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Advertising Agencies

George Orwell once said that "Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket", which was meant to show the industry in a bad light, but it is generally acknowledged that advertising is the life blood of business. Without the consumer being aware of your product or service you stand no chance of building a profitable business.

Many small and medium companies do not have the man power or resources in-house to do their own advertising and so may need to turn to advertising agencies.

In the early days posters advertising products and events were put up to attract public attention but it was during the Industrial Revolution that producers became aware that they needed to stimulate a need for their products to remain profitable in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Newspaper advertising became popular during the 19th century as an increasing number of literate, middle-class customer began buying goods.

During the 20th century advertising developed in sophistication and began to make use of the new media of radio and, after the Second World War, television.

Agencies now come in all sizes, from simple companies with a couple of people behind a desk, relying on freelance talent, to multi-million pound businesses handling major clients, such as Saatchi and Saatchi founded in London in 1970. .

What can an Advertising Agency do for you?

An advertising agency works on behalf of the client to produce a campaign to bring the consumers attention to the companies product in a positive light.

A good agency is independent of the client and can bring an outside perspective to the product, viewing it much as a potential customer would. The manufacturer may be too close to his product to be able to do this in an unbiased way. A good agency must bring a great deal of creativity to the table as they must constantly find new ways to bring their client's services to the forefront in an era in which people are constantly bombarded with advertising images.

A good example of an image that sticks in the public's mind is the 'Pregnant Man' of the early Saatchi and Saatchi. The "Go to Work on an egg" campaign, attributed to the author Fay Weldon, have wormed its way into the British national consciousness and the Guinness TV ads of the 60s, 70s and 80s have become classics of the genre.

Where can I find an Advertising Agency?

If you need to source an Ad agency for your business there are many directories and listings you can turn to. Here are some of the better online ones to get you started:

Wikipedia: Even the online encyclopaedia has a simple list of advertising agencies but these are among the top ones in the world and include such industry giants as Saatchi & Saatchi, Ogilvy & Mather and the Aegis Group.

Remember that many of the listings are posted by the companies themselves and cannot be seen as endorsements. If a site carries customer reviews or some kind of rating system it may be more useful than a self-promoting list.

Don't ignore more traditional listings, as can be found in the business section of your local phone book, Yellow Pages or Thomson Directories. All these have sections of advertising agencies and also have online versions you can search and browse.