Did you know that advertisement has been around since 2000 years?  

Be it blown-up physical posters and banners or online ads, you see advertisements all around you! But did you know that the Egyptians were the first to use advertising, in as well as 2000 BC? Yes, you read that right. The Egyptians did so by carving notes for the public in steel! They used ‘papyrus’ to advertise their products for the first time. The Romans later advertised their goods through mosaics and artwork. Subsequently, Athenians followed the trend as well. However, it is Athenians who are credited with the invention of advertisement as we know it today. All this happened in 2000 BC only! Here are the landmarks in the history of advertisement. 

1472: The debut of printed advertisement  
William Caxton, an English businessperson, diplomat and author, was the first to draft a printed advertisement in 1472. He printed advertisements for his book and pasted them on English church doors. This set a precedent for printed advertisements. With advancements in printing press, print advertisements became more affordable and accessible to the masses. 

1704: The first advertisement appears in a newspaper 
Newspaper advertisement was first issued by the Boston Newsletter, the first continuously published newspaper in the United States. These advertisements were regarding a reward offered for 12 stolen horses. Following this, the Boston Newsletter welcomed readers to post advertisements for homes, boats and even products for sale. 

1835: The advent of the first billboard 
Today we are surrounded by billboards. These are mostly about popular movies, brands and music albums among others. However, in 1835, the first billboard display showed posters of a circus! These were created by Jared Bell, an event promoter based in New York. These posters were colourful and over fifty square feet in size! After the success of these billboards, this medium started being used for the promotion of events.  

1900s: The Golden Age of advertising 
The year 1920 witnessed the introduction of radio, allowing advertisers to reach a bigger audience. Sending information out became quicker and more efficient. Further, in 1922, H. M. Blackwell, a radio host, helped reach the masses with his show ‘indirect–direct’. In his show, he talked for 10 minutes promoting apartments in Jackson Heights in Queens, USA. The cost for this 10-minute slot on the radio was 10 dollars. 

History is witness to the fact that it is not just about advertising but also about focussing on specific markets. In 1930, Rosser Reeves, an advertising executive based in USA, introduced the idea of USP, or the unique selling proposition. The idea of USP is to describe how your product can solve a specific consumer problem. With such a targeted approach, advertising saw a major transformation. To further improve gains from advertising, George Gallup, the pioneer of survey sampling techniques from the US, started with the concept of market research in 1935. Market research meant collecting consumer data which was found to help relate better with customers by providing curated advertisements.  

A turning point in the advertising industry occurred on 1 July 1941. On this day, Bulova Clocks, advertised their watch on television (TV), making it the first product advertised on TV! Bulova is an American watch manufacturing company. After the commercial success of TV ads by Bulova, companies started curating characters based on their goods to create links between customers and brands to sell more items! 

1992: Internet and online advertising  
It was the year 1992 when the usage of internet really took off and this helped companies advertise their goods and services online. And in came display advertisements!  

In 1994, the first banner advertisement by AT&T, an American telecommunication company, marked the start of display advertising. This was quite successful: Over 44% of those who saw the advertisement online clicked on it! 

In 1995, Yahoo changed from being a web directory to a commercial company. And much so, their website featured five sponsor brand logos regularly rotating. Yahoo also developed the first keyword-based advertisement in 1995. Keyword-based advertisement is based on most searched keywords on the internet related to specific products and services.  

2000: The advent of mobile advertisement 
The year 2000 witnessed the first mobile advertisement when a Finnish news supplier distributed news headlines via SMS and that too for free!  

After the first iPhone was released, mobile advertising made its way to mobile apps. The launching of the App Store in 2008 with iPhone 3G allowed advertisers to advertise through mobile applications rather than through web browsers. Subsequently, features such as interactive gaming and global positioning system (GPS) technology evolved. And with this, mobile advertisements further evolved into a personalised and interesting user experience. 

Now, this was all about the history of online advertising, but what about its future? According to a survey, over 91% of people agree that advertisements are now more prominent than they were 2–3 years ago. The future of digital advertising will be based on creating a targeted ad experience that provides relevant content to consumers!