THE tabloids have announced the end of advertising as we know it. No more saucy ads, no cheap laughs, the `europrats' are legislating us into oblivion.

The reaction to the latest paper presented in Brussels is quite light-hearted but we would do well to think about how we will tackle this. Some will just roll with it and let their campaigns become more and more factual, those that love `down and dirty' advertising will probably be very happy.

In my view, they are missing out and some of the legendary Northern retailers that we thought epitomised Northern `down and dirty' thing have proved this by moving south to hang out with celebs and paraglide into farmers' markets, because boring price-only campaigns eat themselves. The answer lies in our use of media. Clients who want to excite their consumers and form a deeper bond do well to think about this. At TBWA we call it `media arts' and we are beginning to play with trans-media narrative.

It's simple, really - use the media to their best advantage when it comes to the regulators, engage consumers with stories and tell stories that ebb and flow. The nature of how we use media creatively is changing again just like it did with cigarettes.

People who say you can't have long copy on point of sale are following convention and are missing out. Consumers are people and, if you become what they are interested in, they will follow. I'm not going to become a lobbyist - yet. I'll just encourage my creatives to tell stories, to become media artists and defy conventions where possible.

Here in the north west, we'd do well to push on, reinvent `down and dirty' if we want to add value. As Marge once said to Homer Simpson: "We can stand here like the French or we can do something about it." Tweet