Purpose

This paper aims to present a history of the marketing of hope chests in the USA, focusing in particular on one very successful sales promotion, the Lane Company’s Girl Graduate Plan. The Girl Graduate Plan is placed within its historical context to better understand the socioeconomic forces that contributed to its success for a considerable period but ultimately led to decreased demand for the product.

Design/methodology/approach

The history of the marketing of hope or marriage chests draws upon primary sources located in the Lane Company Collection at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. Secondary sources and images of advertising culled from Google image searches provided additional insight into the operation of the company’s Girl Graduate Plan.

Findings

While the Lane Company benefitted in the form of increased sales, profit and brand awareness and loyalty from prevailing socio-economic trends, which supported the success of its Girl Graduate Plan, including targeting the youth market, this promotion ultimately fell victim to the company’s failure to stay abreast of social changes related to the role of women in society.

Research limitations/implications

Like all historical research, this research is dependent upon the historical sources that are accessible. The authors combined documents available from the Virginia Historical Society archives with online searches, but other data sources may well exist.

Practical implications

This history investigates how one manufacturer, a leader in the North American industry, collaborated with furniture dealers to promote their products to young women who were about to become the primary decision makers for the purchase of home furnishings. As such, it provides an historical example of the power of successful collaboration with channel partners. It also provides an example of innovation within an already crowded market.

Social implications

The hope chest as an object of material culture can be found in many cultures worldwide. It has variously represented a woman’s coming of age, the love relationship between a couple and a family’s social status. It has also served as a woman’s store of wealth. This history details how changing social values influenced the popularity of the hope chest tradition in the USA.

Originality/value

The history of the marketing of hope chests is an area that has not been seriously considered in consumption histories or in histories of marketing practices to date, in spite of the continuing sentimental appeal for many consumers.

中文翻译：

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“开始家园的礼物”：在美国的希望宝箱营销

目的

本文旨在介绍美国希望箱营销的历史，尤其着重于一项非常成功的促销活动，即连恩公司的“女大学生毕业计划”。《女童研究生计划》被置于其历史背景下，以更好地了解在相当长的一段时间内为成功所做出的贡献的社会经济力量，但最终导致对该产品的需求减少。

设计/方法/方法

销售希望或婚姻宝箱的历史借鉴了弗吉尼亚历史文化博物馆Lane Company馆藏中的主要资源。从Google图片搜索中挑选出来的广告的次要来源和图片，进一步了解了该公司的“女大学生计划”的运作情况。

发现

尽管Lane公司从流行的社会经济趋势中获得了销售，利润，品牌知名度和忠诚度方面的增长，这支持了其Girl Graduate Plan的成功实施，包括针对青年市场的发展，但这次促销最终却成为了该公司失败的受害者跟上与妇女在社会中的角色有关的社会变化。

研究局限/意义

像所有历史研究一样，这项研究取决于可访问的历史资源。作者将可从弗吉尼亚历史学会档案馆获得的文件与在线搜索结合在一起，但其他数据源可能也存在。

实际影响

这段历史调查了一家北美行业的领导者制造商如何与家具经销商合作，向年轻女性推广他们的产品，这些年轻女性将成为购买家居摆设的主要决策者。这样，它提供了与渠道合作伙伴成功协作的力量的历史示例。它还提供了一个在已经拥挤的市场中进行创新的例子。

社会影响

希望箱作为物质文化的对象可以在世界各地的许多文化中找到。它以不同的方式代表了女人的成年，夫妻之间的恋爱关系和家庭的社会地位。它也曾作为女性的财富储备。这段历史详细说明了不断变化的社会价值观如何影响了希望宝箱传统在美国的流行。

创意/价值

尽管对许多消费者而言，希望箱的营销历史是一个至今尚未在消费历史或营销实践历史中得到认真考虑的领域。