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 sprang up everywhere. And the people they hired and trained left us such treasures that all the top vendors today display them in their resource libraries and use them to their advantage.
Shortly after Kennedy arrived on the scene, Claude Hopkins appeared. He left us a legacy that we should all thank him for. He pioneered test markets, samples, coupons and much more.
At the turn of the last century there were many others: Walter Dill Scott, Maxwell Sackheim, Julius Haldeman, John Caples, to name just four.
Then, in the middle of the century, geniuses like Elmer Wheeler, Robert Collier and other contemporaries appeared.
After the war, advertising greats David Ogilvy, Joe Karbo and Gary Halbert also made their mark.
And 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 on the world: the Internet. Internet pioneer Ken McCarthy is still around 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 great Corey Rudl, Marlon Sanders, Robert Imbriale, Yanik Silver, Jim Edwards and many others have shown what can be done and in such a short time.
But one thing all 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 John Kennedy, Claude Hopkins, Walter Dill Scott, Elmer Wheeler.
And that’s what my articles are about.
It will take you from the very beginning of advertising and gain insight into the writings, ideas, and philosophies of most of the greatest salespeople who ever lived.
No doubt you’ll recognize much of the material mentioned as we “run through” it, but it’s doubtful you’ve found it all.
All major marketers recommend that you continually increase your education, and the best thing you can do is pick up some (or all) of the material you’ll be exposed to on your “run.”
Each manuscript mentioned in this “tour” is a desirable addition to your resource library.
Pick them up, maybe one at a time. And you will benefit from them as all the great masters of the past and present have done.
This article is a brief history of the events leading up to the appearance of John E. Kennedy in 1904.
But it also highlights some milestones in advertising.
1704 The first advertisement appears in the newspaper. I was in a Boston Newsletter 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 The first magazine advertisements in the United States published by Benjamin Franklin in General Magazine.
1784 America’s first successful newspaper, the Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, starts in Philadelphia.
1833 Benjamin Day publishes the first successful “penny” newspaper, The Sun. 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 with just $250.
His early customers include Montgomery Ward, John Wannamaker Dept. Blinds, Singer sewing machines, and Pond’s beauty cream.
1873 First convention of advertising agencies held in New York.
1877 JW Thompson buys Culter and Smith from William J. Carlton, paying $500 for the business and $800 for office furniture.
1880 Department store founder John Wanamaker becomes the first retailer to employ John E. Powers, a full-time copywriter.
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 advertises Ivory Soap with a huge budget of $11,000.
1886 NW Ayer promotes advertising with the slogan: 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 first full-time copywriter.
1892 Sears Roebuck is created.
1893 Printer’s Ink founded by George P. Rowell. A magazine that serves as the little school teacher in the art of advertising.
1898 NW Ayer helps National Biscuit Co. launch the first prepackaged Uneeda cookie.
1899 Campbell Soup makes its first advertisement.
1899 JWT becomes the first agency to open an office in London. 1900 NO Ayer establishes a business acquisition 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 that old sellers were the best and that they and the work they produced needed to be studied, it did!