Introduction – Moving into a Time Machine
Picture stepping into a time machine and travelling back to the 1960s. You would see large highway billboards, jingles on the radio, and commercials on television that used enticing slogans like “Buy Now!” Flash forward to 2025 and marketing has transformed into something much more personal and impactful – shifting from intrusive posters to Instagram stories, personalized ads, and influencer marketing campaigns.
This blog serves as your time machine – putting together a timeline of how marketing has evolved from posters to pixels and why you should care about it to become a well-rounded digital marketing expert.
1. The Era of Posters, Flyers, and Radio Ads (Pre-1980s)
Originally, marketing was really about getting seen. The more of your brand people could see, the better. Posters, pamphlets, and flyers owned the streets. Radio was the only voice for marketing, and if you could persuade a jingle into someone’s brain – it was unreasonable for them to forget you!
Example from real-life: Coca-Cola mastered the poster era. Walk into diners, bus stops, anywhere you turned, Coca-Cola had smiling faces drinking from their iconic bottles, and that vivid red was jarring. Straight up, those posters didn’t just sell a drink – those posters sold happiness and togetherness.
Back then, marketing was like standing on a box in a busy market and shouting louder than the people around you so they could hear your voice. It was very much about visibility – not relationships.
2. The Golden Age of Television and Celebrity Endorsements (1980’s – Early 2000’s)
Television was a game changer. All of a sudden, marketing was not static; it was moving, colorful and emotional. Brands such as Nike and Pepsi became global icons and recognition through their ingenious TV commercials. Real-world example: In 1984, Apple aired its famous Super Bowl advertisement aptly titled “1984.” It introduced the Macintosh computer. Apple was not just selling a computer. There was a larger story being told about ‘normal’ in the commercial. Celebrity endorsements: Consider Michael Jordan and Nike’s Air Jordan campaign. It was not just about selling shoes. It was changing the way we look at sneakers. Sneakers became a cultural phenomenon. Only large brands with big budgets could afford to run commercials in the standard hours. Small businesses did not have a voice.
3. The Internet Revolution: Websites and Email (2000s)
When the internet broke into the marketing mainstream, it changed marketing fundamentally. Overnight, a small brand could compete with giants through a website or an email newsletter. Real-world example: Amazon started as a website that was essentially an online bookstore in 1995. By switching or using email marketing and using recommendations tailored to you, it succeeded and used its emails to become a global e-commerce player.
Email marketing essentially became the new “TV commercial” – the only difference was that it did not reach everybody, only people who cared enough to sign up. This was the beginning of a two-way conversation. A customer could do things like click, look, and interact – something posters and television commercials just could not provide.
4. The Growth of Social Media (2010 – 2020)
Then, Enter Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok — marketing became personal. Where the brand used to talk at someone, that brand then talked with someone. Real-world example: Do you remember Coca-Cola’s #ShareACoke campaign? The campaign went globally viral, creating million-dollar advertising in a modern brand. User-generated content: A happy customer’s photo on Instagram was worth more than a paid advertisement. Targeting audiences with ads: With the data available, brands could show ads only to people who were curious. If someone had just searched “running shoes” and learned about Nike, they would now only see ad content for them or Adidas. This entire cycle changed marketing to be more intelligent, faster, and cheaper. You could be a child and create a brand from your bedroom using a cell phone and an internet connection.
5. The Pinkel Era: AI, Personalization, and Data (2020 – 2025)
Welcome to the Pinkel Era – to a period where marketing isn’t about getting seen, but about being remembered.
A real-life example: Netflix personalizes our experiences better than any other company. They look at what we actually watch so they can create recommendations, thumbnails, and even personalized trailers that make you feel as if Netflix “knows” you.
A.I. tools: There are platforms and tools like ChatGPT, MidJourney, and AI ad optimization platforms that now allow brands to create personalized campaigns in minutes.
Influencer Marketing 2.0: Now, instead of using celebrities to build hype around products, they are using micro-influencers (people with 5,000 – 50,000 followers), and a person with 20,000 followers can often sell more than someone with 1 million followers because we trust them. Modern marketing is more about understanding than shouting, and if done correctly, learning and solving problems.
6. What We can learn from this evolution.
Storytelling is eternal: Whether through a 1980s jingle or a 2025 Instagram reel, people will always remember stories, not products.
Consumers are interested in experiences, and we will begin to treat every consumer that walks into our stores as VIPs.
Platforms change, but people don’t: Humans have loved connection, trust, and emotion from the earliest days of communicating with one another until today (how we connect is the only thing that changes).
7. What Does the Future Look Like in Digital Marketing?
In the future, we may see mainstream adoption of augmented reality (AR) and voice marketing. Imagine being able to virtually “try on” a piece of clothing before you buy it. Perhaps your Alexa will now be able to look up and get you the “best pizza near me,” which could have sponsored answers. There are also many predictions about AI getting smarter, but creatives will always be the heart of marketing great campaigns have one thing that no algorithm can replicate and that is emotion.
Conclusion – From Posters to Pixels and Beyond.
Marketing has come a long way from being loud using outdoor posters and advertisements to whispering personalized messages to you on your smart phone. The brands that will win in this space are not the loudest, but the ones that will listen, change and tell a story that specific individuals will care about. Regardless of whether you are a business owner or a marketing expert, you should remember that every post, every advertisement, and every email will be part of a larger story. It is your responsibility to tell the whole story, or at least make it worth reading!