Introduction

Is advertising dead? This question has followed me throughout my years as a marketing scholar. In practice, the question is often posed when new approaches to marketing communication are introduced or growing in popularity. As an illustration, at the turn of the century PR was often said to be replacing advertising (a best-selling book at the time was even titled The Fall of Advertising, The Rise of PR). With the growth of social media word-of-mouth was the talk of the town, and lately content marketing has been lauded to take over. In academia, this question has recently gained renewed relevance and interest as the leading academic journal in the field (Journal of Advertising) published a special issue on the future of advertising in 2016. The issue comprises many interesting contributions from some of the leading researchers in the field.

In that issue, Micael Dahlen and I tried to predict what the future of advertising might look like. More specifically, we argue that it is more important to understand how advertising is changing than to have it replaced by something ‘new’. We therefore set out to provide a working definition of advertising that will be fit for a future where advertising is still alive (Dahlen & Rosengren, 2016a).

Our point of departure was the following: advertising, both as an academic field and as a practice, is undergoing constant change. If we look back in time, advertising has evolved from flyers and magazine ads in print media via radio and tv commercials in broadcast media, to contemporary content marketing and social media campaigns targeting specific individuals and audiences through digital media. As we look to the future of the field, this evolution will most likely continue. This means that advertising can (and will) take different forms and shapes and have other effects than what traditionally has been the case. This is how it has been in the past, and most likely, how it will continue to be in the future.