Well-founded fun
Encyclopedia From the motherland of advertising comes the most comprehensive reference work in the history of the industry. A weighty read.
Encyclopaedia From the motherland of advertising comes the most comprehensive reference work in the history of the industry. Even in the days of Diderot's enlightened "Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des arts et métiers" (1751), there was something absurd, even presumptuous, in the attempt to capture the entire world's knowledge between two book covers. How absurd or arrogant must a three-volume encyclopaedia appear today that purports to summarize the global development of the advertising industry, which is probably still comparatively young but all the more fast-moving for it, on almost 2,000 densely printed and lavishly illustrated pages? As an old European, only the inventors of commercial communication are credited with so much self-confidence and verve. And rightly so, since only the USA has the sources and resources required for such a bold undertaking.refreshingly investigativeWhen the industry's central organ Advertising Age, founded in 1930, joined forces with the Chicago Museum of Broadcast Communications five years ago, it was foreseeable that this "ground-breaking instrument of orientation and convenience" (New York Times) would attempt the balancing act between academic thoroughness and journalistic entertainment. But it is not only the unorthodox mix of styles that seems very American; the perspective from which the 600 individual entries were researched and written is also "Anglo-centric". (The only Swiss representative in the illustrious index is Nestlé).
However, since almost everything that has shaped and advanced the world of advertising over the past 75 years - even the Ad Age archive doesn't go back any further - comes from the other side of the Atlantic or the English Channel, this doesn't really detract from the book. What's more, many of the articles are so well researched and refreshingly written that only Anglo-Saxon business journalists and historians seem to be able to do this anymore.
It is not for nothing that the notorious secrecy and lack of transparency of the agency scene is compared to the "secrecy of law firms" in the foreword. Like law firms, according to the editors, the advertisers, who saw themselves as "service slaves" from the outset, hid behind the broad shoulders of their main clients (who were also considered in detail). This was made more difficult by the fact that advertising has always been the people business par excellence. Not only did the "hot shots" and "big brains" in the industry keep a low profile; regular changes of name and ownership do not make a complete reconstruction of agency history(ies) any easier.
On the Internet from 2004Another exciting feature of this encyclopaedia, the online edition of which will be available for a fee at the beginning of 2004, is the 70 or so contextual essays that trace the manifold interactions between society and advertising. The topics range from "Feminism in Commercials" to "Subliminal Advertising" and "The Impact of War", thus underlining in the best anti-cyclical manner the often underestimated function of advertising for progress and democracy in times of crisis. In this respect, the mammoth work comes at just the right time, even if its purchase price may seem prohibitive for some potential buyers.
Master Propper also originally came from America.
However, since almost everything that has shaped and advanced the world of advertising over the past 75 years - even the Ad Age archive doesn't go back any further - comes from the other side of the Atlantic or the English Channel, this doesn't really detract from the book. What's more, many of the articles are so well researched and refreshingly written that only Anglo-Saxon business journalists and historians seem to be able to do this anymore.
It is not for nothing that the notorious secrecy and lack of transparency of the agency scene is compared to the "secrecy of law firms" in the foreword. Like law firms, according to the editors, the advertisers, who saw themselves as "service slaves" from the outset, hid behind the broad shoulders of their main clients (who were also considered in detail). This was made more difficult by the fact that advertising has always been the people business par excellence. Not only did the "hot shots" and "big brains" in the industry keep a low profile; regular changes of name and ownership do not make a complete reconstruction of agency history(ies) any easier.
On the Internet from 2004Another exciting feature of this encyclopaedia, the online edition of which will be available for a fee at the beginning of 2004, is the 70 or so contextual essays that trace the manifold interactions between society and advertising. The topics range from "Feminism in Commercials" to "Subliminal Advertising" and "The Impact of War", thus underlining in the best anti-cyclical manner the often underestimated function of advertising for progress and democracy in times of crisis. In this respect, the mammoth work comes at just the right time, even if its purchase price may seem prohibitive for some potential buyers.
Master Propper also originally came from America.
Oliver Classen
