| 1900 |
| N.W. Ayer establishes a Business-Getting Department to plan advertising campaigns based on prospective advertisers' marketing needs. |
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| 1906 |
| W.K. Kellogg places his first ads for Corn Flakes in six midwestern newspapers. By 1915, he is spending $1 million on national advertising. |
UPI/Corbis
Bertman |
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| 1911 |
| Standard Oil, after being dissolved by the Supreme Court, invites Harrison King McCann to form an agency to service its dispersed divisions. |
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| 1911 |
| A group of large agencies forms the Association of New York Agents, predecessor to the American Association of Advertising Agencies. |
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| 1914 |
| The Audit Bureau of Circulations is formed, standardizing auditing procedures and tightening up definitions of paid circulation. |
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| 1916 |
| J. Walter Thompson retires; Stanley Resor and a group of colleagues buy him out for $500,000. Resor becomes president, establishes a market research department and closes the London office to save costs. |
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| 1917 |
| The American Association of Advertising Agencies, the first agency trade association, is established with 111 charter-member agencies. |
The American Association of Advertising Agencies |
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| 1921 |
| Bozell & Jacobs opens in Omaha. |
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| 1922 |
| AT&T's station WEAF in New York offers 10 minutes of radio time to anyone who would pay $100. The Queensboro Corp., a Long Island real estate firm, buys the first commercials in advertising historyófour: 15 spots at $50 apiece. Following the ads extolling Hawthorne Court, a new tenant-owned apartment complex in Jackson Heights, sales total thousands of dollars. |
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| 1904 |
| The Associated Advertising Clubs of America, a group of agencies, advertisers and media representatives, is formed. |
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| 1906 |
| Congress passes the Pure Food & Drug Act, forcing product labels to list the active ingredients. |
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| 1911 |
| For the first time in its history, P&G pays an outside agency, J. Walter Thompson Co., to launch Crisco, its new vegetable shortening. |
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| 1911 |
| Woodbury Soap breaks its "The skin you love to touch" campaign in the Ladies' Home Journal, marking the first time sex appeal is used in advertising. |
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| 1914 |
| The Federal Trade Commission Act is passed, and Joseph E. Davies is named the first FTC chairman. Section 5 allows it to issue cease-and-desist orders against dishonest advertising. |
American Stock/
Archive Photos |
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| 1916 |
| A group of agencies forms the National Outdoor Advertising Bureau, which eventually controls about three-quarters of the outdoor national advertising in America. |
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| 1919 |
| Barton, Durstine & Osborn opens in New York. |
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| 1920 |
| 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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