ATTACK and surrender.

Attack advertising does not get anybody anywhere. I'm not talking about the mildly funny "I'm a Mac"ads. I'm talking about being downright mean to your opponent. I'm talking about ignoring your own inadequacies while lashing out at your opponent.

If your company is struggling in the market, there is something inherently wrong with your brand. It might be that your product doesn't work. It might be that you've gone astray in earlier advertisements. It might be that your message is not speaking to your intended audience. A lot of the times, it's because you're afraid of change.

Listen up: if the only thing you have going for you is an old name, you will fail. Relying on your name or your experience will not be enough. You have to change with the times, not fight them because they don't make sense to you.

Change happens. New, young, hip brands come into play. And you have to adapt your product and your message to stay current. Attacking those brands because they are young and hip, criticizing them for inexperience, is not going to win you a place in the hearts and minds of consumers.

Try to think about yourself. How are you young and hip? How do you tackle a problem? Forget about the other guy. He's got his share; he's got his message. Focus on yourself and making those changes necessary to your brand's survival.

John McCain (yes, here we go) needs to take an honest look at what he is trying to portray about himself. What is his message? Because if his only message is, "Hey, this new guy is a stranger and I've been here forever," he's in trouble. Not only for contradicting his own decisions, like his desperate attempt at saving his failing brand with the incredibly new Sarah Palin, but for calling attention to the very reasons we like Obama and not McCain.

Obama is young and fresh. Obama has a plan. Obama does not stoop to calling another person a terrorist with no basis. In fact, if he does mention McCain, he talks about real things that happened in the past, relevant things. Obama seems to be focused on his own plan and his eventual presidency so much that he barely acknowledges the crazy man in the background shouting lies about him. McCain comes off as old, whiny and out-of-touch.

Obama is definitely the Mac. McCain isn't even a lovable PC.