On this Halloween 2026, I am revisiting a piece first published many years ago.

Since then, the marketing world has been transformed by social media, smartphones, video content and, most recently, artificial intelligence.

And yet something rather frightening has happened…

In many ways, the marketing industry seems to have drifted even further away from the timeless principles championed by the great marketers of the past.

Today, businesses can generate blog posts, emails, social media updates and advertising copy in seconds.

They can use AI tools to create images, analyse data and automate entire marketing campaigns.

Yet despite all this astonishing technology…

…many marketers still fail to measure results.

Many still don’t truly understand their customers.

And many still mistake activity for effectiveness.

Perhaps the most chilling discovery of all is that while modern marketers have embraced artificial intelligence, many have neglected the very human intelligence found in the classic works of people such as Claude Hopkins, Bruce Barton and David Ogilvy.

The result?

Far too many businesses are producing more marketing than ever before while generating fewer meaningful results.

So, before the demons of wasted advertising budgets, declining response rates and generic AI-generated content come knocking at your door…

…let’s hear some warnings from beyond the grave.

Let’s start with one of the early giants of direct response marketing… [Continue reading]