Modern marketers (whatever they are) might well say TV advertising is dead, that it’s a bygone era. I’m not sure I agree.

The communications group and advertising giant, WPP sells more than its fair share of TV ads and they’ve just had their best quarter for ten years. According to chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell, “growth was helped by a recovery in the US and in traditional media.”

A £10 million ad spend is brainwashing via repetition and frequency, and it’s still happening aplenty. I don’t watch TV ads anymore (the little TV I watch is from Sky+ and I skip the ads) which is a shame given the amount of money changing hands: a 30-second Super Bowl ad costs $2.5 million and they’ve nearly sold out! A slot on the X-factor breaks would set you back between £181k and £250k.

Somebody in the marketing department must still thinks it’s working.

It’s a marketing myth to say the web has killed traditional marketing. Video rentals (remember them?) didn’t kill the cinema and TV didn’t kill the radio. This isn’t the car versus the horse stuff. It’s not a binary yes/no; there’s a possible meld here. WPP is clearly keeping a close eye on Facebook ads with a $5 million stake in Buddy Media, a Facebook management system for brands and marketers.

Surprisingly, a study by the Pew Center found the average American still spends close to an hour a day on traditional media. That’s apparently unchanged from a decade ago.

Add to this the explosion of content online and it shows that we’re really consuming media as blend. It isn’t wholly about the web or TV,  about Google ads or magazines – the smart money is finding a balance for their brands.

What say you? What’s working for you and your brand this year?

Image credit: Zazzle