Since the Late Nineteenth Century, Advertising Surrounds Us.

In the 1890s advertising took off in a new direction.

No longer did the company simply provide information about a product or service in an ad.

Ads appeared everywhere, including the streetcar.

The goal of course was to persuade the viewer to buy a product or service.

Nineteenth century Philadelphia seedsman W. Atlee Burpee believed advertising was necessary for any business to succeed. In his 1897 catalog he wrote, “Advertising is as necessary an annual expenditure as the payment of taxes or rent …. Intelligent buyers realize that a good thing is worth advertising, and thus, making more sales, instead of increasing, advertising actually reduces the cost of goods.”

Companies were on the lookout for any new method of advertising in order to reach that customer.

Today those who have something to sell also pursue any avenue to reach an audience.

Here is a one-minute video  that illustrates the strategies of today’s advertisers: the future of advertising.

Historian Thomas Cochran in his book The Pabst Brewing Company about the origin of the largest brewery in late nineteenth century America gives some insight into how companies viewed advertising.  He wrote: “Advertising managers were in a hard spot in all companies in the latter nineties.  Advertising mediums and practices were growing at a rate that business executives could scarcely appreciate.  Campaigns that appeared daring from the standpoint of a few years earlier might, in truth, be small scale, and behind the times.”

In the 1890s most seed companies and nurseries sought to build their business by the new forms of advertising.

Gardeners across America became their market.  So it was no surprise that the same kind of garden appeared from California to Maine.

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