This is Hari Krishna for Two by Two this week, producer-cum-researcher for your favourite podcast. 

What do you think makes for a great advertisement? Something that just sticks in your mind for a long time? 

Before you argue that it’s quite subjective, let me put forward at least one thing a great ad does: it starts a conversation. In the mind of a customer who is already in love with the product, it elevates a brand’s appeal and fosters a sense of belonging. In the mind of someone who’ll never use it anyway, it sticks. 

They talk about it. They understand what it stands for. They might never use it, but they remember.

And good marketers can do a wonderful job getting a brand to this place. Great marketing is a slow, intentional exercise, founded on insight and intuition in equal parts. And it takes years, if not decades, to build a brand that cuts across generations, leaves a lasting impression, and—ultimately—sells.

But today, the way the world of marketing has expanded, it’s almost impossible for someone in the industry to understand all the moving parts that are at play. Most marketers’ day jobs now consist of staring at dashboards for all the different campaigns they run, and not much beyond that.   

Sure, they have all the data in the world, but are they encouraged to trust their instincts and intuition to do something out of the box? 

And what about the brands? The internet is replete with online ad campaigns from D2C businesses, all fighting for your attention. This might help them move some inventory, but is it really doing anything to build a brand that people actually remember? 

The answer, more often than not, is no. 

Professor Y L R Moorthi teaches marketing, brand management, and marketing strategy, and has decades of experience in the space. And he put it quite simply:

And that’s how marketing is starting to come undone, and why the things that once made it an exciting job have largely disappeared from the picture. 

The professor was one of our guests for this week’s episode of Two by Two.