Hmm .. hehe this sounds interesting have to write on this to the portuguese readers 'cause at the moment Tele 2 is sweeping the other players on the domestic wire-line market. Tele 2 just got into the portuguese market last year but its ads/positioning on lows bills and how easy it is to switch to Tele 2 is paying off (don't forget we're talking about a south european country where everything looks like bureaucracy and assle) !!

True .. sad, but very true. Everyone is talking about the death of the 30'' TV spot, the marketers that work with mature barnds find it less reliable and expensive; the agencies get their gross income from the media fee, that's how the currente ad agency model is built around. The problem: sometimes the agencies tend to forget that their core biz is .. to sell ideas, good ones, particularly ones that create envolving feeling towards a brand and may lead to repeated pruchase (hey this a biz in'it?). The so-called creativity fee is becoming less relevant (profit-speaking) than the frequency/time-usage of media. But this can lead us to a paradox: If the idea is remarkable it will lead to more media space buying, more investment from the brand managers etc. Everyone will be happy in the end. Nevertheless i reckon most of the times the marketers don't trust the competencies of the creative people at agencies, so getting away with good ideas that sell, generate buzz, awareness etc. is not so linear. Whose fault is this? Ad agencies? Marketers? Both? Where's the logical balance of power?

For every time we read a new study stating that the Ad TV model is obsolete, not working as ... the ad industry creates a "Robert Heath" counter-reply :)
The human mind, its motivations and leading actions are infinitely complex .. so there you go, you have: neuroscientists, profilers, social-trend watchers, influencers, psychologists, hidden persuaders, marketers, voodo creatives, et al working on the same industry and looking for new ways to sell more. Brand new, brave world we live in. PS - Nevertheless the TV paradigm is changing, and yes I do believe it's a medium that is getting saturated and intrusive, there are other mediums much more effective and with a greta creative potential. But ther you go ... it doesn't pay-off .. money speaking!!!