Before reviewing the comments from leaders in the advertising agency world related to this year's Super Bowl, I knew their observations would disappoint me. Why? Because they would disregard advertising's reason for being.

got a call from a printer who wanted some input on a direct mail package he was producing. His client had just completed a mailing and was concerned about why his 100,000-package mailing was not performing better.

I recently sent a note to the President of one of my favorite advertising agencies. I congratulated him for his fabulous white paper expounding the positioning and branding services offered by his team.

These words did not come from me, but from Ian French, President and Executive Director of Northern Lights Direct Response Television. His article entitled “Don’t lose branding” was published in DM News’ 2007 issue of Essential Guide to Direct Response Television.

Right now, the markets are in turmoil due to the instability in housing. So in the Advertising Section of today’s Issue of the New York Times, the lead article talks about brand marketers switching gears from easy-money themes to financial strength and stability.

Here we are maybe a couple of months or so after the introduction of the revolutionary iPhone and Apple drops the low-end model and dramatically reduces the price for the high-end iPhone. Apple reduced the cost by $200 from $600 to $400. That’s even $100 less than the low-end model used to cost.

Even if you've worked in the direct marketing field for just a short time, you know that branding and direct marketing strategies do not always live in harmony. When developing creative work,