I will never cease to be amazed by the human pursuit of silver bullets. While the concept of a silver bullet is attractive, given the complexity of the world we live in, the quest for one is, at best naïve. In the late 1950s, advertising was a silver bullet – the key to building a […]

I will never cease to be amazed by the human pursuit of silver bullets. While the concept of a silver bullet is attractive, given the complexity of the world we live in, the quest for one is, at best naïve. In the late 1950s, advertising was a silver bullet – the key to building a brand and driving sales. By the 1980s, the silver bullet was media relations – driving sales without the cost of media and with greater credibility. Then in the 1990′, we saw the advent of direct marketing – the new silver bullet that enabled message customisation. The early 2000s saw the advent of CRM – the use of databases to make direct marketing more effective. In the mid-2000s, websites became the silver bullet – the 21st-century pathway to driving sales. Then along came social media – the next silver bullet for addressing promotional needs cost-effectively. Then…