Military-style Campaigns

As soon as big corporations become involved in product advertising, the amount of money being spent increases dramatically. This goes far beyond the typical ads by local stores to promote special one-time sales events.

Corporations hire professional advertising firms to handle their campaigns, and bring in the finest, top-dollar illustrators. The best artists sign their work, with signatures sometimes splashed across the ad itself.

Some industries band together to present a unified front to raise awareness of a generic product, like coffee. The marketing campaign shown here is military-grade, envisioning a comprehensive three-pronged assault. 
Ad campaigns, 1920s

  Organizing the Campaign
The chart (lower left) shows the rapidly-growing dollar commitment to this campaign. Three different 'offensives' are designed to flood the consumer with publicity. The Life Magazine ad (top left) and newspaper ads (bottom right) are aimed directly at consumers. The other two prongs of the attack target the distribution networks involved in getting products onto store shelves.

Glamour ads, 1920s

  Juicing it Up
Splashy ads often feature color. This is brand new, made possible by advances in color printing techniques that are still being developed. But color illustrations lose quality when printed on existing equipment. For this reason, color is mostly reserved for magazine covers (inside and out, front and back) and posters, which are printed separately, on better paper, with the best equipment. Advertisers actually prefer less expensive black-and-white for most advertising, since it reproduces better on the printed page.


Norman Rockwell and beverage ads, 1920s

  Simple Pleasures
Beverages promise a more enjoyable life at little cost. Anyone can afford a Coke, even out on the farm. Artwork for the ad at right was created by Norman Rockwell, the most popular illustrator of the time.