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1 – 10 of 146Robert A. Henning and Terrence H. Witkowski
– This article aims to document and analyze how E. Remington & Sons built a valuable firearms brand through its advertising in the period 1854-1888.
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to document and analyze how E. Remington & Sons built a valuable firearms brand through its advertising in the period 1854-1888.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses qualitative methods. Primary source documents include newspapers, journals, and catalogs. The advertising analyzed came primarily from three periodicals – Harper's Weekly, The Army Navy Journal, and American Agriculturalist – that together reached a broad audience of American firearms consumers.
Findings
Advertising to both civilian and military markets, Remington used a number of appeals including expert testimonials, fears of robbery and home invasion, and boasts of quality, military contracts, and honors from shooting competitions. Until the late 1870s, Remington used manufacturer's advertising more than its competitors.
Originality/value
Business historians have not seriously addressed Remington or other gun advertising and branding during the nineteenth century, while firearms historians have largely relegated these ads and other promotional ephemera to illustrative accessory roles, not as subjects of independent consideration. By investigating the rise of this important firearms brand, the research sheds light on the evolution of the American firearms industry and the prevailing gun culture.
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This paper aims to present a visually documented brand history of Winchester Repeating Arms through a cultural analysis of iconic Western images featuring its lever action rifles.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a visually documented brand history of Winchester Repeating Arms through a cultural analysis of iconic Western images featuring its lever action rifles.
Design/methodology/approach
The study applies visual culture perspectives and methods to the research and writing of brand history. Iconic Western images featuring Winchester rifles have been selected, examined, and used as points of departure for gathering and interpreting additional data about the brand. The primary sources consist chiefly of photographs from the nineteenth century and films and television shows from the twentieth century. Most visual source materials were obtained from the US Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and the Internet Movie Firearms Database. These have been augmented by written sources.
Findings
Within a few years of the launch of the Winchester brand in 1866, visual images outside company control associated its repeating rifles with the settlement of the American West and with the colorful people involved. Some of these images were reproduced in books and others sold to consumers in the form of cartes de visite, cabinet cards and stereographs made from albumen prints. Starting in the 1880s, the live Wild West shows of William F. Cody and his stars entertained audiences with a heroic narrative of the period that included numerous Winchesters. During the twentieth century and into the present, Winchesters have been featured in motion pictures and television series with Western themes.
Research limitations/implications
Historical research is an ongoing process. The discovery of new primary data, both written and visual, may lead to a revised interpretation of the selected images.
Originality/value
Based largely on images as primary data sources, this study approaches brand history from the perspective of visual culture theory and data. The research shows how brands acquire meaning not just from the companies that own them but also from consumers, the media and other producers of popular culture.
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This paper aims to present an autobiographical account on the life of Terrence H. Witkowski and his development as a marketing and consumption historian.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present an autobiographical account on the life of Terrence H. Witkowski and his development as a marketing and consumption historian.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is an autobiography and intellectual history.
Findings
The author traces his interest in history to childhood travel, to growing up in a home furnished with early American décor and to a lifelong passion for antique collecting. Historical research in marketing and consumption fit his independent personality, and has made the best use of his scholarly skill set.
Originality/value
This essay describes one person’s journey to becoming a marketing and consumption historian.
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Most members of the public are aware that Britain is a trading nation in which business and commercial activities have a key economic role. They may equally be aware that this…
Abstract
Most members of the public are aware that Britain is a trading nation in which business and commercial activities have a key economic role. They may equally be aware that this country has been involved in these activities for several centuries. Indeed, in medieval times, trading took place not only within city walls under the aegis of the guilds but also overseas, notably with Europe. Longer trade routes were possibly safer across the sea than across land, and the exchange of wool, silks and wine between England and the Continent was important. Exploring navigators in due course ventured far beyond the coasts of Europe and discovered new continents and new products, and inevitably these provided markets for both buying and selling.
This paper aims to describe the nature and significance of Sorel’s cooking appliance and to examine the promotion and marketing options used by Sorel to make it an appliance that…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe the nature and significance of Sorel’s cooking appliance and to examine the promotion and marketing options used by Sorel to make it an appliance that was “widely used in private residences and by small eating houses.” It will highlight the role of the individual and will demonstrate that marketing and promotion strategies that are modulated by the social ambitions of the manufacturer.
Design/methodology/approach
The basis of this research is extensive quantitative and qualitative analysis of primary sources, mainly the advertisements placed by Sorel, supported by information in contemporary newspapers and journals.
Findings
Stanislas Sorel’s invention of an early form of thermostat allowed him to develop a stove that could cook a four-course family dinner largely unsupervised, an invention which was poised to revolutionise the lives of many households. Sorel was primarily an inventor striving for acceptance in the scientific world, with limited skills in the commercialisation of his inventions. His promotion and marketing efforts reflect both the social realities of the time and his own ambitions.
Originality/value
There has been very little research into the way small French inventors and manufacturers approached the marketing of their products. The paper provides a unique insight into the promotion techniques of a mid-nineteenth-century French inventor-cum-entrepreneur and highlights the role of the individual and how actions are constrained by ambition and opportunity. The paper provides an example of how research into how specific individuals can inform the larger history of marketing.
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Ayhan Akpınar, Canberk Çetin and Muhammet Ali Tiltay
The purpose of this paper is to reveal the contributions of the Journal of Historical Research in Marketing (JHRM) to the academic body of knowledge. Pursuant to this objective…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reveal the contributions of the Journal of Historical Research in Marketing (JHRM) to the academic body of knowledge. Pursuant to this objective, the study classifies the publications and citation structure of the JHRM, the nature of the publications’ authorship, the most cited articles and authors and the themes that have been covered from the first day until now (2009–2021).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses bibliometric methodologies to analyze several aspects of the JHRM.
Findings
The average number of citations per paper is 4.54. The number of articles studying marketing history/practice (163) and the history of thought (158) is almost equal, consistent with the journal’s primary orientation. Compared with other journals, it could be said that JHRM achieved close ranks, especially with those of other historical journals of similar age. The most prolific authors whose articles have been published in the JHRM are used in universities located in the USA. The JHRM is closely connected to top-tier journals in the field.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited to one journal (JHRM) only. However, the authors assert that the articles analyzed are representative samples of the entire school of marketing history. Another important consideration is that the value of many critical studies in the social sciences cannot be determined using only bibliometric measurements.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the marketing literature from several perspectives. First, evaluating the JHRM in terms of its unique standing shows the scope of the field of marketing history. Second, it serves as a guide for existing and future authors regarding the JHRM and the history of marketing. Third, the JHRM’s contributions provide insights into emerging trends and new opportunities for the entire marketing community.
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If people with learning disabilities are to be effective social agents, the capacity to communicate with others through speech, sign or symbol manipulation is of central…
Abstract
If people with learning disabilities are to be effective social agents, the capacity to communicate with others through speech, sign or symbol manipulation is of central importance. Unfortunately, severe and profound learning disabilities are frequently associated with very poor communicative skills and remediation is therefore essential. Theories of normal language development may be of value in suggesting remedial strategies but, of these, structural approaches that emphasise language organisation are less helpful than functional accounts of language use. The latter have led to many successful intervention programmes based in the domestic and social environments of learners. Research is continuing to produce rapid progress in communication intervention but the application of scientific findings is critically dependent on high levels of understanding by, and co‐operation between, professionals in such disciplines as nursing, clinical psychology, speech therapy, teaching and management.
WE have recently published one or two articles in which a contributor with a considerable knowledge of the Chinese economy has described some of that country's industrial…
Abstract
WE have recently published one or two articles in which a contributor with a considerable knowledge of the Chinese economy has described some of that country's industrial activities. The articles have been scrupulously factual and impartial in revealing the ingenuity which has enabled a people desperately short of the technological resources of the industrialised nations to secure for themselves some of life's essentials.
IT IS a great pity that Training for the Future, the consultative document issued by the Department of Employment on the first of last month, should have been overtaken by other…
Abstract
IT IS a great pity that Training for the Future, the consultative document issued by the Department of Employment on the first of last month, should have been overtaken by other urgent matters that have attracted wider public interest. This has foreshortened the time for general debate before sending comments to the Department by the end of May.