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The First Billboard
In the 1970’s, a man named Alois Senefelder, invented the first copy machine. This machine allowed the reproduction of any illustration on a paper with colour. The alternate form of advertising was to put your product in the newspaper, although at the time this method was expensive.Jared Bell created the first official billboard in 1835 when he created a large poster with bright colours to advertise a circus. -
Mainstreaming of Billboards
In the early 1900’s, large companies such as Coca-Coca and Kellogs began mass-producing billboards. Most cities had outdoor billboards by 1912. As highways and roads began to develop over the years, billboards found more locations and success. American advertising techniques such as billboard advertising became more common in Europe during the Modernist period and post-war age due to increased mobilisation. -
Billboards Today
Billboards were seen as cheap and effective methods of advertising in the past, which is why they are still commonly used today. While billboards were mostly used to advertise edible products, today all types of companies use billboards. Billboards have also began taking the change to being virtual instead of on paper. In highly populated cities, large screens on the sides of buildings can be seen advertising dozens of brands at a time.