Whats Behind the “Wantedness” Mystique?
If Cole Porter were alive today and working in publishing, odds are that the song would’ve gone like this: “What is this thing called…wantedness?” Actually, the vaunted quality of “wantedness” is probably even harder to define than love (and a lot less fun). As we’re all too aware, this word has become a kind of mantra within the advertising community, particularly during the last few years. Putting aside the dubious English of this coinage, there are two central mysteries relating to wantedness: One, it seems to be applied pretty much exclusively to magazines; and two, even the media buyers who constantly employ it seem to have little idea what the heck it really means.
