Conclusion

Abstract

Free enterprise capitalism, the use of persuasive information, and the Advertising Council survived into the twenty-first century. In the twenty-first century, their strategies went by the terms “nation branding” and “public diplomacy,” and modern masters of the invisible hand orchestrated political campaigns and headed cable news networks. Organizations such as the Advertising Council had commonly been bipartisan, having emerged during the Democratic Roosevelt and Truman presidencies and become institutionalized during a Republican administration. With the transition to the administration of John F. Kennedy, advertising and advertising strategies became an official part of American public diplomacy. The ideas behind brand management enabled companies to develop into enormous multinational corporations. For instance, in 2008, the J. Walter Thompson Company remained America’s largest advertising agency and was “the fourth-largest marketing communications network in the world,” but it was just one of the several hundred companies owned by WPP, “a world leader in advertising and marketing services.”¹