History of TV Ads

What Are Sponsored Programs?

Television took a brief hiatus during World War II. After the fighting stopped, the amount of households that had televisions shot up to over 33%. With so many viewers, companies began advertising through sponsored programs. This is when a brand or agency aligns with a television show either through product placement, licensing, or a fully-integrated partnership.

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The first show sponsored by a brand aired on NBC in 1946 and was called Geographically Speaking. It was sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb, a pharmaceutical company located in New York. The show only lasted for six weeks, but the momentum for sponsored programming really picked up speed in the decade that followed. People were tuning in regularly to watch popular shows like “Howdy Doody” and “The Lone Ranger.” Coca-Cola, Cover Girl, Pillsbury, and Marlboro are some of the brands that would be introduced during these shows. Some of the companies even made it into the names of the programs, such as The Colgate Comedy Hour and Kraft Television Theatre.

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At the same time, these programs were also advertising on lunch boxes and a variety of other promotional products. People had more money in their pocket and the Baby Boom was sweeping the nation. Kids and adults alike were sitting in front of the television and products featuring these programs were flying off the shelves. This one-two punch of branding on items and TV meant a ridiculous amount of exposure for these companies and shows. Advertising was everywhere, just as it is today.

The Golden Age of Commercials: The 1960s

Commercials may have been around in the 50s, but it was really the 60s through 90s where they had their glory years. Much of this is due to a significant change in the way advertising was done. There was a boom of creativity, humor, and music. Not to mention, more than one commercial could air during any given show. If that wasn’t enough, television was now in color which meant the sky was the limit in what could be created.

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Before then, black-and-white sponsored programs left all the power in one advertiser’s hands. A single brand was paying for the program to run, and as a result, had creative control of the content. Imagine if AMC’s “The Walking Dead” wasn’t allowed to kill off their characters since the show was sponsored by Life cereal. It was a nightmare for the programs before the 1960s.

Sylvester “Pat” Weaver, an executive at NBC, turned things around by putting the programs in the hands of the networks rather than the sponsors. Advertisers could buy the rights to certain blocks of time during the shows, but couldn’t touch the content. This is more commonly referred to as “The Magazine Concept” since it allowed more than one brand to advertise at a time, much like they did in magazines. Weaver used this model for TV shows like “The Tonight Show” and “Today.” It was a much more cost-effective way for advertisers to reach the masses. In turn, the shows had creative freedom and didn’t have to worry about limitations set forth by the sponsors.

As a result, commercials really found their groove in the 60s. People were actually starting to look forward to watching the ads. According to The Paley Center for Media, the major broadcast channels at the time, NBC, CBS, and ABC, were drawing huge audiences and making a lot of money from advertisers in the process. It doesn’t hurt that the commercials were entertaining and jingles were in the mainstream. Oscar Meyer, Rice-a-Roni, Alka Seltzer, and many other brands were producing earworms that stuck in America’s minds and hearts.

They Could Go All the Way!: A Brief History of Super Bowl Ads

The time between the end of the 70s and 80s was a big time in the history of commercials. The very first Super Bowl commercials came on screen, and ever since, it has been tradition to unleash the best ads during football’s biggest game.

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One of the most memorable Super Bowl commercials of all time was for Coca-Cola and featured Mean Joe Greene, an intimidating defenseman for the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the ad, Greene tosses his jersey to a young boy after he steals his bottle of Coke.

It was 1979 when the ad aired and it was monumental for a number of reasons. According to Bernice Kanner, author of The 100 Best TV Commercials and Why They Worked, the Civil Rights Movement was still fresh, and fans were more likely to approach Greene after the commercial aired. The ad showed just how important it is to never judge a book by their cover. The commercial also didn’t overpromise anything more than the good taste of Coke. As Kanner puts it: “It recognized that Coke is only a soft drink; it won’t change the world or heal Mean Joe’s injury, but it can – and did – restore his spirit and smile.” It could have been that goodwill that drove the Steelers to emerge victorious that year as Super Bowl champions!

We still tune in once a year to watch the commercials during the Super Bowl. In fact, Super Bowl 50 in 2016 was one of the biggest television events of all time and featured a number of memorable commercials. If a brand wanted to advertise during the telecast, they had to pay roughly $5 million for a 30-second segment. It just goes to show how influential a Super Bowl spot is for advertisers.

Pop Culture Powerhouses: Commercials in the 80s and 90s

Going forward into the 80s and 90s, there was freedom for advertisers to be creative and tell a story, while still being mindful of their audiences. Big name directors like Ridley Scott and David Lynch were recruited to use their love of storytelling in commercials. This led to memorable moments in television advertising, such as Apple’s “1984” ad, which was directed by Scott and is largely considered to be the greatest commercial of all time.

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In the commercial, a woman fights against a dystopian society’s “Unification of Thoughts.” A giant man on a screen is brainwashing the community into settling for a certain way of life. The woman defiantly uses a giant hammer to break the screen and cause people to Think Different, a slogan still used by Apple to this day.

Apple’s commercial is one of many in the 80s that relied on storytelling. Coors Light had success with their “At the Silver Bullet” ads, McDonald’s had a fun ad showing a cute girl at her piano recital, and Michael J. Fox broke the quietness at a university library in his pursuit of a Diet Pepsi.

By the 90s, commercials were picking and choosing elements from the decades before. They were using jingles in ads for Baby Bottle Pop, Wonderball, and Bagel Bites. Popular cartoon characters were promoting products, in this case The Simpsons for Butterfingers. Finally, the same storytelling that was found in the 80s was present in ads like the one featuring bad boy Brad Pitt for Levi Jeans. Of course, with the rise of TiVo in 1999, the world of commercials was starting to change. According to a study by Duke University, about 95% of the population was still watching television live. Commercials were still hanging on strong, though their heyday was coming to an end.