There are advertising messages and then there are advertising messages. One way to stand out in the clutter of advertising is by spending infinite money. But there must be a better way.

I do not claim to be a marketing guru, but the obvious answer seems like one should go ahead and find out alternative mechanisms of communicating with consumers. An interesting idea would be to find media other than the usual print or electronic or web media to talk to consumers.

Does that sound exciting to you?

Talk to advertising professionals and they all talk about the slowdown in the growth of traditional media. It is the emerging media, such as blogs and websites that seem to be getting the lion's share of the growth in advertising dollars. But that is still too conventional. The online media has been around too long to really call it emerging media.

So what does an advertiser do? Is there no El Dorado for alternative media vehicles? I think there is.

Let me set it up for you. Why does one advertise in a newspaper? The choice of newspaper as an advertising vehicle is based on the fact that this vehicle enters people's houses and has a high degree of engagement with the reader.

Why do advertisers spend a bomb advertising during the super bowl? Once again it is about penetration and engagement.

So, extending that reasoning, would it not make sense for you to paste your ad in a highly engaging vehicle that makes inroads into your customer's homes? That is where creativity takes birth. What could these vehicles be?

I would think that anything that a consumer uses on a regular basis, e.g., their laundry bag, could be a good idea.

If I could afford it, I would find out consumer preferences about their favorite utility item, e.g., a pen, a cap, a pen stand, or any other thing within my budget. Then I would find a way to get to my topmost potential clients and gift them one of those utility items and a clear and unambiguous message from me.

Surely you think that is a good idea. After all, it is not every day that one gets to enter not just the home, but also the life of potentially great customers. Don't you think that is a good idea? I certainly do.

In fact the dilemma facing most advertisers is: Should they continue to pour money into a highly cluttered advertising space in the form of conventional media, or should they just quietly fade away into brand oblivion. Clearly neither of those two extremes is desirable.

Of course there is no real "solution" to this problem. It is more like a cat and mouse game. As media gets smarter and better, it also gets to be more expensive and cluttered. Smart advertisers look for new hunting grounds. For example, the earlier advertisers online got good deals and established good online brands.

Of course, when I say "earliest" I mean post the dot com bust.