ANCIENT AND MODERN
THE WONDERFUL WORLD of advertising, so besotted with the adjective "new", is anything but new and has been found from as far back as the third century BC, in Babylonia. That discovery was of event details painted on walls. An early outdoor advert excavated in Rome offered property for rent. A relic from Pompeii called the attention of travellers to the eating, drinking and bedding facilities of a nearby tavern, the latter with pre-sleep options.
In Britain’s medieval and largely illiterate times, town criers read public notices aloud. As a lucrative sideline, they shouted the praises of produce from local merchants. Later, criers became familiar sights on the streets of American colonial settlements. From both sides of the Atlantic, these were the forerunners of the modern voice-overs for commercials.
The emergence of printed advertising hinged on the invention of the movable-typeface printing press in the mid-fifteenth century. This breakthrough facilitated the mass distribution of posters and leaflets.
The first printed advertisement that we know about was in English, dated 1472. It was a leaflet advertising a new prayer book. Published in London, the first titled newspaper, ‘Corante’, appeared in 1621; the oldest surviving newspaper, ‘Berrow’s Worcester Journal’, traces its history back to 1690; the first newspaper advert is thought to have appeared in the American ‘Boston NewsLetter’ of 1704, seeking a buyer for real estate; and ‘The Times’ in London published its first classified advert in 1867.
By the nineteenth century, newspapers as we recognise them today were evolving. There were low cover prices (the penny press), large circulations and mass-interest content. Satire, caricature and gossip were interlaced with news, opinion and advertising.
ADVERTISING AGENCIES
Paid-for adverts assumed significant financial importance. Helping to meet the need, bring on the advertising agency. It is generally agreed that the first agency was founded in London in 1786, owned by William Taylor, and the first American agency started up around 50 years later in Pennsylvania, when Volney B Palmer set up shop to sell advertising space – and coal.
Agencies such as Taylor’s and Palmer’s were, in effect, sales outlets for the publishers. They bought large amounts of advertising space at discounted rates and resold them to advertisers at higher rates. They bought wholesale and sold retail. Publishers encouraged would-be advertisers to use agents, thereby sidestepping any need to have direct sales forces.
Advertising blossomed from the late nineteenth century onwards. The period witnessed the emergence of packaged goods, rather than the hitherto trading world of merchants and wholesalers. What manufacturers could wrap up and label, they could brand and advertise for sale, anywhere.
As we moved into the last century, many advertising agencies had turned creative. Then as now, they were intermediaries between the mass media and advertisers. But whereas they had been committed to selling media space, now they were promoters of their clients’ products, using inventive advertising as the vehicle.
SOAPS
A dramatic change came with the advent of broadcasting. By the end of the 1920s American advertisers were making their own radio programmes and sponsoring others. Soap companies were particularly active. The early 1930s ushered in many radio drama series that were known as “soaps” after their sponsors.
By the 1950s in the UK, there was a surge in viewing figures, fuelled by the coronation of young Princess Elizabeth. Through later ITV and beyond, advertisers would be able to push their products as never before.
Cinema, through-the-letterbox and outdoor advertising in its many forms had been added to the mix, while the print media continued to flourish. But it was mega-bucks TV that would dominate for decades.
Undoubtedly, the Internet has brought huge changes to the face of advertising yet again, as people are influenced by, and purchase, via their computers, tablets and phones. Phenomena such as Amazon and eBay have revolutionised marketplace processes.
Whether online or more traditional, the increasing cost of acquiring new customers is forcing advertisers to hold on to existing business by tailoring products, services and messages to meet individual needs: and to improve quality and after-market support.
Consequently, just as advertising is continuing to persuade consumers, it has started to help them towards what they really want, at long last.
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