Editor's note: This article appeared in the July 30, 2009, edition of Quirk's e-newsletter.

In addressing the economic crisis, one type of advertising stands out from the rest: value propositioning. Three in five advertisers say they are using a value proposition strategy (promoting sales, coupons and discounts), and almost 57 percent of consumers say that this strategy is working very well or well to help marketers sell their products or services, according to research from Rochester, N.Y., research company Harris Interactive and networking site LinkedIn, Mountain View, Calif.

The second-most effective advertising strategy is promoting luxuries for less, with 34 percent of consumers saying these types of ads work very well or well in selling products and services. Advertisers, however, have not been quick to catch on. Less than one in five advertisers (18 percent) say they are using a luxuries-for-less strategy.

At the less successful end of the spectrum are empathy and cheerleading. Two in five advertisers are using empathy (suggesting that companies understand what consumers are going through), yet only one-quarter of consumers (24 percent) say empathy works very or somewhat well, and one-third (33 percent) say it does not work at all. Twenty-five percent of advertisers say they are using cheerleading ("We've made it through tough times before, we'll do it again, and we can help you do it."). Almost 38 percent of consumers, however, say that these types of ads do not work at all.