SPRUIKING IS NOT COMMUNICATING – AND NEITHER IS ADVERTISING – 3 OBSERVATIONS I recall, as a kid, being told that you have two ears and only one mouth because listening is twice as important as talking. While I question any statement that suggests a level of determinism, or that anything was meant to be one […]

SPRUIKING IS NOT COMMUNICATING – AND NEITHER IS ADVERTISING – 3 OBSERVATIONS I recall, as a kid, being told that you have two ears and only one mouth because listening is twice as important as talking. While I question any statement that suggests a level of determinism, or that anything was meant to be one way or the other – I could not agree more with the intent of this suggestion. Communication does involve spruiking, one way or another, but it also involves listening. Indeed, listening is arguably more important as it enables the spruiking to be tailored and made as relevant as possible. I would argue that this is the most significant benefit of social media.  It involves listening as well as spruiking – while advertising just involves spruiking. There will always be a place for advertising and traditional media. However, increasingly, the trend is towards communication and the…