I struggled to make a point about advertising the other day, but there is really quite a bit more to the discussion than what I had originally posted. One of my friends saw the post and sent me a link to a recent article by buysight.com (thanks Francisco). They post a graphic and host a discussion about how advertising has changed over the last 50 years or so.

This is some interesting stuff, so if you haven’t checked it out already, I recommend doing so now. There are a ton of interesting viewpoints on display, and really got me thinking. Not only is advertising more targeted, but people actually opt in for advertising and marketing messages (using twitter, facebook, and all that stuff), which was unheard of back in the day.

Also, check out the amount of spending on media (according to the chart). There are some interesting things going on there. I was completely surprised to see that spending on newspaper ads was significant in 2000 then started dropping off (coincidentally) as the internet spending started increasing. I think many advertisers used newspaper ads to communicate with local consumers, but now are starting to use the internet to reach these local audiences.

Anyway, check it out, and let me know what you think.