through the whole extent of lunch last week.

through the whole extent of lunch last week, the chairman of a leading ad agency was asked about the flirtation between Madison Ave. and Hollywood and the blending of commercial messages into entertainment satisfied

His view: so deals are essentially meaningless and subserve solely as ego boosters to marketing directors not at home to prove they can be ``creative'' or ``risky.'' Cynical? No. Realistic is more like it.

There are any number of marketing ``innovations'' being touted these days, if it were not that something is missing from the equation in the recent marketing math: the consumer.