99% of millennials, most of whom have an iphone or ipad, reckon that advertising has no effect on them. Anyone in email marketing can see the non sequitur. You will probably want to know the names of the 99%. They are not so much your target audience as have targets on them. 

That they are wrong should go without saying, but you could reassure yourself by asking them why they are not affected. Most will say that they are merely irritated by them. It is best not to come back with the obvious retort that irritation is an effect. 

I entered into a discussion in an online forum on the subject of what is and is not advertising. After putting my point of view, I received the reply that if my contention was correct, everything is advertising. It was more or less the point I was trying to put over. 

From research, and my combatants on the forum, the problem would appear not to be with adverts themselves, but badly executed advertising. One might be able to empathise with them when they complain of shouty, heavy handed and in-your-face material if they weren’t so shouty themselves. Subtle email marketing works. 

I was recommended a certain camera shop near me as ‘they don’t try to sell you stuff’. This came as a surprise as other shops selling similar products in the area had closed or gone online due to this company taking their customers. It was worth going just to see how they were successful without trying to sell.

Said camera shop has a delightful MO. I went in to buy a particular camera. I was asked why I wanted that model. It was produced, together with one that was slightly cheaper and another a wee bit dearer.

I was not given specifications so much as the positives and negatives of each for the particular usage I intended. It was all very laid back, but it was also one hard sell. There was no way I was going to leave the shop without the dearest camera.

Now there’s an idea for an email marketing campaign.