Opt In To Advertising's New Age Exhibition at The New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library Traces the Evolution of Advertising Through the Ages

Business Wire, Sept 14, 2005

NEW YORK -- Online Publishers Association:

--Exhibition Showcases Most Notable Print, Radio, Television and Online Advertising Through 3-D, Interactive Sculptures

--Underwritten by the Online Publishers Association, Exhibit Opens Tuesday, September 27, in Connection with Advertising Week in New York City

The history and future of advertising is the focus of the new exhibition Opt In To Advertising's New Age, presented by the Online Publishers Association and The New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library. The exhibition presents a selection of great creative works from print, radio, television and online advertising, from the 18th century to today. Showcasing some of the most significant and beloved ads of all time, the exhibit emphasizes the impact of new technologies on creative advertising formats. The exhibition debuts during Advertising Week 2005 -- a week-long celebration of advertising in New York -- and is on view from September 27 to December 31, 2005 at The New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library, located at 188 Madison Avenue at 34th Street. Admission is free. Following its New York Public Library debut, the exhibition travels to Los Angeles in February 2006 and then to Chicago later in the year.

Opt In To Advertising's New Age is drawn primarily from the extensive archives of The One Club, the world's foremost non-profit organization for the recognition and promotion of excellence in advertising, with a selection of radio ads from the archives of the Radio Advertising Bureau and the Radio-Mercury Awards. The exhibit begins in a distant era, telling the story of how new technologies have always inspired great advertising, and how each era's most creative ads remain important reflections of their times.

From the increasing sophistication of ads brought about by offset printing technology, to the intimacy afforded by radio in the 1920s, to the unprecedented mass appeal of television ads from the 1960s and 70s, to the engaging interactivity of the Internet's most compelling ads, the exhibit also inspires visitors to imagine the future of advertising. This is illustrated through an interactive activity where visitors are invited to share their reactions to the exhibit and thereby create an advertisement for the show that is uniquely tailored for them.

"We are pleased to be introducing this exhibit at such an important time in the evolution of media and advertising," said Michael Zimbalist, president of the Online Publishers Association. "Looking back at the history of advertising, it is clear that the Internet -- like the technologies of print, radio and television before it -- is significantly impacting the creative techniques being used by marketers to reach consumers. Having been designed for visitors of all ages, we hope this exhibit will inspire the next generation of creative leaders who will translate the messages of marketers into ever more compelling works of commercial art."

Opt In To Advertising's New Age is co-curated by John Ganly, Assistant Director for SIBL Collections at The New York Public Library, Mary Warlick, Executive Director of The One Club, and Kevin Swanepoel, Marketing and Interactive Director of The One Club.

The Exhibit Experience

The advertisements on exhibit are set within four unique interactive sculptures representing each featured medium. Great milestones in print advertisements from the 1800s to the present day are shown on a large screen monitor set within a bezel of large off-set letter blocks. Visitors can push the buttons on a gigantic radio to hear famed radio ads from the 1920s to today. With the turn of a knob on an oversized television set, guests can also replay and relive some of the greatest television ads of all time. And seated atop a large computer mouse in front of a jumbo computer screen, visitors can experience the evolution of online advertisements from the first banner ad to breakthrough rich media ads using sight, sound and motion.

In addition to presenting the seminal advertising from each era, the exhibit also looks at the impact of various world events -- from the depression, to the invention of the automobile, to the baby boom -- on advertising. Specifically, the exhibit is presented against a backdrop displaying the historical, cultural and technological context in which each medium first flowered.

Featured Advertisements

Nearly 200 advertisements are featured in the exhibit, spanning the last 100 years of print, broadcast and online advertising. Significant and memorable print ads, including the 1938 "Green Giant's Orchid of the Pea Family" and the more recent, 1995, mint green "Altoids" ads, are on display, as are famed radio ads from each decade from the 1920s to the present. Visitors to the exhibit can listen to excerpts from the first real radio commercial ever broadcast -- a 10 minute ad for real estate property broadcast on WEAF in New York in 1922; hear Frank Sinatra singing "Way Down Deep" in a 1942 radio ad for war bonds; and listen to Molson Golden Ale's famed "slice of life" radio ads from 1975.