History of Advertising (Timeline)

The first newspaper advertisement, an announcement seeking a buyer for an Oyster Bay, Long Island, estate, is published in the Boston News-Letter. This is one of the earliest forms of advertising, and the year was 1704. Not many people are aware of one of the first people in American history to start including advertisments in his newly former magazine was Benjamin Franklin. In 1729 Franklin begins publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette in Philadelphia, which includes pages of "new advertisements". In a sense, advertising in magazine, which is incredibly common in today's advertising, started in Philadelphia. In 1784 The Pennsylvania Packet & Daily Advertiser, which is America's first successful daily newspaper, starts in Philadelphia. Finally, in 1843, the first ad agency for formed by a man named Volney Palmer. Later in 1880, Department store founder John Wanamaker is the first retailer to hire a full-time advertising copywriter, John E. Powers. In 1882, one the first products being advertised was soap. Procter & Gamble Co. begins advertising Ivory soap with an unprecedented budget of $11,000. This is how the powerful, influential world of Advertising all started; it would be safe to call Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the birth place of Advertising. Sources: AdvertisingAge.com Home