Ads have drifted from showmanship to salesmanship since the mid-2000s
WarningBrand & Creativity
Ads have drifted from showmanship to salesmanship since the mid-2000s
System1 data on ad breaks from 1992 to 2023 shows right-brain 'showmanship' features declining sharply from the mid-2000s while left-brain 'salesmanship' features rose to dominate, at the same time internet culture became far more entertaining.
Source
Entertain or Die 3.0 - Small W•rld x Tracksuit (2026)
Dan Salkey (Small W•rld), Max Willson (Tracksuit), Sophia Epstein, Dom Hoskins
p. 3 (System1 data, reconstructed by Small W•rld)
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