Of Niccolo Valentini – March 17, 2013 – I fall on my feet
Once advertising was the soul of commerce, today it is the soul of consumerism. Companies no longer invest in products, but in commercials, telepromotions, competitions, prizes and commercial initiatives aimed at selling more. In a word, in marketing
Capitalism, a love story is the title of Michael Moore's film about the decline of capitalism. A love story that, like so many others, unfortunately ended, ended badly. After the Second World War everything was missing, there was nothing, but there were many opportunities for those who had some good ideas and a little entrepreneurial spirit. Many new companies were born that churned out many new products. The Internet didn't exist yet, and radio and TV were devices that few could afford. How to make these products known to consumers and entice them to buy?
Attilio Manzoni, pharmacist, he already knew how to do it when in 1863 he founded A. Manzoni & C., at the time a wholesale company of pharmaceutical and chemical products, currently the advertising agency of the L'Espresso Publishing Group.
Manzoni had sensed that he could exploit the newspapers to promote his products, so he bought a few pages to let people know that new drugs were born to treat serious diseases or annoying ailments. He founded the first Italian advertising agency and was probably the first in Europe to set up a system for buying and selling promotional advertisements. And so in a short time the fourth page of the newspapers, intended for commercial notices, also began to host the advertisements of companies that had nothing to do with the pharmaceutical industry.
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