The History of Advertising

 How Advertising Began

    Advertising began hundreds of years ago as small ads in newspapers.  According to a 2019 study, the advertising industry produced around 138.6 billion dollars annually.  This number has continued to climb dramatically each year because most businesses are using advertising to continuously promote their products.  

    Advertising has evolved over time to a science that is researched and planned by companies.  Initially, advertising was strictly presenting the product being sold with its information.  Now, advertising uses forms of psychology to make its viewers subconsciously think in a way that is beneficial to the brand or product.  Advertisers are constantly thinking of new ways to creatively present products so that consumers want to buy them.  

Photo Credit

    The film "Art and Copy" presents different ways that specific companies used advertising to benefit their product sales.  In this film, they talk about how the phrase "got milk" was coined to promote dairy sales.  The "got milk" campaign became extremely well known, and individuals began to use it to promote things besides milk.  This campaign is a great example of effective advertising because advertisers took a simple phrase and made it a well-recognized symbol of their company.  

Photo Credit

The Cost of Modern Advertising

    Advertising has become more competitive as companies continue to find different and more creative ways to market their products.  The cost of a thirty-second Super Bowl commercial slot has nearly doubled in the past ten years.  In 2020, a thirty-second slot during the Super Bowl was costing companies around $5.6 million.  Companies that buy slots during the Super Bowl, spend months strategizing and planning the commercial or commercials that will be aired.  These commercials are carefully thought out because it is an amazing opportunity for companies to be able to present their product to such a large volume of viewers at once.  The 2021 Super Bowl was viewed by approximately 5.7 million people, and in past years it has been viewed by as many as 114.4 million people (2015).  Advertising can be incredibly competitive, and things like time of year, time of day, and the channel it is playing on can have a large impact on how much the company will pay per commercial slot.  

Top 10 Super Bowl Commercials 2020

Final Thoughts

    Advertising was one of the most interesting things that we covered throughout this course in my opinion.  I thought that it was very interesting to gain a small understanding of what goes into the process of promoting a specific product or brand.  Modern advertising has changed the way that companies market their products because they appeal to what they believe their viewers want, and that is truly powerful.  I had never thought a ton about advertising before I took this course, so it was interesting to understand it on a deeper level.  

Sources

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/193868/ 

https://www.statista.com/statistics/183932/estimated-revenue-in-advertising-and-related-services-since-2000/

https://www.si.com/nfl/2020/02/02/how-much-does-super-bowl-commercial-cost-history-2020

https://www.statista.com/statistics/216526/super-bowl-us-tv-viewership/#:~:text=The%20most%20watched%20Super%20Bowl,viewers%20tuned%20into%20the%20game.