The Difference Between Advertising and Marketing
In the spirit of the CTAM Summit, I offer my take on the not-so-subtle differences between advertising and marketing: Advertising is telling people, "Here’s what we got." Marketing is asking them, "What do you want?" Advertising is a point on a straight line. Marketing is a circle. No, check that: marketing is a globe. Advertising is telling your wife you love her. Marketing is making her breakfast in bed. Advertising is a two-lane stretch of country road. Marketing is the Interstate highway system. Advertising is selling cheesesteak sandwiches. Marketing is letting people listen to the sizzle of the meat on the grill and smell the onions browning in the skillet. Advertising is day trading. Marketing is financial planning. Advertising is a piece of fruit. Marketing is a piping hot apple pie. Advertising is mono. Marketing is surround sound. Advertising is a tree; advertising is a blade of grass. Marketing is Central Park. Advertising is a baseball game. Marketing is the World Series. Advertising is a rhyme. Marketing is a sonnet. Advertising is a video signal on a classic cable system. Marketing is a series of zeroes and ones flying over a state-of-the-art fiber optic network. Advertising is a lecture. Marketing is a dialogue. Advertising is a running play-off tackle. Marketing is an offensive game plan. Advertising is random hydrogen and oxygen molecules. Marketing is the Pacific Ocean. Advertising is verbs, nouns and adjectives. Marketing is Moby Dick. Advertising is Biology 101. Marketing is Jonas Salk. Advertising is a single thought you might have. Marketing is your imagination. Advertising is a can of chowder. Marketing is a clambake with friends on the beach in Cape Cod. Advertising is a basketball player. Marketing is Michael Jordan. Advertising is a shot sheet. Marketing is Casablanca. Advertising is the A Train. Marketing is Grand Central Station. Advertising is a song. Marketing is Oklahoma, Kind of Blue or The Nutcracker. Advertising is a :30 TV commercial for Reese’s Pieces. Marketing is E.T. And finally, Symonds says, advertising is what made us aware of the CTAM Summit this week in Philadelphia. Marketing is why we’re going. Curtis Symonds can be reached at [email protected].