How has branding changed? 1960's - Present

Branding and marketing has affected many ways in which culture has changed and even peoples decisions. Branding products was an idea that came across in the 1960's, the age of marketing as it is called. One of the main idea's was to sell people new things, maybe even things they didn't even need. Also the fact that instead of having just one thing to buy, you had hundreds of the same item. Due to people being more affluent, there was more money to spend, therefore companies had to compete for sales and this is how it came about that branding became more about new things replacing your old and out of date items, even if they were not out of date.

Today, more people have rights than they did in the 1960's. This has also affected the way in which you can advertise certain things, for example, a 1960's ad would use heavy stereotypes. One way they did this was to portray the typical family. Dad goes to work in a family car, Mum stays at home in the kitchen and cooks and cleans in her sub - urban house and the kids go to school smartly dressed. Typically this is what marketers branded families in the 1960's because they new it would grab the attention of the "every day person". This meant that people at home could watch and almost see themselves on television or on the radio or on posters. This made it very accessible and therefore a giant leap in advertising and branding. However today, advertisers can not get away with such methods.

By comparing two adverts form the 1960's and present day, we can get a perspective on how much branding a product or idea, has changed.

Advertising In America In The 1960's

America in the 1960's was a time for advertising. For the people involved in creating this culture of buying and selling, it was a time to prosper. Due to the great depression and world war II, there wasn't that much money in the 1950's. Therefore people only bought essential products, for example bread and water. However the 1960's started to grow economically and people started to become affluent. Or did they? Due to the fact that advertising companies had started up, they were urging people to spend money on things they wanted and not what things they needed. There area many ways in which the advertising companies persuaded people to buy things. One of the ways was to do this was to compare America to Russia. Russia was a communist country and had a very poor economy and the state of the population was very bad. An American TV advert for cornflakes was branded as a freedom product compared to the Russian equivalent. This therefore made people believe in a sense that if they did not buy the Cornfakes, they were being un-American.

One of the greatest inventions of the 1960's and indeed of all time was television. This was a way that average people could watch things happen without having to be there. It was considered the suburban houses' greatest desire and ironically it was the best source of advertising. Families would gather round the television and watch endless hour of TV, whilst unaware that most of that time they would be consuming a monumental amount of advertising. Another technology that was developed in advertising was the paintings of Charles Shilddey who worked for Motorola. He painted pictures which some ways of advertising could not produce. He created fantasy in the common home, and this was only achievable if you spent money.
radio
car
buildings
jfk

Products were branded in very clever ways. For example, they were made to meet the culture and characteristics of their consumers. Adverts were mainly directed towards families of the 1960's giving this idea that everyday normal people and families are on TV having the same problems a normal family would have. Also it sets a standard of living and how the typical American family should behave.
buildings advertise themselves

John F Kennedy was not only a