Don't miss products for the advertising

It's not every day that an advertiser calls out the fact that advertising isn't the be-all and end-all of marketing a product. So when, on the occasion of ET's Brand Equity relaunch, Spinach Experience Design co-founder Agnello Dias pointed out that people liking an ad is no guarantee that they will buy the product being advertised, we sat up in resonance. Dias was retreading an old industry caveat: advertising being accused of seducing the senses while neglecting the substance and the sell. A witty jingle, a cinematic flourish, a tear-jerking vignette - these can lodge themselves in the public imagination, yet leave the product itself stranded in obscurity.

Luigi Pirandello's 1921 play Six Characters in Search of an Author offers a fitting metaphor. His unfinished figures wander the stage, desperate for a narrative to give them meaning. In the marketplace, many products resemble Pirandello's characters: solid, useful, even ingenious, but lacking the script that connects them to consumers. Conversely, advertising creatives often play the role of flamboyant creations - crafting spectacle, eliciting applause - without necessarily advancing the plot of consumption the client expects over anything else.

Not all campaigns that win Cannes Lions shift units. The artistry is undeniable, but the linkage between story and sale can be tenuous. A detergent commercial that makes viewers laugh may have consumers having a tough time remembering the brand name. A luxury watch ad may dazzle, without being inviting enough to spend thousands. Good products, like good characters, wander the stage, waiting for advertising that does more than entertain. Applause of the audience is pleasant. But ringing of the cash register is what keeps the show alive.