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We’re so lucky working in the advertising industry: Holiday season doesn’t end January 1st. It ends with Super Sunday.

This week we were inundated with information about the 30-second spots that brands will run on Sunday, why they joined the party this year, why they didn’t, we were treated to hype about the Social Bowl, ROI’s were analyzed (and nobody had a good answer) – my head hurts.

And, as usual, all this talk is just a waste of time.

The self-celebration of the ad industry feels like the old myth of Potemkin villages: According to the myth, there were fake settlements purportedly erected at the direction of Russian minister Grigory Potyomkin to fool Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea in 1787. According to this story, Potyomkin, who led the Crimean military campign, had hollow facades of villages constructed along the desolate banks of the Dnieper river in order to impress the monarch and her travel party.

And, so we drag out the hollow facades of 30-second spots, put some new paint on (Social Bowl) and continue to fool ourselves that the old idea of Super Bowl ads still work in a new marketing reality. That’s what happens when oversized budgets and egos collide with denial of reality and an unlimited supply of Kool-Aid.

I’m glad when our holiday seasons wraps up on Tuesday. We can stop celebrating rituals of the past. And concentrate on creating the future of advertising.