CHARM/AHRIM - About the Conference

About CHARM

The Conference on Historical Analysis & Research in Marketing (CHARM) has been held biennially since 1983 when it was first hosted by Michigan State University under the leadership of Stanley C. Hollander and Ronald Savitt. As editors of the Proceedings of that first conference, Hollander and Savitt wrote, "It is too early to tell what effects this workshop will have [but] the enthusiasm, vigor and quality of the participation [at the first conference] have encouraged us to plan a second." And, well, the rest is history!

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Since its inception, CHARM has been nurtured with support from Michigan State University, the Journal of Macromarketing, the Academy of Marketing Science, and other institutions. Past conference themes, venues and dates are listed below. Conference proceedings volumes have been published for all these meetings under many different editors including Stanley Hollander, Terry Nevett, Ronald Savitt, Kathleen Whitney, Jeffrey Schmidt, Jagdish Sheth, Charles Taylor, Steven Kopp, Kathy Rassuli, Brian Jones, Peggy Cunningham, David Bussiere, Terry Witkowski, Eric Shaw, and Leighann Neilson. Collectively, those volumes have featured over 400 papers. Some of those works were re-published as special collections in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, (Fall, 1990), and in Research in Marketing (JAI Press, 1994). The Journal of Macromarketing has long published articles which began life as papers presented at CHARM, but with a regular history section beginning in 1996 the best CHARM papers from each conference have been invited to be published in JMM. The cumulative index includes abstracts of all papers presented at past conferences as well as information regarding purchasing past issues that are still available.

CHARM is somewhat unique as academic conferences go, because of the following qualities. The conference is kept relatively small so that multiple tracking of sessions is minimized and participants can therefore attend all or most of the sessions. Most meals are included in the conference registration which keeps participants together, exchanging ideas, and continuing discussions beyond the formal sessions. In fact, the Conference is intended to be more like a workshop, as the first was called in 1983, than a typical academic conference.

Themes, Venues, and Dates

Marketing History at the Center, Duke University, Durham, NC, May 17 - 20, 2007
The Future of Marketing's Past, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, April 28 - May 1, 2005
The Romance of Marketing History, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, May 15 - 18, 2003
Milestones in Marketing History, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, May 17 - 20, 2001
Marketing History: The Total Package, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, May 13 - 16, 1999
Marketing History Knows No Boundaries, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, May 22 - 25, 1997
Marketing History: Marketing's Greatest Empirical Experiment, Fort Wayne, Indiana, May 25 - 28, 1995
Contemporary Marketing History, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, May 22 - 25, 1993
Marketing History -- Its Many Dimensions, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, April 19 - 21, 1991
Marketing History: The Emerging Discipline, Charleston/Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, April 29 - May 1, 1989
Marketing in Three Eras, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, April 23 -26, 1987
Marketing in the Long Run, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, April 28 - 30, 1985
First North American Workshop on Historical Research in Marketing, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, June, 1983

Past Winners of the Stanley C. Hollander Best Paper Award

Consumer Voice and Brand Loyalty: Lever, J. Walter Thompson and the Rise of Market Research in Britain, 1918-1939

2005 - Diana Twede, The Origins of Paper-based Packaging

2003 - D.G. Brian Jones, Simon Litman: A Pioneer in Marketing

2001 - James L. Solow, Exorcising the Ghost of Cigarette Advertising Past: Collusion, Regulation and Fear Advertising

1999 - Donald F. Dixon, Some Late Nineteenth Century Antecedents of Marketing Theory

1997 - Terrence H. Witkowski, Gendered Patterns of Consumption in the Early American Household, 1750-1825

Past Winners of the David D. Monieson Best Student Paper Awards*

Sydney Levy: Challenging the Philosophical Assumptions of Marketing

2003 - Leighann Nielson, Marketing the Forest Primeval

2001 - Leighann Nielson, The Development of Marketing in the Canadian Museum Community: 1840 - 1989

1999 - David Bussière, Evidence of Marketing Periodical Literature Within the American Economic Association: 1895-1936

1997 - Maureen Hupfer, Anything in Skirts Stands a Chance: Marketing the Canadian North-West to British Women, 1880-1914

*To be eligible for the David D. Monieson Best Student Paper Award, the submission must be authored solely by a graduate student or students. Student submissions should be so noted on the cover page of the submission and will be automatically considered by the judging committee.

CHARM is nurtured with the assistance of several institutions and individuals. Past institutional sponsors have included Michigan State University, the Academy of Marketing Science and the Journal of Macromarketing and Quinnipiac University hosts the CHARM website. At the 10th CHARM, held at Duke University, the Association for Historical Research in Marketing (AHRIM) was founded and a board of directors elected by those founding members. AHRIM was renamed the CHARM Association at the 2005 CHARM in Long Beach, CA. The CHARM Association board acts in an advisory capacity for CHARM. We welcome your suggestions, and invite you to contact us.

CHARM Association - click here for more information.