Sources for Commercials
- Advertisementave.com - over 350 contemporary commercials from well-known brands.
- Ad Spotlight, National Journal - political ads.
- Classic TV Ads
- Internet Archive Movie Archive - Use search feature to find commercials. Mostly older commercials.
- "Jean-Marie Boursicot's Film Library" - A French website claiming to have over 700,000 commercials online.
- Presidential Campaign Commercials, 1952 - 2004
- Moving Image Collections - a Library of Congress program
- Television News Archive - available remotely to current UofM students, faculty and staff. Search by brand or company.
- Wisconsin Advertising Project - Greatest Hits of the Televised Campaign Era, 1952-2000
Finding Print Advertisements
Locating print ads usually require some work. You need to figure out the name of the publication involved and the date of the campaign. Here are some things to try:
- Search trade publications such as Advertising Age, Brandweek, etc to see if they have written about the campaign or brand you have in mind. Campaigns and media used are sometimes mentioned in these articles. Use the index EBSCO MegaFILE to search in advertising trade journals or magazines.
- Browse issues of a magazine. Entire runs of magazines such as People or Sports Illustrated can be found in the Periodicals Room in Wilson Library (basement/tunnel level).
- See if your brand/campaign has been discussed in one of the brand encyclopedias available in the Business Reference section in the Wilson Library (basement/tunnel level):
- Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands
Use this three volume set to obtain fundamental brand history, marketing campaign basics, product performance measures, and more before the year 2000. Location: Business Reference HF5415.3.D527. - Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns
Contains overviews of a select number of advertising campaigns, including historical context of the ad, target market, competition, marketing strategy and campaign outcome. Location: Business Reference Quarto HF5837.D53 2000. - Major Marketing Campaigns Annual
Profiles of 100 notable advertising and marketing initiatives in 1998 and 1999. Location: Business Reference HF5837.M34x.
- Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands
- Ad* Access Project at Duke University - advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955.
- Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850 - 1920