TRANSITIONING: From Ad Age to Internet Age.

To the right, is an ad that appeared 104 years ago in Everybody's Magazine at the dawn of the mass media era. The message: "Advertising is the future. You should become a copywriter." If you have any familiarity with the ad business -- and who in America doesn't -- you'll find it an amusing read.

So where are we today? What is the future for someone starting out on the agency side of marketing communications? It clearly isn't print advertising -- either newspaper or magazine. Here in Chicago both newspapers are reorganizing under bankruptcy. And have you seen how skinny most magazines are today?

OUTBOUND vs. INBOUND The future certainly includes print advertising and other traditional, outbound media including broadcast (TV and radio) advertising, direct mail, outdoor, etc. -- but at a much lower volume than ten or even five years ago.

All this outbound messaging (conventional advertising) that imposes itself on people now has to compete for attention (and marketing dollars) with inbound Internet communications where people go willingly to get a message. Search engines, web sites, social media networks like Facebook and Twitter and others are all part of it. Inbound media draws people in and -- because THEY CHOOSE it -- is more personal and has more credibility. Old media is like hunting. New media is like fishing.

Wonder if Page-Davis has a course titled, "Learn to Write Inbound Content?" Or something.