The Development of Public Relations and Integrated Marketing Communications at the General Post Office, 1933-39: a Study in the Emergence of ‘Admass’ in the United Kingdom

In the interwar period the British Post Office, or
the General Post Office
(GPO), was the largest
organisation and employer in Britain. In the 1930s the GPO employed over 250,000 workers. The
organisation was in fact several businesses. Its
primary activities revolved around communication,
principally postal services, telegraphs and telephone.
In relation to the former the interwar period, and
particularly the 1930s, witnessed a massive growth
in international postal services via airmail. In
addition, the GPO operated a major bank, the Post Office Savings Bank, and oversaw the broadcasting
license for the British Broadcasting Corporation whic
h it represented in Parliament. Finally the GPO
was responsible for the payment of government benefits, including old age pensions. With the increase
in social welfare from the liberal
reforms of 1906-14 onwards, the GPO for many people in Britain
became the embodiment and symbol of the state. It
was the one government institution that most
people regularly interacted with.