It seems to me that the advertising industry is in the worst mess as far as i can remember.
The reason for this is many factors which accumulated or crystallized lately.

1. Online presence

Digital advertising is a big leap in traditional advertising. Nowadays, when you tell a client that you can build a brand for them, they will thing you have gone mad. In the age of online advertising everything is available and possible immediately. Building of air castles is definitively over.

2. Weak marketing

Anyone has marketing skills nowadays. Almost anyone can be a marketing specialist. And they are. Even the girl who was manning the reception yesterday and today started on a position of a marketing director.

3. Cautiousness

In the post recession times, even mature companies blow up. It is usually czech firms which went through various stages of being unsuccessful. However they always found a way, usually thanks to being careful with finances. And over-cautiousness with money was the main thing they have learnt in the recession.

They cannot imagine confiding to one subject and thats why they have several advisors, which they keep comparing.

They do not admit to themselves the fact that this brings an even greater confusion, because they assume they handpicked what they need from each respective subject.
Consistency of opinion is often seen as second class and not so important.

4. Unpredictability of the result - common knowledge

The result of advertising cannot be guaranteed. There is so many variables in the development phase that only an irresponsible person would dare to promise an exact outcome.

5. Consultancy

The advertising market generated many crooks and pseudo experts, who over two decades devastated the reputation of the advertising business. Its name (built up in the 90's) got destroyed.

It is a fact that there are a few people who have a huge volume of experience, knowledge and ideas needed for a successful campaign. Sometimes they get scouted out by businesses, but because they know that even these experts cannot guarantee success plus they often expect to be paid for their consultancy services, these long distance runners in the world of advertising have not had the chance to become, so to say, 'advertising gurus' on whose opinions and advice a whole business would feel confident to rely on.

6. Trust

I dare to say there is not another field where trust is as vital as in advertising between the agency and the client.

Typical business approach - to make as much as possible of off the supplier - does not work here. And who does not get this, fails badly.

Unfortunately, we have stomped trust into the ground. And it sticks with us, advertising agencies, with our conceit, our "absolute truth", which ends at our client's door over which's threshold we have never managed to step.

7. Price

There are many companies offering advertising services. So many that a layman is not able to distinguish, which one is trustworthy, honest, experienced.

That is why the commissioners have started playing the price game.
And we have agreed to playing it. We wanted to use the price as a tool to win over the agency next door, and this way, all of us lost.
The loss of trust, online, price for the work, talkative advertising pseudo experts and an unhealthy cautiousness have mixed a deadly advertising cocktail for all of us.

Tasteless, aimless, annoying ads which are being strongly rejected by consumers are a clear result. They say seeing is believing, so here is an example:

(A story of a czech tennis star and how she didn't lend her face to Jaguar or L'Oreal but a small czech hemp cream making brand Mentholka)