The history of marketing (part 2)

From the start of the twentieth century to the period following the Second World War competition grew and the focus of marketing turned from production to selling. Communications, advertising and branding started to become more important as companies needed to sell the increasing outputs of production in an increasingly crowded market. Marketing was therefore still a ‘slave’ to production, but focussed on distribution, communication and persuading customers that one manufacturers goods were better than others.

Once the war ended consumers yearned for rationed products with the advertising cost doubling to 5.7 billion. Agencies could also invest their time and money into research and development which allowed them to expand on product ranges but also research into their chosen demographic and then tailor ad campaigns to suit the needs of their audience. The radio was used by the 1940’s but by the end of the era, television was viewed as the medium of the future. As in radio, agencies sponsored and produced most of the programming on television. This provided them with new opportunities to target a broader, more diverse audience as more than a third of homes owned a Tv by 1952.

The explosion of consumer goods in post world war 2 led to incremental innovation. There was a need to differentiate similar products as the market became saturated with companies selling the same thing. This led agencies to shift focus on branding once more in order to communicate superior features, unique ingredients and functional benefits. This led to companies shifting their focus from what a product could do to how a product made a consumer feel, attempting to build emotional bonds with customers primarily through advertising.

This will be further explored through the various technological advancements from the post 1950’s world.