Coupon Use in the 1950s and '60s
In the decade after WWII ended, the US experienced dramatic changes, changes which continued into the '60s. The Centre for Development of Distance and Permanent Education, a part of Warsaw School of Economics, describes some of the changes: "Expectations rose explosively during the 1950's and 1960's, extending across the entire political spectrum. It was expressed in the consumer and environmental stirrings, the student and youth rebellions, the civil rights, women's liberation, and senior citizen movements. These popular strivings impacted the entire social fabric, including the marketplace." Advertising Boom
The 1950s saw a boom in print and television advertising. US consumers once again had money to spend, and plenty of companies willing to offer products to help them spend it. More coupons than ever appeared in newspapers, magazines, and store flyers, and redemption burgeoned with this growth. The Centre for Development of Distance and Permanent Education states: "whether placed on a page, in a supplement, or in a pre-print, [coupons] became effective performers. Postcard and card-deck mailings, catalog bind-ins and statement stuffers, and the old standby co-op mail also played a role in the growth."
First Coupon Clearinghouse
Dealing with coupons involved a lot of paperwork, paperwork supermarkets and retailers did not want to deal with. They needed a middleman that could make coupon redemption more efficient. In 1957 they got what they needed; in Chicago, IL, Arthur C. Nielsen Jr. started Neilsen Coupon Clearing House, or NCH, as it is know today. Nielsen designed a means to sort and count coupons redeemed at retailers' establishments and then reimburse retailers on behalf of manufacturers who issued the coupons.
Free-Standing Newspaper Inserts
In 1959, ad agency Wunderman, Ricotta & Kline used a "revolutionary production technique," a four-page bound-in card-stock marketing centerfold inserted in TV Guide®. This technique was a factor in "meteoric growth in the 1960s of free-standing newspaper inserts. These inserts or preprints came in many forms: 4-, 8-, or 16-page ‘mini' magazines in Sunday papers or ad inserts that are dropped or bound into a periodical. They are the most often-used media for coupon distribution [today]. Given this it was no wonder that in the '60s one-half of all Americans clipped coupons.
References
• "History of Direct Marketing." Centre for Development of Distance and Permanent Education. (accessed Dec. 24, 2009).
• CouponInfoNow.com. (accessed Dec. 24, 2009).
• Small Business Encyclopedia. (accessed Dec. 24, 2009).