In The End of Advertising, Essex gives a brief and pungent history of the rise and fall of Adland—a story populated by snake-oil salesmen, slicksters, and search-engine optimizers. But his book is no eulogy. Instead, he boldly challenges global marketers to innovate their way to a better ad-free future. With trenchant wit and razor-sharp insights, he presents an essential new vision of where the smart businesses could be headed—a broad playing field where ambitious marketing campaigns provide utility, services, gifts, patronage of the arts, and even blockbuster entertainment. In this utopian landscape, ads could become so enticing that people would pay—yes, pay—to see them.
It feels kind of lazy to start a review with the publisher’s blurb, but the blurb is a nice summary of The End of Advertising, by Andrew Essex.

As promised, Andrew does look at current advertising behavior and why people are choosing to use ad blockers. Spoiler: current ads are annoying, intrusive and ineffective. He uses lots of personal anecdotes, including describing his son’s attitude to ads, and how they set up ad blockers together. He doesn’t just look at digital. I agree with how unimpressive Super Bowl commercials are.

There’s an interesting discussion of advertising history. The End of Advertising does feel a little long, but I suspect that’s more me. I’ve been reading so many instructional books lately that an information book feels big. It’s only 240 pages.

Who Should Read The End of Advertising?

I hesitated a bit on this question. While Andrew tells the advertising industry what it needs to do to survive (use earned media and public relations), this book isn’t really going to help anyone be a better marketer or advertiser. It’s a great read though. I think I would have devoured it when I was doing my public relations degree and was looking more generally than for a how to. So students and probably non-marketers who are interested in advertising.

Apologies that this is not the most exciting book review. Either in existence or that, I’ve written. I’m taking a break from book reviews to get through my to-read pile and produce more of my own work.

THE END OF ADVERTISING

You always expect advertising executives to be good communicators, and so it's always a good idea to be a little more critical when reading material prepared by admen (and women).

But even with such a filter on, it's hard not be swayed by what Andrew Essex has to say in The End of Advertising: Why It Had to Die and the Creative Resurrection to Come. Here's a successful card-carrying adman gone meta, writing honestly and often scathingly all that is wrong about his profession.

It's a smart, occasionally irreverent, and often witty book. And yes: oh so very good.

The End of Advertising is essentially a long rant by Essex about about how advertising has become irrelevant because it has become irritating, and as such is really a waste of time, money, and attention. Yet it isn't a rant for the sake of letting off steam but to argue–can it really be?–that there is a better way if people simply embrace that the advertising landscape has changed. Advertising, in Essex's view, is no longer simply a game of eyeballs or impressions or of "meme"-ification. Instead, the great opportunity is for advertisers to summon their creativity to help brands do things that are useful for their target markets, thereby cementing a place and fomenting positive associations for brands in the popular imagination.

While the book is short it is not without substance. For instance, Essex offers a brief history of the advertising industry–it all began with Procter and Gamble–of which many may not be aware. More importantly, he paints a convincing picture of where the industry lost its way and offers a compelling argument why advertising itself must evolve now that so much media is consumed online and the audience has many tools at its disposal to simply tune out ads completely.

I work in the advertising industry, and this book was food for thought. It has some great ideas about changing the utility of advertising. Inspiring.

Don Draper in Hell

Advertising has gone too far, for too long. Ads consume our monthly data download allotments, line our highways, submerge our internet browsing, and delay us from watching videos. They bore us to death when they aren’t downright annoying. Andrew Essex, until recently a Madison Avenue kingpin, says worst of all, they are “crap”. Industry heads are beginning to agree, claiming that while 50% of advertising is wasted, 99.5% is garbage. Essex says it will self-destruct within five years. It is the end of advertising. (From his mouth to God’s ear!)

What led him to this intriguing rant is his rather late discovery of ad blocking apps - last year. This, he thinks now, is not just the ultimate game-changer, but the last nail in the coffin. Ad blocking is already used by an estimated 40% of the market. Go in a different direction, he says. Be useful instead of annoying. He expounds far too long on the example of Citibank, which sponsors New York City’s Citibike. Do good, and it will rub off on your company, is his message. This is hardly new advice, but the message is still controversial.

There are problems of course. Essex considers sponsoring a stadium (say, Smoothie King Center) retrograde, but sponsoring a television program (The Lucky Strike Hour) good. Presumably because culture is more important or rewarding than professional sports? He calls for more corporate sponsorships of infrastructure, since governments are broke. For example, he says Verizon should sponsor a free ferry while New York’s L train is down for renovation. So look for the Dunkin’ Donuts Smithsonian Institution and the Chick-fil-A Grand Central Station - coming soon.

He also argues against radical Direct To Consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical ads, seemingly because he had to explain Viagra to his nine year old daughter. But DTC was just as radical 150 years ago when the Kelloggs started promoting breakfast cereals directly, instead of having their retailers do it. Same with Procter & Gamble and their newfangled floating soap. The whole of advertising is based on DTC, because the consumer wallet is the target. It is expected by retail in exchange for shelf space. This rant is conflicted.

I very much like that Essex gets right to the issues. He puts off the history of advertising to the second half of the book. Sadly, most do it the other way around, with 50 pages of groundwork before anything new appears. On the other hand, The End of Advertising is extraordinarily repetitive, and Essex, annoyingly, admits it and continues anyway. It’s as grating as a repeating commercial. But that’s the world he comes from, even though he now calls himself recovering. Hope he’s cured soon, because he has interesting things to say.

David Wineberg