The Foundation Era (About 1840-1915) - 18th Century

Indian Advertising starts with the hawkers calling out their wares right from the days when cities and markets first began. Shop front signage. From street side sellers to press ads. The first trademarks. Handbills distributed separately from the products.

Concrete advertising history begins with classified advertising. Ads appear for the first time in print in Hickey's Bengal Gazette. Studios mark the beginning of advertising created in India (as opposed to imported   from England) Studios set up for bold type, ornate fonts and more fancy, larger ads. Newspaper studios train the first generation of visualisers and illustrators. Major advertisers: Retailers like Spencer’s, Army & Navy and Whiteaway & Laid Law. Marketing promotions: Retailers' catalogues provided early example. Ads appear in newspapers in the form of lists of the latest merchandise from England. Patent medicines: The first brand, as we know them today were a category of advertisers.

It is important to linger here. At the onset of this period, little of advertising as we know it today was visible. Yet, by its end, virtually all of the crucial elements of contemporary advertising practice were well formed-national advertising, the full-service advertising agency, the reliance most media on advertising support, and advertising criticisms and defenses. Little except technique has changed to the present day.

In the 1837, William Procter and James Gamble joined forces in a soap and candle making enterprise. It was only the beginning…

Prior to the Civil War, the great concentration of American national activity was devoted to the subjugation of the physical environment of this sprawling country. Agriculture was the dominant source of national wealth, with the factory system still in its infancy.

These advertisements were usually nothing more than an extension of the sign placed in front of the retailer’s store for identification. They simply told what was for sale at what place of business. The medium for carrying these factual notices was the local newspaper, which effectively reached the area from which the retailer might expect to draw customers.

The Beginning of the Advertising Agency

In approximately 1841 Volney B. Palmer and Johan Hooper to realize the presence of a considerable communication gap. Those few manufacturers who were beginning to consider advertising faced a problem. The country abounded in newspapers, but virtually no one knew how many people they reached, and their rate were- to be charitable-variable. So Palmer and Hooper contacted newspapers and agreed to sell some of their advertising space- at not inconsiderable commission. They than sought out buyers among producers who wished to use newspaper advertising but were perplexed by the lack of information about the papers and the difficulty of making contact. So these early “agents” began as publisher’s agents, but shortly evolved into independent brokers who bargained with both publishers and advertisers about rates.

The Industrial Revolution

The Civil War accelerated and intensified a trend toward industrialization. American industry broadened its productivity capacities to meet new markets created by the war. The heavy drain of workers from the country’s farms brought a need for farm machinery, the textile industry expanded to meet the demands for military uniforms, the shoe industry multiplied its productivity to fulfill government contracts, and the Bessemer steel process of 1864 was an answer to the needs of war. Throughout the land, producers benefited from the wartime boom and the resulting circulation of capital funds destined for the suddenly vital manufacturing industries.