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What Is A Historyscope?

Westerners are not only known as history ignoramuses, but double dumbass history ignoramuses when it comes to advertising history. Since I'm the one-and-only Historyscoper (tm), let me quickly bring you up to speed before you dive into my Master Historyscope.

On July 10, 1700 the first advertisement is placed for Hockley-in-the-Hole in London, England, which stages prize fights, incl. with swords, and also has a lovely Bear Garden for bull and bear baiting; in 1774 the name is changed to Ray St.

On Sept. 2, 1858 a Lincoln-Douglas debate is held in Clinton, Ill., in which Stephen Douglas accuses Abraham Lincoln of being in favor of Negro equality, and he replies: "He's not in favor of it to the extent Douglas would have them believe, but that he did believe that the colored man had as much right to eat the bread earned by the sweat of his own face as Douglas himself, or any other living man, and that was the thing that really caused the general debate between Douglas and Lincoln in the state of Illinois" (Vespasian Warner); Lincoln allegedly utters the immortal soundbyte: "You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time"; there is no documentation until a Prohibition Party convention on Sept. 9, 1885?; the saying becomes one of the most popular advertising slogans in the U.S., esp. around his birthday Feb. 12, incl. Gimbels, Macy's, Old Crow Rye, R.M. Rose Distillery, Knickerbocker Beer, Harwood's Canadian Whiskey, Calvert Extra Whiskey, Steinway Pianos, Mazola Corn Oil, Puritan Malt Extract, Hydrox Ice Cream, Borden Eagle Brand Condensed Milk, Postum coffee substitute, Nucoa bread spead, Pillsbury's Best Flour et al.

In 1923 Young & Rubicam is founded in Philly by John Orr Young (1886-1976) and Raymond Rubicam (1892-1978), moving to New York City in 1926 to secure a contract with Jell-O Co., locating at 285 Madison Ave. and becoming the world's largest advertising agency.

On Jan. 11, 1930 Advertising Age mag. begins pub. in Chicago, Ill.; in 1980 Henderson Agency of Greenville, S.C. becomes their first Advertising Agency of the Year; in 1999 it pub. The Century of Advertising, listing the top 100 advertising agencies, execs, and campaigns in the 20th cent. with DDB's 1959 Think Small ads for Volkswagen voted the #1 ad campaign of all time.

In 1935 St. Johns, Mich.-born Leo Burnett (1891-1971) founds the Leo Burnett Co. Inc. in Chicago, Ill., becoming known for keeping a bowl filled with apples in its reception room and using big black pencils for "big ideas", going on to snag accounts with McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and Hallmark and reach $22M/year sales in 1950, and $100M/year by 1960, reaching 9K employees by 2015 after creating famous advertising chars. Charlie the Tuna, the Marlboro Man, the Maytag Repairman, and Tony the Tiger, and advertising slogans incl. "Fly the Friendly Skies" (United Airlines) and "Good Hands" (Allstate).

In 1949 after working for George Gallup's Audience Research Inst. in N.J. since 1938, and the British Intelligence Service, buying a farm in Amish country in Lancaster, Penn. until he grew tired of it, Surrey, England-born David Mackenzie Ogilvy (1911-99) founds an advertising agency in New York City with $6K, going on to become "the Father of Advertising", coining the phrases "The customer is not a moron, she's your wife", "The man in the Hathaway shirt", "The man from Schweppes is here", "At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock", "Pablo Casals is coming home - to Puerto Rico", and "Only Dove is one-quarter moisturizing cream"; in 1962 Time mag. calls him "the most sought-after wizard in today's advertising industry".

In 1949 the Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) Advertising Agency is founded in Manhattan, N.Y. by James Edwin "Ned" Doyle (1902-89), Maxwell "Mac" Dane (1906-2004), and William "Bill" Bernbach (1911-82), changing to DDB World Communications Group Inc. in 1986, growing to $12.7B annual revenue by 2008; ad campaigns incl. Juan Valdez, Gen. Mills, Frigidaire, Household Finance Corp., the Put a Tiger in Your Tank campaign for Esso (later ExxonMobil), the 1959 Think Small Volkswagen ads, the "We Try Harder Because We're Number 2" ads for Avis Rent-A-Car Co., the 1964 Daisy Ad that torpedoes the U.S. pres. run of Repub. Barry Goldwater, and the 1972 Little Mikey ads for Quaker Oats.

In 1957 McCann becomes the first U.S. advertising agency to bill $100M in TV and radio sales; in 1973 it becomes McCann-Erickson.

In 1963 Pepsi-Cola Co. launches its "Pepsi Generation" campaign, created by ad exec Alan Maxwell Pottasch (1927-2007).