The Advertising Age Encyclopedia of Advertising

Widely praised as the most comprehensive reference in the field!

Edited by John McDonough and Karen Egolf with the assistance of the Museum of Broadcast Communications

Key Features About the Editors Publication Details/Order Online

“Does she or doesn’t she?… Only her hairdresser knows for sure!”

“We try harder.”

“the pause that refreshes”

“Where’s the beef?”*

Historians and economists consider advertising a gauge of social development: the more advertising, the greater the development because the greater the choices available to individuals. To catch the consumer’s attention in a competitive marketplace, companies and brands strive to achieve the instant recognition provided by these and other well-know slogans and advertising campaigns. For many companies, the brand and what it stands for have become vastly more important than the manufacturing of the product behind it.

How is advertising created, how has that process changed over time, how has it developed the world over, and what are its historical, economic, and ethical implications? Until now these questions have been difficult for even trained researchers to answer, because behind each brand name is often a privately held company or creative mind shrouded in the mists of history. The 240 historians and experts who created this groundbreaking encyclopedia have ventured into uncharted territory to fill this important gap in history, aided by the unique resources of the Advertising Age and Hartman Center archives.

Representing a breakthrough in historical research, these handsomely printed and bound volumes belong in every collection serving students and scholars of business, business history, advertising, and social history.

*Campaign slogans from: Miss Clairol, Avis, Coca-Cola, Wendy’s.

In nearly 600 informative and entertaining entries, organized A to Z, the encyclopedia:

Profiles leading ad agencies in the US and worldwide, including for the first time details on shops of historic interest
Tells the stories of over 160 corporate advertisers, brands, and/or campaigns that have had major lasting effects
Provides biographical and career details of the men and women in the history of advertising
Explains market research methods, theory, and data-gathering
Explores social, cultural, and historic issues that influence advertising- ethics, feminism, regulation, stereotyping, sex, and war, to name only some of these thought-provoking thematic essays
Reveals the systems, tools, and professional organizations that help make advertising work

Tools for research and features include:

A comprehensive, 140-page analytical index, including subjects, ads, advertisers, agencies, people, slogans, and illustrations
Chronologies and lists of ad agencies preceding appropriate articles
A bibliography following each article
Appendixes listing top advertisers and agencies, Advertising Hall of Fame award-winners, and leading degree programs
Over 500 illustrations bringing the crucial visual aspect of the subject to life, including 72 pages in color
Cross-references

John McDonough is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal and Advertising Age and has appeared in American Scholar, The New York Times, and other publications. Since 1996 he has produced, written, and directed many documentary features for the NPR daily magazine program, All Things Considered.

Karen Egolf is project development editor of Advertising Age in Chicago. Previously, she was editor of Advertising Age’s Business Marketing.

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