CHARM 2011 Proceedings Early Brand Development in the U.S. Firearms Industry Terrence H. Witkowski Department of Marketing, California State University, Long Beach, USA 194 Abstract Purpose – This paper traces the development of four major U.S. firearms brands – Colt, Remington, Smith & Wesson, and Winchester – from their origins in the mid 19 th century until 1914. These are some of the longest lived and most iconic brand names in U.S. business history. Although American guns and the companies that made them have garnered a sizeable literature, their history from the marketing perspective of brand development has not been adequately researched and written. Design/methodology/approach – Primary data sources include product markings, newspaper and magazine advertisements, flyers and posters, and a variety of other promotional materials produced by manufacturers and distributors. These data were obtained from the secondary literature on U.S. firearms history, via Internet searches using Google Images, and from an analysis of Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogs. Research limitation/implications – The primary data set is still being assembled and findings are tentative. Most evidence was examined in the form of images reproduced in books and on the Internet, not as original artifacts. This research adds to marketing management knowledge of brand longevity and iconography. The study also contributes to advertising history, the literature on U.S. firearms, and marketing and public policy understanding of the U.S. gun culture. Keywords – Brand development, brand longevity, brand iconography, U.S. firearms industry, Colt, Remington, Smith & Wesson, Winchester Paper Type – Research Paper Introduction Some of the oldest brands in the history of the United States have been those of its domestic firearms companies. The names of Colt, Remington, Smith & Wesson, and Winchester have been marked on handguns, rifles, and shotguns since, respectively, 1836, 1848, 1857, and 1866. From the time of their introduction, these brands have been promoted through personal selling, print advertisements, and a variety of point-of-sales ephemera. Famous people, from presidents to outlaws, have endorsed them in writing and by association through use. Moreover, the larger popular culture has appropriated these guns for mythmaking and stories in books and magazines and as key visual props in motion pictures and television shows. The names of Colt, Remington, Smith & Wesson, and Winchester meet Holt’s (2003) test of a brand icon: “Revered by their core customers, they have the power to maintain a firm hold in the marketplace for many years” (p. 43). This paper traces the development of these four brands from their origins in the mid 19 th century until the early 20 th century. Brand longevity and iconography are important issues in the field of marketing history because of their relevance to contemporary management (Holt 2004). Brands have value, even when the entities that own them no longer do, and can live indefinitely provided registration fees are paid. Maintaining brands over time is an outcome of brand management. Historical research provides insight into the factors that contribute to brand longevity, such as having an unrelenting focus on the core product and the ability to innovate when technologies are in flux (Golder, 2000). History also reveals how brand meanings have emerged and evolved. Historical method attempts to “ assess causation —why things have happened as well as what has happened” (Low and Fullerton, 1994, p. 174). Thus, the study of brand development in the U.S. firearms industry can contribute to the managerial understanding of brands. Knowing the historical processes through which some firearms brands have become iconic also contributes to consumer culture theory. Firearms encapsulate values and lifestyles, such as masculinity and hunting, in tangible form (Belk and Costa, 1998; Hirschman, 2003; Holt, 2003; Littlefield and Ozanne, 2011). As iconic brands, Colt, Remington, Smith & Wesson, and Winchester represent important ideas and identity myths and, to paraphrase Holt (2004), are imbued with stories gun owners find valuable. As a people, Americans – including many native populations – have been greatly attached to firearms from the time they were first brought over by European settlers in the 17 th century Early Brand (Bellesiles 2000; Hofstader 1970; Rose 2008). The study of this exceptional national relationship with Development in a product class and its major brands over several centuries gives a unique perspective on U.S. the U.S. consumer culture. It also provides some insights into the creation and evolution of the formidable U.S. Firearms firearms subculture, which over the past 40 years has become an influential political phenomenon in Industry American life (Anderson, 1984; Burbick, 2006; Hofstader, 1970). Given the importance of firearms in American life, it is somewhat surprising that their early advertising and marketing have received so little attention from business historians. For example, neither Strasser (1989) nor Laird (1998) mention the Colt, Remington, Smith & Wesson, and 195 Winchester brands in their accounts of the rise of the American mass market and consumer marketing. The firearms literature also has neglected the topic of brands and branding. Aside from a few company and advertising histories (e.g. Henning, 2006; Williamson, 1952), writing on guns has largely served the interests of military and technology historians and especially antique firearms dealers and collectors (e.g. Brown, 1980; Neumann, 1967; Peterson, 1956; Rose 2006). This work provides good information on the technical development and manufacturing of different types of weapons in America, and how and by whom they were used, but rather limited discussions of the marketing, branding, and promotion of firearms, and what this has meant to gun owners and to the larger society. Books on guns frequently include pictures of promotional materials, but these images are used for illustrative purposes, not as direct evidence of brand development. The following section discusses source material and historiography. Then, the next two sections give brief accounts of the history of firearms manufacturing in the U.S. and the evolution of the industry’s marketing and promotion up to 1914. This cutoff date was chosen because it coincides with end of the first era in U.S. brand management according to Low and Fullerton (1994). The paper then examines separately the development of the Colt, Remington, Smith & Wesson, and Winchester brands in this time period. The discussion compares these brands and draws implications for marketing management and brand longevity, for the history of brands, and for marketing and public policy understanding of the U.S. gun culture. Source Material and Historiography Like other historical research in marketing, documenting the early development of American firearms brands meant creating a database of primary sources (Golder, 2000). Holt’s (2004) ideas about cultural branding suggest specific types of data: “A brand emerges as various ‘authors’ tell stories that involve the brand. Four primary types of authors are involved: companies, the culture industries, intermediaries (such as critics and retail salespeople), and customers (particularly when they form communities)” (p. 3). During the period under investigation the stories of gun manufactu rers and retailers took the form of advertisements in newspapers and trade directories and various advertising ephemera, such as posters, trade cards, catalogs, and calendars. Ephemera were created by job or contract printers and were the most salient promotional material of the day (Laird, 1998). The 19 th century culture industry promoted firearms brands in nickel and dime novels and wild west shows, and then motion pictures in the early 20 th century. Prominent consumers mentioned specific brand names in books and articles. The research challenge is to find these disparate data sources. Preliminary evidence of brand building was gleaned from the secondary literature on Colt, Remington, Smith & Wesson, and Winchester. Assembling visual images from published sources provided ideas about the possible kinds of data and where to seek it. Unfortunately, these authors have not always dated their illustrations or identified the specific archival sources for the benefit of later researchers. Additional visual data were gathered via Google searches based on a number of different keywords suggested by the secondary literature. Many images of historic advertisements, posters, and other brand ephemera are made available by nonprofit organizations, firearms co mpanies, collectors’ organizations, and online blogs. The online search process was largely opportunistic and was not random sampling from a particular universe of visual data. Images were selected based upon their relevance to brand development, as well as their visual impact, composition, and persuasive appeal. They represent a range of pictorial evidence, but not its frequency since what would constitute a universe of brand representation has not been determined. Note that images obtained from published or online sources may have been altered by cropping or re-coloring from the original version. Also analyzed were the massive catalogs of Montgomery Ward & Co. (1895) and Sears Roebuck & Co. (1897). Reaching a national market of both rural and urban consumers, these companies sold CHARM 2011 numerous brands of handguns, rifles,