sells nobody anything. And I'm sorry to say, too, that much of this work originates from those advertising agencies which profess to specialise in industrial-type work.

To be sure, it may come as a comfort to an industrial advertiser to find an ad agency whose executives and writers are pa

I think it true to say that industrial advertising, the sort that fills the pages of the thousands of technical and semi-technical magazines, is the most neglected of all advertising types. You only have to flick through the pages of publications like Bulk Handling International, or Building Services & Environmental Engineer, for instance, to see that advertisers are nowhere near as clever with their promotional work as are their counterparts at the consumer end of things.

This is no reflection on the professionalism of the magazines mentioned. They can only publish the material they receive. What it is a reflection of, however, is the belief held by many industrial advertisers that cleverness and creativity in advertising are luxuries to be indulged in only by those soft mass-media advertisers with all their millions to throw away on fripperies. Many of them also hold the view that advertising is pretty much a waste of time, energy and money. They do it only because their competitors do it and it is therefore expected of them.

These are fallacies to end all fallacies; and the result of such thinking is tired, lifeless and unimaginative advertising that sells nobody anything. And I'm sorry to say, too, that much of this work originates from those advertising agencies which profess to specialise in industrial-type work.

To be sure, it may come as a comfort to an industrial advertiser to find an ad agency whose executives and writers are pa

vices & Environmental Engineer, for instance, to see that advertisers are nowhere near as clever with their promotional work as are their counterparts at the consumer end of things.

This is no reflection on the professionalism of the magazines mentioned. They can only publish the material they receive. What it is a reflection of, however, is the belief held by many industrial advertisers that cleverness and creativity in advertising are luxuries to be indulged in only by those soft mass-media advertisers with all their millions to throw away on fripperies. Many of them also hold the view that advertising is pretty much a waste of time, energy and money. They do it only because their competitors do it and it is therefore expected of them.

These are fallacies to end all fallacies; and the result of such thinking is tired, lifeless and unimaginative advertising that sells nobody anything. And I'm sorry to say, too, that much of this work originates from those advertising agencies which profess to specialise in industrial-type work.

To be sure, it may come as a comfort to an industrial advertiser to find an ad agency whose executives and writers are pa

they receive. What it is a reflection of, however, is the belief held by many industrial advertisers that cleverness and creativity in advertising are luxuries to be indulged in only by those soft mass-media advertisers with all their millions to throw away on fripperies. Many of them also hold the view that advertising is pretty much a waste of time, energy and money. They do it only because their competitors do it and it is therefore expected of them.

These are fallacies to end all fallacies; and the result of such thinking is tired, lifeless and unimaginative advertising that sells nobody anything. And I'm sorry to say, too, that much of this work originates from those advertising agencies which profess to specialise in industrial-type work.

To be sure, it may come as a comfort to an industrial advertiser to find an ad agency whose executives and writers are pa

the view that advertising is pretty much a waste of time, energy and money. They do it only because their competitors do it and it is therefore expected of them.

These are fallacies to end all fallacies; and the result of such thinking is tired, lifeless and unimaginative advertising that sells nobody anything. And I'm sorry to say, too, that much of this work originates from those advertising agencies which profess to specialise in industrial-type work.

To be sure, it may come as a comfort to an industrial advertiser to find an ad agency whose executives and writers are pa

sells nobody anything. And I'm sorry to say, too, that much of this work originates from those advertising agencies which profess to specialise in industrial-type work.

To be sure, it may come as a comfort to an industrial advertiser to find an ad agency whose executives and writers are passingly familiar with digital voltmeters, modular breadboards or higher-frequency potential avalanche transit-time diodes. To be able to talk to them about high-power logic triacs or tantulum capacitators without them looking bemused or falling asleep must make such clients feel that they've stumbled upon the Holy Grail.

But this is an understanding simply of the nuts and bolts of a client's business; and that's a different thing altogether from having an understanding of the basic precepts of advertising - and, I submit, a far less important thing.

It's a sad fact that that the great majority of industrial ads don't have anything specific to say. They may kid themselves that they have; but if their originators would look at them dispassionately, even they would concede that they haven't.

This is perfectly understandable. No advertiser can expect to come up with something new and exciting every time he hits print. This, incidentally, is the reason why the bulk of industrial advertising is, or should be, a long-term and strategic exercise, rather than short-term and tactical - but that's another subject entirely.

Now, the ability to take nothi