Grumpy Old Ad Men

I generally don't mind grumpy old men, unless their grumpiness and wrath is aimed in my direction. Otherwise, I find them fairly amusing – and often with some valid points behind their grumpiness.

Statler and Waldorf, the quintessential grumpy old men, from The Muppets

Dana Carvey's Grumpy Old Man from SNL

And so I enjoyed the recent ranting of Bob Hoffman on his always-enjoyable blog, The Ad Contrarian, where he presented, of course, a contrarian view of content.

"Content" remains all the buzz in marketing circles – but Mr. Hoffmann takes umbrage with the phrase. Now before you dismiss him as a grumpy ex-ad man, at least hear him out. "Content' has become something so broad that it can encompass anything and everything from a lengthy white paper or case study to a selfie or a shot of last night's dinner.

Maybe it’s time to reconsider how we use the word, or the concept of online content. When the word is so all-encompassing, it loses a lot of impact. If you disagree with the Ad Contrarian's point of view, at least you’ll have fun reading his thoughts on the matter.

Check out adcontrarian.blogspot.com for more of Bob Hoffman’s opposing views on the status quo of advertising today.