1914-06-18ii Part 1

In 1914, retail establishments in Hamilton were in heavy competition for the dollars to be spent on such items as clothing and furniture. A prolonged recession had negatively affected consumer spending. To that end, many businesses started providing credit to provide cash-poor Hamiltonians with the chance to purchase large-ticket items.

In addition, many business owners decided that promotion was critical and so purchased larger and more visually arresting advertisements in the local press. 

Finally, innovative contests were often added to the promotions, offering cash or other rewards for those patrons who bought items at their store.

A classic example of 1914 era promotional effort in the Hamilton press was made by the Home Outfitting Company. In this case the company had a contest, not one but two large ads running on consecutive days and each newspaper ad contained elaborate visual additions to the basic information provided.

The Home Outfitting Company was a large store, located at 170-178 King street east in Hamilton’s main retail district. The main business of the Home Outfitting Company Limited was the sale of home furnishings, many of which were displayed on an artistic basis in two big shop windows to entice pedestrians already downtown to come into the store.

To encourage potential buyers to come downtown and then go to the store, the company outdid its rivals on the occasion of sale of kitchen cabinets.

 

The ad contained the company name in a distinctive style, with its address located below, and below that two important pieces of information, the store was open for business during evenings, and that the store did not employ “collectors’ (men who in other stores would come down heavily on people who might fall behind in their monthly payments. Finally, this part of the ad contained a heart, within which were the words “The Heart of Hamilton” indicating both the location of the store and the warmth, and customer-friendly nature of its sales personnel.

 

The top of the ad contained the reference that there were a certain number items useful for householders with their kitchen duties. It read as follows “We believe there are fifty Housewives in this city today who have been longing to profit by such an offer as we are preparing to make.”

Below that introductory statement was an engraving of someone in a kitchen who seemed to be in need of what was to be offered.

 

Below the image of the stressed woman in a kitchen was the following information:

Important Announcement

If you are tied hand and foot by the endless drudgery of unfinished kitchen work –

If you are simply worn out with the worry and strain of trying to ‘keep up’ appearances and your strength at the same time.

And if you have the slightest desire to overcome this condition, be sure and

See Our Special Offer in Tomorrow’s Paper

By a rare stroke of merchandising good fortune, we have concluded negotiations whereby we are enabled to make a limited number of our customers an unusual offer.

The details are now being worked out – and as this advance announcement is being written, they are being finally submitted to the management for approval.

We can say with reasonable certainty that complete details of this liberal offer will appear in this paper tomorrow. Read it carefully – then be prepared to act.