CLOSE-UP: ON THE CAMPAIGN COUCH ... WITH JB.(Jeremy Bullmore interviewed on the state of advertising)(Interview)

Q: The following is taken from the introduction to a book I own, published in 1931- entitled 'Advertising Administration'. 'Advertising has been for some years in a transitional stage ...' Is the fact that our industry seems to have been in a state of transition for the past 70 years or so a good or a bad thing? Is constant regeneration more useful than long-term stability?

A: I've never come across the book you mention but judged on this brief extract, it doesn't sound like a very intelligent one. Authors like to include such phrases in their introductions to suggest that they've spotted some immensely important but hitherto unidentified trend - but I can't think of any business that isn't in a permanently transitional state, can you?

Advertising is no different. Some bits haven't changed at all, some bits have changed a great deal and the whole thing evolves on a daily basis.

Superior persons working for media companies and advertising agencies always forget about classified. Classified is the purest and most laudable form of advertising there is. Nobody feels ambushed by classified; it brings together those who want with those who have to the satisfaction of both; it minimises waste and it subsidises the price of newspapers for the rest of us. Even with the introduction of the internet, classified hasn't changed. How could it? It's perfect.

The really big change over the past 70 years has been caused not by the introduction of stuff like the internet and television but by the simultaneous arrival of mass production techniques and higher disposable incomes for many of us serfs.

We've gone from being grateful for a paper bag of digestive biscuits sold loose to complaining bitterly that Asda's run out of mango-flavoured Tabasco.

We are the masters now: and the producers fight each other for our favour.