Foster Business Library


Advertising Industry Resources


Foster Business Library research guides are aimed at University of Washington students, faculty, and staff, highlighting resources available to them; users not currently affiliated with the university may be unable to access some of these resources.
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Foster Business Library Databases:

The Foster Business Library offers an extensive collection of over fifty databases on its homepage; see under Databases. For a complete list of Foster databases, see the List of All Business Databases. Access to these databases from off campus requires that you first go to the Off-Campus Access button, in the upper right of all library webpages. These resources may not be accessed from off campus except by those with a valid UW Net ID and password. For more information on Foster business databases, click Databases, A-Z. For information on which Foster business databases to use, see the Database Index. For information on accessing Foster databases from off campus, see Database Access. For guidelines on responsible database usage, see Database Usage.

  • Gale Virtual Reference Library:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under List of All Business Databases.   The Gale Virtual Reference Library is a database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research; go to Business for three major business sources:   the Encyclopedia of American Industries (4th ed., 2005), the Encyclopedia of Business and Finance (2001), and the Encyclopedia of Small Business (2nd ed., 2002).

    See the industry profile for SIC 7311: Advertising Agencies, in the 2005 Encyclopedia of American Industries.

  • Hoovers Online:   Under Business Databases on the Foster Business Library homepage. Hoovers Online offers information about 14,000 public and private companies worldwide, with links to company homepages and annual reports, charts, company capsule, competitors, divisions, earnings, financials, Fortune and Forbes rankings, history, industry information, insider trading, mission statements, news links, press releases, officers, patents, products, SEC filings, splits, subsidiaries, etc.

    See the industry overview for Advertising & Marketing as well as the Company List for this industry.

  • Investext:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Business Databases. Investext contains indexing and the full text of company and industry research reports prepared by leading Wall Street firms, as well as regional and international brokerage and financial firms. All reports are in PDF format.

    Search under the keyword Advertising (since advertising is not one of the industries in the Industry pulldown menu offering). Over 3,000 reports are offered.

  • Lexis-Nexis Academic:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Business Databases. To find industry information, go to Business where you can obtain financial data for companies, Securities and Exchange Commission reports and filings, annual reports from 1984 to 1995, information about public, private and foreign companies, mergers, and bankruptcies. Information is available from twenty different sources (each of which must be searched separately). SEC filings, particularly the 10K annual reports, are a particularly rich source of company and industry information. Use your browser's Find command (or Control-F) to locate references to particular terms of interest in 10K filings such as trends, strategy, competitors, industry, etc.

    Try searching in the 10K filings for public companies in the U.S. advertising industry such as Omnicom (OMI) and the Interpublic Group of Companies (OPG). Unfortunately, the number of large advertising firms that are both public and American is shrinking so the availability of SEC filings is fewer than in the past.

  • MarketResearch.com Academic:   This database contains comprehensive full-text market research reports covering a broad range of markets, industries, and companies from reputable market intelligence sources such as Packaged Facts, Icon Group, and others, for U.S. and global markets, covering over 2,000 industries and products.

    As an example, a search for the term Advertising produced over 1,400 reports.

  • Mergent Online:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Business Databases. Online access to the print edition of the Mergent Manuals, with extensive information on 11,000 U.S. and 17,000 international companies, including financials, stock, properties, joint ventures, annual reports, subsidiaries, S.E.C. filings, etc. For search tips, see About Mergent Online.

    A search in this database for SIC code 7311, for the Advertising Industry, retrieved a list of over seventy public companies, worldwide.

  • Reference USA:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Business Databases. This unique database offers directory information for eleven million companies in the U.S. Companies can be searched by name, business activity, size and location.

    A search in this database with Advertising Agencies as Type of Business generated a list of applicable SIC codes. Clicking on SIC code 7311-01 For ADVERTISING-AGENCIES & COUNSELORS and hitting Search retrieved the first page of 24,392 businesses in this category in the U.S. Revising the search to add in Business Size and limiting to businesses with more than $10 million in gross sales generated a list of 883 such businesses in the U.S.

    Web Resources:

    Unlike library databases, Web resources are available wherever you have web access; they do not require that you access them via the Off-Campus Access button, in the upper right of all library webpages. When using web resources, be sure to evaluate the credibility of these resources. For a subject index to web resources, see Business Resources on the Web on the Foster Business Library homepage.

  • Ad*Access:   The Duke University Library hosts this "image database of over 7,000 U.S. and Canadian advertisements covering five product categories - Beauty and Hygiene, Radio, Television, Transportation, and World War II propaganda - dated between 1911 and 1955."

  • AdForum:   "AdForum.com is an information provider focused on the global advertising industry. We have partnered with leading trade press in over 10 of the largest advertising markets around the world and also have partnerships in place with the industry’s top festivals and award shows. In addition, we work with some of the largest industry management consultants. In all we have information on over 20,000 agencies and 70,000 ads (tv, print, interactive, etc.) from around the world." Some site content is free but much of this site requires a subscription to view.

  • The Advertising Archives:   This British image site "comprises over 1 million catalogued images – 50,000 of which are searchable online." It includes print, television, magazine, and other advertising; for examples, see their Gallery. Free registration is required to search this site.

  • Advertising World:   This University of Texas site serves as a portal to links and sources of information on 80 topics, from Account Planning to Software For Advertising to Word of Mouth. See also their Advertising Research Resources.

  • The American Association of Advertising Agencies:   This organization is the advertising industry's national trade association, and the highest professional recognition an advertising agency can achieve. AAAA membership has been awarded to less than 10 percent of the more than 13,000 agencies in the United States. The association's homepage offers links to related industry associations.

  • The American Marketing Association:   This organization is a professional organization for 38,000 people involved in the practice, study and teaching of marketing, worldwide. This site offers information on topics of interest, best practices, training, articles and reports, salaries, etc.

  • Association of National Advertisers:   This organization says it is "the industry's premier trade association dedicated exclusively to marketing and brand building. Representing more than 300 companies with 8,000 brands that collectively spend over $100 billion in marketing communication and advertising…." Site content is limited to members only but the UW Libraries has some of the association's Publications in its collections.

  • The Branding Resource:   This site, from the Advertising & Marketing Division of the Special Libraries Association, is a list of recommended readings about naming and branding strategies, with books, articles, websites, articles and papers, and case studies on this topic.

  • Business Full Coverage (Yahoo! Daily News):   Yahoo! Daily News for business includes Business Full Coverage webpages for four dozen important business topics of high interest, including many industries. These full coverage reports collect articles, webpages, and links to relevant organizations, audio, video, and recent news stories. See Advertising and Marketing.

  • Career Guide to Industries:   This Bureau of Labor Statistics site, part of the online Occupational Outlook Handbook, offers a career-oriented description of many industries, with information on the nature of the industry, working conditions, employment, occupations in the industry, training, earnings and outlook, as well as sources of additional information. See the description for the Advertising industry.

  • Gary Price's List of Lists:   This site, developed by a librarian, is devoted to lists of the largest or top or leading companies or individuals in a wide variety of industries, culled from an enormous number of magazines. See his lists for Advertising under Business and Industry Management.

  • Industry Profiles (Wetfeet.Com):   This job hunting site from Wetfeet.Com offers profiles of 31 industries, with an industry overview, trends, industry organization, job prospects, what's great and what's to hate in the industry, from the viewpoint of a jobseeker, major companies in the industry, and example job descriptions and tips on how to get hired in the industry. There are also links to industry associations and a profile of an individual working in the industry. The amount of industry information makes up for annoying popups. See Advertising and Public Relations.

  • Magazine Publishers of America:   This association is the "industry association for consumer magazines. Established in 1919, the MPA represents more than 200 US-based publishing companies with more then 1,200 titles; more than 75 international companies; and more than 90 associate members providing services to the industry." See their Research section for a limited amount of information available to nonmembers of the association.

  • Marketing Virtual Library:   This site, begun in 1998 by an expert in marketing, provides links to web resources on all aspects of marketing, from Advertising, to Marketing Plans, Marketing Management & Strategy, to Retailing, Shopping & Consumer Issues, among many topics.

  • Media Planning & Buying Calculators:   This collection of over half a dozen media planning and buying calculators is from SRDS, publishers of the print editions of SRDS Publications, in the Reference Collection below.

  • National Advertising Division:   This organization, part of the Better Business Bureau, reviews national advertising, including "Product performance claims, superiority claims against competitive products and all kinds of scientific and technical claims in national advertising are the types of cases accepted by the NAD." This organization offers a "low-cost alternative to litigation." See their Case Reports and Newsroom.

  • Wikipedia:   This free online user-created and maintained encyclopedia can be a good starting point for an orientation to a topic. See their entry for Advertising.

    For more advertising images, see this University of Washington Libraries' site:

  • Finding and using Digital Images | Advertising:   Sites with print and television advertisements, both current and historical.

    Foster Business Library Reference Collection:

    The Foster Business Library Reference Collection consists of business handbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other quick reference tools. It is located behind the Reference Desk in Foster, arranged by call number. Reference materials cannot be checked out; they may only be used in the library.

  • The entertainment, media and advertising market research handbook.
    This paperback covers how consumers use their leisure time, key players in the entertainment, media, and advertising industries, with profiles of major companies in each industry as well as rankings. There are also chapters on branding, including top brands; on direct marketing and outdoor advertising; on sponsorships and licensing, including sports, plus naming rights; on entertainment marketing, on television and TV advertising and programming; on TV stations, cable, pay per view, satellite, video on demand, film and video, film studios, recorded music, radio, satellite and internet radio, and print media; sports; and a series of chapters on the demographics of various markets, from children to seniors, ethnic markets, gay and lesbian, and faith-based media. See chapter four on Advertising, on pages 29 to 33.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: GV174 .E58 2007.

  • Statistical abstract of the United States.
    Information about many industries as well as demographic information; check index for references to tables. The sources for each table are often a valuable source of additional information. See the index page for table numbers for Advertising and Related Services, with advertising earnings, employees, establishments, mergers and acquisitions, and receipts.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HA202 .U56 2002.

  • Encyclopedia of American industries.
    This heavy two-volume set provides essays on over 1,000 industries, with manufacturing industries largely in volume one and service and other non-manufacturing industries in volume two, arranged by Standard Industrial Code, with an index at the back of volume two. See SIC code 7311 for Advertising Agencies, in volume two, on pages 1101 to 1107.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC102 .E53 2005.

  • Standard & Poor's industry surveys.
    This three-volume set provides 30-page profiles on 52 industries with a focus on the current economic environment, trends, regulation and outlook for each industry. Major companies in each industry are profiled, with references to sources of additional industry information. See volume one for Advertising.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC106.6 .S74 (Quarterly)

  • Puget Sound Business Journal book of lists.
    This annual publication is an invaluable source of information about public and private companies in the Puget Sound area, culled from lists that appeared weekly in the Puget Sound Business Journal. Besides lists of the largest and fastest growing public and private companies in the area, this reference work includes commercial real estate deals, banks and securities firms, contractors, education and employment, health care, title companies, marketing firms, nonprofits, professional services, executive compensation, real estate, retailers, software developers, biotech and travel and recreation. There is an index to companies and topics in the back of this volume. See page 84 in the 2004 edition for the top 25 Advertising Agencies in the Puget Sound area.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC108 .S77 .P83 (Annual)

  • Encyclopedia of global industries.
    Twelve-page descriptions of 125 global industries, with background and development information, current conditions, industry leaders and further reading. See Advertising Agencies, starting on page 867.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD2324 .E53 2003.

  • International directory of company histories.
    Studying the history of leading companies in an industry is a good way to learn more about the history of an industry. This large set of over 30 volumes covers over 3,700 company histories worldwide, with each history running just two to four pages; check the company index in the latest volume to locate a specific company history or update as well as any other references to that company in other company histories. There is also an index by industry. See the industry index under Advertising and Other Business Services for lists of companies whose histories are covered in this set. For instance, see Omnicom in volume one, pages 28 to 32, with an update in volume 22, pages 394 to 399, and Interpublic in volume one, pages 16 to 18, with an update in volume 22, pages 294 to 297.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD2721 .I57

  • Encyclopedia of business ethics and society.
    This five-volume reference work includes 900 essays by scholars, arranged alphabetically by topic, on all aspects of business ethics. See many references to advertising in all five volumes in this set.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5387 .E53 2008.

  • Market share reporter.
    Annual two-volume compilation of U.S. and world market share data for companies, products and services, arranged by SIC code, and with indexes by product, company and topic. See Advertising in the chapter on SIC 73--Business Services.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5410 .M35 2005.

  • Marketing scales handbook.
    Volume three presents 941 scales culled from articles, on marketing scales in consumer behavior, published in the top marketing journals between 1994 and 1997; volume four provides all new or new uses of previously developed scales in consumer behavior and advertising that appeared between 1998 and 2001, with 654 scales. These volumes include two indexes, by author and by publication.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5415.3 .B785 2001, 2005.

  • Industry norms and key business ratios.
    Key business ratios for 800 S.I.C industry categories, published by Dun and Bradstreet. See Advertising Agencies under SIC code 7311.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5681 .R25 .I525 (Annual)

  • Almanac of business and industrial financial ratios.
    This annual publication, edited by Leo Troy, offers a different take on ratios than the title above. Arrangement is by SIC code. See Advertising Agencies under NAICS code 541800.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5681. .R25 .T68 (Annual)

  • The Advertising Age encyclopedia of advertising.
    In three volumes, this heavily-illustrated encyclopedia includes profiles of more than 120 ad agencies worldwide, essays on 80 leading agencies, detailed articles on 40 U.S. agencies, biographies of 47 major advertising figures, as well as 160 significant corporate advertisers, brands, and campaigns, 20 essays on market research methods, and 52 essays on advertising tools and operations.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5803 .A28 2003.

  • Red Book/Standard directory of advertisers.
    This annual two-volume publication, also known as The Advertiser Red Book, is the most comprehensive source for information on the advertising practices of 24,000 U.S. and Canadian companies spending a minimum of $200,000 on national and regional advertising. Companies may be accessed by 54 business categories or by state, province or city. Entries for companies advertising include SIC codes, business descriptions, statistics, personnel, approximate advertising expenditures, and media. Entries for ad agencies often include the companies and brand names handled and the executive assigned to each account. Volume two includes indexes by product by state or province, by brand name, by SIC code and by personnel. There is also a geographic index volume.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5805 .S7 (Annual) (volume 1: businesses)
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5805 .S7 (Annual) (volume 2: indexes)
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5805 .S7115 (Annual) (geographic index)

  • Standard directory of advertising agencies.
    This annual publication, also known as The Agency Red Book, is the most comprehensive directory of advertising agencies in the U.S. and Canada, including not just ad agencies but also house agencies, media buying services, sales promotion agencies, public relations firms, a personnel index and an index to services and suppliers for specialized services to the advertising industry such as banners, binders, computer services, computer software, data processing, and voiceovers. In the front of this volume are lists and rankings of the top agencies by various industry categories. There is also a Special Market Index, categorizing agencies by two dozen specialties including Asian market, health care, travel and tourism, etc. There is also a supplement to the annual volume.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5805 .S78 (Annual)
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5805 .S782 (Annual) (supplement)

  • Company/brand $.
    This two-volume work reports and itemizes all paid advertising space and expenditures in ten major media categories for companies and brands in America, in several hundred consumer and Sunday magazines, in newspapers, outdoor advertising, television, and radio.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5813 .U6 .C68 2001.

  • The media handbook.
    This paperback is subtitled "a complete guide to advertising media selection, planning, research, and buying," with guidance on developing media objectives, terms, calculations and considerations, creating the plan, offering alternatives, making the media buys, and evaluating the media plan.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5826.5 .K38 2003.

  • Co-op advertising programs sourcebook.
    This reference work covers over four thousand co-op advertising programs, in over fifty product classifications, with indexes by manufacturer, retailer program, wholesaler program, and by trademark.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5827.4 .C66 2007.

  • Encyclopedia of major marketing campaigns.
    This large two-volume reference profiles nearly 1,000 notable advertising and marketing campaigns of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Arrangement is by company name and, if the company name is that of a person, by their first name. For each campaign, there is an overview, historical content, target market, competition, market strategy and outcome, as well as a few suggestions for further reading.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5837 .E53 2000-2007.

  • SRDS/Standard Rate & Data Service publications:
    SRDS business publication advertising source, SRDS circulation  source, SRDS community publication advertising source, SRDS consumer magazine advertising source, SRDS direct marketing list source, SRDS hispanic media & market source, SRDS newspaper advertising source, SRDS out of home advertising source, SRDS radio advertising source, and SRDS television & cable source. These publications provide media rates and data for the advertising industry, listing advertising rates, editorial or programming content, circulation and other basic information for a variety of advertising media, including radio, television, newspapers, and consumer magazines, in separate volumes with different call numbers. Most volumes are organized by state and by city, with demographic and market data for each state. For the latest publication dates, see the list of SRDS Publications.
    Foster Business Library Reference:

  • A century of American icons.
    This book is subtitled "100 products and slogans from the 20th-century consumer culture" and is arranged chronologically by decade, with an index at the end of the volume. For each product or slogan, there is an essay of about a page and a half in length, with references.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF6161 .B4 .C46 2002.

  • Business rankings annual.
    This annual volume provides 5,000 rankings of companies, products, services and business activities, with data culled from thousands of sources. See Advertising on pages 4 to 28.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HG4050 .B88 2004.

  • Mergent industry review.
    Statistical data on 3,000 companies in 137 industries, with ranking, key financial information, operating data and ratios. See the Advertising Industry, starting on page one.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HG4961 .M68 (Quarterly)

  • Northwest creative index.
    This ring-bound publication is an index to design, artist representation, illustration, photography, and new media firms in the Pacific Northwest, with listings of firms and examples of their work; there is an index at the back of the volume.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: NC1001 .N66 2001.

  • Media Inc.'s master lists.
    This annual publication lists the top advertising agencies, public relations firms, direct mail services, market research firms, advertisers, graphic design firms, printers, stock photo companies, artist reps, photographers, film and audio companies, print media, radio and television, and website developers in the Pacific Northwest area.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: P88.8 .M38 2001 (with the most recent edition in Odegaard Library Career Books). Foster Business Library Books:

    The Foster Business Library maintains a collection of over 70,000 books on all business topics. To search for materials on all three campuses of the University of Washington, go to the UW Libraries Catalog, in the upper left corner of the Foster Business Library homepage. Search by keyword, title, author, series, etc.

    To limit the results of your search just to materials in the Foster Business Library collection, use the Modify or Limit options at the top of the search results and change the library location to Foster Business Library. Availablity is indicated on the right of each online catalog record. First, note in which collection, within Foster, your materials are in, since the library has ten different Collections, each in a different location and often with differing arrangements. "Available" indicates that the book should be on the shelves under that call number and available for you to check out. "Due" and a date indicates that the book is already checked out to someone and is due back on the date indicated; you can have the "Request/Place Hold" feature to recall the book for your use.

    If the material you want is not in the collections of the University of Washington, you can use the "Search Summit" feature to repeat your search in the combined holdings of over thirty cooperating libraries in Washington and Oregon. Use the "Request This Item" feature in Summit to have books in those library sent here to Foster for you to check out.

    The Foster general stacks collection is located south of the main part of the Foster Business Library, through the two pass-throughs into the basement of Balmer. The arrangement is by call number, from A (at the east end, near the Copy Center) to Z (at the far west end).

    Find information on the Advertising Industry by searching under LC Subjects such as:

    A keyword search for Advertising produced over 5,200 records in the UW Libraries, including over 750 records in the Foster Business Library's collections.

    As examples of Foster Business Library books on advertising, see:

    See also the long list of 50 related subjects to Advertising.

    Foster Business Library Corporate Annual Reports:

    The Foster Business Library maintains a collection of several thousand annual reports for hundreds of U.S. and foreign companies. These reports are filed in lateral filing cabinets near the Foster Reference desk under the sign Corporate Annual Reports. Annual reports for companies in an industry can be a valuable source of information about the industry itself. For a list of all the companies in the collection, see the library's Corporate Annual Reports Collection. For an index to corporate annual reports in the collection by industry sector, see the Annual Reports Industry Sector Index. For an index to companies in the collection with headquarters outside the U.S., see Corporate Annual Reports Headquarters Index.

    The collection includes annual reports for some advertising companies, included in the Diversified Services industry. Foster Business Library Articles:

    Articles in academic journals, magazines, trade periodicals, and newspapers are one of the best sources for any kind of research. While the Foster Business Library offers a large periodicals print collection, comprising over 800 titles, articles are most easily accessed online, 24/7, in such fulltext article databases as EBSCO Business Source Premier, Factiva, LexisNexis Academic, Newsbank Infoweb, and ProQuest Databases. These article databases are available in the library or from off-campus, and provide access to over 10,000 periodicals and millions of articles.

    Library access to most ProQuest databases will terminate at the end of spring quarter 2008, except for ProQuest NewsStand, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Historical New York Times, and the Historical Wall Street Journal. For more about this change, see UW Libraries Providing New Databases. After this change, comprehensive article searches should be performed in EBSCO Business Source Premier, Newsbank Infoweb, and ProQuest NewsStand. Also, after this change, links to the articles below will be broken.

    ProQuest Databases:

    This database--actually, a family of over two dozen databases--offers full text articles for over 10,000 publications, including scholarly journals, magazines, trade and industry periodicals, newspapers, and reports on a very wide range of topics. To find articles on specific topics, search by word or phrase by keying your search phrase into the search box--or search for your topic in the Topic Guide.

    Your search terms will be highlighted in red in each article.

    For example, a search in this database for the Advertising Industry, produced a list of almost 4,000 articles. Limiting this search to scholarly articles cut the yield to 160 articles.

    A search in the Topic Guide for Advertising produced these subject terms:   Advertising, Advertising accounts, Advertising agencies, Advertising Association--UK, Advertising campaigns, Advertising expenditures, Advertising media, Advertising pages, Advertising rates, Advertising restrictions, Advertising revenue, and Advertising Standards Authority--UK.

    A search for the term Advertising in this database produced a list of over 850,000 articles. Limiting this search to Advertising and NIKE, for instance, cut the number of articles to 5,200 articles.

    As examples of articles from this database, see:

    Help:
    4 February 2000; updated 30 April 2008.   Peter Stevens, Business Librarian, stevens@u.washington.edu