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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Swedish Advertisers’ Association role in institutional development of Swedish international advertising during 1955–1972.

Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative analysis of organizational material to analyze institutional development of collective international advertising.

Findings – A new postwar paradigm that focused on a consumer-oriented brand ideology enabled marketing nexecutives in the Swedish Advertisers’ Association to develop a new discourse on international advertising inSweden, which then was institutionalized within a national network on export promotion. The institutionalization process was supported by a corporatist system typical of smaller export dependent postwar European economies.

Research limitations/implications – While based on a national case, this study points to the importance of understanding how advertising concepts are embedded within other economic, political and cultural systemsthan in those they originated in and how this contributes to a heterogenous implementation of similar ideas andpractices. This study also illustrates how members can use their association to institutionalize a new discourse on marketing and network with other actors to enhance the use and reputation of its ideas and practices.

Practical implications – By highlighting the importance of analyzing both internal and external organizational relations, this study contributes to the research on history of marketing by making salient the importance of an institutional perspective to understand key processes in marketing. In practice neitherthe institutional perspective nor the explanatory power of discourse has received much attention, therefore the study results should be both interesting and valid for practitioners as well.

Originality/value – The study of the historical development of international advertising is limited and often descriptive. This study contributes to the literature by using a theoretical and methodological approach to make salient how the interaction between discourse, marketing associations and other collective actors propelled the institutionalization of international advertising within a specific national context.