What makes advertising effective? - Paul Feldwick - Author & Creative-Director (English)

I am speaking with english advertising legend and bestselling author Paul Feldwick. He sees advertising in a crisis. Misled by managerial myths of rationality and logic, and by a cultish misunderstanding of ‘creativity’, it risks forgetting how to appeal to the public. As a result today’s advertising is less liked – and less effective – than ever before. Technology and discussions about purpose dominate the agenda. In Paul´s view advertising awards have lost touch with reality as the award-winning campaigns do not deliver business results like they used to. The big question is: How does advertising really work? In his radical new view, all theories have their uses - and all are dangerous if they are taken too literally as the truth. He therefore examined the assumptions underlying advertising and how these assumptions developed in historical context in his books “The Anatomy of Humbug” and “Why the Pedlar sings”. Among many other topics, we discuss: - does advertising require conscious attention, or is it simply about being famous? - what role does creativity play in the effectiveness of advertising? - is the cult of raw creativity in the advertisement industry justified or do we need a new and different type of creativity? - entertainment and advertising - how two people can have differing opinions on a matter and still both be right - why it is a great time to be in advertising right now