Advertising and Marketing have to accept there is no way out of their decline.

The rot began when we chose never to take heed of Professor Ehrenberg's statements on

advertising effectiveness! Because nothing has changed despite all the

ballyhoo about Social Media, Facebook et al. Wherever ads appear,

especially on Social Media, Ehrenberg's resolute focus on the facts, what

data actually tells us led him to challenge many a marketing bandwagon

such as loyalty'. You may wish to improve the brand's performance by

improving customer retention', he observed, but without a higher market

penetration it just won't happen. His work on advertising effectiveness

was equally challenging. He argued convincingly that there was no

evidence that advertising persuades anybody to do anything; advertising

can only ever be a weak' force that improves brand recognition and/or

jogs consumers' memories.