In the throes of apprehending the future of advertising, much has been, and will be, said about new channels, emergent technologies, innovative measurement protocols, morphing agency roles and the like; much less, probably, about how we actually create marketing that works, that’s worth consuming, and that’s worth running in any channel. Under the klieg lights of The New, we risk losing sight of what makes all of it possible — an old-fashioned virtue that’s equally at home in social, mobile, and digital, and also in ad agency conference rooms everywhere, despite what the stereotypes might suggest. I’m talking about sincerity.