World Advertising Congress

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Congress poster (design: Jobst Koch)

The World Advertising Congress from August 11th to 15th, 1929 was the largest international conference ever held in Germany until long after the Second World War . Around five thousand advertising professionals, diplomats , politicians and entrepreneurs from abroad alone were expected by the organizers, over three thousand of them from the United States of America. The motto of the congress expressed the self-confidence of the still young advertising industry: "Advertising, the key to the prosperity of the world".

prehistory

The history of the World Advertising Congress began in the United States of America in 1904 . On the occasion of the 1904 World Exhibition in St. Louis, representatives of various regional advertising clubs gathered for the so-called “Ad Men's Day” to discuss technical issues and to found an umbrella organization for all American advertising clubs. The association name should be "International Advertising Association". Statutes have not yet been adopted. Members of the advertising clubs included merchants, publishers, advertising agents, and others interested in exchanging ideas about advertising and sales. In 1906, efforts to found a club association bore fruit with the adoption of the statutes of the Associated Advertising Clubs of America (AACA). The approximately 350 advertising clubs chose the association's motto "Truth in Advertising". Advertising must be true if it is to be successful, was passed as the most important requirement. Advertising should serve both, the seller and the consumer. In 1914, the AACA held its first meeting outside of the United States in Canada. The First World War and its economic consequences hampered further international cooperation. It was not until 1924 that the international cooperation of 1914 was resumed with the AACA International Advertising Congress in London. The rapprochement of the American Advertising Association to Europe led to the intention to hold an international advertising congress outside the American mainland in 1929 and every five years thereafter.

International cooperation

Representative of the Danish delegation
Two Scottish delegates

In 1926 the association took on non-American advertising organizations and went back to the name of 1904 - "International Advertising Association" (IAA). The Americans still dominated the eighteen so-called IAA districts: twelve districts were in the American states, one each in Great Britain and continental Europe, and four in other overseas territories. The IAA was also affiliated with the Federation of Women's Advertising Clubs. According to the IAA bylaws, at least one board of governors had to be a woman.

In 1928 the IAA held its annual meeting in Detroit. The “Continental Advertising Association” (KRV), the summary of the advertising associations of the countries of continental Europe, also took part in this event. Germany was there through the “Section Germany e. V. ”of the KRV. The "Association of German Advertising Experts" (later DRV - German Advertising Association), founded in 1908, can be seen as the initiator of this national umbrella organization. Chairman of the KRV Section Germany and President of the German Advertising Association was Max Riesebrodt , full-time director of the German Reich Postal Advertising .

Decision for Berlin

The main task of the KRV Germany section was to “promote the international exchange of ideas on scientific, artistic and legal issues relating to advertising”. In other words: The “World Advertising Congress 1929” of the International Advertising Association should be brought to Berlin. The course for this was set in May 1928 at the Paris Congress. At the annual meeting of the IAA in Detroit in July 1928, the final decision on Berlin as the venue was to be made - at least according to the presentation of a 50-person delegation from the German Advertising Association who had traveled to Detroit specifically for this purpose. In Detroit, the German representatives managed to get the general assembly to pass a resolution to consider Berlin for 1929. Three months later the German Advertising Association was informed that - twenty-five years after the legendary "Ad Men's Day" in St. Louis - the "25th World Advertising Congress" of the IAA 1929 was to be convened in Berlin. For the decision in favor of Germany, the support of the application by the Foreign Office under the direction of Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann was of crucial importance. The President of the World Advertising Congress was IAA Chairman Charles C. Younggreen . In Germany, an extensive organization with the chairmen Hans Luther (former Reich Chancellor) and Rudolf Krohne ( former Reich Minister) was created for the preparation of the congress . Twelve committees were responsible for ensuring that the World Advertising Congress ran smoothly in less than a year. Max Riesebrodt, next to Rudolf Krohne, chairman of the working committee, played a decisive role in the success.

Congress schedule

On August 11, 1929, over 3,000 participants flocked to the celebratory opening of the world advertising congress in the radio hall on the municipal exhibition grounds next to the Berlin radio tower . (The welcoming speech was given by Hans Luther ; Foreign Minister Stresemann was unable to attend because of the negotiations in The Hague on the Youngplan .) At the plenary meetings on August 12th and 13th in the Wintergarten variety theater, leading advertising figures from America, England and the continent gave lectures on selected problems of the advertisement. The following two days were devoted to the meetings of individual specialist groups. The conservatory was released with over 3,000 seats and numerous side rooms as the venue of all Berlin premises most appropriate. Its proximity to the city, to the Friedrichstrasse train station and to the large hotels also spoke in favor of it as a conference venue. The professional program was framed by excursions, banquets, visits to large industrial plants and trips to the Reich.

The 1929 advertising show in Berlin

Between the conferences, there was an official tour of the 1929 Berlin advertising show accompanying the congress, "the largest such exhibition ever shown in the world". From August 10 to September 8, 1929, the population of the Berlin trade fair and exhibition grounds at the radio tower was given a comprehensive impression of advertising in the past and present. The advertising show took up two halls connected by escalators, in which the German advertising industry (graphic arts, newspapers, magazines, illuminated advertising, traffic advertising, advertising film, advertising articles and advertising vehicles, etc.) presented itself. On the open-air site next to the halls, the special show “The fun of the people as an advertising aid” was housed in a small amusement park.

Event program

The international banquet in the marble halls of the zoo

The expectations of the World Advertising Congress and the advertising show were high: The advertising hostility of large sections of the population should be fought and the willingness to advertise, especially among German companies, should be increased. It was also important to convince visitors from abroad of the strength of the German economy.

In over 300 fifteen-minute speeches at the plenary assemblies and in ten specialist groups ( advertising agencies , newspapers and magazines, graphic designers, retail advertising , radio advertising , industrial advertising , etc.), well-known speakers from home and abroad dealt with everything related to the relationships and effects of advertising concerns in economic and economic policy terms. For example:

  • Position of advertising in international trade
  • Advertising and mass production
  • Ethics of the advertising system
  • Special questions of market analysis
  • Significance of the establishment of cinema and radio advertising
  • Plagiarism in advertising.

The meeting places for the symposia included the Haus Vaterland , the Zentralhotel, the Hotel Bristol , the Kaiserhof and the Hotel Esplanade . Not only the German press reported on the World Advertising Congress. The event was also very well received worldwide. Without a doubt, the congress was a successful PR event for Germany as a business location.

The “discovery” of the consumer

The professionalization of the advertising industry began with the World Advertising Congress. The aim was to promote efficient, customer-oriented advertising. At that time, protagonists of the advertising industry such as Hans Domizlaff , Hanns W. Brose or the graphic artist Herbert Beyer (artistic director of the Dorland advertising agency) gave advertising decisive impulses right up to modern marketing thinking. But in the post-war period, a lot was forgotten again. They didn't think much of cautious brand building. Rather, what was needed were quick sales, promotional campaigns, turbo marketing and overwhelming. It wasn't until the 1970s that a new way of thinking entered some marketing departments and advertising agencies; significantly influenced by the "advertising pope" David Ogilvy and the marketing professor Philip Kotler from the United States.

Great Depression

In the summer of 1929, the organizers were still expecting 3000 visitors from the USA alone. This forecast was too optimistic; According to press reports, over 1,500 conference visitors from the USA were in Berlin. The looming gloom in the world economy and reports of the increasing radicalization of the political disputes in Berlin had led to large-scale cancellations at short notice. The actual number of congress participants "from all parts of the world" is likely to have been over 3000, according to the specialist magazine "Die Reklame". On October 24, 1929, six weeks after the World Advertising Congress, a gigantic stock bubble burst on Wall Street. The German economy, supported by short-term US loans, slipped into the depression . The disastrous economic situation and the brutal austerity programs, especially in the social area, destroyed any hope of economic recovery among the population. Banks closed their counters, wages and salaries were cut, taxes increased. Despite advertising, the demand for consumer goods fell. Further layoffs were the result. The dream of advertising prosperity turned into a nightmare. An active employment policy might have prevented the dramatic rise in mass unemployment, but the government was not prepared to do so. Chancellor Brüning wanted to consolidate the budget at all costs. With the help of presidential emergency ordinances, he ruled by past parliament until nothing worked politically and economically. The last days of the Weimar Republic were heralded - and the World Advertising Congress and its results were forgotten.

literature

  • H. Berghoff (Ed.): Marketing history. The genesis of a modern social technology . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 2007
  • S. Hansen (Ed.): Moments of Consistency. A story of advertising . Advertising agency Dorland Berlin, 2004. Distribution: transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2004
  • H. Kleinert: When the advertisers danced Charleston. The 1929 World Advertising Congress in Berlin . Thurm-Wissenschaftsverlag, Lüneburg 2018
  • A. Knapp: Advertising, propaganda, advertising. Your world organization . Publishing house for press, economy and politics, Berlin 1929
  • The publishing house Ullstein for the world advertising congress Berlin 1929. Ullstein publishing house, Berlin 1929
  • A. Schug: Pioneer of modern sales advertising in Germany. Advertising Agencies and the Americanization of the German Advertising Industry . In: Werkstatt-Geschichte 2003, 24th year, issue 2
  • A. Schug: "German Culture" and Advertising. Studies on the history of commercial advertising from 1918–1945 . Dissertation at the Humboldt University, Berlin 2010
  • Berliner Börsen-Zeitung No. 374 to 376 (August 12 - August 14, 1929) (Berlin)
  • The advertisement. Journal of the German Advertising Association V. Born 1929 (Berlin)
  • Seidel's advertisement. The sheet for advertising and sales technology. Born in 1929 (Berlin)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Reich government receives the congress participants. In: Berliner Börsenzeitung No. 376 of August 14, 1929
  2. ^ Christian Kupferberg: What does the World Advertising Congress mean for Germany? In: Die Reklame, magazine of the German Advertising Association, Berlin, April 2, 1929, p. 267
  3. ↑ Horst Kleinert: When the advertisers danced Charleston. The 1929 World Advertising Congress in Berlin. Thurm-Wissenschaftsverlag, Lüneburg 2018, pp. 9–10
  4. ^ Bodo Ronnefeld: International Advertising Association. In: Alfred Knapp, Reklame, Propaganda, Werbung - their world organization, publishing house for press, economics and politics, Berlin 1929, pp. 17–37
  5. ^ Bodo Ronnefeld: On the prehistory of the 25th World Advertising Congress. In: Seidels Reklame, sheet for advertising and sales technology, Berlin, July 1929, p. 55
  6. ^ Bodo Ronnefeld: International Advertising Association. In: Alfred Knapp, Reklame, Propaganda, Werbung - their world organization, publishing house for press, economics and politics, Berlin 1929, pp. 18-19
  7. ^ DRV annual report 1928/29. In: Die Reklame, magazine of the German Advertising Association, Berlin, July 2, 1929, p. 470
  8. ↑ Continental Advertising Association. In: Alfred Knapp, Reklame, Propaganda, Werbung - their world organization, publishing house for press, economics and politics, Berlin 1929, p. 41
  9. ↑ Robert Müller: World Advertising Congress in 1929. In: Marketing Journal, Hamburg, 2/82, p 182
  10. ↑ a b The meetings of the Continental Advertising Association and the International Advertising Association in 1929 in Berlin. In: Die Reklame, magazine of the German Reklame Association, Berlin, special issue “Reklameschau”, September 1, 1929, pp. 657–658
  11. ↑ The victory of advertising. In: Die Reklame, magazine of the German Advertising Association, Berlin, August 2, 1929, pp. 623–625
  12. ↑ Johannes Schmiedchen: The World Advertising Congress in Berlin. In: Seidels Reklame, sheet for advertising and sales technology, Berlin, October 1929, p. 200
  13. ^ Karl Vetter: The German advertisement show. In: Alfred Knapp, Reklame, Propaganda, Werbung - their world organization, publishing house for press, economics and politics, Berlin 1929, pp. 135-137
  14. ^ Karl Vetter: The "Reklameschau 1929 Berlin" after four months of preparation. In: Die Reklame, magazine of the German Advertising Association, Berlin, April 2, 1929, p. 266
  15. ↑ Maks Ludwig: What can you expect from the advertising show? In: Seidels Reklame, sheet for advertising and sales technology, Berlin, July 1929, pp. 54–55
  16. ↑ World Advertising Congress. In: Die Reklame, magazine of the German Advertising Association, Berlin, May 1, 1929, pp. 295–296
  17. ↑ Johannes Schmiedchen: The World Advertising Congress in Berlin. In: Seidels Reklame, sheet for advertising and sales technology, Berlin, October 1929, p. 200
  18. ↑ World Advertising Congress. In: Die Reklame, magazine of the German Advertising Association, Berlin, June 1, 1929, p. 373, as well as: The Press: Grand Jamboree. In: Time Magazine, Aug. 19, 1929
  19. ↑ Horst Kleinert: When the advertisers danced Charleston. The 1929 World Advertising Congress in Berlin. Thurm-Wissenschaftsverlag, Lüneburg 2018, p. 127
  20. ↑ Hanns Josef Kropff: Will the advertising congress help the next generation? In: Die Reklame, magazine of the German Advertising Association, Berlin, August 1, 1929, p. 582
  21. ↑ Opening of the advertising show. In: Berliner Morgenpost of August 12, 1929
  22. ↑ Horst Kleinert: When the advertisers danced Charleston. The 1929 World Advertising Congress in Berlin. Thurm-Wissenschaftsverlag, Lüneburg 2018, pp. 121–124