History of Advertising

By bcosby
  • 1441

    Gutenberg Printing Press Created

    Gutenberg Movable Printing Press was created in 1441. This allowed the mass production of literacy, such as books and newspapers.

  • First Newspaper Printed in US

    The first newspaper was printed in the US. It was called the Boston News-Letter, and announced a new house for sale.

  • Benjamin Franklin Begins Advertising

    Benjamin Franklin founded his newspaper, the Philadelphia Gazette in 1729. His newspaper had a full page of advertisements.

  • New York Sun

    The New York Sun was founded by Benjamin Day. It is considered the first successful "penny newspaper", because it revolutionized distribution. They sold newspapers to hundreds of young boys, who then sold their newspapers on the street.

  • New York Sun Circulation

    The New York Sun newspaper reached 30,000 newspapers in circulation

  • First Advertising Agency Opened

    In Philadelphia a man named Volney Palmer created the first Advertising Agency. He was in charge of brokering space for advertisement.

  • Advertising Agent Convention

    In New York there was a convention of advertising agents. A few years after this, James Walter Thompson created the position of "account executive" for himself, and went into the business of general magazine advertising.

  • First Full-Time Retail Advertising Copywriter

    Department store founder John Wanamaker became the first retailer to hire a full-time advertising copywriter. His name was John E. Powers, who is considered the father of modern creative advertising.

  • First "Big Budget" Advertisements

    The first "Big Budget" client spent $11,000 on advertisements for soap.

  • First Registered Trademark

    Coca Cola was given the first registered trademark for their brand. Frank Robinson, who was the company bookkeeper came up with the original idea for the brand.

  • N. W. Ayer Business Department Created

    N. W. Ayer started a "Business Getting" Department in their agency. This department was based on the marketing needs of their clients.

  • First Million Dollar Advertising Client

    The first advertising client to spend one million dollars was Kellogg's Cereal

  • Outdoor Billboard Usage Increases

    In 1916 outdoor billboard ads were mostly controlled by a group of representatives from different agencies. The National Outdoor Advertising Bureau controlled around 75% of all outdoor ads during this time.

  • First Sponsored Radio Show

    The first sponsored radio show was aired in 1923.

  • Other Companies Sponsor Radio Programs

    In 1924, other companies started to sponsor radio programs. This began the era of radio advertisement.

  • Stock Market Crashes

    Advertising revenue plummeted from a high of $3.5 billion. Stock Market revenue only reached $1.5 billion by 1933.

  • Magazine Publishes Over $100 Million in Ads

    The magazine was the most financially successful magazine the country had ever seen, mostly due to ad revenues.

  • Radio Surpasses Magazines

    Radio surpassed magazines as the dominant form of advertising.

  • First Television Ad

    The first ad was broadcasted on TV in 1941. The ad was for a watch, and it lasted for 60 seconds. This ad was broadcasted to 7,500 televisions in New York

  • Color Television

    Televised ads were now in color. Color TV's became very popular during this time.

  • First Woman Led Agency

    Mary Wells became the first woman to head a major advertising agency. During the hight of the Women's Movement, women had a large impact on the world of advertising in America.

  • Congress Bans Cigarette Ads

    Congress banned cigarette advertising on broadcast media. Cigarette companies were restrained from advertising on radio and tv. Companies started to re-channel their ads onto magazines and billboards.

  • Music TV Debuts

    A frantic paced new style of TV advertising tried to emulate music videos that younger people were expecting.

  • Internet Goes Public

    The Internet was brought to 5 million people worldwide. This yet again changed the way ads were broadcasted to the public. Ads now pop up, and become a general nuisance to most computer users. This brought the rise to anti-ad programs, designed to remove unwanted advertisements from the screen.

  • New Digital Era

    Companies started using hyper-targeted campaigns and personalized advertisement experiences towards their audience. Social Media started to become popular around this time, which shaped how advertisements were created, and how the audience interacted with them.

  • Present Day

    Advertisements are now widely used online. From social media, to websites, and even phone games, advertisements are used. Advertisements are now a daily part of our online lives, and only time will tell how advertising changes in the next few decades.