Read the text and complete gaps 1-6 with phrases a-i below. There are three phrases you do not need to use. The rise of billboard advertising If you are launching a new product onto the market and want to reach as wide an audience as possible, the chances are you’ll use TV advertising or radio. But those options haven’t always been available to companies wanting to promote their goods and services. When commercials first started on a large scale in the United States, the main vehicle for promotion was the printed word, (1) ……………………….. However, at the start of the twentieth century, (2) ……………………………. and people were out and about more frequently. This social change presented a whole new opportunity for advertisers; if they could somehow get their advertisements ‘on the streets’, they would reach a potentially new audience of thousands. People began to realize the possibilities of extending their advertisements to the outdoors. One such example was the Odell family from Minnesota. They produced a brushless shaving cream called Burma-Shave, (3)……………………, largely because not enough people knew about it. So, they decided to try billboard advertising. And they cleverly built on the idea of outdoor advertising by having one-line slogans posted on billboards spread out along a highway, which, (4) ……………………. . For example, the first billboard might have said, ‘SHAVE THE MODERN WAY’, then further along the next one read, ‘FINE FOR THE SKIN’, while further down the highway was another billboard, simply saying, ‘DRUGGISTS HAVE IT’, and finally, further on, ‘BURMA-SHAVE’. Not only was it an innovative idea for 1925, it was also successful. The Odell family soon extended their idea into other states. And, to make it even more original, they decided to use rhymes in their adverts. Something like, ‘PAST SCHOOLHOUSES take IT SLOW, LET THE LITTLE SHAVERS GROW’. This was a stunning move for the Odell family – they had made advertising fun. Families made a game out of spotting the Burma-Shave adverts. In another clever twist, (5) …………………………. , so people going in both directions would be exposed to the virtues of brushless shaving cream. Sales figures rose and by the early 1960s, the 40-year campaign had spawned 600 slogans emblazoned on more than 7,000 signs. But, (6) ………………………., people no longer bothered to read the billboards they were passing. So, by the time the Odell family sold out to the Philip Morris Company, the billboard campaign had had its day and TV had taken over as the most effective method of advertising. But, for the Odell family, billboards had certainly served their purpose.
a. they posted different adverts on either side of the billboard
b. in groups of four, made up the advert
c. while motorists became more aware of the product
d. as cars got faster and highways got ever bigger
e. was when advertising moved to another phase
f. mainly in the form of newspaper and magazine advertising
g. and television advertising has proved far more costly
h. things changed when cars started becoming popular
i. which initially wasn’t proving too popular