o f Clas

His t or y Date s: 12
I n d ia n : 4 th S
ep.,
r t i sin g 2 020
A d v e
Mark
etin g Min
or
History of
Indian
Advertising
 dvertisi ng
Indian A

• Hawkers calling out

their wares
• Shop front signs
• Street side
sellers
• Handbills
• press ads
 1780

First Ads
appear in
Hickey's
Bengal
Gazette.
 1838

Classified ad in
‘Bombay
Times &
Journal of
Commerce’
which later
became ‘The
Times of India’

1840 – First formal

ads were for
Amateur theatricals.
 e n t u r y
18 th C

• Initial ads from England.

• Studios set up
• First generation of visualisers
& illustrators
• Major advertisers were big
shops:
Spencer's, A r m y & Navy,
Whiteaway & Laidlaw
 1883

• Ads appear in
newspapers in the form
of lists of the latest
merchandise from
England
• Horlicks becomes
the first 'malted milk' to
be patented on 5th
June 1883 (No.
278967).
 1905
B. Dattaram & Co oldest existing
Indian agency in Bombay
 1907
India’s first ever press ad for West end Watches
by Dattaram .
1920

India’s first
banner on
trams by
Dattaram .
 1945

India’s first colour ad for Ramtirth Brahmi Oil

by Dattaram .
 1958

India’s first ad soliciting ads by

Dattaram .
‘Be wise. Advertise’
 Other firsts by
Dattaram.
1959-First agency to spearhead a
movement to route public sector
ads only through wholly owned
Indian agencies.
1963-First agency to handle an
election promotion .
1965 - First agency to be
awarded work for A ll India
Congress Committee
 1912

ITC (then Imperial

Tobacco Co. Ltd.)
launches Gold
Flake
 1926

Foreign ad agencies
L.A. Stronach

D.J. Keymer
– Satayajit Ray worked
here as an illustrator.
– It later closed down
– Becomes Clarion in
Calcutta
– Ogilvy, Benson and
Mather (OBM) in
Bombay.
 1929

J Walter Thompson
Co Pr. Ltd
–General Motors
– E.J. Feildon was
chief executive
– Subhash Ghoshal
was the first Indian to
lead JWT.
Indian agencies of the 30’s
1934
- Venkatrao Sista opens Sista
Advertising and
Publicity Services . The
first full service Indian agency
1936
- Indian Broadcasting Company
becomes A l l India Radio
(AIR)
1939
- Lever's advertising department, 1940
L I N T A S (Lever’s
International Advertising
Service) launches Dalda a
brand and a marketing campaign
specifically developed for India
Indian
flavour of
the forties
 1941

Leela Chitnis first

actress to endorse
Lux soap .
 1941

Hindustan
Thompson
Associates
(HTA), makes
India specific
Horlicks ads.
 ‘Indiacentric’
advertising in the
fifties

Tata Mills Ad
 1950

• Industrialisation leads to
mass production and
‘ Indiacentric
advertising .
• ’ Radio Ceylon and
Radio Goa’ popular radio
stations
• B u r m a h Shell – Promoted
Kerosene by painting on both sides
of vans.
 1951-53

• Vicks VapoRub : a
rub for colds, causes
ripples with its entry in
the balm market
• Hindustan Thompson
Associates Limited (HTA,
previously J Walter
Thompson), made the
iconic A i r India’s
Maharaja campaign.
 1956

– Cinema
advertising
introduced with 2
minute films.
– The A d
club
National Calcutta
advertising established
designed the
‘Murph 1957 - Vividh
y Bharati kicks
Baby’ off
 Domination
of Indian
agencies in
the sixties
 1966

Wills Filter Tipped

cigarettes launched and
positioned as made for each
other, filter and tobacco match

Government persuaded to
open up the
broadcast media
 1967

First commercial appears on

Vividh Bharati.

Later sponsored programmes like

Binaca Geet Mala,
Saridon ke Saathi
Bournvita
Quiz Contest
became very popular.
1969
- Sylvester daCunha sets
up DaCunha Associates

1970
- Frank Simoes sets up Frank
Simoes Associates
 ‘Lifestyle
advertising in
the
seventies
1970
Concept of commercial programming
accepted by All India Radio
‘Inspector Eagle’ sponsored by
Eagle flasks.
‘Eveready ke Humsafar’ by
Everyday batteries.
1971
Benson's undergo change in
name to
Ogilvy, Benson & Mather

1972
Western Outdoor Advertising Pvt Ltd
(WOAPL) introduces first closed
circuit TV (CCT) in the country at the
race course in Mumbai
1973
- RK Swamy established

1974
- Arun Nanda & Ajit
Balakrishnan set up Rediffusion
1975
- Ravi Gupta sets up Trikaya Grey

1976
- Commercial
Television initiated
 1978
- First television
commercial seen
–The first TV ad
was a still photo
of Topaz blades .
–The first ad
film was for
Vichitra Sarees .

*Students’ Britannica India, Volume six, 2000, Sunil Robert

 7 8
1 9

1978
Growthin
Indian
1955
advertising
Rs.100 million
Industry Rs.1600 million
Television in the
eighties
1980
Mudra communication network set
up by A.G. Krishnamurthy.
‘Only Vimal’
‘I love you Rasna’
‘Mint with a hole’

1983
- Mudra sponsors first
commercial telecast of a major
sporting event with the India-
West Indies series
1981

- Network, associate of UTV, pioneers cable

television in India
•1982
• Asiad '82 colour transmissionof Television
- Bombay Dyeing - the first colour TV
ad
 1983

- Manohar Shyam Joshi's Hum Log

- Maggi Noodles launched to become an overnight success
 1984
- Vicco sponsors Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi!
 1985

Mudra makes India's first telefilm, ‘Janam'

 1986

Buniyaad
created by
Mudra is first of
the mega soaps
 1986

- Price quality
positioning of Nirma
detergent boost sales
Technological
nineties
1990
- Agencies go virtual with websites
and Internet advertising
- Brand Equity (magazine) of The
Economic Times is born
1991
- Zee TV
- Soon after the Gulf War enters
STAR (Satellite Transmission for
Asia Region)
1992
‘Santa Barbara’ and ‘The Bold
And The Beautiful’ on STAR Plus
- a soap that started the cultural
invasion
1993
- India's pioneering
advertising school, MICA
(Mudra Institute of
Communications
Ahmedabad),
1996
- Indian ads bag three awards
at the 43rd International
Advertising Festival, Cannes
- Sun TV - first regional TV to
go live 24 /7
 1997

• Media boom
• Army resorts to the
services of private
sector agencies
• Advertising on the
Internet increases.
• Rise of software
• TV producers banking on
ad industry talent
 9 9
1 9

1999
Growthin
Indian
1978
advertising
Rs.1600 million
Industry Rs.50,000 million
 The new

millenniu
m
 2000
- Mudra launches magindia.com
- India's first advertising and
marketing Gallery
- Lintas merges with Lowe
Group to become Lowe Lintas
and Partners (LLP)
- Kaun Banega Crorepati
become a rage;
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi – begining of
saas bahu era
 2001

- Trikaya Grey becomes Grey

Worldwide
- Bharti's Rs 2.75-crore corporate
TV commercial, where a baby
girl is born in a football stadium,
becomes the most expensive
campaign of the year
• HTA (Hindustan Thompson Associates)
(1,500 mil)
– the Indian arm of JWT, is one of the
top in terms of income.
– CEO Mike Khanna.
– The club agency for Levers,
– Build the brand Pepsi
• Lintas. (1,000 mil)
– in-house agency of Hindustan Levers.
– Liril, lifebuoy, surf and Rin.
– Ex CEO Alyque Padamsee
– Now Prem Mehra
• O&M (700 mil) – Kodak Titan, Cadbury, Fevicol
• Mudra. (700 mil) – 1980 – Founded by
A.G. Krishnamurthy.
– Indegenous Affiliated with DDB Needham
– Only Vimal, I love you Rasna, Nestle ‘Mint with a
hole.’
• FCB Ulka (500 mil)
• Rediffussion DY& R
• RK Swamy BBDO
• McCaan Ericsson
• Contract
• MAA Bozell.
Some Vintage
Indian ads
The Lux beauties
of India
the beauty soap of stars
Leela Chitnis
Kanan Devi
Renuka Roy
Shakila
K. R.
Chellam
Chand
Bibi
Suraiya
N i r upa
Roy
Vya jantimala
Nargis
Waheeda
Nargis Dutt
Waheeda
Vyjayantimala
Madhubala
Meena
kumari
Ameeta
N anda
Asha Parekh
Zaheeda
M a l a Sinha
Kalpana
Saira
Banu
Sadhana
Babita
Tanuja
Helen
Sabiha
Prema
N arayan
Sheila Ramani
Hema M a l i n i
Rekha
R akhee
Sharmila Tagore
Parveen Babi
Zeenat A m a n
Shabana Azmi
Vidya Sinha
Zareena Wahab
Mallika
Sarabhai
Swaroop
Sampat
Meenakshi
Sheshadri
Jaya Prada
Sridevi
Poonam Dhillon
Rati Agnihotri
Padmini
Kolhapure
Madhuri
Dixit
Tabu
Sushmita Sen
Asi n
Aiswar ya
Katrina Kaif
Priyanka Chopra
Kareena Kapoor
Deepika
Alia Bhatt
 n k y o u
Tha