Advertisement, Elliott's "Bowling Green Mix" Seed

Color lithograph from a seed catalogue promoting “Elliott's ‘Bowling Green Mixture’ Grass Seed. The illustration depicts two men lawn bowling in the foreground, a man mowing the grass in front of a large white house with picket fence, and a harbor with boats and statue of Liberty in the background. The page has been mounted on cardboard and placed in a decorative black and gold printed frame. By the mid-nineteenth century in America, advertisements regularly appeared in newspapers, magazines, trade journals, and catalogues. Companies could run ads in major national publications to reach customers nationwide, or they could reach out to more narrowly targeted audiences through ads in local papers or specialized trade journals. Advertisements employed color, illustrations, clever wording to attract business and influence consumers. All this was made possible by technological advances in the economical manufacture of paper and the printing press. Ads ranged from full-page spreads to smaller features within the column space. Many companies added promotions to their advertisements as a marketing tactic to excite business.

By the mid-nineteenth century in America, advertisements regularly appeared in newspapers, magazines, trade journals, and catalogues. Companies could run ads in major national publications to reach customers nationwide, or they could reach out to more narrowly targeted audiences through ads in local papers or specialized trade journals. Advertisements employed color, illustrations, clever wording to attract business and influence consumers. All this was made possible by technological advances in the economical manufacture of paper and the printing press. Ads ranged from full-page spreads to smaller features within the column space. Many companies added promotions to their advertisements as a marketing tactic to excite business.

Over the course of the nineteenth century, the establishment of many successful businesses in America was met with new technologies that opened opportunities for companies to expand their markets. This was stimulated by the consumer-driven way of life espoused by the growing middle class with more money to spend. Competition increased, and many companies turned to advertising to increase sales and win over customers. As industrialization increased supply and the economy grew during the nineteenth century, advertising and the development of mass marketing strategies expanded alongside it. Advertising was a means to market products or services that was communicated through various media such as newspapers, magazines, catalogs, trade cards, and printed ephemera. Effective advertising employed “branding” which used targeted slogans, images, phrases that created associations with a product name or image with certain qualities in consumers’ minds. Companies continually reevaluated changing tastes, needs, and fashions in order to stay up-to-date with the desires of the consumers, and new advertisements were constantly being released to appeal to them. By 1900, the advertising agency was an established profession at the forefront of creative planning and mass marketing.

Mounted on cardboard