ED! • 4 Topic: Ads through the ages Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Sharon SzczecinskiED! • 5Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Advertising is the public promotionof a product or service.Advertisements, or ads, are allaround us in our daily life andinfluence many of the decisionswe make as consumers.Whenever you buy goods or

services you are a consumer.Most advertisements have two goals:

• The first aim is to inform potential customersand make them aware of a product and wherethey can buy it. • The other purpose is to persuade consumers tochoose particular brands of products repeatedly.The aim is that customers will be loyal to thatbrand and continue to choose it when they needthat particular product.

PERSUASIVEMETHODSSome of the techniques used to influence andpersuade customers are:• Testimonials — getting an expert to recommendthe product.• Lifestyle — trying to convince customers thatbuying the product fits into their ideal life.• Nostalgia — convincing customers that theproduct has been around for a long time and istrustworthy.• Exclusivity — claiming the product hassomething that no other product has such as asecret ingredient.

According to Brendon Lewis, group accountdirector at Marketforce, advertising is importantbecause it “informs and educates people”.

“There are many different forms of advertisingacross many different categories, used fordifferent purposes,” Mr Lewis said, “but at theheart of all advertising is the provision ofinformation to a target audience in order toinform and persuade. That can be to buy aparticular brand of a good orservice or behave in acertain way.Advertising ispositive to theeconomy bydriving demandof goods andservices aswell as to thecommunitythrough publicsafetycampaigns suchas road safety andhealth. Withoutadvertising peoplewould be unaware of thechoices available to them.”

Advertising has existed since there have beenproducts to sell. In ancient times it was often verysimple. Sellers drew attention to their products byinscriptions on the walls of their shops and signshanging above shop doorways.

EARLY DAYSThe first known advertisement is believed to have

been in Ancient Egypt. The ad, found inThebes, offered the reward of a gold coin

for a slave who had run away. The Ancient Egyptians were an

enterprising civilisation. They usedpapyrus to advertise their wares,and lost and found ads have beenfound in Ancient Egypt, Greeceand Rome.

In Ancient China earlyadvertisements took the form of

posters, calligraphy signs and oralmessages such as word of mouth.

In Europe, many potential buyersof goods and services could not read.

To overcome this, shops would useimages such as a boot for a cobbler, rather

than signs.

BEFORE 1900In medieval times, town criers and minstrels walkedabout the streets singing or calling out aboutproducts for sale at the weekly market.

The invention of printing in the 1400s changed

Sellinga message

Create an ad for a chance to win great prizes.The Design an Ad Competition is on again. Brainstorm ideas, use persuasive

language and show off your creativity as you prepare an ad for a real company.Organised by The West Australian’s Media Education and ED! sections, the Designan Ad competition is free to enter and closes on July 1.

Each company — Crunch&Sip, Department of Agriculture and Food, ProAcqua,RAC, Revolutions Transport Museum, Sizzler, SunSmart and Water Corporation —will award $100 to two primary and two secondary winners, and a selection ofsuccessful ads will be published in a special edition of ED! on August 23.

For more information: education.thewest.com.au/competitions.

DESIGN AN AD COMPETITION

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN ED! • TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015

FOREST CRESCENT STUDENTS

TRACK WHALE SHARKS.P2

P2P3POLLO AND WILL

CATCH A TRAIN.BURRENDAH KIDS DISCUSS ADS.

WINNING ENTRIES FROM OUR ANNUAL CONTEST

ED!

Throughout history people havelooked for ways to convince others tobuy or do something. Today we lookat the art of advertising and travelback in time to where it all began.

BrendonLewis, fromMarketforce.

World War Iposter toencouragemen tobecomesoldiers.Picture: GettyImages

Papyrus wasused for ads inAncient Egypt.Illustration:Toby Wilkinson

A LONG HISTORY

HOW TOMAKEAN AD

Marketforce’s Brendon Lewissaid regardless of the situation,the steps in designing anddelivering an ad were the same.

1 Define the objective(s) theadvertisement is trying to

meet. What are you trying to sayin the ad?

2 Define the most relevanttarget audience that you

need to reach and meet theobjective.

3 Define the media channel ormix of channels that will

most effectively and efficientlyreach your target audience attheir most receptive time andplace.

4 Define the single mostimportant thing

(proposition) you want to say toyour target audience, given theirneeds and wants.

5 Develop the creativesolution that presents the

idea in a unique and motivatingway.

6 Create the ad and send it tothe appropriate media.

7Work out, evaluate whetherthe ad was successful

against the objectives.

how sellers advertised their products to possiblecustomers. One of the first printed advertisementswas a small poster advertising a book for sale in 1477.Weekly newspapers began carrying advertisementsas far back as 1652.

Advertisements began appearing in newspapers inEngland in the 18th century. Ads for books andmedicines were also common. The Frenchnewspaper, La Presse, is believed to be the first toinclude paid advertising in its pages. Soon allnewspapers were charging for advertisements,allowing them to extend their number of readers andincrease profits.

With the Industrial Revolution — the transitionfrom handmade products to those made by machinein the 18th and 19th centuries — came the need toadvertise goodsand services.Before thiseracraftsmenwereusuallyknown bythosepeoplewanting to buygoods and onlysmall amounts ofproducts were made.Once mass

production of goods such as soap and clothingbegan, the links between buyers and sellers werebroken. Manufacturers began looking for people tobuy the items they made.

It was during the later part of this period thatadvertising agencies developed and billboardsbecame common.

SINCE 1900In the early part of the 20th century companiesstarted using publicity campaigns to advertise theirproducts and other techniques, such as soap operas,were introduced. Soap operas, or soapies, began inthe 1930s as a radio or television serial drama. Thename soap refers to the soap and detergent adswhich were originally shown during the shows. Theidea was to advertise products to people listening at

the time, mainly housewives. Advertising continued throughout both

World War I and II, with governments oftenusing advertising posters to attract

recruits to the war effort or to agreeor disagree with

conscription. The

introduction oftelevision inAustralia in the1950sdramaticallychanged the wayin which productscould beadvertised. In the1960s focusgroups wereformed to askpeople what theythought of newads and the waysin which ads weremade becamemore technical.

Restrictions onadvertisingcertain types ofproducts such as

alcohol and cigarettes have taken place in morerecent times. Because of obesity in many Westerncountries, advertising of junk food — particularly tochildren — is also restricted.

In the past 10 years advertising has evolvedsignificantly to include the internet, social mediasuch as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest and a varietyof hand-held devices such as smart phones.

TODAYThese days advertising is a multimillion-dollarindustry using many different forms of media to getacross messages about goods and services. Someforms of media where advertisers promote theirproducts include newspapers and other print forms,television, radio, mobile phone, social media andonline advertising.

Mr Lewis said advertising today was very differentin many ways.

“At its core, advertising is still a paid message to atarget audience but today the communicationlandscape is vastly different,” Mr Lewis said. “Theproliferation ofadvertising channels andtoday's savvy consumermakes producing anddelivering relevant andmotivating advertisingquite a challenge. Goneare the days where asingle televisioncommercial could reach80 per cent of yourtarget audience.Fragmentation of mediachannels and audiencebehaviour means multiplemessages communicatedthrough multiple channels, allcarefully engineered to hit the rightperson at the right time with the rightmessage.”

One of the best ads Mr Lewis has seen is for Volvotrucks. It is called “Epic Split” and featuresJean-Claude Van Damme between two trucks. MrLewis said the advertisement clearly demonstratedthe benefit of the product.

DID YOU KNOW?Before 1900 goods sold in

shops usually didn’t show whohad made them — the

manufacturer. People buyingproducts usually looked forgood-quality products at a

reasonable price. Most foodswere sold in bulk from barrelsand tubs. Food manufacturersthen got the idea of branding

their products by puttingthem into packages.

Some of the first productsto be advertised in packaging

were coffee, chocolate andtea. Today, the majority ofproducts use packaging to

advertise to consumers. Town crierssang or calledout aboutitems for salein the MiddleAges. Picture:Getty Images

Some of the most memorable ads create slogans or ideas which stick in people’s minds. Some

of the most famous seen in Australia are:

VEGEMITEWe’re happy little Vegemites

WEET-BIXAussie kids are Weet-Bix kids

AAMI INSURANCELucky you’re with AAMI

AAMI INSURANCERhonda and Ketut

CANCER COUNCIL VICTORIASlip, Slop, Slap

YELLOW PAGESNot happy, Jan!

WOOLWORTHSThe fresh food people

CADBURY FAVOURITESWhat to bring when you’re told not to bring a thing

NUTRI-GRAINIronman food

Today most product packaging hasadvertising on it. Picture: Gail AnthonySTAND-OUT SLOGANS

• More than $702 billion a year is spent onadvertising throughout the world.

• The cost of a 30-second ad during the USSuper Bowl is $7.02 million. • In the US more than $21 billion per year isspent on advertisements directed at children.• Most watches displayed in advertisementsare set to 10.10.• Fast-food companiesoften create brandawareness by

sponsoring children’ssports, for example,Milo Cricket.• Ronald McDonaldwas first introduced in 1963.

Ronald McDonald at aChristmas parade in Toronto,Canada. Picture: CreativeCommons/Lindsey Armstrong

FUN FACTS