answerThe industrial age started during the second half of the 19th century and lasted well into the 20th. Ads were created prior to the industrial age, but it was not until this period that it can be said that an advertising industry existed anywhere in the world. It was a period marked by tremendous growth and maturation of the country's industrial base.
During the 1800s, manufacturers were principally concerned with production. The burden of marketing fell on wholesalers, who used advertising primarily as an information vehicle. Ads appeared in publications called price currents that informed retailers about the sources of supply and shipping schedules for commodities.
The American profession of advertising began when Volney B. Palmer set up business in Philadelphia in 1841.
In 1869, Francis Ayer formed an ad agency in Philadelphia and named it after his father. N. W. Ayer & Sons was the first agency to charge a commission based on the "net cost of space" and the first to conduct a formal market survey.
The telegraph, telephone, typewriter, phonograph, and, later, motion pictures all let people communicate as never before.
With the advent of public schooling, the nation reached an unparalleled 90 percent literacy rate. Manufacturers gained a large reading public that could understand print ads. The United States thus entered the 20th century as a great industrial state with a national marketing system propelled by advertising. With the end of World War I, the modern period in advertising emerged.
The manufacturers changed their focus from a production orientation to a marketing orientation. They dedicated themselves to new product development, strengthened their own sales forces, packaged and branded their products, and engaged in heavy national brand advertising.
In the 1920s, the era of salesmanship had arrived and its bible was Scientific Advertising, written by the legendary copywriter Claude Hopkins at Albert Lasker's agency, Lord & Thomas. Radio was born at about the same time and rapidly became a powerful new advertising medium.
On October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed, the Great Depression began, and advertising expenditures plummeted. In the face of declining sales and corporate budget cutting, the advertising industry needed to improve its effectiveness. It turned to research. Daniel Starch, A. C. Nielsen, and George Gallup founded research groups to study consumer attitudes and preferences. By providing information on public opinion, the performance of ad messages, and sales of advertised products, these companies started the marketing research industry.
Manufacturers followed this strategy of product differentiation vigorously, seeking to portray their brands as different from and better than the competition by offering consumers quality, variety, and convenience.