History of Indian Advertising

And Social reflections

Walk through…..
 History of advertising
 Advertising in India
 Hallmark events
 Advertising mirrors the society


  Advertising is like a Mirror of the society
 It reflects the beliefs, values and the behavior
of the people
 Hence the ads needs to be in the same
wavelength of its audience..
 Advertisers needs to think like them, feel
what they feel, see things the way they
see, perceive things the way they perceive
and act like how they would act




 Advertisements need effectively to connect
with its audience


Birth of Indian Advertising
1780 - James Augustus Hickey brought
out the first newspaper in India called
Calcutta General Advertiser or
Hickey's Bengal Gazette(Calcutta)



18th century – The foundation
era
 Adsappear for the first time in print in
Hickey's Bengal Gazette


 The earliest ads:

 Classified
Patent medicines
Ads by Retailers

Pre Independence
 Pressadvertisements – largely imported
goods which had reached Indian shores


 Retailers
like Spencer's, Army & Navy and
Whiteaway & Laidlaw called out to
consumers

The rise of agencies
 1905- B. Dattaram's, India's first advertising
agency, from Mumbai filled this vacuum


 By the 1920s, other agencies like Gujarat

Advertising and Allied Advertising had
come up

1930’s
 The talkies and
radio emerge as
media
 Colour movies


 The first Indian

advertising agency
to offer both
creative work as
well as space
selling was Sista's
Advertising and
Publicity Services
set up by
1940’s
The 2nd World
War
Fight for
Independence
Launch of brands
like Lux, Pears,
Horlicks,Dalda

 The first expatriate
agencies
 Alliance Advertising set up during World War I (1914-
18).
 L.A. Stronach
 D.J. Keymer
 The first truly multinational agency was J Walter
Thomson (JWT) 1926
 Levers International Advertising Service (LINTAS)
L.A. Stronach = Norvickson Advertising




Keymer =Benson=BOMAS =OB&M= O&M

(Caucutta branch of Keymer = Clarion) 1955

1950’s
 Indian advertising takes off
 Industrial revolution in the Nehruvian era
 1st survey of the rural market
 Cinema advertising began
 India’s First AD club was set up in Calcutta
 Leading ad agency - Press Syndicate


1960’s



 Advertising to be Indian in thought and
content
 Creativity was emphasized
 Photography find increasing use
 Professionalization within agencies

 India’s first Advertising Convention (1960)
 1st Asian Advertising Congress at New Delhi


Emergence of Marketing
MRI (Market Rating Indices)
Shop Audits
NRS I and II
Focus on Research and data
generation

1970’s
 Media boom
 Bouquet of
magazines
 2nd Asian
Advertising
Congress at New
Delhi
 Marketing
concepts/efforts:
◦ Lifestyle studies,
positioning
◦ Rural marketing

1980’s
15th 1982 – Colour TV introduced
 Aug
 Radio commercials introduced
 Regional broadcasts, expansion of radio
 Expansion and diversification of agencies
 Colour Printing more popular
 Public sector advertising
 Formation of Indian chapter of International
 Advertising Association




1980’s…
Marketing concepts/efforts:
◦ NRS III by IMRB
◦ sponsoring TV programmes
◦



1990’s
  FM Radio
 Emergence of Satellite
 TV
◦ CNN – 1st channel
to be beamed to
India
◦ Star bouquet
◦ Zee bouquet
◦ Movie channels
and pay
channels
 DD Metro to counter
satellite channels
 Internationalisation of
Advertising
 Marketing concepts/efforts:
◦ DD Audience surveys
◦ NRS IV ( 2 surveys – ORG and IMRB-
MARG)
◦ NRS V
◦ IRS survey
◦ Consumer Tracking and Satisfaction
studies
◦ Emphasis on Brand Equity
◦ Niche segmentation
◦ Emphasis on Direct marketing
◦
◦
2000’s
 Technological breakthrough
 The “WWW” ERA
 The role of the advertising agency – changing
to that of a marketing consultant


 Marketing concepts/efforts:
◦ NRS VI
◦ CAS
◦ Web Advertising
◦

Its all bout


Brands!
What is the common seductive link between


Hollywood actor Paul Newman, Bollywood

actors Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai
Bachchan and All India Anna Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam chief J. Jayalalithaa?
 Theyhave all tried selling a soap at some
point or the other....

And the soap is Lux, the premium beauty

soap from consumer products company
HUL
Lux was one
of the
First
foreign
brands to
Indi anise
themselves -
1941
Lux soap ad featuring Leela
Chitnis 1941
HALLMARK EVENTS
 1912- ITC (then Imperial Tobacco Co. Ltd.)
launches Gold Flake
 1939 – First marketing campaign for a
vanaspati (cooking fat) brand called Dalda,
by LINTAS
 1941 - Lux and Pears toilet soaps - First
foreign brands to Indianise themselves
 1941 – HTA coins the term “Balanced
nutrition” to make Horlicks more relavent to
India
 1950 - Radio Ceylon and Radio Goa
become the media option
 1951 - Vicks VapoRub: a rub for colds, causes
ripples with its entry in the balm market
 1957- Vividh Bharati kicks off
 1962 - India's television's first soap opera
“Teesra Rasta”
 1967 - First commercial appears on Vividh
Bharati
 1978- First television commercial seen
 1980- King-sized Virginia filter cigarette enters
market with brand name of 'Charms'
 1982 -When television turned to colour
transmission abd “Bombay Dyeing” becomes the
first colour TV ad


 1983 - Maggi Noodles launched to
become an overnight success
 1984 - Hum Log, Doordarshan's first soap
opera in the colour era is born
 1985-86 - 915 new brands of products
and services appearing on the Indian
Market
 1990 - Marks the beginning of new
medium Internet , go virtual with
websites & Internet advertising
 1990 -Brand Equity (magazine) of The
Economic Times is born
 1991- First India-targetted satellite
  1996- The ad fraternity hits big time for
the first time by bagging three awards
at the 43rd International Advertising
Festival, Cannes
 1996- Sun TV becomes the first regional
TV channel to go live 24 hours a day on
all days of the week

  1995 - Advertising Club of Bombay calls its
awards as Abby
 1997- Events assume important role in
marketing mix
 Advertising on the Internet gains popularity
 Reinventing of cinema -advertising through
cinema begins

 ADVERTISING & SOCIAL REFLECTIONS
Pre - 1947 , some
products such as
the 501 Special
Soap highlighted
the Swadeshi
angle , but
dropped it after
Independence
Things To be Proud
of 
Khajuraho[...]

wherever you go
they're good.
an old ad of Gold
Flake plain from 1960
Quality that has
stood the test of
time
Wills Gold Flake 
the best plain
cigarette you can buy

- an ad for Wills
Gold Flake plain
from1970
Gold Flake Filter Kings
Worth its length in
gold
Gold Flake Filter Kings
comes king size length
for
a really luxurious
smoke. More Virginia
tobacco for
more satisfaction. and
smoother too. Worth its
length in gold - that's
Gold Flake Filter Kings

Wherever you go they're

good
[Rs.3.20 for 20. Rs 1.60
for 10]
-  Gold Flake Filter
Kings ad from August
1970
The tinkle of
crystal,
the sparkle of
talk and
laughter...
and Gold Flake.
Great quality...
For the gracious
people

Gold Flake Filter

Kings 
Quality that's
forever

 - Gold Flake
Filter Kings ad
from 1984.
(Agency: Clarion)
For gracious people

 - Gold Flake Filter

Kings ad, September
1987
 man on the left is
actor Vijayendra
Ghatge
(Agency: Clarion)
Pears ad from the
60’s
Lux soap ad featuring Leela
Chitnis 1941
 Saira
Banu and
Hema
Malini in
Lux ads.
Zeenat Aman
in Lux soap
ad from 1980s
Zeenat Aman
in Lux soap
ad from 1980s
Madhuri Dixit in
Lux Ad
The transforming India
 Globalization
 Emerging Middle-Class Consumers
 Changing Lifestyle and attitude of Consumers
 Increasing literacy rate
 Women empowerment
 Children influence in buying  decision making
 Changing perspective of rural marketing in
India
 Increasing penetration of mass media
 Consumer awareness
 Information revolution
 An Enormous growth in international business

Startling trends reflect in
the ads
 Women empowerment
 Health mania

The Voice of “Children”

Thank you
A project by
Varsha
Nishant
Norma