• Forbes, Wednesday, October 11, 2006 1 PM

Consumer control may have been the dominant theme of the recent ANA convention, but there is also a dictatorial trend in advertising that demands that customers Just Do It (Nike), Get Out There (Royal Caribbean), Be Hospitable (Hilton), Live Richly (Citigroup) or Think Different (Apple). The industry catchphrase used to describe the phenomenon is "didactic marketing."

Its primary devotees are companies with few product or service improvements to showcase, according to Thomas Ordahl, a partner at marketing and branding specialist Group 1066. "What's going on is spinning the same product attributes in a different way, he says. "If Royal Caribbean can't give people a reason to travel on its cruise ships rather than on Carnival's, for example, maybe it's best to stir them into action with a drum-banging television spot and scream at them to "Get Out There!"

Ad history is filled with alternating bursts of hard- and soft-selling over the years, says industry author James Twitchell, with the current trend coming on the heels of several years of softer messages focused on entertainment.

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