The Evolution of

Advertising

January 26, 2011

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“I know I waste half the money I spend on advertising.
The problem is, I don’t know which half.”

-John Wanamaker, Department Store Pioneer

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Pre-Industrial Age

Beginning of Recorded History to

the Start of the 19th Century

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Merchants hung carved signs in front of their shops.
Most people couldn’t read so merchants used
symbols, i.e. a boot
– 1275: Chinese Industrialized Age
– 1440’s: Gutenberg invented the Printing Press
– Low disposable income
– Town criers

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Industrializing Age

Mid 1700’s

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• Machinery began to replace animals
• Rural, small towns, low income
• People left the farms to work in the city
• Railroads and Steamships
• Advertising was used to inform the
masses about new products
• Large mail-order catalog companies
– Montgomery Ward,
– Sears Roebuck & Co. (Retailers)

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• Innovative manufacturers use mass-media as a
way to stimulate demand for their products.

• 1841, Volney B. Palmer set up an “agency” in

Philadelphia. He contracted with newspapers to
receive discounts on newspaper space.

• Birth of Mass Consumption

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 Industrial Age

20th Century – 1970’s

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• The development of new, inexpensive brands of
consumer luxury and convenience goods.
• Focus changed from production to
sales orientation
• New product development
– Wrigley Gum
– Coco-Cola
– Jell-O
– Kellogg's
– Campbell’s Soup

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• 1929, The Great Depression
and advertising expenditure
collapsed.

• Daniel Starch, A.C. Nielsen and George Gallup

founded research companies to study consumer
attitudes and behavior.

• Product Distinction

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Post-Industrial Age
Around 1980

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• The period of cataclysmic change. People
became aware of the sensitive environment
in which we live.
– Dependence on vital natural resources
– Refrain from using washers and dryers
– Reduce electrical consumption on “HOT” days
(California)
– Used as a tool against political opponents

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Advertising Time Capsule

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• 1650: First newspaper ad offers reward for stolen horse.

• 1729: Ben Franklin is first to use “white space”and

illustration in ads.

• 1844: First magazine ad runs.

• 1869: First Ad Agency, N.W. Ayer & Son

• 1900: Psychologists study the attention getting and

persuasive qualities of advertising.

• 1905: First National Ad Campaign for the “Gillette Safety

Razor”

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• 1911: First Truth in Advertising Codes (American
Advertising Federation)
• 1920: Albert Lasker – Full Color Magazine Ads and
“Father of Modern Advertising”

• 1924: NW Ayer produced the first company sponsored

radio broadcast for “Eveready”

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• 1930: Advertising Age Magazine is founded.

• 1946: America has 12 TV stations broadcasting to the

public.
• 1948: 46 TV stations are on the air.
• 1950: First political ads are used (Governor Dewey of NY)

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• 1984: The Internet (Government controlled since 1973) is
turned over to the private sector.

• 2000: The Internet becomes the fastest growing new ad

medium with 400 million users.

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Early Advertising
• Volney B Palmer becomes first advertising agent
• N.W. Ayer introduced first “full service” advertising
agency and creates first campaign for Uneeda Biscuit for
the National Biscuit Company (NABISCO)

• Newspaper, magazine, religious press used

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Consolidation and Growth
(20th Century: 1900 to 1965)

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Consolidation and Growth
(20th Century: 1900 to 1965)
• Economics:
– More jobs and disposable income
– Poor labor conditions and business practices lead to
self-examination and regulation
• Federal Trade Commission (1914)
• Federal Communication Commission (1934)
• Wheeler-Lea Amendment to FTC (1938)
• Food & Drug Administration (1938)
– Prosperity  World Wars  Prosperity

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Consolidation and Growth
(20th Century: 1900 to 1965)
• Social: Urbanization and improved education
system
• Technology:
– Automobiles and airplanes
– First commercial radio broadcast:
WEAF, New York (1922)
– First television program (1941)
• First color TV (1955)

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 Consolidation and Growth
(20th Century: 1900 to 1965)
• Advertising
– American Association of Advertising Agencies (1917)
– Advertising defined as “Salesmanship in Print” (1920s)
– Creative: Color printing, television
– Radio Soap Operas
– Marketing Research
• Gallup
• Starch

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Early 1950’s TV

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Color 1955
• TV becomes second largest medium

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Market Segmentation

• In the beginning, all products talked about

Quality, Variety, and Convenience

All things to all people

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Market Segmentation

• Marketers search for unique

groups of people whose needs
could be addressed through more
specialized products.

• (Shift from Product Feature to

Brand Image and Personality)

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Positioning Strategy/Brand Separation

Volkswagen “Think Small”

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Positioning Strategy/Brand Separation

7-Up The “Uncola”

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Positioning Strategy/Brand Separation

Avis “We Try Harder”

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Brand Promise
Luxury

Performance

Safety

Freedom

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Principles of Free Economics
Our economy is based on the notion of competition
– Self Interest
• People tend to act in their own self-interest (more-for-less)
– Complete Information
• What products are available, quality, price, etc.
– Many Buyers and Sellers
• If a company doesn’t meet the consumers need, they’ll go
elsewhere
– Absence of Externalities
• Social costs - consumption of a product may benefit or harm
(pollution, tobacco, alcohol)

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Notables in the Business

• Raymond Rubicam • Bill Bernbach

• Rosser Reeves • David Ogilvy
• Leo Burnett • Jay Chiat

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 Raymond Rubicam
• Founded Young & Rubicam with
James Orr Young

• Credited with the “soft sell” approach

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 Rosser Reeves
• Premier Creative Director for Ted
Bates Agency
• Credited for the “Unique Selling
Proposition”
– Features that differentiate a product
from its competitors.

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 Leo Burnett
» Founded agency carrying his name in
Chicago, IL in 1935

• Credited for invention of brand icons

(e.g., Tony the Tiger; the Marlboro Man)
and inherent drama in ads

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 Bill Bernbach
• Founded agency in Manhattan with
Ned Doyle and Maxwell Dane in 1949 (DDB).

• Credited for advocacy of advertising as art and unique

presentation (e.g., Volkswagen Beetle).
• Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion is an
art.

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 David Ogilvy
• Founded agency in New
York in 1948 under its original name
Hewitt, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather

• Credited with fact-based long copy, the merging of hard

and soft-sell approaches, and creation of brand
personality.

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Jay Chiat

• TBWA/Chiat/Day
• Super Bowl® Commercials
• Apple, Visa, Absolut, Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi

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Other Notables
• Mary Wells Lawrence
– First female founder of an advertising agency (1966)

• Barbara Gardner Proctor

– Founder of the first major agency owned and operated by an
African-American woman (1970’s)

• Lionel Sosa, Hector & Norma Orci and Victor Ornelas

– Founded major Hispanic agencies in the 1980’s
– Check out Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA)

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Why Advertising?
• Serves social needs
– United Way, Literacy, Red Cross
• Lowers overall cost of sales
• Information vehicle
– Makes us aware of products and services
• Entertainment
– Post SuperBowl®, Water Cooler
• Evolving into a 2-way communication vehicle

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Top 10 Ad Icons of the Century

1. The Marlboro Man

2. Ronald McDonald

3. The Green Giant

4. Betty Crocker

5. The Energizer Bunny

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Top Ad Icons of the Century

6. Pillsbury Doughboy

7. Aunt Jemima

8. The Michelin Man

9. Tony the Tiger

10. Elsie

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Honorable Mentions
• Look Ma, no cavities!
– (Crest toothpaste)

• Let your fingers do the walking

– (Yellow Pages)

• Loose lips sink ships

– (public service)

• M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand

– (M&M candies)

• We bring good things to life

– (General Electric)

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