WIRED – THE TYRANNY OF COOL ?

Two weeks ago, my good friend Jorg sent me this article from WIRED called “Mad Men, Media, Marketing, and a fine mess”

I have to admit, i got really excited by its content at first. Think about it: no need for costly advertising anymore ! In the new viral internet world, good products speak for themselves and manage to attract a mass online audience with no ad spend. This is genius ! Why did we not think of this before ? And what the heck is going to happen to the old T.V media, with its costly, inefficient, and now unnecessary ad spaces ?

WAIT  A SECOND..The article is sexy..The writing is compelling..The journalist has a technology angle..Only one example (Monopoly) is used to create a universal theory (advertising is -almost- dead).. The whole thing is written in a way that is so cool that it makes you think you’re not if you even think about disagreeing. THAT’S IT ! Everything screams WIRED.

Although I love this magazine, i’m getting annoyed by the way it’s using its Silicon Valley mojo to create universal theories out of a couple of isolated examples. Let’s take this article for instance: in less than a page, it explains how old media and ad sales are doomed based on the success of an online MONOPOLY game.

MONOPOLY ? Are these guys kidding ? MONOPOLY wouldn’t exist without old media. The brand, the notoriety, the worldwide distribution..MONOPOLY is the best example of how a property was created through mass media advertising over the years. How can WIRED not even consider that the online game sells so well because of this brand building history that relies on hundreds of millions in ad spend.

Dear WIRED. Please don’t take yourself too seriously. Don’t play messiah. Trend setting is good enough. Love. David

Advertisement