Seen on TV

History is repeating itself with a surprising regularity. And we like to forget it with a disconcerting simplicity.

Let us, for a short moment, take a plunge in the archives of television. The image is in black and white, a gentleman in grey suit, well-combed with his hair parted on the side, explains to us the virtues of this adventure in which he, it seems, is proud to participate: the launch of the television.
A few years later, the advertising potentials of the new mass media have not escaped the shrewdness of observers at the time. Rapidly, it is explained to brands that business cannot be done anymore without television, without advertising on TV, etc. They understand this more rapidly. The brands of nurturing post war American rush to express themselves on television. Kellogs Korn Flakes and Coca Cola are overwhelmed. David Ogilvy establishes himself. Madison Avenue, New York comes alive with advertising agencies.
But let us take a closer look. Most businesses had never had TV commercials and did well. Neither in the United States nor elsewhere. The reason being that it is too expensive and not adapted to some businesses. However, our gentleman in grey suit (well-combed) and his followers made television an indispensable media for brands…
Today, history repeats itself. The same speech is given about the Web. The well-combed gentlemen has disappeared. He was replaced by a spontaneous generation of self-claimed gurus, passionates, bloggers… The ambient speech revolves around the critical importance of the Web. No one would dare argue or simply imagine for a single moment that the Web will not necessarily be essential to every business.

History is repeating itself with a surprising regularity. And we like to forget it with a puzzling simplicity.

Related posts:

Militainment discusses the increasing cooperation between military and popular culture. In the book’s introduction, Stahl mentions an army recruiting video game America’s Army. Over the years, more…

Here is food for thought as we walk into the New Year: as Nigerians, we are always on the lookout for a political messiah to sweep aside corruption and transform our country. It’s time to get real…

Legendary investor Charlie Munger, the vice president of Berkshire Hathaway also known as the right-hand man of Warren Buffet believes in creating various checklists and mental models for evaluating…