The advertising industry has been a staple of Chicago's culture and economy for nearly 150 years. The first advertising agency was founded in 1858 and Montgomery Ward helped establish Chicago as a center for catalog advertising after the 1871 Great Fire. In 1881, Lord & Thomas was launched and helped popularize powerful print copywriting under Albert Lasker. By the 1980s, Chicago had over 500 ad agencies employing 8,000 people and generating $6 billion annually. Major mergers and acquisitions in the 1980s and 1990s consolidated the industry, placing several of Chicago's largest agencies under a few holding groups.