The First Advertisement - March, 1906
As the saying goes, "Hind sight is twenty-twenty." Therefore it is clear to see that David H. McConnell's purchasing of national-level (and if you consider Canada, international-level) advertising in the leading monthly periodical for middle-class women, Good Housekeeping magazine, was a brilliant move that paid high dividends in the long run for the company, McConnell, and his partners!
The First national-level Advertisement1
for the California Perfume Company
introducing their new
odor: Roses
~March,
1906
(One ounce bottle illustrated)
The March 1906 Edition of the Good Housekeeping magazine
Cover (L) and open to the CP advertisement (R)
David H. McConnell Sr. began the California Perfume Company's advertisement campaigns with this impressive one quarter page (approximately 4 x 2 3/4 inches) introduction to Roses perfume—found in the advertising section of the March 1906 edition of the Good Housekeeping magazine. For ten successive months (March through December/Christmas editions of Good Housekeeping) McConnell ran his advertisements. The first four rendered CPC products: Roses perfume in March, Sweet Sixteen face powder in April, Carpet Renovator in May, and Witch Hazel cream in June. The next five months, July through November, illustrated a book - like that of a CPC catalog - with verbiage recruiting "Local Representatives". The last advertisement in the series, December 1906, reused the Roses perfume bottle while soliciting for Christmas sales. Of significant note, while McConnell engaged in this national advertising campaign with his California Perfume goods and services, he also ran Goetting & Company advertisements in some of the larger-circulation news papers throughout the country, circa 1905 through 1907.
See the rest of the California Perfume Company advertisements for 1906 (click here)
1 I cannot discount the possibility that McConnell engaged in localized, or targeted, advertisement using local newspapers as he did with Goetting & Company in 1905 and 1906. Furthermore, the California Perfume Company advertised for general agents in the mid- late-1890's while many general agents themselves took out small classifieds announcing their location and affiliation with the California Perfume Company. By adding the two-word phrase "national-level," this full statement stands as historically accurate.