Advertising Spending (US) 1. 1880: $104 million; 1919: $1.4 billion 2. Ad share of newspaper-mag revenue 1.1880: 44% ; 1920: 66% 3. Number of US Daily.

Advertising Spending (US)Advertising Spending (US)1. 1880: $104 million; 1919: $1.4

billion2. Ad share of newspaper-mag

revenue 1. 1880: 44% ; 1920: 66%

3. Number of US Daily Newspapers:1. 1854: 254 2. 1900: 2,226

4. How advertise in so many local papers?

23-04-19 MIT3214 1

Advertising AgentsAdvertising Agents

George P. Rowell New England,

1865- 1. line rates2. wholesaler of white

space 1. “space jobber”2. bulk buy for

lowest price

23-04-19 MIT3214 2

Space JobbersSpace Jobbers1. Lord & Thomas

1. religious publications

2. J. Walter Thompson

1. magazines

2. exclusive access deals

3. “closed” contracts

4. Aligned with newspapers

5. Rebates, etc., if sell space full price

6. Buy space only w/ affiliated papers

23-04-19 MIT3214 3

A.J. Ayer (N.W. Ayer A.J. Ayer (N.W. Ayer && Son) Son)

1. modern agency2. “open” contract

(1875)3. advertiser-oriented

service 4. commission system

23-04-19 MIT3214 4

Ad Agent FunctionsAd Agent Functions1. knowledge of newspaper/periodical market2. lowest prices (rate card cutting)3. Media Buying:

1. researchers2. space-buyers3. checkers

23-04-19 MIT3214 5

Ad Agent FunctionsAd Agent Functions1. Copywriting: little in late 1880s

1. advertisers “knew best” 2. freelance ‘advertising specialists’

2. Illustration 1. print shops/commercial artists

23-04-19 MIT3214 6

Full Service Agency Full Service Agency (Today)(Today)1. Media Buying (Media Research)2. Copywriting/Art Direction3. Market/Consumer Research4. (Public Relations, Govt

Relations, etc)

23-04-19 MIT3214 7

Ayer & Son: Full Service Ayer & Son: Full Service AgencyAgency

1. American Newspaper Annual 1880

2. 1900: 160 employees/12 depts

3. Account executives 1. copywriters, art directors

4. Clients: Hires Root Beer, Procter & Gamble

5. Legitimacy

6. Remedial market research

23-04-19 MIT3214 8

SummarySummary1. Patent Medicines & Problem of Body/Mind

1. Modern Advertising: Symbolism/Market Data

2. Endurance of Patent Medicine Tradition2. P.T. Barnum3. Corporate Advertisers (Consumer Goods)

Kellogg’s, 4. Socio-Economic Change

1. Second Industrial Revolution2. Retailer-Manufacturer Power Struggle

5. Advertising Agents6. Full-Service Ad Agency

23-04-19 MIT3214 9

Advertising History 1880s-Advertising History 1880s-1930s 1930s

23-04-19 MIT3214 10

Ad Spending (US newspapers/mags)Ad Spending (US newspapers/mags)

1880: $39 mil1900: $95 mil1910: $202 mil1920: $528 mil(13-fold increase)

23-04-19 MIT3214 11

Advertising –Chain of Advertising –Chain of CommandCommand

1. 1860s: Publisher>Agent>Advertiser>Consumer

2. ‘Modern’ (Today) Advertiser-

client>Agency> Media/Publisher>Consumer

23-04-19 MIT3214 12

““Science” of AdvertisingScience” of Advertising

How demonstrate Ad’s effectiveness?

Tension: ◦ Science-Art◦ Research-Creative

23-04-19 MIT3214 13

Copywriting: Reason Why Copywriting: Reason Why

1. John E. Powers (1890s) 2. Approach:

1. informative, rational, straightforward

3. Conscious deliberation and reason

4. “state firmly what the product does and how it will benefit the buyer.”

23-04-19 MIT3214 14

Reason WhyReason Why

plain speech/direct reader

conversational styleemulate personal

rapport w/shopkeeperfrom focus on product

to userToday’s Examples?

23-04-19 MIT3214 15

Psychology and AdvertisingPsychology and Advertising1. Outgrowth of

philosophy, late 1800s

2. mental processes, idea formation, behavior

3. empirical approach to know mind/brain

4. influence of science/medicine

23-04-19 MIT3214 16

Order-of-Merit Order-of-Merit TechniqueTechniqueHarlow Gale,

(psychologist 1890s)

1. “what made ad noticeable?

2. Experiments: 1. Eye tracking2. buy fictional

brands 3. Subjects ‘order-of-

merit’ preference4. “Idealist” vs.

behaviorist

23-04-19 MIT3214 17

Order-of-Merit Order-of-Merit (Behaviorist)(Behaviorist)1. H.L. Hollingworth

(1910s/20s)2. compare order-of-

merit rankings w/actual sales

3. “general laws” for copywriting

4. 1920s, dozens of studies

23-04-19 MIT3214 18

Theory of SuggestionTheory of Suggestion

1. Walter Dill Scott2. The Theory of

Advertising (1904)3. consumer: non-

rational, suggestible to power of copywriter

4. persuasive techniques not information

5. ad aesthetics

23-04-19 MIT3214 19

Scott/SuggestionScott/Suggestion

1. Women as more suggestible

2. 1920s: women --80% of consumption

3. Male advertisers & “emotional” women consumers

4. “irrational” women/ social prejudice

23-04-19 MIT3214 20

John B. WatsonJohn B. Watson

1. J. Walter Thompson1. “University of Advertising”

2. Behavioral psychology to advertising◦ Blind-fold cigarette brand

recognition test

23-04-19 MIT3214 21

Impressionistic Approach Impressionistic Approach (early 1900s)(early 1900s)1. Ernest Elmo Calkins2. appeal to reader imagination 3. beautiful ads penetrate “open

minds”4. colour, sensation, visual

splendor5. read magazines for diversion

23-04-19 MIT3214 22

Aesthetics/ColourAesthetics/Colour

23-04-19 MIT3214 23

Pears Soap (1890s)Pears Soap (1890s)

1. Soap as Commodity2. Thomas J. Barratt3. ”Any fool can make

soap”4. Godliness,

cleanliness, Pears

23-04-19 MIT3214 24

Pears and High ArtPears and High Art

1. John Everett Millais2. “A Child’s World”

(1887)3. “Bubbles”4. “incomplete angels”

23-04-19 MIT3214 25

Pears/”Bubbles”Pears/”Bubbles”

1. Barratt buys painting2. blur art/advertising3. children-innocence-

cleanliness-Pears4. Controversy5. Associative Transfer6. Pears/Middle-brow

Culture

23-04-19 MIT3214 26

Art, Art, Advertising/ConsumerismAdvertising/ConsumerismPop Art (1960s)

◦A. WarholLow CultureHigh Culture

23-04-19 MIT3214 27

Advertising, 1920s/30s Advertising, 1920s/30s (Marchand)(Marchand)

1. Capitalist Realism1. Socialist

Realism2. Ads as Historical

Evidence3. Mirror or

Zerrspiegel

23-04-19 MIT3214 28

Parody (Socialist Realism)Parody (Socialist Realism)

23-04-19 MIT3214 29

Advertising, 1920s/30s Advertising, 1920s/30s (Marchand)(Marchand)Therapeutics of

AdvertisingApostles of

Modernity

23-04-19 MIT3214 30

Advertiser as Wise CounselAdvertiser as Wise Counsel

Listerine:◦ 1920: general

antiseptic $100k profit

◦ 1927 Mouthwash $4 mil profit

◦ new social/medical affliction (“halitosis”)

◦ heavy ad spending

23-04-19 MIT3214 31

ListerineListerine

mini social dramas

dramatic realismvindicates use of

psychologyemotional appeal

over reason

23-04-19 MIT3214 32

Worry Appeal/Scare CopyWorry Appeal/Scare Copy

Great DepressionJob loss fearsExamplesAdvertising during

Recessions?

23-04-19 MIT3214 33

Interwar AdvertisingInterwar AdvertisingSocial Change:

urban/immigrationSocial Adaptation

◦ emotional/personal insecurities

◦ Listerine/’halitosis’◦ apostles of

modernity◦ conformity/

emerging ‘mass society’

23-04-19 MIT3214 34