Thursday, July 16, 2020 – Advertising

I walked by this truck today and thought the advertising was very clever. Who likes heavy lifting? No one. It really does stink. So, who better to complete the task than someone named Skunky? A memorable name, if there ever was one — plus it rhymes with junk. The allure is unmistakable.

Advertising as a percent of GDP in the U.S.

According to Wikipedia, the history of advertising can be traced to ancient civilizations. It became a major force in capitalist economies in the mid-19th century, based primarily on newspapers and magazines. In the 20th century, advertising grew rapidly with new technologies such as direct mail, radio, television, the internet and mobile devices. Between 1919 and 2007 advertising averaged 2.2 percent of the gross domestic product or GDP in the United States.

Pre-modern history

Egyptians used papyrus to make sales messages and wall posters. Commercial messages and political campaign displays have been found in the ruins of Pompeii and Arabia. Lost and found advertising on papyrus was common in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Wall or rock painting for commercial advertising is another manifestation of an ancient advertising form, which is present to this day in many parts of Asia, Africa and South America. The tradition of wall painting can be traced back to Indian rock art paintings that date back to 4000 BCE.

Bronze plate for printing an ad for Liu needle shop

In ancient China, the earliest advertising known was oral, as recorded in the Classic of Poetry (11th to 7th centuries BCE) of bamboo flutes played to sell candy. Advertisement usually takes in the form of calligraphic signboards and inked papers. A copper printing plate dated back to the Song dynasty used to print posters in the form of a square sheet of paper with a rabbit logo with "Jinan Liu's Fine Needle Shop" and "We buy high quality steel rods and make fine quality needles, to be ready for use at home in no time" written above and below. It is considered the world's earliest identified printed advertising medium.

In Europe, as the towns and cities of the Middle Ages began to grow, and the general populace was unable to read, instead of signs that read "cobbler," "miller," "tailor" or "blacksmith," they would use an image associated with their trade such as a boot, a suit, a hat, a clock, a diamond, a horseshoe, a candle or even a bag of flour. Fruits and vegetables were sold in the city square from the backs of carts and wagons, and their proprietors used street callers or town criers to announce their whereabouts for the convenience of the customers. The first compilation of such advertisements was gathered in Street Cries of Paris, a 13th-century poem by Guillaume de la Villeneuve.

Three major forms of advertisement existed during the pre-printing period before the 15th-century; those forms were trademarks — moon, stars etc., town criers and sign boards.

· Trademarks: The practice of attaching seals or marks to products was widespread in antiquity. Around 4,000 years ago, producers began by attaching simple stone seals to products which, over time, were transformed into clay seals bearing impressed images, often associated with the producer's personal identity. Some of the earliest use of maker's marks — dating to about 1300 BCE — have been found in India. By the medieval period, hallmarks were applied to high-value goods such as precious metals, and assayers were appointed by governments to administer the system and ensure product quality.

According to Robert Thom’s Dec. 11, 2014 article “Terra Sigillata, an Early ‘Trademarked’ Drug” in The Hanneman Archive, one of the first therapeutic agents to bear a trademark was Terra Sigillata (Sealed Earth), a clay tablet originating on the Mediterranean island of Lemnos before 500 B.C. One day each year clay was dug from a pit on a Lemnian hillside in the presence of governmental and religious dignitaries. Washed, refined and rolled to a mass of proper thickness, the clay was formed into pastilles and impressed with an official seal by priestesses, then sun-dried. The tablets were then widely distributed commercially.

· Town criers: In ancient towns and cities, where most citizens were illiterate, town criers were appointed to call out official announcements and general news. Before long, private individuals began to employ public criers to act as auctioneers. At the same time, itinerant hawkers developed a system of street cries to promote their goods and services. These street cries provided an essential public service before the advent of mass media.

· Sign-boards: The use of commercial signage has a very ancient history. Retail signage and promotional signs appear to have developed independently in the East and the West. In antiquity, the ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks were known to use signage for shop fronts as well as to announce public events such as market days. China also exhibited a rich history of early retail signage systems. In medieval Britain and France and much of Europe, innkeepers were compelled to erect a sign-board The practice of using signs spread to other types of commercial establishments throughout the Middle Ages. Sign-boards applied to inns and taverns have survived into contemporary times across Britain and much of Europe.

16th – 18th centuries

Modern advertising began to take shape with the advent of newspapers and magazines in the 16th and 17th centuries. The very first weekly gazettes appeared in Venice in the early 16th century. From there, the concept of a weekly publication spread to Italy, Germany and Holland. In Britain, the first weeklies appeared in the 1620s, and its first daily newspaper was The Daily Courant published from 1702 to 1735. Almost from the outset, newspapers carried advertising to defray the cost of printing and distribution. The earliest commercial advertisements were for books and quack medicines, but by the 1650s, the variety of products being advertised had increased markedly.

Advances in printing allowed retailers and manufacturers to print handbills and trade cards. For example, Jonathon Holder, a London haberdasher in the 1670s, gave every customer a printed list of his stock with the prices affixed. At the time, Holder's innovation was seen as a "dangerous practice" and an unnecessary expense for retailers. The earliest trade cards were not cards at all, instead they were printed on paper and did not include illustrations. By the 18th century, however, they were printed on the more substantial card and typically bore the tradesmen's name and address and — before street numbering was in common use — often included a long-winded set of directions on how to locate the store or premises. With the advent of commercial engraving and lithography, illustrations became a standard feature of even the most humble trade card. Eventually trade cards evolved into business cards, which are still in use today.

19th century

In June 1836, Émile de Girardin editor of the Paris newspaper La Presse was the first to rely on paid advertising to lower its price, extend its readership and increase its profitability. His formula was soon copied by all titles.

Early print advertisements were used mainly to promote books and newspapers, which became increasingly affordable with advances in the printing press; and medicines, which were increasingly sought after as modern people rejected traditional cures. However, false advertising and "quackery" became common. British newspapers in the 1850s and 1860s appealed to the increasingly affluent middle-class that sought out a variety of new products. The advertisements announced new health remedies as well as fresh foods and beverages. The latest London fashions were featured in the regional press. The availability of repeated advertising permitted manufacturers to develop nationally known brand names that had a much stronger appeal than generic products.

A leadership position in British advertising was held by Cope Bros & Co. tobacco company, founded in Liverpool in 1848 by Thomas and George Cope. Smoking, of course, had been common for centuries, but the innovations consisted in brand names, heavy advertising and market segmentation according to class. An innovative appeal was to health consciousness; the ads directed at the middle-class men promised that "smoke not only checks disease but preserves the lungs." A rugged heavy taste was pitched to working men, soldiers and sailors, while "delicately fragrant" was part of the appeal to the upper-class. The packaging was attractive; posters were omnipresent to show that smoking was a normal part of English life. Lobbying was used to undercut the anti-tobacco lobby.

According to Lina D.’s article “33 Powerful and Creative Print Ads That’ll Make You Look Twice” in Bored Panda, below are some examples of creative advertising.

Ecovia: Stop the Violence, Advertising Agency — Terremoto Propaganda, Curitiba, Brazil

Keloptic: Clearer and Cheaper, Advertising Agency — Y&R Paris

Weight Watchers, Advertising Agency — DraftFCB, Germany

Chupa Chups: It’s Sugar Free, Advertising Agency — DDB, Spain

Orion Telescopes, Advertising School — Texas Creative, University of Texas, USA

Pedigree: A Dog Make Your Life Happier. Adopt.

Advertising Agency — AlmapBBDO, São Paulo, Brazil

King Khalib Foundation: Some Things Can’t Be Covered

Advertising Agency — Memac Ogilvy, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Colgate Dental Floss, Advertising Agency — Cerebro Y&R, Panama

Volkswagen: Precision Parking, Advertising Agency — DDB Tribal Berlin, Germany

Moms Demand Action: One Child Is Holding Something That’s Banned in America to Protect Them. Guess Which One.; We ban the game dodgeball because it’s viewed as being too violent. Why not assault weapons?

Advertising Agency — Grey, Toronto, Canada