The New York Times turns back the page on 175 years of advertising

New York Times Advertising (NYTA) is digging into its archives for a new campaign that looks at 175 years of advertising and the role brands have played in reflecting cultural and historical moments.

Titled "175 years of advertising", the campaign centres on a nine-page print spread featuring seven advertisements that have appeared in The New York Times between 1851 and 2026. The spread runs chronologically, pairing each advertisement with context around the period in which it appeared.

Among the featured brands is Tiffany & Co., which advertised jewellery, watches and clocks in The Times during the 1851 holiday season, three months after the newspaper published its first issue.

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Ford Motor Company also makes an appearance with a 1909 advertisement for its Model T, which highlighted the vehicle's victory in a cross-country race from New York to Seattle at a time when the automotive industry was moving towards mass production.

Meanwhile, an IBM advertisement from 1966 highlighted the technology company's involvement in NASA's space programme and efforts to put a man on the moon. Advertisements from Heinz, E*TRADE, L'Oréal Groupe and Delta Air Lines also feature in the spread.

The campaign aims to demonstrate how advertising has documented shifts in culture, technology and consumer behaviour over the newspaper's history, while highlighting The Times' longstanding relationships with advertisers.

The print spread concludes with a message from Joy Robins, global chief advertising officer at The New York Times, highlighting the role advertising plays in supporting independent journalism.

Beyond print, NYTA is extending "175 years of advertising" across digital channels with custom ad units, audio spots featuring Robins and a dedicated digital experience documenting advertising milestones from across The Times' history. The campaign will run until 30 September 2026.

According to Tusar Barik, SVP of marketing at NYTA, reviewing the publication's archive revealed a pattern of advertising foreshadowing significant cultural moments, from the adoption of personal automobiles to the emergence of online banking.

He added, “This insight shaped our campaign, which is grounded in The Times’s history and the evolution of advertising, while also acknowledging our long-standing client relationships and advertising’s role in supporting independent journalism.”

Meanwhile, Andrea Davey, global chief marketing officer at Tiffany & Co., pointed to the two brands' shared New York roots and longstanding relationship, adding that the partnership has been shaped by a mutual focus on craft, culture and storytelling.

The campaign comes as publishers continue to use their own advertising platforms to reinforce their brands. Last year, The Economist took to the streets with a series of one-off out-of-home placements built around provocative copy designed to encourage readers to question assumptions and challenge norms.

Featuring white text against the publication's signature red backdrop, the campaign also took aim at the rise of AI with lines such as "Make AI worried you're going to take its job" and "Do you have an unprompted opinion?", while other executions encouraged audiences to slow down and think more critically.

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