According to the historical record, the first advertising agent could be considered Walney B. Palmer, a U.S. citizen who started his business in Philadelphia in 1841. He contracted with newspapers for large amounts of advertising space at reduced rates and then resold that space to advertisers at a higher price. The advertisers usually prepared the ads themselves.
In 1980 another Philadelphia advertising agency, N.W. Ayer & Son, offered its services to advertisers. It operated on the principle of modern agencies, providing planning, organizing and executing comprehensive advertising campaigns and receiving compensation in the form of commissions paid by the media or fees paid by advertisers.
What is an advertising agency?
An advertising agency is an organization that provides its clients with full or limited advertising planning, organizing and production services.
The work of the advertising agency is aimed at:
- communication with consumers,
- Formation of measures to increase demand for particular products or services,
- Realization of different ways of brand promotion, increasing its market share, increasing the importance of the brand in the eyes of consumers.
According to the tasks in the market advertising agencies can be divided into the following types:
Seller Agency – a legal structure that specializes in the sale of advertising space on behalf of and on behalf of the owners of the media, on certain exclusive terms.
Bayer Agency – a legal structure that specializes in the wholesale purchase of advertising space in advertising distribution media, and the subsequent resale of this space in parts.
Client Advertising Agency – a legal structure that performs jointly with the advertiser and on his behalf creative, executive and supervisory functions for the production and placement of advertising materials.
On the market, these advertising agencies are lined up in a business chain: Seller (manufacturer, owner or management company advertising media) – buyer (wholesaler) – client advertising agency (advertiser in the most common sense) – client (advertiser).
According to their functions advertising agencies can be divided into advertising producer and advertising distributor
The first – provides full or partial reduction of advertising information to ready for distribution.
The second – performs placement and (or) distribution of advertising information by providing and (or) use of property, including technical means of radio and television broadcasting, as well as communication channels, air time, newspaper or magazine space and other ways.