Lecture 10 A History of Advertising

Lecture 10 A History of Advertising
1st of February 2012


The dictionaries definition of advertising is integration of art and technology.


Large scale colour printing technology developed in 19th Century. which lead to the start of adverts such as those by the Lever Brothers.

This Advertising boom aided the abolishment of taxes on newspapers in 1885.

In the 1860's cereal companies released they could now print, fold and fill cardboard boxes mechanically.

Pictorial ads in 1880's.By 1890's technology enabled contemporary printings to be reproduced.

In the late 19th Century ad agencies sold space in newspapers for commission.First soap opera on the radio in the 1930's.

Bill Bernbach (1911-1982) was the first to combine copywriters and art directors.

William Hesketh Lever (1851-1925)

• Founder of Lever Bros with James Darcy, 1885.
• Born in 1851, year of crystal palace exhibition.
• He spent £2 million in the first two decades of making soap.
• In 1899 purchased Philadelphia soap brand and others like it.
• First world wide ECD. Overseer of advertising, constantly researching and studying.
• Identified innovative spaces for advertising, like open doors at train stations.

Lever Bros

• Lever was the first to prepackage soap and they ran their first ad in the 1890's.
• The advertising transformed the company from local manufacturer to worldwide company.
• There advertising was so successful because of the reproduction of images and the connection with the copy. They selected and presented artworks that communicated more powerfully the desired message and told it in an innovative way, which made it distinct from advertising that had gone before. Emotional strategy was also a common technique.
• Target audience women. High feeling and emotive, mother daughter bond.
• Organised exciting events like the opening of new offices in Geneva in 1889, where a washing competition was organised with the people in the area on a national holiday.
• Innovative ideas of getting the consumer to buy the product consecutively. For example, saving coupons to receive an advert print and in the 1890's capturing the children to receive paper dolls with interchangeable outfits.
• Received royal endorsement in 1892, democratisation.
• 20th Century Lever used different international agencies.
• Successful global campaign, consumers didn't just want the product they needed it. Lever now has 900 brands