Advertising in a crowded market, 14 years later

1996: Two years before Goolge was founded, while Twitter and Facebook were in elementary school, WIRED Magazine published a couple of stories, Beyond the Banner and Reclaim the Deadzone While the vehicles for these conversations have changed dramatically (replace banner ad and microsite with SEO, blogging, social media) the questions remain the same...what's the best way to connect with potential clients in a crowded market?
The answer is unique to each firm and marketer but the ad on page 23 might offer some clues, the tagline from the previous page reads, "Go through life with less baggage".  Sticking to a core strategy seems to be working for Apple.