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The first newspaper advertisement, an announcement seeking a buyer for an Oyster Bay, Long Island, estate, is published in the Boston News-Letter.
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Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine prints the first American magazine ads.
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New York agency Carlton & Smith begins buying the right to place advertising in religious magazines.
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James Walter Thompson buys Carlton & Smith from William J. Carlton, paying $500 for the business and $800 for the office furniture. He renames it after himself and moves into general magazine advertising. Later, he invents the position of account executive.
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J. Walter Thompson Co. is the first agency to open an office in the U.K. Campbell Soup Co.makes its first advertising buy. The Association of American Advertisers, predecessor to the Association of National Advertisers, is formed.
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The Associated Advertising Clubs of America, a group of agencies, advertisers and media representatives, is formed.
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A group of large agencies forms the Association of New York Agents, predecessor to the American Association of Advertising Agencies.
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The American Association of Advertising Agencies, the first agency trade association, is established with 111 charter-member agencies.
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KDKA, Pittsburgh, becomes the first radio station in the U.S. and is the first to broadcast the results of the 1920 presidential election.
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Radio Corp. of America buys New York radio station WEAF from AT&T and renames it WNBC. It forms the first radio network with 19 stations within the year, and the National Broadcasting Co. is launched.
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Lintas (Lever International Advertising Services) is formed as a house agency for Unilever in England, Holland and Germany. Barton, Durstine & Osborn merges with the George Batten Co., forming Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn. With billings of $32 million, it becomes one of the biggest shops.
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Advertising Age is launched in Chicago.
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Life publishes its first edition. It later becomes the first magazine to carry $100 million annually in advertising.
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NBC experiments with a telecast of TV's first baseball game, Princeton vs. Columbia.
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"The Pepsi Generation" kicks off the cola wars.
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Wells, Rich, Greene is established. Mary Wells is the first woman to head a major agency.
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The Wells agency shuts its doors. Cigarette makers and state attorneys general draft a $206 billion deal that curbs marketing and settles lawsuits to recover Medicaid costs. Interpublic combines its Western International Media with Initiative Media in Paris to create the world's largest media management shop with $10 billion in billings.
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Internet advertising breaks the $2 billion mark and heads toward $3 billion as the industry, under prodding from Procter & Gamble, moves to standardize all facets of the industry.