Aims:
*To engage in current (acadmic & industry) debates, regarding the impact of new media on traditional advertising structures and practices.
* To compare this impact of that of the late 19th century, with the technological porgress of colour printing at the beginning of the (UK) advertising industry.
Objectives (and points of consideration):
*Understand some key points in the history of advertising.
*Understand the context (historical, political, economic and cultural) in which advertising emerged.
*Understand some aspects of advertising strategy.
*Speculate the implications of New Media on creativity & the role of the creative; you.
What is new media?
* 'media that work not through persuassion or impressions but through engagement and involvement. If we stick with the old (mass media) model, we squander all the possibilities of the new media ecosystem' (Rory Sutherland, 2009- the president of the IPA and Executive Creative Director of Ogilvy UK).
What is old media?
*Back to the beginning... (late 19th century)
*To compare the impact of New Media to the technological progress of colour printing, at the beginning of the (UK) advertising industry.
Radio
*'Advertising the most fun with your clothes on'
*Robin Wright WCRS, 118 118 & 'The future's bright, the future's orange' tagline creator- even now, years on, these taglines are still globally famous- advertising can have huge effect. On Radio 4, Wright told a story about the history of advertising and personal experiences in the business.
* William Hesketh Lever (1851-1925) was one half of the 'Lever Bros'- a formation which would go on to be one of the World's largest advertising companies, 'Unilever', as they founded advertising.
*Bill Bernback (1911-1982) (DDB) was one of the first to combine the talents of copywriters and art directors- what would go on to be one of the most important partnerships in the advertising practice.
*The first ever product used in an advertising campaign was...soap! A clothes cleaner named 'Sunlight Soap', branded by Unilever.*
Sunlight, Lux to Lynx...
*Orginally, the Unilever company (brothers) exclusively made soap, now with over 900 brands in their company listings, they are one of the larest advertising brands in the world, including: Ben & Jerry's, Bertoli, Bird's Eye, Comfort, Persil, Sunsilk, Lynx, Surf...
* Unilever are now considered a "unbiquitous brand", a part of the average consumers 'mental furniture' (Lewism p57).
*The year that London had it's 'Great Exhibition' (1851) an etching was made of the Crystal Palace (the location which held the Exhibition) at the apex of the Earth. Britain at this time was considered to be a super-power (at the time it was the richest country in the world, it is now fourth), and all colonies in the British empire were invited to showcase their trades, goods, and wares.
The beginning of pre-packaging:
*The beginnings of pre-packaging bought a revolution in technology, whereupon graphics could be produced and sent with great ease.
* In the 1860's cereal "figured out" how to print, fold and fill cardboard boxes mechanically- therefore, introducing a new age of mass-productio.
*The companies that revolutionised and benefited most from this discovery was John & William Kellogg (of Kellog cereal's fame) and Henry J Heinz (Most notably famed for 'Heinz Beans' with the advertising campaign "Beanz Meanz Heinz").
* Before this time, soap was sold in long bars to grocers who stamped (the stamp of the maker) and sliced up the bar into individual pieces- a practice which is now becoming more popular thanks to companies such as 'Lush', who emphasise the "eco appeal" in the minimal use of packaging.
*So, in the case of Sunlight Soap, packaging helped to take the product to a far more sophisticated level, and therefore, could feesibly rise in the cost to the consumer.
Advertising & Colour Printing.
*Advertising boom aided by abolishement of taxes on newspapers in 1855 & paper in 1861.
*Press (newsapapers) owes a great deal to advertising- as one of the oldest and popular mediums to publish advertisements.
*In terms of advertising, the modern day (real) competetor for newspapers is google.
*Technological progress in reproduction & colour printing with pictorial advertisements in magazines emerged in the 1880's, with poster advertisements coming into play ten years later in 1890, whereupon they could now be mass produced in colour to a very high, professional level.
*Technology enabled contemporary paintings to be reproduced.
Contemporary Art & Advertising.
*Lever took full advantage of the printing process, and bought contemporary paintings to use within his advertising campaigns. During this time, if you bought a painting, you owned the copyright (not like today, where the creator, or artist, is the copyright holder)
Product Placement (clock and cup) and Brand Loyalty.
*Lever bought the painting 'The Wedding Morning' (1892 by John Henry Frederick Bacon)- using the white linen wedding dress to link his product of his clothes-cleaning soap, with the family image to advertise the brand, promoting cleanliess, wholesomeness and purity. He removed the teacup from the image (and clock upon the mantlepiece also) and replaced them with the Unilever product 'Sunlight Soap'- generating a "brand loyalty" through a series of photos styled in a similar fashion, all promoting happy, clean, and successful living.
*The brand Unilever now sponsers a contemporary artist to exhibit in the Tate Modern Gallery in London each year. Although this does not seem like an obvious partnership, this gives the company a youthful and innovative image, as well as a very charitable one- and image which will reflect onto their own product range, and, consequently, will give a positive image and help generate an increase in revenue from customers, feeling happy to economically contribute to the brand and their products- consequently, by the end of his life, Lever was one of the richest men in the UK.
Medicine, Chocolate, and Soap...
*Sunlight Soap was the first of many products to appear in the International advertisment scheme of Unilever, and many other brands- Medicine, Chocolate and Soap manufacturers appearing to be the foremost, and most successful advertisers (e.g. cadbury's 'in the air tonight' gorilla on the drums advert, and dove's 'love the skin you're in' adverisment series).
Promotion, Interactive?
*To celebrate opening a new office, Unilever organised a washing competition at Lake Geneva, 1889. With two steamers, washer women, sunlight soap, large crowds and a banquet, the advertising and promotional day was a community event, a social occasion which people instantly associated with their family-forward branding ideal.
*Unilever was also the first to introduce International schemes- an 1892 endoresement to 'Soap makers of Queen Vic'- with the influence of royal association, the soap became more sophisticated and seemingly a patriotic brand, making people proud to be a Sunlight Soap consumer.
Capture the Children
*Unilever commonly used images of children in their advertising campaigns, often dressed in clean, white clothing, and shot in an angelic wa. The schemes targeted Mothers and families with a lifetime of brand loyalty.
Investing in Advertising
*Lever spent £2million in his first two decades of making soap.
*1899 Lever purchased Philadelphia soap firm- and owner Sidney Gross became director, whom was considered expert at 'picking the right artist for advertisements' (Lewis, 2008 p69).
Art Direction
*Gross suggested that the Unilever brand, Plantol (a soap for washing floors) should depict tropical climates and express the care that is excercised in refining oils (Palmoil was one of the main ingredients within the soap).
*Perhaps this was a vision to disguise slavery? Lever was an advocate of forced labour- his advertisements would be quite contrary to the reality of the practice.
Executive Creative Director
*Collaborative Creativity
*Lever employed many international people with particular areas of expertise.
*They constantly researched and studied the art form to ensure best results and inspiration at all times.
*Sent examples of (American) adverts across the company (including colour magazines) to prompt creative discussions, encouring others in the company to exhaust their creativity.
*Innovative spaces, with doors left open at stations- their team would be a collaborative one.
*The company was choosey where they advertised, avoiding left-wing newspapers due to Lever's Liberalist views.
*Firm known by the quality of the medium in which it advertises (Lewis, 2008, p72).
Publications & Targeting Audience
*Sunlight soap and how to use it spoke directly to the working class housewives, their hopes and aspirations of life.
*Salvation of Sunlight, improves their life, leaving quality time for romance, keeping youthful and vitalised.
1893 Sunlight Advertisements
*Home is to be the very dearest spot on Earth, if the mother or wife brightens it with the sunlight of her cheerful smile...when things go right in the kitchen and laundry...the housewife's face is lit up (Lewis, 2008, p77).
*Another talked of a mother's special responsibilities in the transmission of knowledge to her daughter, before her daughter is about to be married (Lewis, 2008, p77).
Advertisement Stratagies
*Used different international agencies, particularly for American markets.
*For domestic and imperial markets, the theme of "Britishness" suited all- as Britain owned a subtansial number of colonies within it's empire. Because of this, Britain had connotations with victory, superiority and power, which people were, of course, happy to be associated with.
New Media Model
*Shift (Spurgeon, 2008)
*Mass to my media
*More personalised
*More targeted (mobile)
*Also involves audience:
-Voluntarily passing around advertisements (viral)
-Creating- spoofs, or filming events
Viral Advertising
*One distinction between old and new media- people choose to seek out the advertisements, voulntarily, as oppossed to advertisements being pasted over television screens or through printed media, etc...
*Forced viewings (through television or print)
New communication model
*Old: transmission
*Transmit ideas to an audience
*New: Cybernetic
*Engage with an audience
*Via computer (mediated communication).
Trevor Beattie (Founded BMB Adveritising Agency) Ideas
*Biggest idea since the wheel> Internet
*Enables lots of small ideas to circulate
*That combined of a trillion little ideas is in itself the biggest idea there is...I think that we are at the most interesting point of communications history ever...
*Digital media> convergence of media opens up oppurtunities for creatives.
Viewer-generated content
*The viewer-generated advertising from this video for mentos was worth $10 million, more than half of the company's annual advertising budget (Spurgeon, 2008, p1).
*For the first time, audiences are actively influencing the decisions and choses which advertisers make through popularity of videos.
Creating a dialog
*One of the most important elements of advertising is to effectively communicate to it's audience, capturing and inspiring their imaginations.
The old spice advertisement series achieved this brilliantly- with a simple, but very innovative idea which really caught on, becoming an incredibly popular viral- with a facebook dedicted page, and even a twitter account, which led on to create this...
Audience Judges Creativity
*In November 2010, YouTube, breaking from traditionality and conventional advertising awards allowed a panel of judges to shortlist the most creative and innovative ads of the year, for the final result to be chosen by the viewers of YouTube videos, with this marvellously simple, yet powerfully emotive piece to be chosen:
The Third Screen
*Mobile Phones will soon beconmes the greatest tool for persuassion, more so than any other medium for advertising (Fogg, 2003).
*Fastest growing markets in the creative industries (Mobile Learning Confrence 2009, 1st December, 2009, London).
New Model of Creativity
*Working in larger teams, a collaborative community.
*Collaborative online creativity: eStudio
*Giant Hydra Advertising company- "Two heads are better than one"- developing a mass collaborative industry.
As a graphic design student, I have come in reasonably little advertising theory, but after this lecture, I feel truly inspired, and have found learning about the history of advertising to be truly fascinating- the viral advertisements have really ignited my imagination, and i sincerely aspire to be able to create a piece of design even half as wonderful as some of the pieces I have linked or disucssed through this post.
Despite only really just having an introduction to the power of advertising, I understand that advertising and graphics really do work together constantly and wholeheartedly in design practice- in a numerous amount of cases, one just wouldn't work without the other. As I am aware, advertisers have always been noted to have "the ideas", which then go on to be made a reality by graphic designers- making those ideas visual, innovative and unique.
