Advertising Outdoors

This book focuses on the history and development of outdoor advertising since the beginning of the nineteenth century. The author examines the rise of 'commercial art', the development of advertising as a discipline and an industry and the role it plays in modern life, also making direct reference to examples of successful advertising campaigns. Specific chapters feature such diverse subjects as: the 'rules' of the poster and the demands of outdoors; the development of a brand identity; the relationship of text and image; the case for wit and humour; and the future of the poster in multimedia campaigns. Far from taking a conventional approach, Advertising Outdoors describes the trajectory of the medium through its ambitions, its bullishness and its constant reinvention. The history of the poster and outdoor advertising in general - from early ingenuous announcement to post-modern reflexive culture - is richly illustrated with hundreds of images drawn from the author's personal wealth of knowledge. Above all, Advertising Outdoors is an essay on the principles of communication and regeneration that are demanded by the medium's unique place in our everyday life. Adopting a thematic approach, the author covers ground from the classic masters of poster design, such as Toulouse-Lautrec and Aubrey Beardsley, to today's most inventive campaigns, such as those by Pirelli and Smirnoff. Littered with short interviews and commentaries by a host of advertising's elite, this book presents the phenomena of outdoors through the eyes of the people that shape it, providing a fascinating account of their creative processes.