The Relationship between Advertising Industry and Media in 20th Century free essay sample

Introduction Advertising is a key for the economy of consumers. Without it, people would face difficulty knowing what services and products are available. Adverting indeed is vital to a prosperous social order. It is also the financial basis of important contemporary mass media (John Vivian, 1997: 315). Advertising performs the dual role of informing and entertaining in the media. It informs us of the products and services that are available for us to buy and use. Along the way, it also entertains us with some amusement, witty, or clever use of words and photos. Media advertising has another vital function. It helps offset the price of the media communication itself to customers. If we didn’t have ads on radio or television, the expense of programming would need to return through taxes, government monies, or sponsorships (Helen Katz, 2003: 5-7). Advertisers know the value of product placement. As the personal media turned into the standard and mass media fragment, advertisers are again trying how they reach consumers. We will write a custom essay sample on The Relationship between Advertising Industry and Media in 20th Century or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page More dollars of total advertising budgets are diverted to more targeted technologies while a smaller percentage will be spent on traditional media. Data mining and personalized electronic approaches are increasingly critical to marketplace success. Researchers and advertisers used data mining process to see what websites a person visits, what media the consumer uses, what did she/he buy and other to uncover economic data and demographic to define and classify prospective customers. Looking out databases for prior purchase information and assumptions concerning spending habits based on each home’s location, provides advertisers with clues on how to focus on specific customers (Peter B. et al, 2007. P. 254). For many decades, the newspaper, magazine, radio and television media have been the main sources for manufacturers to advertise their products (Wilson, James and Wilson, Stan Le Roy. 998. P. 319). In this essay, we are going to find out how has the relationship between media and advertising changed in 20th century? And how both worked together? Our focus will be on radio, television and Internet, because they came to exist in 20th century and had a big influence on the world of advertising. After giving a short history of advertising, we will discuss them one by one. History of Advertising The first advertising was oral, in ancient times used by barkers in the marketplace shouting the wares of merchants. Nowadays some advertisements are still oral. If we tune in television we will hear barkers shouting the stuff of automobile dealers. The history of outdoor advertising can go back to posted notices on papyrus in ancient Egypt for runaway slaves. Notices of runaway slaves and bond servants, with rewards offered, may have been the first written advertising, instead of something for sale. During all the centuries of slavery such notices were posted for the logical reason that these valuable pieces of property did not enjoy their lifes condition (Irving Fang, 1997: 61). Even at this early point in the history, advertisements were of key importance, when it came to informing consumers about new products. Coffee is one of such example; in the Middle East coffee was introduced as a drink for the first time, in the fifteenth century. The quick spread of coffee as both a drink and a pattern of behaviour (coffeehouses became social gathering places) advertising of coffees benefits was taking a huge place in newspapers (Mediaknowall). Advertising agency was another facet of advertising in the late nineteenth century, an American phenomenon which spread to Europe and then all over the world. The notion of agency began earlier in the century in France, where newspaper publishers considered the acceptance of ads directly from advertisers as beneath their dignity. Instead, they retailed space in bulk to contractors who sold the space to those with goods to sell. Later on, this concept was adopted by American agencies (Fang, 1997: 62). Wilson and Le Roy Wilson declare that establishing the first advertising agency goes to Volney Palmer, who started the agency in Philadelphia in 1841. By 1870, however, N. W. Ayer, the Americas oldest ad agency functioning today, began representing advertisers, helping them get the best results for their advertising dollars (1998: 296). In the World War II many civilian firms cut back on their advertising budgets. Others simply changed the content of their ads and instructed consumers how to make their products last until after the war instead of selling their products . The growth of advertising can be described as fantastic from the end of the war in 1945 to the late 1980s. The exchange from a war economy to a consumer economy encouraged a spurt in advertising as manufacturers hurried to get the order for all the goods and services that people had gave up buying because of the war (Joseph R. Dominick, 1990: 366). By the 1950s, advertising in its own right was considered as a profession, not just the remit of newspapermen or poets who were unsuccessful. It draw the attention both men and women who wanted to enjoy using their creativity in order to make some serious cash. Hard-working, hard drinking, unconventional and often amoral, the flannel suited Ad Man became a recognisable archetype, the personification of a new kind of cool (Mediaknowall). The period from 1950 to 1975, saw the incredible increasing 490 percent amount of money which spent on advertising. Also during this period a number of significant developments took place. TV’s growth which was of the most important significant developments as a national advertising medium had an impact on both radio and magazines. Radio became a medium and primarily used by local advertisers. Magazines that designed for particular audiences attracted more advertisers, but general publications (such as Colliers and Look) were unable to compete with TV and finally went under. Also in this period, the consumer became a more powerful force in the Responding marketplace. To increased consumer pressure, during the 1970s the Federal Trade Commission introduced corrective advertising. From 1950 to 1980, direct advertising which was done mostly through the mail, increased by more than 800percent. This increase was due to the growth of computerized mailing lists the expanded use of credit card shopping, and the coming out of the telephone as a marketing tool. Finally, the advertisers have become more stylish in their methods appreciation goes back to the emergence of computers and other electronic data processing devices. (R. Dominick, 1990: 366) Types of media like newspaper, magazine, radio and television were the main sources for manufacturers to advertise their products but that began changing in the 1980s and 1990s. For example, in the 1980s some advertisers like Coca Cola began operating commercials in theaters before showing the coming attraction trailers; the aim was targeting untapped audience of moviegoers. The reaction of clients was not too positive. In a 1988 survey, one-third of the audiences stated that they favored the advertising in movie theaters one-third were opposed to, and one-third didnt care. By1996, a similar survey found that between two-thirds and three-quarters of movie goers only 2 to 3 percent objected the commercials and others all liked it. By increasing the advertising time to follow the lead of European nations was the next step. At that time theater patrons in France could expect to see an average of 20 minutes of advertising before the movies started. And England was running around 7 minutes of commercials in movie houses. During the1990s the traditional media also became concerned as many large department store chains turned to the World Wide Web not only to advertise their products using the Internet for mail orders but also to sell them (Wilson and Le Roy, 1998: 319). Advertising and radio The 1920s was the beginning of radio as an advertising medium. Radio became an attractive vehicle for national advertisers by the rise of network broadcasting. About $27 million was spent on network advertising by 1930, and advertising agencies were responsible of producing the most popular shows of the day. The stock market collapse of 1929 had a terrible effect on the U. S. economy. Total dollars spent on advertising dropped from $2. 8 billion in 1929 to $1. 7 billion in 1935. It would take a decade for the industry to recover (R. Dominick, 1990. P. 366). The rapid growth of radio1920s was a means of free home entertainment, the only cost after the initial purchase of a radio set was to hear such advertising as the jingle. That was no cost at all, to a population suffering the economic effects of the Depression. Prices were not mentioned in radio ads until 1932. Catchy tunes like â€Å"Pepsi cola hits the spot, twelve full thats ounces, a lot † spun around in peoples heads as often as any song on the Hit Parade. Jingles even appeared in outdoor advertisements, such as the famous Burma Shave signs that motorists read, line after line, as they sped along the American highways (Fang, 1997: 64). The Queensboro Realty Company in 1922 for five radio talks that praised the benefits of living in the country paid $300. Immediately after that other companies realized the advertising potential of this system and followed suit. Other stations began to copy arrangement, and broadcasting would be supported by advertising, so the problem of financing radio was solved (R. Dominick, 1990: 178). The idea of broadcasting commercials in 1922 took a little selling. Broadcasters worried about how the government which licensed them, would feel about what Herbert Hoover and after that Secretary of Commerce referred to as being â€Å"drowned in advertising chatter†. Broad casters and advertisers also worried about ads that spread without having control on them or without anyone having any idea about who was getting the message and what effect it was having, or whether any one at all was paying attention. An answer that was comforting came when a commercial for Mineralava cosmetics offered a free photo of actress Marion Davies, who had spoken about How I Make Up for the Movies. † Many requests poured in from listeners. Albert Lasker, an important figure in advertising industry during the first half of the twentieth century, heavily led his agency, Lord Thomas, into radio. Many of the early radio shows were produced by Lasker’s agency including the most popular of all, Amos ‘n’ Andy (Fang, 1997: 64). Reasonably inexpensive, radio lends itself to repeated play of advertisements to drive home a message introduced in more expensive media like television. Nonetheless, radio does not propose any opportunities for the visual display. Radio lends itself to jingles that can contribute to a lasting image. Even though the images listeners create in their minds from audio suggestions can be more effective than those set out visually on television. (Vivian, 1997: 322) Television and advertising Televising Advertising Jingles typified an effort to be creative, to make an ad something more than the notification that goods were for sale. Advertisers acknowledged, before most of the rest of society did, that is to be expected for the public to remember something enjoyable. That helps to explain for people who have seen the same commercial many times sit entranced to watch it again without getting bored. It is also when the program is on why a child who runs off will come back running for the commercial. More thought, cold cash, effort, and energy go into television commercials nowadays than into television programs. (Fang, 1997: 64-65) TVs prospective as an advertising medium wasnt realized until 1948, although J. Walter Thompson agency in 1930 was the one first aired the television commercial. The advertisers name has been carried by many early programs, such as Milton Berles popular Texaco Star Theater the Camel News Caravan and The Hallmark Hall of Fame (which is still on the air today), because there was only for the one sponsor total program. Soon the masses in the United States preferred the Television advertising medium among other adverting medium (Wilson and Le Roy, 1998: 298). Television can offer unmatched impact, as a moving and visual medium, and the rapid growth of both network and local television advertising, far outpacing other media, indicates its success in reaching a diverse mass audience. Drawbacks include the fact that production costs can be high (Vivian, 1997: 322). In the 1980s, a new form of electronic advertising developed: direct-response home shopping services with the development of cable and satellite TV. These cable networks (HSN, QVC, etc. ) sell on sale products directly to consumers, who telephone in their orders to banks of operators. Home-shopping networks pay a percentage of the profits from sales generated in their viewing area to the cable operators, instead of buying air time from these cable operators. This type of direct selling is expected to take on new dimensions when interactive-TV and virtual reality technologies find their position in the marketplace (Wilson and Le Roy, 1998: 298). Vivian states that advertisers were forced by the expense of television time to make their advertisements shorter and shorter. A result is ad clutter, a phenomenon in which advertisements compete against each other and reduce the impact of all of them (1997: 322). 15 second ads started running by all three television networks in 1986, this allowed them to reduce the cost of per ad, and then they could run ads twice more than before, and maintain revenue levels. The 15-second advertisements called â€Å"15s† posed a new creative challenge to the industry: covering a powerful message in half the time and they were still able to sell the product to the consumer. The popularity of 15s started to decline by the early 1990s, and they could only represent 32 percent of the market. (Wilson and Le Roy, 1998: 310) Advertising and Internet Gary Thuerk was the creator of the first spam email advertisement ever to hit the inbox, also known as the father of spam, not a very inspiring title (â€Å"The History of Online Advertising†). The earliest documented junk e-mailing was written May 1 but It was sent May 3, 1978 (Brad Templeton). In the year 1980 the time Usenet, which was an online debate forum where people were capable of posting messages on new groups, was created, it used to get flooded with new posts, but as soon as the spam and mass messaging was introduced, people were sending out huge number of emails (â€Å"The History of Online Advertising†). Rachel argued that the first online advertisement appeared on the web in 1994, prompting the starting of the online advertising world. The period of experimentation by the advertisers and publishers was the first part, pioneering on ad formats and technology. DoubleClick was one of the first ad-serving technologies which was launched in 1995, (2011). The quick growing world of computers during the 1990s also brought about a new arena for advertising: the World Wide Web. Like other newspapers in the mid 1990s, the San Jose, California Mercury News founded a news Web site on the Internet. Editors put news from the newspaper on the Web site, thus people with computers were able to select news online. Every time an electronic reader tapped into Mercury Center, as the Mercurys Web site dubbed it was recorded as a hit. (Vivian, 1997: 322) During the first half of 1996, companies spent around $66. 7 million to advertise on the web with two-thirds of the spending coming from computer and telecommunications companies. The two biggest advertisers were Microsoft ($2. 9 million) and Netscape ($2. 1 million) while IBM was the third largest spender (s2. 0 million) and ATT (s17 million came in sixth. Toyota was the 13th largest web advertiser. In the meantime, a major U. S. cereal company started dabbling in this new technology in 1996. Kellogg Company launched what was seen as the worlds largest test of interactive TV advertising. (Wilson and Le Roy, 1998: 298) In 1995, Mercury Center was receiving 325,000 hits per a day, compared with the 270. 000 circulation of the newsprint product. The potential of web sites as advertising vehicles has not been lost on newspapers or other organizations including ATT and Microsoft, which also have established news sites online. Obviously, one pro of online advertising is that readers can click deeper and deeper levels of information about advertised goods Much more information can be packed into a layered online message than within the space and time limits of a print or broadcast ad (Vivian, 1997: 322). Conclusion In this study, we attempted to a good extent to discuss the main changes and developments in advertising and its relation with mass media. As we mentioned previously that adverting is essential to a prosperous social order. It is also the financial basis of important contemporary mass media. For many decades, the newspaper, magazine, radio and television media have been the main sources for manufacturers to advertise their products and goods. The major advent in the beginning of 20th century was radio as an advertising medium. The rise of network broadcasting made radio attractive vehicle for national advertisers. Also, radio freed advertising from its relationship to literacy by communicating through music, jingles, and the spoken word. Advertising agencies were not persuaded at first, but soon radio became their new medium and advertisers discovered its seemingly endless possibilities. Next, television arrived, and its rise was a significant improvement as a national advertising medium. TVs progress had an influence on both radio and magazines. Radio became a medium used primarily by local advertisers. Magazines that intended for specific audiences attracted more advertisers. Later on, in the late of the century, the quickly increasing world of computers during the 1990s also introduced a new ground for advertising: the World Wide Web. Like other newspapers in the mid 1990s. The quick growth of the Internet as a consumer medium was huge in the history of media. As a result, we found out how has the relationship between media and advertising changed in 20th century.