My grandfather, yes the old bastard's still alive, was an ad man for 50 years. Ever see Mad Men? That was him. He says they nailed Madison Ave ca. 1960 perfectly, except for one thing. By then the firms were run by Italian art directors and Jewish copy men. 'Talent' he explained.
Anywho I was going over my recent ad campaign with him and he told me how Ed Ney, who used to run Young and Rubicam told him, 'Half the money I spend is going to be wasted. Trouble is I can never figure out which half.'
This is so true.
Advertising is an art not a science. My first really successful book, Israel Strikes, flew off the shelves, digitally speaking, based on ads in magazines. Israel Strikes did so well I decided to write a sequel, War of the Red Sea. I advertised in the exact same way and only saw about 2/3rds of the sales. Still a success, mind you, but not a smash.
Right now Operation Eastern Storm is selling great. Better than Arctic Storm did. A lot better. And Arctic Storm did pretty good. Same ads, same schedule. Why would the sequel do better than the first one? Ok, obviously people who bought Arctic Storm are buying Eastern Storm but there's something more.
Honestly, I wonder if it isn't just because Eastern Storm is blue (USA/NATO) and Arctic Storm was red (Soviet).
Like I said, an art not a science.
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