Really good article, but what I found myself thinking was: didn&#x27;t we already know all this?<p>It&#x27;s been common advertising wisdom for years that the benefit of brand advertising is simply awareness. Person is in store, person doesn&#x27;t know which thing to get and doesn&#x27;t really care that much, brand name pops into their head because the ad had that catchy jingle or adorable cat in it, they pick up that one and go on with their lives.<p>Perhaps the great delusion was that most people care enough about their purchasing choices of mundane items to &quot;engage&quot; with brands. That&#x27;s never been true and it&#x27;s continued to not be true, despite the construction of a vast new internet advertising industry focused around nothing but brand engagement at all costs.