First there was Scientific Advertising. Then Image Ads (“The Man in the Hathaway Shirt”, or to cite a modern example, “The Most Interesting Man in The World”).

Then Unique Selling Proposition. Positioning. Creativity versus Metrics. Permission Marketing. The Long Tail.

All concepts of how to market effectively.
And each was (and is) presented as though it were The Whole Story. And replaced or is in opposition to another or others.
The fallacy in all this is each of them is a valid aspect of marketing. None of them is complete.
Irritating ads work because people remember them? Yes, marketing has to be noticed and remembered to work.
Your marketing can be much more effective if you actually test and measure results. A no-brainer!
It takes a bright idea to sell? You betcha! Unless, that is, you have an unlimited stream of dollars to spend without concern for return on investment!
You know what is really going on here? Each new marketing theory tries to present itself as better than ____ (fill in blank with last Big Thing in Marketing). So what is that? Positioning!
And each one presents itself as having some special benefit different than other ideas. Oh yes! They have a USP.
And each one has a cute name and presented cleverly (oh yes, creativity in advertising)!
You get the idea.
I gotta laugh.
Well, they do sell books and get accounts that way.
But we don’t have to be dumb.
Just because these guys are presenting some piece of the elephant as though it were the whole, doesn’t mean we can’t know and use the whole Beast.
THAT’S how to succeed in marketing.