Professional Profile

Rowell finally opened his first advertising agency in 1865 after receiving $600 for a daily program he developed for theaters when he was still in the Post. While working in his agency, he developed a proprietary list of newspapers, common practice by agents of the time. However, in addition to the usual newspapers presented by competing agents, Rowell included 100 country newspapers. Because most of the population lived in rural areas at the time and his rates were much lower then his competitors’, Rowell’s list proved to be tremendously useful in getting clients for his first agency, which in the same year of its launch was moved to New York.

Using the information he collected for his list, Rowell published the George P. Rowell Newspaper Directory in 1869. The directory would the first one to be consecutively published during many years. His efforts in maintanning honest circulation figures in that publication characterized Rowell as probably the most substantial promoter circulation as a measure of a newspaper.

In 1873, Rowell presented another important contribution to the advertising field. He used the American Newspaper Reporter, a small publication started by him, to announce an advertising association which was intended to provide a list of the most reliable advertising agents at the time. According to the information provided in the newspaper, any agent whose name was not included was not deserving of commissions. In addition to contributing to the association by allocating space in the Reporter, Rowell also served as the chairman of the resolutions committee. The association did not last for long, but it was the harbinger to the American Association of Advertising Agencies which was founded in 1917. At the end of his life, Rowell lost interest for his advertising agency, which he finally sold in 1892. After that, he shifted his attention to the development of Printer’s Ink, an advertising trade magazine which acquired a respectful image in the advertising field. He also focused on working on the American Newspaper Directory, which continued to be published for many years.