Advertising Works. There, I Said It.

Who needs advertising? It’s mostly a colossal waste of money. Right?

According to research from Gavan Fitzsimons, a professor of marketing and psychology at Duke University, “the best result that an advertiser can hope for is to nudge us in the direction we were already going — reaffirming a slightly positive association with a brand that we already liked.”

I have to say Fitzsimons is selling advertising short here. I don’t already like Dodge, but thanks to W+K’s approach to the brand, I have a renewed interest in it.

American beer drinkers don’t already like Dos Equis, but thanks to the most interesting man in the world campaign, it’s now part of the conversation and a beer that people consider at the bar or grocery case.

Academics and other cultural critics want advertising to be without potency, but their desire does not make it so.