Advertising, as we know it, probably began to flourish in 1904 when John E. Kennedy gave the world that definition: Advertising is the art of selling in print. A definition that has not been improved since then and many have tried.
But modern advertising began a few years before Kennedy when Richard Sears produced the first mail order catalog (circa 1892). This catalog contained hundreds of pages of items for sale, each with its own sales copy. And Sears Roebuck is still going strong today, in marketing and sales.
Around this time, advertising agencies sprung up everywhere. And the people they hired and trained left us treasures that all of today’s top marketers display in their resource libraries and use to their advantage.
Shortly after Kennedy arrived on the scene, Claude Hopkins appeared. He left us a legacy that we should all be grateful for. He pioneered market testing, sampling, coupons, and much more.
At the beginning of the last century there were many others: Walter Dill Scott, Maxwell Sackheim, Haldeman Julius, John Caples, to name just four.
Then, in the middle of the century, geniuses like Elmer Wheeler, Robert Collier, and other contemporaries appeared.
Postwar advertising greats David Ogilvy, Joe Karbo and Gary Halbert also made their mark.
And the living legends Jay Abraham, John Carlton, Dan Kennedy, and Ted Nicholas have made many millions for themselves and their clients.
Towards the end of the last century, the greatest marketing tool of all time was unleashed in the world: the Internet. Internet pioneer Ken McCarthy still exists and his “System” seminars are an absolute must.
The Internet has opened up a whole new world for advertising and marketing. And a new generation of entrepreneurs has been born. Guys like the late great Corey Rudl, Marlon Sanders, Robert Imbriale, Yanik Silver, Jim Edwards and many others have shown what can be done in such a short time.
But one thing all of these “gurus” have in common is that they have studied the markets. They have studied the psychology of what makes people buy. They have learned these principles from the great teachers of the past, the John Kennedys, the Claude Hopkins, the Walter Dill Scott, the Elmer Wheelers.
And that’s what my articles are about.
You will take it from the earliest days of advertising and gain insight into the writings, ideas, and philosophies of most of the best marketers who ever lived.
You will surely recognize much of the material mentioned as we do the “tour,” but it is doubtful that you have found it all.
All leading marketers recommend that you continue to increase your education and you will do no better than collect some (or all) of the material that you will be exposed to on your “tour.”
Each manuscript mentioned in this “walkthrough” is a desirable addition to your resource library.
Pick them up, maybe one at a time. And you will benefit from them as have all the great masters of the past and present.
This article is a brief history of the events that led to the appearance of John E. Kennedy in 1904.
But it also highlights some milestones in advertising.
1704 The first advertisement appeared in the newspaper. I was in a Boston newsletter and I was looking for a buyer for a property in Oyster Bay, Long Island.
1729 Benjamin Franklin begins publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette in Philadelphia which included advertisements.
1742 First US magazine ads published by Benjamin Franklin in General Magazine.
1784 America’s first successful newspaper, the Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, begins in Philadelphia.
1833 Benjamin Day publishes the first successful “penny” newspaper, The Sun. The circulation reached 30,000 in 1837, making it the largest in the world.
1843 Volney Palow opens the first advertising agency in Philadelphia.
1868 Francis Wayland Ayer opens NW Ayer and Sons in Philadelphia for just $ 250.
Her early customers include Montgomery Ward, John Wannamaker Dept. Stores, Singer Sewing Machines, and Pond’s Beauty Cream.
1873 First convention for advertising agencies held in New York.
1877 JW Thompson purchases Culter and Smith from William J. Carlton and pays $ 500 for the business and $ 800 for the office furniture.
1880 Department Store founder John Wanamaker becomes the first retailer to employ a full-time copywriter, John E. Powers.
Wannamaker makes a famous statement: half of my advertising is waste, I just don’t know which half.
1881 Daniel M. Lord and Ambrose L. Thomas form Lord and Thomas in Chicago.
1881 Procter and Gamble announces Ivory Soap with a huge budget of $ 11,000.
1886 NW Ayer promotes advertising with the motto: Staying at it forever brings success.
1886 Richard Warren Sears became the world’s first direct marketer.
1891 George Batten and Co. opens.
1892 NW Ayer hires the first full-time copywriter.
1892 Sears Roebuck is founded.
1893 Printer’s Ink founded by George P. Rowell. A magazine that serves as the little schoolmaster in the art of advertising.
1898 NW Ayer helps National Biscuit Co. launch the first prepackaged Uneeda cookie.
1899 Campbell Soup makes his first advertisement.
1899 JWT becomes the first agency to open an office in London. 1900 N .W. Yesterday establishes a business obtaining department to plan advertising campaigns.
1904 John E. Kennedy bursts onto the scene to change the face of advertising forever.
My next article will continue with the evolution of advertising as we know it.
Mail order guru Ted Nicholas said the former marketers were the best and that they, and the works they produced, should be studied – he did!
