Trends of Advertising

We have always come across funny, attractive creative and out of odds advertisements be it by the roadside, living rooms,cinema,at the back of public toilet doors, cars etc. We have all seen ads on vehicles like ‘The car ahead of you is always a Toyota’Isnt that creative? We have come across people riding bicycles in town mounted on a big banner advertising services of some computer college? That’s innovation - commercializing creativity. But….wait, did you ever stop to wonder where advertising first originated? Advertising is definitely older that you thought.

“It is the people who figure out how to work simply in the present, rather than the people who mastered the complexities of the past, who get to say what happens in the future.” – Clay Shikry

From his words, Clay Shikry was not wrong. Marketing trends keep on changing. Old fashions and cultures pave way for improved and sophisticated ways of doing things. Consequently, advertisement as a section has not been left behind especially during this revolutionary world of ICT.

In the ancient Greece, the first advertisements were basically vocal, where peddlers used cries in the streets to hawk their wares. The first newspaper, The Weekly Newes appeared in England in 1622.In the newspaper, there was the first advertisement that communicated the return of a stolen horse. Since then, audience has become more sophisticated and so have the advertisers.

Later on, centralization of advertisement began in the mid 1600 where a Paris doctor opened a shop where you could post an advert for 3sous.Thereafter; The London Gazette announced that it was going to commence print advertisements. This majorly attracted the merchants who would advertise their busineses.This announcement even gave rise to lots of notices by merchants at their work places and turning London to a city of notices. The notices were however regulated by Charles II who proclaimed that “no signs shall be hung across the street shutting down the air and the light of the heavens”

The first radio arrived in 1920 but had its first ad in 1922.Tellevision advertisement also started way in 1936 though it was an illegal commercial for a fur company in New York that earned the broadcaster a hefty fine that dragged the oncoming wave of TV advertisements as they were way better than the previous print and voice commercials.

Internet is the latest advertisement platforms that was introduced in 1994(the year internet was first heard in Kenya. Thanks to Ayisi Makatiani).Internet has grown from strength to strength and no organization or individual can afford to ignore the potential it offers. Internet that first began as a source of entertainment, is now earning people jobs. We have seen job adverts of social media marketers, Social media consultants and we are yet to see more specific ones like SEO experts.