Promotion

History

Promotion, the ultimate weapon, but not for everyone: only for those who deal in precious commodities in markets of strong competition.

In the first years of our century this was not the case of gasoline, the sales of which, though still scarce, grew by itself without any need to be pushed.

Lubricants, on the other hand, sold not so much to the housewife or to the rare motorist as to the immense industrial machine, were being marketed by a growing number of companies which, in order to ingratiate themselves with their customers, began offering promotional gifts.

And they were rather serious gifts, though they played more on utility than on splendor: pliers, ink blotters, ashtrays, pocket knives, pencils; or perhaps pins and badges bearing the company trademark.