Advertising Agencies

This chapter focused on advertising agencies that indulge in designing, organizing and managing advertisements for other businesses and organisations. Advertising agencies are primarily concerned with developing the most effective means of communication to achieve business objectives, such as increasing sales or brand awareness. The world of advertising cannot function properly without the working of an advertising agency. Though the practice of advertising initially in the time of Ancient Rome and Egypt, the credit to start the first advertising agency went to Volney B. Palmer, who started the first advertising agency in Philadelphia in 1841. He was the first advertising agent who bought newspaper spaces at much discounted rates and resold them to the advertisers at higher rates, thus starting the business of space selling and introducing the term ‘Agent’. Though his service was only limited to media selection, it did not involve copywriting. Parmer used his knowledge and skills to access newspaper space for his clients during that time. Many agents got inspired by it and started the business of advertising agency. The service of advertising agencies also grew simultaneously with the growth of advertising worldwide. Today we have many top leading advertising agencies working across boundaries. For example, McCann Erickson has 144 branches in 67 countries. As per IBISWorld—Industry Market Research, Reports, & Statistics, there are 428,744 Global Advertising Agencies businesses as of 2023 in the world. The chapter’s goal is to explain how advertising agency functions and what kind of services they offer to the companies/brands that hire them for their advertising campaign needs.