I am probably the last person on the planet to begin to binge watch the TV series about the New York agency industry, Mad Men, which is altogether strange as I met many of those who were prototypes for the series, from David Ogilvy on down. So I Googled some… and found this from Steve… Continue reading The lunatic who stole Trump’s stationery
Tag: Advertising history
Elegant shopping at Derry and Toms
Great graphic commercial art from the 1920s in this piece from Dave Walker about the department store in Kensington, now long gone… Victoria Station, at a quiet time of the day. Sometime…in the 1920s, I think. A display unit, and some posters reminding you to head for Kensington for high-class fashion and household goods.… Source:… Continue reading Elegant shopping at Derry and Toms
(I do not) Want Ad
You did not want to mess with this lady, Mrs Nancy Turtle. She surely believed in the power of advertising, though her forgiveable spluttering volcano of anger could have been phrased better, this stream of consciousness rant paints a perfect picture of her lantern-jawed, one-eyed philanderer excuse for a husband
Why advertising agencies were invented
They say ‘sell the benefits’, but Floriline’s graphic realism small ad that ran for more than 20 years points to just how malodorous things must have been in the drawing room of the 19th century. This is why David Ogilvy, Jay Chiat and a bunch more 20th century artists in communication have an honoured place… Continue reading Why advertising agencies were invented
“Useful present for a soldier”
Napoleon called the British a nation of shopkeepers. As the first Christmas of the 1914-18 war neared, those shopkeepers of Britain were concerned the country might be distracted from being a nation of customers. To remedy it for that year and throughout the war, much marketing effort was put into keeping the home tills ringing.… Continue reading “Useful present for a soldier”
“In consequence of having had the screw put on…”
Every once in a while you bump into something you weren’t looking for, but the happenstance makes you smile. Although FH Lewisson of Auckland, New Zealand has been dead this many a long year, you have to have hoped that this small businessman’s direct, impassioned and charming appeal from Ocotber 1879 worked and he was… Continue reading “In consequence of having had the screw put on…”
The king is dead
A great old school Mad Men adman died last week.He was 93. Julian Koenig gave us the VW advertising of the sixties, the name Earth Day and a whole lot more. Koenig was not without a degree of homespun, though tongue in cheek, humility about his profession’s place in the world, as can be observed… Continue reading The king is dead