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Howard Cox and Simon Mowatt ABH Annual Conference Henley Business School 1-2 July 2011

John Bull Spawns the Dominant Woman : The Emergence and Sustained Rise of Odhams Press, 1847-1939. Howard Cox and Simon Mowatt ABH Annual Conference Henley Business School 1-2 July 2011. Odhams ’ business originally set up in 1847 with contract to print church newspaper.

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Howard Cox and Simon Mowatt ABH Annual Conference Henley Business School 1-2 July 2011

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  1. John Bull Spawns the Dominant Woman:The Emergence and Sustained Rise of Odhams Press, 1847-1939 Howard Cox and Simon Mowatt ABH Annual Conference Henley Business School 1-2 July 2011

  2. Odhams’ business originally set up in 1847 with contract to print church newspaper

  3. Julius Elias (later Lord Southwood) was employed by Odhams in 1894 to manage a newly-opened branch in Covent Garden

  4. Horatio Bottomley, MP “The World, The Flesh and The Devil” “The only political conviction he ever convincingly entertained was the determination to gratify his own interests.” (Oxford DNB)

  5. Elias’ concern that Odhams’ business was too dependent on the printing of John Bull led him to develop the firm’s own magazines initially aimed at the movie-going market A rival weekly to John Bull was launched by Odhams in 1915 called The Passing Show Sales of John Bull peaked at 1.75 million in 1919

  6. In 1920 Elias led the formation of Odhams Press Ltd to assume control over the publishing of John Bull Used some of the capital to acquire the Borough Bill Posting Company to further expand its activities in display advertising

  7. In early 1920s Odhams launched more popular magazine titles…. but Bottomleys’ conviction for fraud in 1922 led to collapse in sales of John Bull

  8. Need to utilise printing capacity led Odhams to begin publishing newspapers Sporting Life (1920) People (1925) Daily Herald (1929)

  9. Odhams’ Woman was the first magazine in UK to be printed exclusively using photogravure with very high quality colour illustrations.

  10. Odhams’ huge gravure printing plant in Watford

  11. The Rise of Odhams Press • Relationship with Bottomley and John Bull magazine was crucial in enabling the firm to develop critical mass in production terms • Elias’ skill as a manager in capitalising on new opportunities and understanding of potential customer needs • Exploitation of advertising both within magazines and more generally • Printing heritage of the firm gave it advantages when high speed photogravure emerged as a key technology in 1930s

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