Evolution of Advertising

Evolution of Advertising

Word-of-mouth advertising was the most popular kind of advertising in the past. Archaeologists have discovered a 3000 BC clay tablet from Babylonia that bears the inscriptions of three tradespeople: an ointment merchant, a scribe, and a shoemaker. In the remains of Pompeii, political campaign placards and commercial messages have been discovered. Small shops once had inscriptions on the walls near the entrance informing passersby about the goods they could buy.

Egyptians made wall posters and sales messages out of papyrus. One such document bearing notices offering incentives for the return of runaway slaves was discovered among the ruins of Thebes. Papyrus was often used for lost-and-found advertisements in ancient Greece and Rome. Commercial wall or rock painting is an example of an antiquated outdoor advertising format, which

For instance, Indian rock art dating back to 4000 BC is where the custom of wall paintings originated. A common practise along the heavily trafficked trade routes was for Phoenicians to carve business inscriptions onto noticeable rocks. Town criers, who were hired to wander around the town announcing events and disseminating news, were the other form of advertising that was used in Greece and India.

Advertising thrived as printing advanced in the 15th and 16th centuries, particularly following Johann Gutenberg’s creation of movable type in 1438 AD. The first print advertising in English was a handbill published by William Caxton of in the form of guidelines for clergy guidance during Easter, over 40 years following this creation.

The fast expansion of newspapers that followed was marked by the publication of the first English newspaper, Weekly News of London, in 1622. In 1625, the first advertisement was published in an English newspaper. The earliest advertisement in America offered a reward for the apprehension of a thief and originally appeared in the Boston Newsletter in 1704. Weekly newspapers known as “mercuries,” which began to be published in England in the 17th century, used to contain a lot of advertisements. The majority of these advertisements took the form of announcements from importers of new goods to the country, such as coffee in 1652, chocolate in 1657, and tea the following year.

The purpose of the other print advertisements was to promote books, which were becoming more and more accessible.

Throughout the 19th century, as the economy increased, so did the demand for advertising. Classified advertising gained popularity in the US and began to cover newspaper pages with tiny print advertisements hawking a wide range of products. Due to the popularity of this type of advertising, mail-order catalogs—like the Sears Catalog, which was formerly known as the “Farmer’s Bible”—grew in number.

Around 1400 newspapers were represented by Volney Palmer, who founded the first advertising agency in Philadelphia in 1843. He used to offer no client creative or account planning services; he only sold space to advertisements. However, during the 20th century, agencies began to assume accountability for the content as well as being.

The Early years of Advertising in America:

1. 1843: Volney B. Palmer opens the first American advertising agency, in Philadelphia.
2. 1852: First advertisement for Smith Brother’s Cough Candy (drops) appears in a Poughkeepsie, New York paper – the two brothers in the illustration are named “Trade” and “Mark.”
3. 1856: Mathew Brady advertises his services of “photographs, ambrotypes and daguerreotypes” in the New York Herald paper. His inventive use of type in the ad goes against the newspaper industry standard of all-agate and all same-size type used for advertisements in the papers.
4. 1856: Robert Bonner is the first to run a full-page ad in a paper, advertising his own literary paper, the New York Ledger.
5. 1861: There are twenty advertising agencies in New York City.
6. 1864: William James Carlton begins selling advertising space in newspapers, founding the agency that later became the J. Walter Thompson Company, the oldest American advertising agency in continuous existence.
7. 1865: George P. Rowell and his friend Horace Dodd open their advertising agency in Boston.
8. 1867: Lord & Taylor is the first company to use double-column advertising in newspapers.
9. 1869: N. W. Ayer and Sons advertising agency is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the following year begins advertising its own agency in both general and trade publications.
10. 1869: E. C. Allan starts the People’s Literary Companion, marking the beginning of the “mail­order” periodical.
11. 1869: The first advertisement for Sapolio soap is published.
12. 1869: George P. Rowell issues the first Rowell’s American Newspaper Directory, providing advertisers with information on the estimated circulation of papers and thus helping to standardize value for space in advertising.
13. 1860s – Advertising begins to appear in nationally distributed monthly magazines.
14. 1870 – 5,091 newspapers are in circulation, compared to 715 in 1830.
15. 1872 – Montgomery Ward begins mail order business with the issue of its first catalog.
16. 1879 – John Wanamaker places the first whole-page newspaper advertisement by an American department store.
17. 1870s – Charles E. Hires begins advertising Hires Root Beer in the Philadelphia Ledger, expanding over the next two decades into national magazines.
18. 1870s – $1 million dollars is spent annually advertising Lydia Pinkham’s Pink Pills.
19. 1870s – Louis Prang, a lithographer and printer, develops the idea of mass-producing small “trade cards” that could be adapted to the needs of individual advertisers at low cost. Thread companies, such as Clark’s O.N.T., are among the first to begin nationwide distribution of advertising trade cards.
20. 1870s – In response to the high volume of outdoor advertising (including posters and signs painted on rocks, buildings and barns) in cities and rural areas, several states begin to impose limitations to protect natural scenery from sign painters.
21. 1880 – John Wanamaker hires John E. Powers, who brings a fresh style to advertising – an honest, direct and fresh appeal emphasizing the style, elegance, comfort and luxury of products. Powers is later called “the father of honest advertising.”
22. 1886 – Sears, Roebuck & Company begins mail-order business.
23. 1880s – Illustrated trade cards reach the height of their popularity, not only with advertisers but also with the American public, which becomes remarkably interested in collecting them.
24. 1890 – J. Walter Thompson Company’s billings total over one million dollars.
25. 1891 – The precursor organization to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) is created under the name Associated Bill Posters Association of United States and Canada. OAAA is not used as the organizational name until 1925.
26. 1891 – Batten and Co. advertising agency is founded by George Batten in New York, merging with another agency in 1928 to form Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborne (BBDO).
27. 1891 – Nathan Fowler, in Advertising Age, recommends that because women make most of the purchasing decisions of their household, manufacturers would do well to direct their advertising messages to them.
28. 1900 – 1920
29. 1902 – Packard begins use of the long-lasting slogan “Ask the man who owns one.”
30. 1902 – Unilever hires the J. Walter Thompson Company for advertising Lifebuoy Soap and later Lux and other products in America. Unilever is still with J. Walter Thompson and represents the oldest client relationship in the advertising industry.
31. 1904 – Cigarette coupons are first used as a draw for a new chain of tobacco stores.
32. 1914 – The first full-length feature comedy motion picture, Tillie’s Punctured Romance, stars Marie Dresser, Mabel Normand, and newcomer Charlie Chaplin.
33. 1917 – A massive advertising campaign for Lucky Strike tobacco gets underway, employing the slogan “It’s Toasted.”
34. 1917 – The American Association of Advertising Agencies is formed.

Advertising changed dramatically in the 1960s, becoming more contemporary and scientific while allowing creativity to run wild and creating eye-catching, surprising messages that appealed to consumers’ visual sense. The Volkswagen advertising campaign, with catchphrases like “Think Small” and “Lemon,” helped to define the current advertising industry by endorsing a “position” or “unique selling proposition” that aims to conjure up a certain notion in the minds of readers or viewers for each company.

MTV in particular was introduced on cable television in the late 1980s and early 1990s. MTV introduced a new kind of advertising by being the first to conceptualise the music video; now, instead of being an afterthought or byproduct, the customer tunes in specifically for the advertisement. As the use of cable (and eventually satellite) television increased

Internet marketing gave advertisers new opportunities and sparked the 1990s “dot-com” boom. Entire companies provided everything from discounts to free Internet access, all based only on advertisement income. Google, a search engine, changed internet advertising at the beginning of the twenty-first century by prioritising discreet, contextually relevant advertisements that aim to assist consumers rather than overwhelm them. This has sparked a wave of parallel initiatives and an expanding trend in interactive advertising.

Despite significant changes in the media, the proportion of advertising spending to GDP has not moved much. For instance, in 1925 the primary forms of advertising in the United States were outdoor posters, streetcar signs, periodicals, and newspapers. The amount spent on advertising relative to the US GDP was around

A recent advertising innovation is “guerrilla promotions”, which involve unusual approaches such as staged encounters in public places, giveaways of products such as cars that are covered with brand messages, and interactive advertising where the viewer can respond to become part of the advertising message. This reflects an increasing trend of interactive and “embedded” ads, such as via product placement, having consumers vote through text messages, and various innovations utilizing social networking sites such as MySpace and Orkut.

Pears Soap is one of the early success stories in advertising. After marrying into the well-known soap manufacturing family, Thomas Barratt realised that their only chance of survival was if they become more active in promoting their goods. He started a series of advertisements with adorable kids that solidly cemented the brand to the principles it upholds today. He utilised what are regarded as “fine art” photos to suggest the simplicity, quality, and purity of his brand—that is, its absence of commercialism (cherubic children). He is frequently credited with founding the contemporary advertising industry.

But advertising had not become a recognised institution with its own methods of operation until the establishment of advertising firms in the later half of the nineteenth century.. They sold themselves as experts in communication to their clients  who were then left to get on with the business of manufacturing.

Advertising witnessed significant advancements during World War I as propaganda was employed by governments on both sides. Propaganda advertising was employed by the British to urge both Americans to enlist and their own countrymen to fight. Hitler, a well regarded political analyst, came to the conclusion (in Mein Kampf) that Germany had lost the war because it had lost the propaganda war; he did not repeat the same error when it came to his turn. Additional effects of World War I were increasing industrial mechanisation and associated expenses that had to be covered. This led to a drive to generate consumer demand, which dominated advertising starting in the 1920s.

Using radio and, to a far greater degree, film, advertising swiftly seized upon the new mass media of the early twentieth century to spread commercial messages. Here is a link to listen to some vintage radio advertisements (RealPlayer required). This was starting to show signs of success in the 1920s, but the Wall Street crash ended widespread affluence, and the Great Depression and World War II meant that consumers did not really have enough disposable income until the 1950s to really respond to the message of need creation that advertisers were trying to convey..

The typical citizen experienced postwar luxury throughout the 1950s, but there was also an abundance of material commodities that needed to be produced. The television was not the least of these. It soon rose to the top of the consumer property market in America, and no house could be complete without one. Advertisers trailed behind the sets, spreading illusions of a better life through purchases made across the hearthrug in millions of homes throughout America.

With government-run broadcasting, the UK and Europe lagged behind the US by about ten years when it came to permitting commercial TV stations to air. They also continue to impose stricter regulations on advertising and the degree of editorial influence that advertisers are allowed to have over a show. This is the outcome of a few significant scandals in the.

NBC executive Sylvester Weaver, dissatisfied with the moral ambiguity of the single-sponsor show, devised the concept of selling sponsors discrete, short blocks of broadcast time rather than entire shows. One show’s content would no longer be under the sole control of a single sponsor as other advertisers might purchase time inside it, much like in a print magazine. Because it made advertising accessible to a wide range of marketers, this became known as the magazine concept, or participation advertising.