Why Advertising & Promotion

The point of departure of this topic is the advertising agency and its practices in creating the kinds of promotional communication that have become closely identified with brand marketing and consumer culture under late capitalism. We emphasise the uncertainty that the future holds for the agency model, but we maintain that advertising agency remains an important institution for several reasons. Since they began as space-brokers selling classified advertising in the (then) new printed publications some 200 years ago, advertising agencies have been behind much of what passes for marketing practice today. Market research, branding, opinion polling, strategic planning and, arguably, public relation (PR) were formalised, into disciplines and developed within advertising agencies. Advertising agencies worked hand-in-hand with media owners, maufacturers and others produres to develop today's promotional culture. During the post-war period, ad agencies in the UK and USA developed ever more pesuasive techniques that transformed the realm of consumption.

Eventually, many sub-disciplinary fields of marketing and promotinal communicaiton emerged, each with their own special skill sets, agencies and career paths, such as direct mail and direct response, digital marketing, PR, packaging, sponsership, out of home advertising, brand consulting and more. Today, under media convergence we are seeing the circle turn and advertising agencies are once againg under pressure to offer an inclusive set of skills and knowledge to brand clients who demand fully integrated campaigns across muliple media channels.