#advertising-history

#advertising-history

Welcome to the era where advertising grew a soul and started talking back. In the early 1960s, the industry underwent a massive transformation that moved away from dry product specifications toward something much more psychological and artistic. We transitioned from a world where ads looked like instruction manuals to a vibrant landscape where they felt like a conversation with a clever, funny friend.

But let's drop the nostalgia and remember that this is a masterclass in what creativity really looks like across eras, categories and styles. Including what it looks like in the modern day. Yes, the tools have changed. The targeting is tighter. The media landscape's a multiverse now. But the principles that made Hovis timeless in 1973 still apply in 2025.

It was the ideal duration for those watching at home (mainly women) to become familiar with a product and (hopefully) become convinced of its benefits. Sixty seconds was chopped to thirty in the 1970s - not because of changing attention spans, but because of cigarettes. To make up for revenue losses following the ban on cigarette adverts, television networks started shaving down ad lengths, and this shaving continued into the 1980s, when 15-second commercials were introduced.

Roadside billboards have become an integral part of urban landscapes, eliciting mixed emotions of nostalgia and criticism from residents and city planners alike.