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In 1704, the very first advertisement, an advertisement for Oyster Bay, Long Island (real estate), was published by the Boston News-Letter.
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Benjamin Franklin publishes the first issue of The Pennysylvania Gazette in Philadelphia, which included pages of "New Advertisments."
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Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine prints the first American magazine ads.
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The Pennsylvania Packet & Daily Advertiser, America's first successful daily newspaper, starts in Philadelphia.
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Benjamin Day publishes the Sun, the first successful "penny newspaper" in New York.
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Billboard ads became a popular roadside sight during this year.
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Volney Palmer opens the first advertising agency in Philadelphia.
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The first convention of advertising agents is held in New York.
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Department store founder John Wanamaker is the first retailer to hire a full-time advertising copywriter, John E. Powers.
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Cyrus H.K. Curtis launches Ladies' Home Journal with his wife, Louisa Knapp Curtis, as editor
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The American Newspaper Publishers Association is formed.
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Asa Briggs Chandler registers Coca-Cola as a trademark.
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N.W. Ayer helps National Biscuit Co. launch the first prepackaged biscuit, Uneeda, with the slogan "Lest you forget, we say it yet, Uneeda Biscuit." Eventually, the company launches the first million-dollar advertising campaign for Uneeda.
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Campbell Soup Co. makes its first advertising buy.
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The Associated Advertising Clubs of America, a group of agencies, advertisers and media representatives, is formed.
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W.K. Kellogg places his first ads for Corn Flakes in six midwestern newspapers. By 1915, he is spending $1 million on national advertising.
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A group of large agencies forms the Association of New York Agents, predecessor to the American Association of Advertising Agencies.
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Woodbury Soap breaks its "The skin you love to touch" campaign in the Ladies' Home Journal, marking the first time sex appeal is used in advertising.
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The Federal Trade Commission Act is passed, and Joseph E. Davies is named the first FTC chairman. Section 5 allows it to issue cease-and-desist orders against dishonest advertising.
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The American Association of Advertising Agencies, the first agency trade association, is established with 111 charter-member agencies.
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KDKA, Pittsburgh, becomes the first radio station in the U.S. and is the first to broadcast the results of the 1920 presidential election.
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AT&T's station WEAF in New York offers 10 minutes of radio time to anyone who would pay $100. The Queensboro Corp., a Long Island real estate firm, buys the first commercials in advertising history four: 15 spots at $50 apiece. Following the ads extolling Hawthorne Court, a new tenant-owned apartment complex in Jackson Heights, sales total thousands of dollars.
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National Carbon Co.'s "Eveready Hour" is the first regular series of broadcast entertainment and music to be sponsored by an advertiser.
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Theodore F. MacManus helps Walter Chrysler launch his new car, the Chrysler Six.
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Radio Corporation of America buys New York radio station WEAF from AT&T and renames it WNBT. It forms the first radio network with 19 stations within the year, and the National Broadcasting Co. is launched.
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The Federal Radio Commission is established.
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Columbia Broadcasting System, a second major radio network, is launched.
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Following the stock market crash, advertising spending plummets. From its high of $3.5 billion, it sinks to $1.5 billion by 1933.
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American Tobacco Company spends $12.3 million to advertise Lucky Strikes, the most any company has ever spent on single-product advertising.
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Radio surpasses magazines as a source of advertising revenue.
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With 7,500 T.V. sets in New York City, NBC's WNBT begins telecasting July 1. The first T.V. spots, featuring a Bulova watch that ticks for 60 seconds, air as open- and close-time signals for the day's schedule.
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The War Advertising Council is organized to help prepare voluntary advertising campaigns for wartime efforts. The council garners $350 million in free public service messages. After the war it is renamed the Advertising Council.
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CBS opens its Television City production facilities in Hollywood.
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CBS becomes the largest advertising medium in the world.
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The Marlboro Man campaign debuts.
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Videotape recording makes prerecorded commercials possible
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Doyle Dane Bernbach introduces the "creative team" approach of combining a copywriter with an art director to create its "Think small" campaign for Volkswagen
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"The Pepsi Generation" kicks off the cola wars
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NBC drops its ban on comparative advertising. ABC and CBS don't follow suit until 1972.
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Congress prohibits broadcast advertising of cigarettes.
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The Supreme Court grants advertising First Amendment protection.
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Congress removes the FTC's power to stop "unfair" advertising
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MTV debuts with frenetic video images that change the nature of commercials
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Gannett Co. launches USA Today.
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The Internet becomes a reality as 5 million users worldwide get online.
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Google initially began as a research project by two students at Standard University. This website initially ran under google.stanford.edu, but later became what is known today as google.com.
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Cigarette makers and state attorneys general draft a $206 billion deal that curbs marketing and settles lawsuits to recover Medicaid costs
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Google launched it's Beta phase.
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Internet advertising breaks the $2 billion mark and heads toward $3 billion as the industry, under prodding from Procter & Gamble, moves to standardize all facets of the industry.
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Google internet advertisments become popular for big businesses
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Google goes widespread for public use
