A History of Advertising

Lecture 10   01/02/2012

A History of Advertising

Theme-

·       Integration of art & technology

·       ‘an area of art history neglected … where art and technology meet’ (Elton, 1968, pvii)

The beginning by Wight

·       Advertising, The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Clothes On! (R4, 2009)

·       Robin Wight (WCRS)118 118 & The future’s bright, the future’s orange.

·       William Hesketh Lever, (1851-1925) Lever Bros

·       Bill Bernbach (1911-1982) (DDB) first to combine copywriters and art directors

Sunlight, Lux to Lynx

·       Lever Brothers founders James Darcy & William Hesketh Lever (1885).

·       Today Unilever, 900 brands Ben & Jerry’s, Bertoli, Bird’s Eye, Brooke Bond, Comfort , Lux, Persil, Sunsilk, Sunlight, Surf, Dove.

·       Ubiquitous brand, part of the average consumers ‘mental furniture’                                            (Lewis, p57)

·       Most expensive real estate is the corners of somebody's mind (Hegarty, 2009)

First British Tycoon- To build a gallery and open it up for the public. Port Sunlight 19c village commissioned by William Hesketh Lever to house his soap factory workers. Centre; Lady Lever. 

1851 Great Exhibition- ‘Colour printing on a larger scale was not practiced until well into the nineteenth century…with the publications generated by the Great Exhibition of 1851’ (Elton, 1968, p70), Photos & 3D technology.

Advertising an essential- 'An essential component of any competitive market economy: driving growth and dynamism' (Hegarty, 2011, p7)

Pre-packaging (Lewis, 2008)

·       Kelloggs

·       1860s cereal companies figured out how to print, fold & fill cardboard boxes mechanically.

·       John & William Kellogg

·       Lush

·       Soap was sold in long bars to grocers, who  stamped (with stamp of  maker) and sliced up.

The first tablet of soap

·       ‘I was the first to advertise extensively [and pre-package] a tablet of soap...the result was I lifted Sunlight soap to a class by itself’ (Lever in Lewis, 2008, p62)

·       Added brand value through advertising.

Boom

·       Advertising boom aided by abolishment of taxes on newspapers 1855 & paper in 1861

·       Press (newspapers) owes much to advertising

·       News of the world ended when advertisers pulled.

A second boom

·       Technological progress reproduction & colour printing, pictorial ads in magazines 1880s

·       By 1890s technology enabled contemporary paintings to be reproduced

·       Sunlight Soap Ad (1890s) www.advertisingarchives.co.uk

Lever’s context…

·       (b1851) Height of the Empire. International trade routes established

·       International exhibition. Prompted large-scale colour printing.

·       Ad boom fuelled by tax reliefs in 1850s & 60s.

·       Pre-packaging technology 1860s

·       Co. founder Lever Bros

·       1880s colour images and reproductions in magazines.

·       1890s reproduction of paintings possible.

First Multinational

·       Advertising transformed company from a local soap manufacturer in 1885 to one of the world's first multinationals

·       Largest corporation in Britain by 1930.

‘Colourful, innovative advertising was crucial to Lever’s success’  (Port Sunlight Museum, 2009)

Contemporary art

·       The soap men’s extensive use of contemporary paintings in their advertising is a case in point. (Lewis, 2008, p65)

·       Used in Sunlight soap ad with copy ‘So Clean’

·       Copyright (Lever)

·       White linen (sign)

·       Child (sign)

As good as new – emotive

·       Bride (peasant) trying wedding dress.

·       Leverhulme used for an advertisement poster 1889, As good as new

·       Implies dress worn by brides mother, passing down beauty secrets.

·       Emotional strategy enhanced by naturalism of Newlyn school (Cornwall)

First Creative Advertising

·       Selecting and presenting contemporary art works (RA) communicated more powerfully a desired message.

·       Message was told in an interesting and innovative way.

·       Imagery provided a spectacle and entertainment.

·       By adding simple endlines, Lever managed to change the meaning of images to his advantage.

·       Distinct from other advertising that had gone before.

·       Encouraged consumers to collect vouchers and save for prints of the ads.

Entertainment- ‘One of our clients is Unilever who produce Axe, a product targeted at young males…The brand is about confidence – the one ingredient most teenagers need help with’ (Hegarty, 2011)

‘Advertising, from the moment it was born, was trying to entertain us’ (Hegarty, 2011, p9)

The First Creative Agencies

·       Cracknell (2011) late 19c advertising agencies sold space in newspapers commission/negotiations.

·       Client created content. Changed with publications (US) Rowell American Newspaper dictionary (UK) followed– fixed rates to clients.

·       Agencies started to offer creative services 20c model

First global campaigns

·       Medicine, chocolate and soap manufacturers

·       Sunlight Soap among the first products to feature in a global ad campaign.

Product placement soap replace clock & cup brand loyalty

Innovative events

·       Lever Bros. Switzerland F. H. Lavanchy -Clarke

·       Opening of new offices, organised a washing competition Lake Geneva,1889.

·       2 x steamers, washer women, sunlight soap, large crowds and a banquet.

Wrapper promos

·       1890s Sunlight soap magazine ad www.advertisingarchives.co.uk

·       1903 began a wrapper scheme, offering soap in return

·       1904 offer a gramophone + records for 750 wrappers & rolled gold watch for 4,000 (Port Sunlight Museum, 2009)

Capture the children

·       One method beloved of advertisers ...was to capture the children. In 1890s, purchases of sunlight soap received free paper dolls with interchangeable outfits’ (Lewis, 2008, p67)

·       Schemes for Lifebuoy soap coupons for encyclopaedias.

Target mothers

·       Directed at mothers ensuring a lifetime of brand loyalty

·       Associations

Investing in Advertising

·       Lever spent £2m first two decades of making soap.

·       1899 Lever purchased a Philadelphia soap firm – owner Sidney Gross became a director.

·       ‘Gross was expert at picking the right artist for advertisements’ (Lewis, 2008,p69)

Art Direction

·       Gross suggested plantol should depict tropical climates & express the care that is exercised in refining oils.

·       A vision to disguise the forced slavery?

·       Palm oil was one of the main ingredients (pure vegetable soap).

First Worldwide ECD

·       Collaborative creativity

·       Lever employed  (international) expertise

·       Overseer of advertising

·       Constantly researching & studying the art form

·       Sent examples of (American) adverts across the company (colour magazine) creating discussion.

·       Journals, web blogs & Cop

First ambient

·       Innovative spaces, doors left open at stations.

·       Choosey, where advertised, avoided left-wing newspapers.

Ad Expertise

·       Lever amassed and was among innovators of advertising expertise

·       Advocated truth in advertising is an asset; falsehood in advertising is a liability. Lewis (2008)

Salvation with Sunlight

·       Many of his early ads emphasised that Sunlight soap would save women from drudgery' (Lewis, 2008, p74)

·       Answer: washing day toil, solution; Sunlight soap.

·       Copy: a girl of 12 or 13 can do a large wash without being tired.

·       Ease a repeated theme

Targeting audiences

·       Copy in Sunlight soap ads spoke directly to working-class housewives.

·       Salvation of Sunlight, improves their life, leaving quality-time for romance.

·       Sunlight Almanac (annually) 1895-1900)

·       Woman’s World 470p illustrated book

·       High-feeling/emotive strategy

·       Lewis (2008)

World domination

·       20c Lever used different international agencies.

·       Domestic and imperial markets Britishness suited all.

·       Royal connections, national and imperial imagery

·       Context of thousands of ads trading on Britannia

Imperial Mission (Lewis)

·       To civilize

·       No commodity aided more this than soap.

·       Wash and clothe the native and cleanse the great unwashed of British working classes.

·       In Britain advertising posters, packaging brought to a wide audience the notion of imperialism as benign  (Lewis, 2008, p79)

·       Empire was celebrated on biscuits, cigarettes, soap, chocolate: part of the working class fabric.

The successful global campaign- Lever’s achievement, ‘to convince people all over the world that they did not just want this product, they needed it’ (Port Sunlight Museum, 2009)

How?

·       Victorians conquered the world & problem of corporeal aromas.

·       Sanitary achievements drains, sewage & soap.

·       Advertisers made it their business to persuade  consumers of their hygiene problems.

Psychology of Advertising

·       Advertisers, more than any other group of people, made hay with new understandings of human psychology in the twentieth century (Lewis, 2008, p81)

·       The Psychology of Advertising (1908) US, Walter Dill Scott

·       Edward Berneys, nephew of Freud Propaganda (1928)

·       Discrepancy theory – widespread

Discrepancy theory

·       Discrepancy between self & ideal image of self.

·       Publics leisure practices, bathing habits etc. were inferior to those depicted.

·       Lever Bros Lux ads by mid 20s said to preserve ‘soft, youthful lovely feminine hands’ + celebrity endorsement

·       ‘nine out of ten screen stars care for their skin with Lux soap’ (Lewis, 2008)

Soap & aesthetics

·       P & G promotions: held sculpture event at gallery for children.

·       Berneys wrote about it as a fine example, harnessing psychological motives, aesthetic, competitive maternal exhibitionist

·       Strategy informed by sound psychology and enlightened self-interest (Lewis, 2008, p84)

Unilever Series

·       Sponsor annual contemporary artist, Turbine hall Tate Modern

·       Oct 11 -  March 2012

·       FILM is an 11-minute silent 35mm film projected onto a gigantic white monolith standing 13m.

·       First work in series devoted to the moving image, and celebrates analogue film-making.

Critics of Admass

·       Boom in consumption

·       Highly criticised in interwar years ‘countless critics on the left – appalled by products of capitalism and mechanisation.

Admass Advocates

·       Economic liberals, celebrated unfettered agency of the consuming individual.

·       Good trade relations between countries reduces conflict.

·       Capitalism, commerce and consumption improves well being of population (Lewis, 2008).

Role of Advertising

·       Fundamentals of honest business, will continue to advance humanity to brotherhood…honesty in advertising …is a cardinal principle in your country and in mine…the advertiser…is building for those who follow after him. It should be the same with nations’

·       Leverhulme NY (1923)