ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 describes the change in the understanding of business that ran parallel to the expansion of the national market at the beginning of the twentieth century. In a phase marked by cut-throat competition and the shadow of overproduction, both retailers and manufacturers needed a personalization of business to make their offers unique. Business began to understand that economic growth would be fuelled and overproduction would be cancelled only through progressive demand management and the ability to sell a larger quantity of goods without resorting to price competition. The chapter describes the strategies conceived for that task. The first section analyses the role of the trademark as a means to build a unique business personality and to secure the name of the product (or service) on the public’s mind. The second section charts the evolution of advertising from the “advertising-as-news” idea to the idea of persuasion and desire stimulation, showing how advertisements began to convey meanings and images that were increasingly detached from any concrete quality or character of goods. The last section shows how in the retailing sector the evolution of store management and a new service ethic turned the plain act of consumption into a shopping experience.
