers and internal memos discussing the connections between ads and an overall marketing plan, all quite baldly putting it much as I put it above.
No one who’s taken a few marketing classes and maybe worked around the low level implementation departments has much of a basis for an opinion, any more than an undergrad poli-sci student is ready for the rough and tumble of the state capitol. And I know many who have a decade or two under their belt in the trenches of marketing, and still view it all much the way it’s taught in those early classes. It’s all about what viewpoint and understanding you need to get your job done.
It’s not until you start asking the next level of questions that the real reasons for making, say, Flo an irritating presence become more clear than verities about getting and holding viewer attention and building a company image.
This is utter, Illuminati-quality nonsense. Flo has nearly 5 million likes on Facebook, and *more than *5 million friends. That’s because Progressive has spent a fantastic amount of money to create brand engagement around Flo, not to make her unlikeable.
Or, more succinctly: “Imagine the number of Facebook likes if they’d tried to make her likeable!”