Department store advertising in newspapers, radio, and television, 1920‐1960

Abstract

PurposeFocusing on the early development of the three major forms of local advertising employed by independent department stores across the USA – newspapers, radio, and television – this paper examines continuity in the industry's commercial use of new technologies.Design/methodology/approachThe research draws on different types of primary sources, including department store financial records and correspondence, retailing trade literature, industry publications, newspaper advertisements, and radio advertisement transcripts.FindingsThe local and regional markets of the independent department store, and to some extent, department store chains, required local advertising, something best served by newspapers in the period under study. While many retailers embrace the commercial potential of radio and television as they appear in the 1920s and late 1930s, respectively, others are reluctant to divert their advertising budget away from newspapers. Trade writers for the department store industry and radio and television reveal tension between the National Retail Dry Goods Association, with its progressive orientation and professionalizing goals, and the more traditional merchants these experts are trying to modernize. The paper also suggests, perhaps as a subject for future research, that as radio and television lost their local orientation and became increasingly commercialized and national, independent department store advertising would not have been able to compete with department store chains.Originality/valueAlthough much has been written about national advertising, cultural, and business historians have conducted little research on local advertising, the type typically employed by independent department stores. This paper provides an introduction to the three major advertising formats most often used by independent department stores as each medium first emerged as a potential selling tool.

Marketing to the Big Middle: establishing Australian discount department stores

“…Zingales (2000Zingales ( , p. 1628 argues that US newspapers have a reputation for accuracy; readers thus rely upon them to form opinions, while cognizance of this dynamic influences firms' marketing choices. Howard (2010) has also shown that in the USA, department stores in the first half of the twentieth century invested more resources in newspaper advertising than any other medium. In a recent international qualitative study, which included Australian respondents, senior public relations practitioners emphasized the value of independent, trusted media for promoting their interests (Macnamara, 2014).…”

“…Second, this article offers new examples of the ways in which public relations material is translated into media coverage, a dynamic that despite substantial research remains a fertile avenue of inquiry (Macnamara, 2014). Third, it adds to the relatively small literature on retail advertising at the local level (Howard, 2010). Although Kmart and Target were national chains and implemented large-scale, coordinated marketing programs, suburban media were used with the explicit goal of localizing stores within their surrounding communities (Target discount, c.1970c).…”