' 7 7 THE ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING % Qraw-JfillBook (a 7m PUBLISHERS OF BOOKS Coal Age * Electric Railway Journal Electrical \Wsrld ^ Engineering News-Record American Machinist vingenierfa Internacional Engineering 8 Mining Journal v Power Chemical. Q Metallurgical Engineering Electrical Merchandising THE ESSENTIALS OF ADVEKTISING BY FRANK LEROY BLANCHARD DIRECTOR, COURSE IN ADVERTISING, 23RD 8T. Y.M.C.A., NEW YORK, FORMERLY MANAGINQ EDITOR OF PRINTERS' INK AND EDITOR OF THE EDITOR AND PUBLISHER FIRST EDITION THIRD IMPRESSION McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, INC. NEW YORK: 370 SEVENTH AVENUE LONDON: 6 & 8 BOUVERIE ST., E. C. 4 1921 COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY THE McGKAW-HiLL BOOK COMPANY, INC. THK MAPI.K FRKSS T O R K PA PREFACE Advertising is such a big subject and the amount of material concerning it is so abundant that it is impossible within the limits of a single volume to present more than a small part of what might be written about it. In the preparation of a text-book all the author can do is to confine his attention to a few of its many phases with the hope that the student, after he has mastered the principles set forth, will desire to continue his search for advertising knowledge elsewhere. In the present book it has been the purpose of the writer to outline and discuss, as briefly and as clearly as possible, the funda- mental principles upon which modern advertising practice is based, the preparation of copy, the special advantages of the several mediums employed, the duties of the more important positions, and such other information as will give the student a comprehensive view of the subject. In taking up the study of advertising it is important that the beginner should get started right and the aim of this volume is to help him get such a start. When he has assimilated its con- tents he can then proceed through actual experience in the field and further study to build upon the foundation he has thus laid until he becomes a skilled practitioner of the art of advertising. A discussion of the more advanced problems of advertising is purposely omitted as such problems have no place in a work of this kind. Some of the important topics taken up are only briefly touched upon for lack of space. Students who desire further information can find it in the books listed in the last chapter. The author has been guided in the selection of material by his experience as an instructor in advertising and has endeavored to arrange the topics in such a manner that the reader is led from one subject to another in logical order, so that when he has com- pleted the course he will have acquired a definite amount of correlated information that will be of great service to him in his future work. 2223857 vi PREFACE Teachers of advertising will find the list of questions at the end of each chapter helpful in testing the student's knowledge of --the subjects discussed. It is a good plan to encourage the study of current advertisements appearing in the magazines and local newspapers and show how they illustrate the principles set forth in these pages. After the fourth lesson the students should take up the writing of advertisements, beginning with a help wanted ad, one being assigned each week as part of the home work, the instructor at first furnishing the material upon which they are to be based. The author desires to express his indebtedness for valuable assistance rendered him by Frank Presbrey, of the Frank Pres- brey Company, Inc.; O. H. Blackman, president of the Blackman Company; Lewellyn Pratt, former vice president of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World; Harold J. Mahin, of the O. J. Gude Co.; Louis Wiley, business manager of the New York Times; Roy W. Johnson, of Collin Armstrong, Inc.; Joseph H. Appel, advertising manager of John Wanamaker; George H. Larke, advertising manager of the New York World; A. W. Erick- son, president of the Erickson Company; Harry Levey, of the Harry Levey Service Corporation; C. H. Plummer, of the New York City Car Advertising Co.; W. Livingston Larned, vice- president of the Ethridge Association of Artists; W. B. Ruthrauff, of Ruthrauff & Ryan; Jesse H. Neal, executive secretary of Associated Business Papers, Inc. ; Ralph Starr Butler, advertising manager of the United States Rubber Company; Benjamin Sherbow, George P. Metzger, of Hanff & Metzger; H. J. Kenner, executive secretary of the National Vigilance Committee of the A. A. C. W.; Robert E. Ramsay, advertising manager of the American Writing Paper Company, E. H. Schulze, of the Making it Pay Corporation and Harry Varley of the George Batten Company. Credit is also due to Printers' Ink for helpful material. F. L. B. CONTENTS PREFACE v CHAPTER PAQH I. ADVERTISING WHAT IT Is AND WHAT IT DOES 1 II. WHAT You OUGHT TO KNOW BEFORE You WRITE AN ADVER- TISEMENT 8 III. How TO LAY Our AN ADVERTISEMENT 13 IV. ADVERTISEMENT CONSTRUCTION 22 V. ON THE USE OF ILLUSTRATIONS 36 VI. PUTTING THE ADVERTISEMENT INTO TYPE 55 VII. ADVANTAGES OF COLOR IN ADVERTISING 77 VIII. PLANNING A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN 90 IX. PROBLEMS OF THE NATIONAL ADVERTISER 100 X. RETAIL ADVERTISING 116 XI. WHY ADVERTISE IN THE NEWSPAPERS 132 XII. MAGAZINES AS ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 144 XIII. THE ADVERTISING VALUE OF TRADE AND CLASS PAPERS . . 156 XIV. ADVANTAGES OF OUTDOOR ADVERTISING 165 XV. THE APPEAL OF STREET CAR ADVERTISING 178 XVI. DIRECT AND MAIL ORDER ADVERTISING 187 XVII. BUSINESS-GETTING LETTERS 195 XVIII. SUGGESTIONS ON CATALOGUE MAKING 208 XIX. THE MISSION OF THE BOOKLET 218 XX. USEFULNESS OF HOUSE ORGANS 225 XXI. ADVERTISING SPECIALTIES 233 XXII. MOTION PICTURE ADVERTISING 241 XXIII. DUTIES OF THE ADVERTISING MANAGER 249 XXIV. WHAT THE ADVERTISING AGENT DOES FOR THE NATIONAL ADVERTISER 259 XXV. THE ADVERTISING SALESMAN 272 XXVI. How TRADE-MARKS HELP THE ADVERTISER 286 XXVII. THE ECONOMICS OF ADVERTISING 298 XXVIII. ON CORRECTING PROOFS 305 XXIX. BOOKS ON ADVERTISING AND SALESMANSHIP 313 INDEX. . 317 Vll THE ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING CHAPTER I ADVERTISING WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES Anything employed to influence people favorably is advertising. It may be the spoken word, as, for instance, the argument a clerk uses in selling a customer a pair of shoes; or the campaign speech delivered by a politician in behalf of a candidate for office. It may be something done, as, for example, the driving of an automobile at record-breaking speed across the continent to demonstrate its dependability and gasoline efficiency; or the making of cigarettes or cigars in a show window to attract attention to the methods of manufacture or the quality of the tobacco employed. It may be the written or printed word, as a sales letter, a catalog, or the newspaper display announcement of a merchant who seeks to draw customers to his store. This definition is a broad one and may include things that are not always purposely used for advertising ends, but it is only a broad definition that will cover all the mediums through which advertising finds expression. Advertising as a means for marketing merchandise is not a modern art as it has been used for that purpose since the early days of civilization. In the British Museum may be seen a sheet of papyrus found in the ruins of Ancient Thebes, in Egypt, upon which appears the oldest advertisement yet discovered, offering a reward for a runaway slave. It was written 3,000 years before the Christian Era began. In the time of the Caesars the merchants of Rome, then mistress of the world, called 1 2 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING attention to their wares through inscriptions upon the walls of buildings, or by means of placards written by slaves and displayed upon bulletin boards erected for the purpose throughout the city. The gladiatorial contests, chariot races and sports of the arena were advertised in this way. How suggestive of a modern poster is the statement made in a gladiatorial announcement which says : "The gladiatorial troup of A. Suetius Certus, the Aedile, will fight at Pompeii, on May 31. There will be a hunt and awnings." Wild beast hunts were frequently given as an additional attrac- tion to the regular games, while the awnings which covered the amphitheatre, usually open to the sun, were in great favor with the public. For rent signs were in common use. Here is one: "For rent from July 1st, next, in the Arrio-Pollian block, belonging to Cn. Alleius Nigidus Maius, shops with rooms above, second story apartments fit for a king, and a house. Apply to Primus, slave of Maius." It was not, however, until the printing press and movable type were invented in the Fifteenth Century that advertising, as we know it to-day, became possible. The earliest type-printed medium employed for advertising purposes was the newspaper. Just when the first one made its appearance has not been def- initely determined, but for a long time the Frankfurter Journal which Serlin launched in 1615, was supposed to be the earliest. But in 1876, Dr. Julius Otto Opel found in the library of Heidelberg University, Germany, copies of a newspaper edited by Johann Carolus and published in Strasburg in 1609. The first newspaper printed in English was the Weekly Newes, established in London in 1622 by Nathaniel Butter. During the same year the first newspaper advertisement, which, by the way, exploited a new book, made its appearance in its columns. The first newspaper advertisement in the United States appeared in the initial number of the Boston News Letter, which was launched April 26, 1704, and was the earliest newspaper to be regularly issued in the Colonies. It was written by John Campbell, the editor, who was then postmaster of Boston, and called attention of the public to the News Letter as an advertising medium. ADVERTISING WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES 3 For many years the newspapers printed few advertisements, their publishers depending entirely upon subscriptions for their income. To-day's newspapers are crowded with them, forty-five dailies printing over 1,000,000 lines of advertising annually. The literary magazines, like Harper's, did not admit advertise- ments to their pages until after the close of the Civil War. The publishers considered it beneath their dignity, and it was only when the cost of getting out these periodicals was forced, through competition, to such a high figure that little profit could be realized from subscriptions, that they finally yielded to the pres- sure brought to bear upon them by advertisers. To-day the magazines derive their principal revenues from advertising. Other mediums of national circulation include trade, technical, class and professional periodicals and house organs. In direct or mail order advertising the mediums employed are letters, booklets, catalogs, circulars, calendars, folders and display cards. Indoor advertising makes use of moving pictures, car cards, theatrical programs, window and counter displays, hangers, strips, cutouts, mechanical devices and demonstrations. Out- door advertising finds expression in electric displays, posters, painted bulletins and metal signs. Another class of mediums that is regarded with favor by manufacturers having a national distribution, and by many retail merchants, is advertising specialties or novelties. Some of the more popular articles listed under this head are watch fobs, pocket knives, letter openers, desk rulers, paper weights, ink stands, diaries, thermometers, cigar lighters, pocket match boxes, pencils, pocket memorandum pads, pocket books, watch charms and paper cutters. While the above lists do not include all of the media employed by advertisers they embrace a majority of those that have been found most serviceable in selling merchandise. Although advertising has now become a powerful merchandise distributing force, its value was not fully appreciated until within a comparatively recent period. Even to-day merchants may be found who are blind to the service it can render them in market- ing their goods. For generations advertising was like a sleeping giant whose strength was not known or appreciated until the 4 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING click of type and the roar of the printing press aroused it to action. At first its development was slow. Merchants were afraid to break away from the ancient method of barter and sale. Moreover, advertising was regarded as an experiment. Its worth had not been definitely established, although there were some business men who had faith in it and who would spend their money on it. But in spite of prejudice, indifference and opposition, advertising increased in popularity and effectiveness until it is now regarded as an indispensable force in the creation and development of business. What has advertising done? It has made the world a better place to live in by constantly suggesting public improvements and urging the adoption of hygienic methods in the homes of the people. It has created great industries, constructed railroads, built towns and cities and opened up to settlement vast areas of agricultural land. It has lightened the burdens of man- kind by introducing labor-saving devices; it has reduced the dangers of traveling by rail by bringing into use signal systems that prevent collisions between trains and permit their operation at high speed. It has taught people how to be healthy through the consumption of pure foods and the wearing of the proper kind of clothing. It has brought riches to the poor, given budding genius a hearing, and shown the public how to enjoy itself. It has marketed billions of dollars' worth of government bonds to finance great wars, and has called to the colors millions of America's sons to fight for home and country. It has warned the nation of threatening dangers and aroused its citizens to action. It has stabilized business, found markets for home-made products in foreign lands and stimulated domestic trade. It has opened up a whole world of opportunity to ambitious young men in search of name and fortune. These are only a few of the ways in which advertising has aided mankind, but they are sufficient to indicate the wide variety and the great importance of the services it renders. Let us now be more specific and from the records of actual achievements cite instances that show what may be accomplished by advertising. When the Oneida Community, manufacturers ADVERTISING WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES 5 of silverware, began to advertise in a modest way in 1904, its annual sales were $500,000. Twelve years later the annual sales amounted to $4,000,000, a result brought about through advertising. The Postal Life Insurance Company, organized under the laws of the State of New York, has depended upon advertising for its business from the day it was started. In 1905 the Company issued 205 policies, aggregating $347,000 of insurance, and spent $862.58 for advertising. Three years later 1,126 policies were issued, which was an increase of almost 500 per cent, and repre- sented $1,976,522 of insurance, at an advertising cost of $5,900. In 1914 insurance to the amount of $2,577,720 was written on 1,560 policies, the advertising investment being $39,616.13. The number of policy holders in 1918 was 25,000 and the appropriation for advertising about $40,000, or $1.60 for each policy-holder. As the company is limited by the laws of the State of New York in its advertising expenditures, as a part of the operating costs, to a certain percentage of the total annual premiums received, it follows that even though a far greater amount of business might be developed through a larger advertising investment, it is pro- hibited from pursuing such a course. Between twelve and fifteen per cent, of those who answer Postal Life ads become policy- holders a notable record. A single advertisement in Leslie's Weekly, costing $210.60 gross, brought 185 replies and $33,000 worth of business. At an annual meeting of the stockholders of the English cor- poration of A. F. Pears, manufacturer of Pears' Soap, it was announced that since the Company was founded it had invested $15,000,000 in advertising. According to the chairman this expenditure has made the name of Pears a household word in all the world. The business was started on a capital of $35,000. The Ford Motor Company, of Detroit, Michigan, on one occasion sold 338,771 automobiles through the use of 360 lines of advertising in 142 newspapers, published in 51 large cities, at a cost of less than $6,000. The American Druggists' Syndicate, which has 12,000 mem- bers, by spending $500,000 in advertising its preparations in 6 the cities in which its members are located, did a business of $3,000,000, at a net profit of $192,000. The best-known phonograph in the United States and the one having the largest sale is the Victor Talking Machine. Since its incorporation in 1901 it has been a constant and liberal advertiser. During the five years ending in 1918 its annual publicity investment did not fall below $1,500,000. One year it exceeded $3,000,000. These are only a few of the many instances that might be cited to show what has been accomplished through advertising. For every concern that has developed sales of a million or more dollars a year there are thousands that do a business of from one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand dollars. The stories that might be told concerning the career of; some of these firms would read more like pages from a romance than from matter-of-fact business records. To business men who are familiar with modern selling methods the refusal of Congress during the great war to appropriate money to advertise the billions of dollars worth of Liberty Bonds it had to sell was, and still is, inexplicable. While it was willing to give manufacturers almost any price they might ask for muni- tions and other war supplies, it would not pay a cent to newspaper and magazine publishers for advertising. If the business men of the country had not voluntarily and patriotically come to the government's aid by planning, and paying for out of their own pockets the greatest advertising campaigns ever known to popul- arize the loans, it is doubtful whether any one of the bond issues would have been a success. No better illustration of the tre- mendous influence of advertising upon the masses can be found in the annals of business. In a little over a year, $20,000,000,000 worth of these bonds were sold. What is the secret of the marvelous influence of advertising? Is it something that only the elect can understand? As a matter of fact there is nothing mysterious about it. The principles governing it are simple and easily comprehended by anyone who has had a common school education. Advertising is the medium through which one mind seeks to influence another. It is an intensive form of salesmanship. It seeks by the use of display ADVERTISING WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES 7 type and pictures to impress upon people's minds a message usually concerning merchandise that may be of benefit to those to whom it is addressed. Sometimes the advertisement contains no sales argument, its purpose being wholly educational. Perhaps it tells of the char- acter and standing of the firm or company manufacturing a prod- uct, or presents interesting data concerning the plant, the sources of the raw material it employs, or enumerates the special advan- tages of its location and transportation facilities. Or it may be devoted to the maintenance of good will during periods of business depression, or when, through extraordinary circum- stances, deliveries of products cannot be made to regular customers. The mission of advertising is to persuade men and women to act in a way that will be of advantage to the advertiser. The more convincingly the message is set forth, whatever medium is employed, the greater will be its effect upon those who read it. To be successful in advertising a person must understand the human mind how it responds to the different kinds of appeal. As all people do not think or act alike, some reacting to one kind of stimuli and others to those of an entirely different character, the advertiser must have at his command a varied assortment of appeals which he can adapt to the particular audience he wishes to address. Questions 1. Define advertising. 2. What are its three forms of expression? 3. What was the first advertisement of which we have knowledge and when did it appear ? 4. Give the name and date of the first newspaper printed in English. 6. What are the principal mediums employed in modern advertising? 6. Enumerate some of the services advertising has rendered mankind. 7. Give an example of the successful use of advertising in building up business. 8. How did the merchants advertise in the days of the Caesars? 9. When was the first newspaper advertisement in America printed? 10. What is the mission of advertising? CHAPTER II "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" is an old proverb that applies with special force to the preparation of advertising matter. You cannot write intelligently and with an authority that will carry conviction to the reader until you know, in an intimate manner, the article you are to describe. The mere f acility of grouping words together in such a way that they read well and sound pleasing will prove of little value in selling goods through the printed word. If to the facility of ex- pression, however, there is added the ability to study and analyze manufactured products, the advertisement writer is in a position to do effective work. To write an advertisement that will influence people to buy what you have to sell is not as easy as it looks to those who have had no experience in the preparation of copy. Arthur Brisbane, of the Hearst newspapers, the highest paid editorial writer in the world, once said that advertisement writing was the hardest work he had ever attempted. Several years ago, Thomas A. Edison agreed to pay him $1,000 apiece for five single page ads. The great editor was willing to do the work and actually began to write one of the advertisements but after making several vain attempts to turn out something satisfactory he quit the job with- out having completed a single advertisement. He afterward said that whenever he thought of again undertaking the task the cold shivers chased up and down his back. Perhaps the real reason why he failed was because he did not take the time to acquire the information he should have had before he began to write. All advertising may be broadly classified under two heads general and local. General advertising is the term applied to 8 WHAT YOU OUGHT TO KNOW 9 printed matter employed to create a demand for a product that is nationally distributed. Local advertising, as the term implies, is the advertising used by the merchants of a city or town to bring people to their stores to buy the goods they have to sell. Before attempting to write an advertisement the object of which is to sell an article nationally you should have at your command a store of information not only about the article you are to exploit, but about the market and the methods employed in securing its distribution. A physician cannot intelligently prescribe for a patient until he has first made a thorough diagnosis of his physical and mental condition, and has inquired about his habits and his personal history. No lawyer of standing would consent to represent a client in one of the higher courts before he had acquainted himself with all the facts relating to the case and had looked up the judicial rulings and decisions in similar causes of action. The advertisement writer likewise should not put pencil to paper until he has collected and digested every scrap of informa- tion concerning the article he is to write about that will be of assistance to him in his work. Neglect to do this is almost certain to result in the production of copy that is inefficient if not valueless. Many a campaign has failed because the adver- tising dealt with generalities rather than with facts. The Product. What should you know about the product? Having satisfied yourself that it is an article of merit and that a profitable demand can be created for it through advertising, information should be sought along the lines suggested by the following questions: How does it compare with the products of other manufacturers in quality, price, and appearance? If it is not of equal or superior merit, if it is not as attractive in looks, or if it cannot be sold at a lower price, it is usually con- sidered a waste of money to advertise it nationally in competition with goods that are already established in public favor through this form of salesmanship. A large investment in advertising may develop a temporary demand, but after it has been tried out through use, and people have had a chance to compare it with other brands that have given satisfaction they will stop buying it, although it is sometimes sold at a lower price. 10 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Is it an article of general consumption or does it appeal only to a limited class? What are its special advantages or selling points that will make people want to buy it? How is it manu- factured and of what materials? Can it be produced in sufficient quantities to fill orders that may result from the advertising? If sold in containers is it attractively packed? The Market. Having made a careful and thorough study of the article itself the next thing to do is to critically analyze the market in which it is to be sold. Preliminary to the preparation of copy for advertising campaigns involving a heavy investment it is customary for the advertising agency handling the accounts to send out several skilled investigators to interview jobbers, retailers and consumers as to their attitude toward the product, if it is already on sale, and to get a line upon the extent of the demand that may be developed through aggressive publicity. If it is a new article the aim of the investigators is to ascertain whether such a product is likely to appeal to the trade. If it possesses real merit, and can be sold at a price that will yield a fair profit to those who handle it, the chances are that when it is actually placed on the market a satisfactory volume of sales can be developed. These investigations are worth all they cost because they furnish the manufacturer information that may save him a large amount of money in planning his selling cam- paigns. In the hands of the copy-writer the data is made the basis of some of the strongest kind of advertising appeals. Knowing the market hi this intimate way he can take advantage of the suggestions that come to him fresh from the field and obtain results that would otherwise be impossible. But whether or not the copy- writer has the aid of field investi- gators he should know these things about the market: Can a permanent demand be created for the article or is it a novelty that will last for a few months only? Does it have a general or a sectional appeal? What classes of people will buy it, and how, in view of their character, education and habits, can they best be approached? What kind of copy should be employed? Should its immediate object be educational, to establish good will, or to sell merchandise? What mediums are best adapted to the purposes of the campaign? WHAT YOU OUGHT TO KNOW 11 Distribution. The advertisement writer should have a clear conception of the methods of distribution used by the manu- facturer whose product he is to exploit. This may be obtained by making inquiries along the lines suggested by these questions : How is the article sold through jobbers and retailers, or direct to the consumers? Is the distribution nation-wide or is it confined to certain well-defined sections of the country? What kinds of stores handle the article? Have demonstrators been employed in department or other retail establishments, and if so, with what success? Are samples distributed by sample crews, are they given out by merchants, or are they sent from head- quarters upon requests received in response to advertising? Does the firm have the cooperation of the trade? What assist- ance does the manufacturer give the retailer in the local field in moving the product from his shelves? Are window trims, cut- outs, hangers, newspaper advertisements or cuts supplied? While the copy-writer when he starts in to prepare an adver- tisement does not always have in his possession all the informa- tion indicated by the preceding questions, the more facts he has at hand the better able he will be to construct advertisements that will bring big results. In preparing retail advertising copy, less preliminary investiga- tion is required than for national copy. The merchant, or his advertising manager who does the work, must know the im- portant facts about the different lines of goods carried in stock and must understand the public from which his patronage is drawn. Many retailers fail to score the success they might because they do not study sufficiently the people with whom they seek to do business. If they knew them as well as they should they would make fewer mistakes in buying goods and would know better how to influence them through their advertising. The following questions suggest the kind of information that will be helpful in the preparation of advertising copy for the local field : What are the attractive features of the store and the advantages of its location? What class of goods is carried cheap, medium priced or the highest grade? The answer to this ques- tion is highly important as upon it depends in a large measure the character of the advertising copy. Are the sales mostly 12 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING for cash or do charge accounts predominate? What is the character of the store service? Have the clerks a reputation for courtesy and attentiveness to customers? Does the store have a satisfactory delivery system? Is the "return goods" privilege granted to customers? Does it handle nationally advertised goods and to what extent? Does it hold special sales? Does it make a bid for suburban or rural trade? What is the reputation of the store or its owner for fair dealing, for enterprise and for public spirit? What has been the nature and extent of the advertising that has been done in the past? What has been the amount of the advertising expenditure for the last two years? Has the firm a fixed advertising policy? You will no doubt conclude after reading the foregoing ques- tions that advertisement writing is not quite as easy and simple a task as you had supposed. A lazy man will never be a pro- ducer of successful copy. The man who will make his mark in this field is he who is never satisfied with a superficial knowledge of the subject he is to write about, and who can put into simple but forceful language arguments or statements that will interest the public and produce a renumerative volume of sales. Questions 1. What are the three things that are of special value to a copy-writer? 2. Under what two heads may all advertising be classified? Define each. 3. What should the copy-writer know about the product before he begins to write an advertisement? 4. About the market? 5. About distribution? 6. Enumerate the kinds of information that will help in the preparation of retail advertising. CHAPTER III HOW TO LAY OUT AN ADVERTISEMENT Just as an architect draws the plan of a building before the actual work of construction is begun, so the writer should make a diagram, or, as it is technically called, a layout, of the advertise- ment he is to prepare. The direct purposes of the layout are, first, to visualize the writer's ideas, that is, to show roughly how the advertisement will look when put into type; and, second, to give the printer the necessary instructions for its typographical reproduction. From an economical standpoint the layout saves both time and money. If the O.K. of the advertiser must be obtained before the copy is sent to the publishers the writer can, by submitting a layout upon which the illustration is roughly sketched, and the general appearance of the advertisement is indicated, give him a clear idea as to how it is going to look. If the client turns it down, then only the brief time spent in sketch- ing the layout is lost, because no work has been done on it by the printer, or the engraver. In the layout is presented a diagram indicating the exact size of the ad, the headline and other important display lines; the position and size of the illustrations; the location of the text matter and, usually, the name of the advertiser; the size and kind of type in which the advertisement is to be set, the character of the border with which it is to be enclosed, and the arrangement of the white space. The text matter is not written on the layout but on a separate sheet of paper known as the "copy" sheet. Where the several paragraphs are to be placed in the advertisement is indicated by letters or figures which correspond to similar letters or figures marked on the layout. The Size. In preparing the layout the first thing to do is to decide upon the size of the advertisement. This depends upon 13 14 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING a number of things the nature of the article or business to be exploited, the territory to be covered, the mediums to be em- ployed, the class of people to be influenced, the character of the appeal and the amount of money available for the campaign. It is quite evident that more space is needed to adequately advertise an automobile, a house or a dry-goods store than would be required to advertise a lead pencil, a can opener, or men's collars. Some things from their very nature call for the use of full pages in the magazines or quarter pages in the newspapers. There is, however, no hard and fast rule to follow. For instance, Wrigley's Chewing Gum, which sells for one cent a stick, has been advertised in full pages in expensive magazines and newspapers. It seems like throwing money away to pay $6,000 for a page ad in a single medium to exploit an article that retails for such a small amount as a penny. And yet figures published by the Wrigley Company show that such advertising has been a profit- able investment. Although the profit made on a single stick of gum is small, when hundreds of millions of pieces are marketed it mounts rapidly to high figures. It is a singular thing that in advertising diamonds, the most popular and one of the costliest of the precious stones, small space is usually employed. Retail stores are accustomed to make yearly contracts with newspapers for a definite amount of space. Sometimes the advertiser agrees to use a certain number of lines every day or week, while in other cases he is allowed to vary the size of the advertisement according to the season or the needs of his business. The general advertiser knows the exact dimensions of every advertisement he is going to use in a large number of mediums in a campaign covering, perhaps, an entire year, and how much it is going to cost. There is no guess work about it for he has been furnished the exact figures by his agent. A small manu- facturer with limited capital should not indulge, except on rare occasions, in big advertisements. An eighth or quarter page in a standard size magazine, or a four or five inch single column ad in a daily newspaper is about all he can afford at the start. The more intellectual the community he seeks to influence, the less the need of elaborate descriptions of articles offered for sale. Busy people, those who have only a limited amount of time to HOW TO LAY OUT AN ADVERTISEMENT 15 devote to newspapers and periodicals, are more apt to read an advertisement in which the facts are briefly stated than one that is loaded down with long sentences and minute details. On the other hand, farmers and others who, during some seasons of the year have an abundance of leisure, will carefully peruse all the fine type that can be crowded into a given space. The character of the audience to be addressed, therefore, is an important factor in determining the dimensions of the advertisement. When you have finally settled upon the size and have assembled all the facts you need in the construction of the ad, you are ready to make the layout. In preparing small advertisements the commercial letter size of paper will be found most convenient. The grade used is a matter of individual taste although most writers prefer paper of fair quality so that in case ink is employed it will not run and spoil the appearance of the layout. Place your name or the name of the firm in the upper left hand corner. This is for the purpose of aiding the printer in identifying the advertisement. In a printing office where many pieces of copy are being set every day some such method must be used to prevent the making of mistakes by the compositors when the sheets are mislaid or separated. The space with which the advertisement writer has to deal is usually rectangular in shape because it lends itself more readily to the purposes of display. The favorite form is the oblong known as the "golden proportion," 3 to 5. It is the advertising man's job to arrange the type, the illus- trations and the white space in such a manner that the several parts of the advertisement shall be well balanced and har- monize with each other. There are three principal factors in balance measure, tone and color. In a layout there can be no consideration of measure balance without also a consideration of tone balance, because type from its very nature renders pure blacks and whites impossible, the space between the letters and lines inevitably introducing the element of gray. You should so employ your mass colors that they will give the advertise- ment a harmonious appearance. Every line of type, every cut, every ornament should be scrutinized carefully, with regard to the part it plays in the design. 16 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING The fundamental principles of the layout are the principles of contrast, but contrast in more than one direction. There is, for instance, the contrast of the several parts of an advertisement with each other, and the contrast of the whole with other advertise- ments on the same page or the opposite page. When the parts of an advertisement harmonize with each other, when black ink is used, you need not worry much about how it is going to contrast with the surrounding advertisements in representative mediums. It is only when color is introduced that you need to be specially concerned. Let us now proceed to lay out a single 4-in. column, shoe advertisement. Take a sheet of paper and with a pencil or pen, and a ruler, draw a diagram the exact size of the advertise- ment. A newspaper column is 2^ in. wide; therefore, the ad we are to write will be 2^ in. wide, and 4 in. deep. The four lines you have drawn represent the border. As an illustra- tion showing the size and appearance of the shoe will greatly strengthen the pulling power of the advertisement you must indicate its position and size on the layout. If you have a proof of the cut you can paste it in where it belongs. If not, draw a diagram of the block upon which it is mounted and write the word " cut " in the enclosed space. Write in the headline and other principal display lines in approximately the same size letters that you want the printer to use in setting them up in type. After locating the headline and other display lines, and the name plate, there is left a certain amount of space for the text matter which appears on the copy sheet. The marking of the size and style of type is done outside the layout diagram. Before you have become familiar with the different kinds of type and borders you can cut specimen letters, or sections of border of the style you desire to have used by the printer, from advertisements found in the newspapers and maga- zines, and paste them opposite the several lines you have written on the layout. If he does not have the particular type you want, the printer will use the one in stock that most closely resembles it. Of course this is only a temporary expedient. The number of styles of type used in setting up display adver- tisements is relatively small and it does not take long to learn HOW TO LAY OUT AN ADVERTISEMENT 17 their names and distinguishing characteristics. You can secure catalogues from type-founders or you can purchase at the book stores pamphlets or handbooks giving the different type faces. After a little study you will be able to indicate on the layout the exact style and size of the type in which your advertisement is to appear. A special chapter on the use of type will be found elsewhere in this volume. The completed layout of the advertisement we have been writing is presented on p. 18. On a separate sheet of paper, known as the "copy" sheet, is written the text matter just as it is to appear in the advertisement. It is not necessary to repeat the several display lines indicated on the layout although you may do so for your own satisfaction. The position of the several paragraphs on the layout is indicated by letters marked opposite them on the copy sheet. When the layout and copy, prepared as described above, are sent to the printer to be set in type, the latter knows exactly how you want it to look when the job is completed. If it is a rush job two compositors can be employed upon it at the same time one working from the layout and the other from the copy sheet. When, in the case of the shoe ad we have just been writing, the matter has all been set, a proof has been duly struck off, and the typographical errors have been corrected, the advertisement will appear as shown on p. 19. Much depends upon the arrangement of the matter in the layout. The position of the illustration or the headlines may determine the effectiveness of the advertisement. Sometimes the judicious use of white space will serve to give it a prominence that it would not otherwise have, and greatly increase its pro- ductiveness. A national mail order house which was running an advertisement in a large list of mediums discovered that the inquiries it received were costing $3 each. As one in every three inquiries resulted in a sale, and the article was sold for $10, every sale represented an advertising cost of $9. Adding to this the cost of manufacture $2.50 every sale represented an expense to the house of $11.50 or a loss of $1.50. It was quite clear to the manufacturer that unless the advertisement could be made to greatly increase the number of inquiries and thus materially 18 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING S-C. < y/**^ DEALER'S NAME. Layout for shoe ad. ( Teyi -for the. afore at/ } Any young girl would be attracted by the sleek beauty of these Dawn pumps. There are beautiful in line and style but above all they are com- fortable and they stay on. The price, for so ouch shoe beaut y / is moderate. HOW TO LAY OUT AN ADVERTISEMENT 19 "DAWN" A NY young girl would be ** attracted by the sleek beauty of these Dawn pumps. They are beautiful in line and style, but above all they are comfortable and they stay on. The price, for so much shoe beauty is moderate. (DEALER'S NAME) Completed shoe ad from layout and text shown on p. 18. 20 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING reduce the selling cost he would soon become a bankrupt. Evi- dently something was wrong with the ad, but what was it? An expert whose advice was sought declared that the copy was all right but that its attention-getting power could be im- measurably increased by a better layout a layout that was capable of pulling the reader's eye into the text. He rearranged the matter and had it reset. When a proof of the ad was pasted over the old one in a mail order publication it dominated the page. The redressed advertisement when used in two mediums the following month produced replies at a cost of 45 cents each! We have gone into the subject of preparing the layout at some length because of the need of a clear understanding by the student of the successive steps that are taken. If the instructions given are carefully followed you will have few disputes with printers over the set-up of your advertisements, you will protect yourselves from imposition, and save money that you might otherwise have to pay for work that would have to be done over again. Questions 1. What is a layout and what two services does it render? 2. In preparing a layout what is the first thing to be done? 3. What considerations enter into the determining of the sizes of ad- vertisements? 4. Of the two articles, cuff-protectors and bread, which would require the larger space? 5. In what way does the intelligence of a community influence the char- acter of the advertising to be used? 6. How do you indicate on the layout the size and kind of type in which the advertisement is to be set, if you are unfamiliar with the names of the different families of type? 7. Why is a judicious arrangement of text, illustration and white space important? Give an example. 8. Prepare a 3-in. single-column layout for an advertisement of a popular- priced restaurant one with which you are acquainted. HOW TO LAY OUT AN ADVERTISEMENT 21 The Regaf in Fine Russia Co// $9,50 The Newest Sport Oxford R evidence that even in this season of many frivolous JP fancies the need of a smart, practical sport shoe is not forgotten, you need look jao further than these new Regal Oxfords. Of ^soft, Russia Calfskin, so practical for out-o'-door sports, with rubber soles and heels, the "Yasser" expresses style in every line, <Th& REGAL SHOE STORES REGAL SHOES Exclusively for MEN, WOMEN and CHILDREN NBW YORK r. Cortltndt) <!NuSt. - vifc Brodw.yt7tliSt. . ix ve. t.iroai Af.tJ!tSt. " .t 60th St. 6th Av. * SUt SU 2929 Third Ave.(Nr. 1 62nd St.) 891 So. - Broadviy m ' Broadway t 27th'st. Men> Sltou Only 40 Wot 34th St. Wovun't Shotl Onlll BROOKLYN 4 Fltbuh Av. 1049 Broadway (or. Fulton St.) IS'6 " SOI Broadiviy 46 Fifth ATC. 367 Ffclton St. litn't .<:o< O( NEWARK. N.J. JERSEYCITY 835 Broad St. 108 Newark AT*. Regal Shoe advertising has always been distinctive. The space used is never overcrowded and the layout is always well balanced and in good taste. CHAPTER IV ADVERTISEMENT CONSTRUCTION In writing an advertisement it is well to keep constantly in mind the four things it is expected to do, namely, to attract attention, to arouse interest, to create desire and to effect a sale. It is quite evident that unless it catches and holds the eye of the reader it cannot deliver its message. It takes the eye only a few seconds to travel across the several columns of a newspaper, but in that brief time lies the only chance the advertisement will have of making a customer out of the reader. What we must do, therefore, is to so arrange its physical appearance or dress that he cannot fail to see it as he hastily glances over the page. Hence, to attract attention we make use of display type that is, type that is larger in size and bolder in outline than that in which the body matter of the publication is set. We employ headlines which serve as sign posts for arresting attention; borders, which furnish an appropriate frame for the advertisement and separate it from other announcements on the same page; illustrations, which add to its attractiveness and increase its selling power; and, finally, white space, which, if judiciously distributed, causes the text to stand out on the page and, at the same time, makes it easier to read. To arouse interest we appeal to the senses sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell and sometimes by working upon the reader's ambition, pride, vanity, love of home and kindred, his social and religious instincts, his thrift. To create desire we appeal to his reason by presenting arguments showing how the possession of the article will contribute to his personal comfort or that of his family, or increase his efficiency or that of his employees. We must not only demonstrate to him its advantages but we must convince him of his own need of it. To effect a sale we state prices and, when necessary, how payment 22 ADVERTISEMENT CONSTRUCTION 23 may be made; we tell where the article may be obtained; if by mail, we lighten his labor in sending for it by attaching a coupon which, when his name and address are filled in, constitutes a formal order. A well-constructed advertisement, designed for newspaper or magazine use, consists of first, a headline; second, the introduction; third, argument or statement of facts, and fourth, the name-plate. Of course there are many variations of this arrangement. For instance, the advertisements of a certain Philadelphia cigar manufacturer carry no headlines. Those of a popular men's clothing house in New York substitute for headlines illustrations, often of a whimsical or humorous character, but never correct representations of any of the goods it offers for sale. Many advertising men claim that an advertisement without a headline does not have the same chance of being read as the one with a headline. People object to being compelled to read half way through an announcement before they can tell what it is about. Therefore, when they rim across one of these headless ads the chances are that they will skip it. Another disadvantage it has is that if it appears at the top of a column the reader cannot tell at first glance whether or not it is a continuation of an article or an advertisement from the bottom of the preceding column. If he has sufficient curiosity to study into the matter he will in time, of course, discover the truth. But why put this extra burden upon the reader? It should be the writer's con- SPENCER1AN PERSONAL Steel Pens Fiiw Medium. Stub and Ball pointed The Standard for over lialf a century It's the special Spencerian steel and the finely worked,, uniform points that make Spencerian Pens last so long and write so smoothly. Send lOc for jo samples, different pailems. -Then pick a style that fits your hand. Use that style always. We will also include that fascinating book, "What Your Handwriting Keveals," free. SPENCERIAN PEN" CO. 349 Broadway .New York Citr The falling stream of pens directs the eye to the text at the bottom a clever device that can be employed to advan- tage in newspaper or magazine ads. 24 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Valspar Makes Another Record! It withstands 36 hours of live steam HUMAN ingenuity never devised a more One startlne fait soon became evident severe and conclusive varnish lest, but namely, that the furniture teas absolutely it all happened accidentally in the unharmed. orporatio i New York Cit; one Saturday. At no A cold mi orders we heat. This was complied with, but one little detail was overlooked to close on open E>n umK .SPAR An investigation developed that the reason "i'' 11 '" 5 ' had\"l beTnv^nUhed whh*V,J.p" had ".welled ^ucluhat only tilh dlffic'dt'y wa an entrance forced. which , The Inspector's Letter re quote. l,.,.l bten forced '. iih V.l.p.,. A Scene of Wreckage When the steam was finally turned off and dworl . ""ur,"" 8 ! 'bid tc'. "l^'hed wTil ""' is absolutely waterproof. It won't turn while in water, and it is adapted for every dustrial buildings of all kinds. For your front door or piazza rain and For your front hall wet feet and dn'p- For your kitchen and pantry so you can wash it freely and sterilize the place, where your food is prepared. For all your furniture-because Valspar hoVdishes a'nd"Ipi*ied"liqu'ids o"all kinds' For your bathroom making a finish as waterproof as tile and far less costly. For all your floors because you can freely wash them and you'll never need to wax or polish them. was* iTe'raHy boilecf away" The wall-pa| was hanging off in sheets. In fi thing at first sight seemed utterly that |K| ibiolutely the bril var. Mast paint dealers carry V ah far. If you cannot get it Mite direct la us. VALENTINE & COMPANY to ' Special Offer cvcied copd. B . ,; j b - - SSESllM? H VA.LENTINE & COMPAMY. 4* Four* A^. N Y 4^>ue un ol VJ,p. f ohid. I 0- The writer of this ad has taken advantage of a news event to direct attention to a strong selling point of Valspar Varnish. The headline states a news fact and the human interest picture backs it up. Advertisements of this kind are certain to be read. ADVERTISEMENT CONSTRUCTION 25 slant aim to make every advertisement easy to read and easy to understand. Another variation in the construction of an advertisement is the omission of the introduction. Introductions are not always necessary, especially in presenting an article which has long been made familiar to the public through advertising. In such cases the sales argument is brief, sometimes only a sentence or two being used, but with the name of the article conspicuously displayed. Royal Baking Powder, Postum, Cream of Wheat, Babbitt's Soap, Mennen's Talcum Powder, are products often advertised in this way. Let us now consider the construction of the several parts of an advertisement as enumerated above. The headline, as we have already seen, serves to arrest the eye of the reader as it moves over the printed page, just as the word "Hello!" shouted by a friend on the street causes you to look in his direction. If you should go to a country fair and walk along the street upon which the side shows are located the one that would receive your patron- age would probably be the one displaying the most attractive picture banners, or the one having the most persuasive "barker." The headline serves as the "barker" for the advertisement. Glance over the pages of your favorite daily newspaper and see how quickly certain advertisements will make you stop and look at them. While illustrations and the size of the copy are features that appeal to your eye, in four cases out of five it will be found that it is the headlines that cause you to read the text matter. Much care should be given to the construction of the headline because of its importance in securing and holding the attention of the reader. There are several kinds of headlines and it is your duty to select the one that is best adapted to the article you are exploiting and the particular audience you wish to influence. Headlines. Headlines may be divided into three classes as follows: 1. Those that state a fact, as for example "Sterling Silverware is a Solid Investment." (The Gorham Company.) "There is No Magic in Any Dentifrice." (Dr. Lyons' Tooth Powder.) "Why Some Beds are Better than Others." (Simmon's Beds.) "Your Skin is What You Make It." (Woodbury's Facial Soap.) 26 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING 2. Those that express a command, as shown in the following examples : "Book Lovers, Lend Us Your Ears!" (S. D. Warren Company.) "Lighten Household Work!" (Arco Wand Vacuum Cleaner.) "Make Spare Time Pay!" (Curtis Publishing Company.) "Don't Force Your Widow to Marry Again!" (Insurance Company.) 3. Those that ask a question, as in these headlines : "Good Morning! Have You used Pear's Soap?" (Pears' Soap.) "What's On To-night?" (Paramount and Artcraft Motion Pictures.) "Are Your Radiators Fuel Savers or Wilful Wasters?" (Hoffman Valves.) " Have You Bidden in the Essex?" (Essex Motors.) The desirability of giving a news interest to the headline when possible should not be overlooked. Such a headline will get attention when others do not. The public is accustomed to look at newspaper headlines for an outline of the important news of the day. The first thing a person does on picking up a morning or evening edition is to glance it over to see what has happened. Headline writing is one of the most important duties of the editorial department and the editors who are particularly skilled in this kind of work are well paid. Given two newspapers of equal merit in news and editorial values the one having the best headlines will have the largest circulation. From these facts it is easy to understand why in advertisement writing it is advisable to use news headlines whenever the subject will lend itself to such treatment. Intelligent people are always seeking information on all sorts of subjects. Hence if you can present in news form some striking fact regarding your product, or, through a well expressed question, can arouse curiosity that will lead a person to read the advertisement through to the end, you have attained one of the chief results aimed at in all advertise- ment writing. Here are some good examples of news headlines taken from national mediums : "You'll Have to Dig Up Some New Alibi." (Multigraph.) "Saving 5,000 Miles by 'Tuning Up' Wheels." (Goodyear.) "Doing The Thing That Couldn't Be Done." (Graton & Knight Belts.) "40,000 Airplane Plugs a Day." (A. C. Spark Plugs.) ADVERTISEMENT CONSTRUCTION 27 Text matter, or "copy" as it is technically called, in advertising practice, may be classified under four heads selling, educational, institutional and good-will. If Napoleon. Could Have Sent a Telegram He might have recalled Grouchy from his fruitless attacks on the Prussian rear guard and protected his own right flank. But communication was slow and the battle of Waterloo was lost In times of war, as in times of peace, speed in com- 'taunication is an important factor often the deciding factor. Whatever the need or special emergency, The Western Union's fifty thousand employees and one million, five hundred thousand miles of wire are at your disposal at any hour of any day or night. Telegrams 'Day Letters Night Letters Cablegrams Money Transferred by Wire THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH CO. The headline and its supporting illustration quickly attract attention and appeal to the imagination. Before a line of the text is read one begins to specu- late upon what might have happened at Waterloo had Napoleon been able to wire instructions to Grouchy. Selling copy constitutes the bulk of all advertising matter, and therefore is the most important and deserves the closest study. As its object is to create sales directly or indirectly, it 28 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING points out the advantages of the article that is being exploited over others of the same kind or class, tells why the public should purchase it, names the price at which it is sold and states where it may be obtained. Educational copy describes the article, enumerates its uses and tells how it is manufactured. Institutional copy aims to arouse interest in the company or firm producing the article through descriptions of the organiza- tion, the factory and its equipment, and the method of doing business. Good-will copy deals with the character of the concern its commercial and financial standing, its policies and practices. Earlier in this chapter we learned that the four objects of an advertisement are to attract attention, arouse interest, create desire and effect a sale. If you will keep them continuously in mind while you are preparing an advertisement you will be restrained from throwing away a lot of money and wasting much valuable space upon copy that possesses none of these qualities. In a previous chapter (Chapter II) we enumerated some of the things that you should know about the product you are to exploit, and its market, before putting pencil to paper. Assuming that you have assembled the information therein indicated and that you have prepared the layout, you are now in a position to proceed with the construction of the advertisement. While the writing of an advertisement seems an easy matter to those who have had no experience in such work, nevertheless, as a matter of fact, it calls for ability of a peculiar kind, and the exercise of much patience and perseverance. Advertisements are not usually dashed off at the high rate of speed maintained by a reporter in turning out a news story. Much depends, of course, upon the writer's quickness of mind in creating ideas and in clothing them in attractive language. Some men have a natural facility of expression that enables them to write rapidly and convincingly upon subjects with which they are familiar; while others are obliged to hammer out laboriously on the anvil of thought every phrase they employ that differs from the ordinary forms of expression. In advertising agencies handling many accounts the copy-writers must be able to turn out good copy at a ADVERTISEMENT CONSTRUCTION 29 "Good workmen know the ditft What was wrong with Bus on Saturday, J^ovember 8th? s. ftV Ixiptrmuaoa me rtfrmt machine has got to wort like the very dickens to keep up with the tide. "A delay of 15 minutes in the morning will grow to two or three hour* before night. Thai is, if one nun jlows up for 10 or i> minutes early in the day, work thai should come out at > (Kit after- noon u not finished until neat 7 o. We can't nuke up the lost time, the schedule for the day is broken, and it gets worse *nd worse. "About 8 30 on Saturday morning (November 8, toio). Bus Wdkes, *ho rum the shop sander, stops his machine and reaches for a ptcce of Speed-grits i ' '< D Garnet Paper The bo< n empt) . boy scurrying to the stockroom for a supply "9,'t ate out.' sj> s the stock boy. I aimed to order it m yesterday but she slipped my mind.' " 'Skip across the street to the hardware ore, quick,' says the foreman to the Bruih^>oy. 'and get a couple dozen sheets of sand- paper ' Back he comes and Bus Japs on a sheet, switches on the motor and -iy goes the under. 1 "No* Bus Wilkcs is a 'bear' on hi* machine. He fought the Boche all ov France for more than a year and he's in the habit of treann' 'em rough When he turns loose on a pile of shoes he mualty nukes the fur fly "But rfus day there was something wrong with Bus- Work ptled up all around him. He passed up his lunch hour and stuck to it, but he just couldn't seem to keep up. The Brush-boys took it easy. waiting for Bus to pass them the sanded job- The whole shop, from the sander down to the boys that shine the shoes after they are finished, was on a drag. "We ended up the day three hours behind schedule. After it was all over I called Bus over to me. 'VC'hat was the matter all day, Bus 7 ' I sa*d. 'You slowed up something awful.' * 'Mr. Skinner.' said Bus, 'it was that dog rotten sandpaper WJlif got this morning I just couldn't get the work out of it Look at Hits sheet, you don't call ttut Manning's Speed gnts, do you? 1 'I looked, and sure enough, it wasn't. "This is a true story of how a litdc 'ornery' sandpaper lost my shop three h.-urs and several dollars" Abtne it it pichtrt, rjfai ofiet tint letter Jt Tsnttr*, Jve*[ Aw W&et emkmhta*Jer. Nx*r ll* mle! Tfa>W mrMnri^M SfffJgnti M uofkforhm j/f.T (Ar.. "GWo'W* l*c tt* ekgfmcr ' mjde iff Mjtnmg Ab<j-ne Ca. /f, F*torf ami . To), N. Y, Stla Ofen m V^ttat, CVjro, Caxmin. H&clft*. S,. Lcmit. & FIKA **J take, UaJt-f n Leak la, Hjt-tng Abtunt Co. a pr Hkfkm teak. iW leeir, fa "Tlf -DifotKr "Seek"- fmV Utt . Manning The newspaper narrative style of presentation is always appealing when well done. Here it is effectively used in advertising an abrasive. The copy occupied a page in a weekly magazine. 30 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING fresh * Walls Floors \Vbodwork Makes Housecleaninj Easy d Dutch 'eanser The fact that the public has been told many, many times that Old Dutch Cleanser "Chases Dirt" made it unnecessary for the designer of this advertise- ment to use much descriptive matter. The spotless walls and woodwork and the bright look of the linoleum on the floor tell, almost without words, what the cleanser will do. ADVERTISEMENT CONSTRUCTION 31 rapid rate. They are, therefore, picked men and command salaries above the average. There are certain well defined principles governing the pre- paration of copy the observance of which will help the writer to produce advertisements that will command attention and promote sales. Some of the more important of these are the following : Use simple, everyday English such as persons having a com- mon-school education can understand without referring to a dictionary. Technical words, words taken from foreign lan- guages, or words the meaning of which is only familiar to college graduates, or highly trained scientific or professional men, should be omitted from all advertisements addressed to the general public. Let your sentences be brief and to the point. We live in a busy age, and although more newspapers, periodicals and books are published than ever before in the history of the world, people have less tune to read them. Hence in our efforts to interest the public in what we have to sell we must tell our story graphically, in a few words, and in such an eye-appealing way that it may be taken in at a glance. Long and involved sentences are tiresome and unattractive to the person seeking information about a commercial article. It is your duty to make the reading of the advertisement as easy as possible, but you are not doing this if you keep putting up barriers in the form of unfamiliar words, involved sentences, and wearying descriptions. The best model for simplicity of style and directness of statement is the Bible. Study it every day, not alone as a religious duty or privilege, but to familiarize yourself with the best methods of expression employed by the greatest writers of all time. In all literature you can find nothing to compare with its poems, its narratives, and its statements of fact. You are never in doubt as to what the writer means. The sentences are short, the words of which they are composed are simple and familiar, and the truths they convey burn themselves into the mind of the reader. The entire story of the Creation is told in less than a thousand words. Give Important Facts about the Article That the Public Should Know. This seems simple enough but an examination of current 32 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING advertisements shows that quite a number are sadly lacking in the kind of information that most people want to have in order to decide whether the article would be a desirable purchase. No doubt many of you have seen such advertisements. Recently a New York department store in an attractive, well-displayed announcement advertised a sale of oriental and domestic rugs. Unfortunately neither the sizes nor the prices were given. Hence many people who saw the advertisement and might have bought one or more of them did not do so because these facts were omitted. Had the advertisement been that of a mail order house the omissions might not have been so serious, provided it con- tained an offer to send, on request, a booklet giving the desired information. Unless an advertisement contains selling points, which is only another term for facts having a direct appeal, it fails to perform the service for which it is intended. Mention the Price. In nine times out of ten prices should be quoted. In retail advertising they should rarely ever be omitted unless they have become standardized through long practice in the trade. In national advertising greater latitude is allowed. As a rule people want to know the cost of the article they have been reading about. There are several advantages to be derived from quoting prices. If the price is high it will keep away curi- osity gratifiers and people who couldn't buy because they haven't the money. If the goods are being sold by mail it saves much useless correspondence; if sold at retail it saves the tune of the clerks. If the price is low it will be an inducement. Most people have to watch their expenditures very carefully and with them price is often the deciding factor. When the price is not given the reader infers that it is higher than he can afford to pay and loses all further interest in it. In this he may be mistaken. The price may have been omitted because of trade conditions or other business reasons, but in any event it lessens the pulling power of the advertisement. The fact that many persons will buy an article at any reasonable price that might be charged for it does not diminish the desirability of telling for what price it is sold. Put Human Interest into What You Write. There is no more powerful appeal in literature or in advertising than the heart ADVERTISEMENT CONSTRUCTION 33 appeal. We are all sentimentalists although we do not always admit it. We are moved to action more frequently by sentiment than by argument. Some advertisements give you the impres- sion that they were written in a refrigerator. They have no warmth, no feeling behind them. They are mathematically correct in form and in statement but they lack that breath of life that gives vital force to the message they are intended to deliver. You will not always be able to give to your copy the human interest or heart appeal, because the subject may not lend itself to it, but in a majority of instances it will be possible. It will take some study and ingenuity to develop the material upon which to base an advertisement of this kind but the results will more than compensate you for the effort. Here is a good example of human interest copy: "On the job when you want to think hard and think straight the old familiar feel of your favorite pipe and the haze of good tobacco smoke seem to cut you off from the rest of the world and let your mind work the way it should. "This being the case, you'll be glad to know that the pipe that never interrupts, nor takes your mind off your work, is the Wellington, the Universal Pipe. As you smoke your Wellington there's never a bubble nor a gurgle. The well attends to that by catching all moisture and loose tobacco crumbs. The smoke comes, quiet and cool and sweet as a night breeze, and it comes up away from your tongue, through the top opening in the lid. "You will like your Wellington from the very first. It is always made of genuine French briar, seasoned by our own special process so as to break in sweet and mellow. And it's a good old reliable friend guaranteed against cracking or burning through. "Get a Wellington Pipe. It will fit into your life in a mighty agree- able way. It has fitted into more men's lives than any other pipe. Good dealers have it in all sizes, shapes and grades from 75 cents up." Tell the Truth. Avoid Misrepresentation. There was a time, and not so long ago, either, when advertising license permitted the broadest latitude of statement; when a merchant could advertise men's shoddy suits as all wool, adulterated spices as pure, and brass watches as 14-carat gold, and still retain his church membership and his position as a respected business man. 34 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING But that day has gone by. Thirty-six states have passed laws making it a criminal offense to misrepresent goods or securities in advertisements. The quickest way to wreck a business is to lie about the goods it has to sell in its advertising. A few years ago the owners of a large department store in New York decided to retire from business. They had been long established and had won the confidence of the public through honest advertising and square dealing. In order to make a greater profit the new owners, who still retained the old firm name, gradually stocked the store with a cheaper grade of goods than had formerly been carried, but claimed in their advertising that they were of the best quality. It did not take the public long to discover the decep- tion. Old customers quit trading at the store and the number of transient purchasers grew smaller and smaller. Sales fell off so alarmingly that finally the owners, realizing that they had made a serious mistake, changed their advertising policy, but it was too late and the business went onto the rocks with a crash. Misrepresentation in retail advertising is today more often the result of carelessness or to a lack of definite information than to deliberate intention. The copy is written under pressure, in a hurried manner, from information that is incomplete or inac- curate. One of the familiar examples of this kind of copy is found in comparative prices. A woman's coat is advertised as being "worth $30" but to be sold for $20, and a dozen other garments are similarly described. If the coat was really "worth $30" the merchant would not sell it at 33^<j per cent, discount. If he had said that the garment was once worth $30 but because it had gone out of style or was shop-worn it would be sold at $20, he would have told the truth and would have deceived no one. Comparative prices are not now used by the better class of merchants. When you describe an article tell the truth about it. If it is not first-class, say so. If the goods ate priced below the usual charge, tell why. You won't lose anything by it. People will soon come to admire your frankness and honesty. They will believe in you and in what you say. Public confidence is the greatest asset of any business. ADVERTISEMENT CONSTRUCTION 35 The Associated Advertising Clubs of the World has done more to clean up the advertising pages of the newspapers and magazines than any other organization of business men. Only a few out of the thousands of publications can now be found that will accept the advertisements of "fake" oil, mining, automobile or other fraudulent companies, or of patent medicines that are repre- sented as cures for numerous diseases. Through its Vigilance Committee the A. A. C. W. has brought to book many advertis- ing crooks and by timely warning has kept a number of mer- chants from committing business suicide. Questions 1. What are the four objects of an advertisement and how is each one accomplished? 2. Name the four parts of a newspaper or magazine advertisement. 3. Select from local newspapers examples of advertisements in which there is no introduction. Also one without a headline. 4. What is the purpose of the headline? Give the three classes of head- lines and examples of each. 6. What are the advantages of the news headline? 6. Name the four heads under which advertising copy may be classified. 7. Why should advertisements be written in simple every day English rather than in academic language? 8. When should prices be quoted? 9. What do you mean by "human interest" copy? 10. Give an original example. 11. Why is telling the truth absolutely essential in the preparation of advertising matter? 12. What is the attitude of reputable publications toward the advertise- ments of fake oil and mining companies and get-rich-quick enterprises? CHAPTER V ON THE USE OF ILLUSTRATIONS Before Cadmus invented the alphabet pictures were used to record events upon wood, clay and stone. The oldest inscrip- tions that have been discovered in the ruins and on the tombs of ancient civilizations are in picture form. Therefore, in the em- ployment of illustrations in modern advertising we are making use of the oldest, the simplest and, at the same time, the most direct method of communicating ideas in graphic form. Pictures have aptly been called the universal language of the human race. If you will look over the pages of the weekly and monthly periodicals you will find that most of the advertisements are illustrated. Out of 94 advertisements, many of them full pages, and half a dozen of them double-page spreads, in an issue of the Saturday Evening Post, 84 contained pictures. Of 275 display advertisements in McClure's Magazine, 228 were illustrated. In local newspaper advertisements the percentage is not so high. Because of the general use of illustrations it is necessary for us to know something about the principles governing their employ- ment, how they are designed and how they may be reproduced to the best advantage. One of the first questions that suggests itself in taking up the study of the subject is this: What purposes do pictures serve in advertising? Some of them are : 1. To catch the eye of the reader and lead him to peruse the accompanying message. 2. To familiarize people with the appearance of the article or the package containing it so that they may identify it in the stores and elsewhere. 3. To show the article in use. 4. To create atmosphere, that is, to indicate, pictorially, the class of people to whom it appeals or scenes with which it is associated. 36 ON THE USE OF ILLUSTRATIONS 37 An illustration serves the same purpose as a headline but has this additional advantage it will, and often does, because of its novelty, its artistic character or its strong appeal, attract greater attention. Sometimes the crux of the message the advertiser seeks to deliver lies wholly in the picture. A seaside home and hospital for crippled children in need of funds to carry on its work placed an advertisement in several magazines in which was presented a picture of one of its boy patients, "Smiling Joe," strapped to a board. The little fellow had a twisted and diseased spine and in trying to cure his deformity and restore him to health the physicians were obliged to bind his body to the board and keep him in thart; position for many months. Although the story of the boy's affliction and his wonderful patience and cheerfulness und,er the trying ordeal were told in the accom- panying text, it was the illustration showing "Smiling Joe" with a happy smile on his face that touched the hearts and opened the pocketbooks of hundreds of contributors to the hospital fund. In marketing food products sold in packages, or beverages, soap, and many other products, pictures of the articles add tremendously to the pulling power of the advertisements. People become f amiliar with their appearance and can readily identify them. If a hundred different brands of biscuits were displayed on the shelves of a grocery store, nine out of ten housewives would have no difficulty in pointing out the package containing Uneeda Bis- cuit. The little girl who asked the clerk for a box of breakfast oats "with the Quaker man on it" knew exactly what she wanted and couldn't be fooled with a substitute. We may forget the brand names of articles that have been advertised but if we have seen pictures of the packages containing them a few times we can pick them out of a dozen others. If you can exhibit the article in use by means of an illustration you are employing one of the strongest sales appeals available. In marketing canned peaches, for instance, if you show a glass dish filled with luscious, golden-hued fruit being served as a dessert at a dinner party, it produces a far greater impression upon the reader than any text matter could. It is one thing to read a description of a thing and quite another to see it. The 38 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Chinese have a proverb to the effect that once seeing a man is worth a thousand times hearing about him. Pictures are, of course, not as attractive as the articles they represent, but they are a hundred per cent, better than any description in words that can be given. Few automobile ad- vertisements appear without an illustration of the machine that is being exploited. While to the general public one automobile looks about the same as another, each one posesses features by which it can be identified several blocks away by an automobile expert. No manufacturer wants to have his car mistaken for that of a competitor. Therefore he shows a picture of his machine in his advertisements so drawn that its distinctive features are emphasized in a telling way. The text matter, of course, describes it attractively and in detail, but after all it is the illustration that will most impress the reader. Unless the appearance of the car strikes him favorably he will not care much about the details of its construction. Hence the impor- tance of the picture. There are other articles besides automobiles that are exploited largely by means of illustrations. In selling high class suburban homes pictures of the residences offered are indispensable. Few people care to engage accommodations at summer hotels without first knowing something about their appearance. When the retail dry goods merchants introduce their spring or autumn styles in women's hats, coats and suits, they rely upon illustra- tions to bring women to the store. In appealing to the fair sex advertisers have found the rotogravure sections of the Sunday newspapers particularly effective because of the superior quality of the paper used, thus making possible the employment of a higher grade of illustrations. Illustrations are used to create atmosphere in exploiting articles that have a high-class vogue. One of the leading manufacturers of first quality furniture employs pictures of beautiful interiors to display and give class to his creations. There is a richness and refinement about the settings that make one feel that anything from this shop gives a certain distinction to the purchaser. Cigar- ette advertisers employ illustrations of oriental scenes, of cele- brated banquets, and of racing, yachting and other sporting ON THE USE OF ILLUSTRATIONS 39 3Scts. a. Bottle HAVE soft, fluffy, glossy, beautiful hair you know how it adds charm tu even the most beautiful face; and, undoubtedly, you have seen some of your friends changed from plain, uninteresting women into creatures of real beauty all by the skilful handling of their hair. Perhaps you have wondered how such a change could be made perhaps it seemed almost miraculous to you. Wait a moment let us whisper in your car it probably was simply ii liberal use of Danderine- plus a new way of dressing the hair. Why Not Have Lots of Soft, Fluffy Lustrous Hair Yourself? Danderine removes the dandrnlT leaves |he scalp clean, cool and refreshed brings back the natural gloss and luster to the hair makes it just as beautiful as nature intended it to be. Just Once, Try Danderine! See how much bottled hair beauty, abundance and gloss there is in a single 35-ccnt bottle. At all dru >store>s toilet An artistic and effective combination of illustration and typographical arrangement. 40 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING There has been but one supreme piano in the history of music. In the days of Liszt and Wagner, of Rubinstein and Berlioz, the pre- eminence of the Steinway was as unquestioned as it is today. It stood then, as it stands now, the chosen instrument of the masters the inevitable preference wherever great music is understood and esteemed. STEINWAY 6 SONS, Steinway Hall, 107-109 E. 14th Street, New York Subu'au Express Stations at llic Door A fine example of the appeal to sentiment through an artistic illustration. In every lover of good music it awakens tender memories. ON THE USE OF ILLUSTRATIONS 41 OF PLATINUM THE ROMANCE Edison's phonograph was not known in mythological times. Platinum is imperishable. Whitehouse Bros, of Cincinnati, "The Jewelry City," have done much to make it the matchless medium for the jeweler's art. Hard and permanent, brilliant and untarnishable, more valu- able than gold, it is the perfect metal for jewels, impcrishably perfect. IF ONLY the masterpieces of Turner had been painted in permanent colors! If only the Alexandrian library had consist- ed of books written upon stone! If only the music of Orpheus could be heard today ! But Turner's pictures were painted with cheap colors, Caesar burned the priceless treasures of the ancients in the Alexandrian library, and Mr WHITEHOUSE BROTHERS JYlakers of Patented < JtssemBfeJ Sofifaiivs and Cincinnaii.Ohio Platinum ^Jewelry The Jewelry City The art embellishment of Whitehouse Brothers jewelry advertisements is of an exceptional character. The ornate border with its accompanying illustra- tions forms an appropriate frame for the "The Romance of Platinum" told in the text and adds greatly to its value. 42 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Sensitive films, those walls of childish memory. The pictures they register It will pay you to remember that, in the lighting of your children's rooms Let sunshine flood them by day, and the light of Edison MAZDA lamps by nrght For the light that shines in children's rooms is magic stuff the , . r B*ai ReMirth Ltbora- rams of the General Hem* Company. nd by tony yftn at contm- uxu development. Biuoo MAZDA Ump represent tht UICM and bc u. Lghimg. EDISON MAZDA EDISON LAMP WORKS OF GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY Pictures of children when appropriately introduced in advertisements possess a universal appeal. Every mother and father who looks at the above adver- tisement will feel a tug at the heart strings. The evening lamp, the little ones saying, "Now I lay me down to sleep" at their mother's knee and the shad- owy background form a picture that will linger long in the memory. ON THE USE OF ILLUSTRATIONS 43 events in which some of the prominent persons appearing in them are represented as smoking the manufacturer's brand. The young man who is a clerk, or who works in a machine shop, or drives a truck, is much impressed by these pictures and concludes that if the cigarettes are smoked by society leaders, actors, and well known sportsmen they must be of high grade quality and therefore worth buying. Even if they cost 50 cents a box he feels that he is justified in the extra expense by the satisfaction he gets in being identified, even remotely, with such notable consumers of this particular brand. We are so constituted that we often buy things because they are purchased by prominent people, provided, of course, they are within our means. Writers who understand this tendency take advantage of it in preparing advertisements. For instance, if the King of England, a hero of the great war, or a popular actress uses a certain table water they play up the fact in text and picture because of the influence it will have upon the public. Never use a picture simply because it is pretty, odd, or striking. Advertising space costs too much money sometimes $5 to $8 a line to be thrown away on illustrations that do not help to put the message across. Pretty girl pictures have been found effective as attention getters in advertising toilet articles, femin- ine wearing apparel and other things, but in many cases they are out of place or serve no real purpose. An advertisement of a Western gas engine manufacturer which appeared in several publications showed a very attractive looking young woman standing by the side of the machine. Much to the surprise of the advertiser he received twice as many inquiries concerning the identity of the girl as he did about the gas engine. In using the pictures of very pretty young women or unusual illustrations of any kind there is always danger that the picture will receive so much attention from the reader that he will neglect to look at the accompanying text matter. Many advertisements are spoiled by poor and meaningless illus- trations. In these day's when there are so many high-class artists devoting their attention to the preparation of commercial illus- trations there is little excuse for the employment of stock cuts or indifferent art work. Unless you want to get a reputation for 44 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING cheapness avoid the use of poorly drawn pictures. Every city of 50,000 inhabitants, or upwards, contains at least one photo- engraving plant, the owner of which can recommend the names of one or more commercial artists who will execute any orders you may have to give. Determine in your own mind what kind of a picture you want and describe it to the artist. Often he will be able to improve upon the design you suggest. That is a part of his business. If you are a national advertiser and employ an agency to handle your campaigns it will furnish the drawings as a part of its service. As a general rule humorous illustrations should be avoided. In a somewhat extended experience we can recall only a few instances in which pictures of this kind have been appropriate or effective. Unless precaution is taken in the selection of a subject a humor- ous picture may do more harm than good. A local merchant in an Eastern city once ran an illustration showing an old negro, nearly bald, with his mouth wide open, crying out something at the top of his voice. The headline was, " Much Cry and Little Wool." It was designed to create a laugh and as an exposition of that old saw it was a success, but it gave offense to a very worthy body of colored people who were the merchant's custom- ers. The retailer had used the picture thoughtlessly, not dreaming for a moment that it would antagonize any of his trade. It took him a long time to win back the patronage of those whom the illustration had offended. A number of years ago a humorous character called "Sunny Jim" was introduced in the advertisements of a widely exploited breakfast food. The artist showed "Sunny Jim" doing all sorts of clever stunts, and thousands of people each day when they picked up their favorite newspaper turned to the advertisements to see what the funny man was doing. After the advertising had been running for some time the manufacturer discovered that the public was so much interested in the antics of "Sunny Jim" that it paid little attention to the selling talk about the breakfast food he was exploiting. From that time on "Sunny Jim" was banished from his advertisements. The power of pictures to influence voters in national elections was first demonstrated in the second Cleveland campaign. The ON THE USE OF ILLUSTRATIONS 45 Soap Jor your c Wmter Skin? DO you know that a glowing, smooth, active "winter skin" for children and grown-ups is largely de- pendent upon an easy-rinsing soap? In winter, of course, the pores of the skin are less active than in summer. If a. lurd-rinsing soap remains be- hind in the pores, their ac- tivity is further diminished, and they cannot continue their work of keeping the skin soft and smooth. Tests made with a number of well-known toilet soaps proved Fairy Soap to be the aisiesl-rinsing soap. Fairy's pure lather was found to cream thoroughly in and out of pores, without sacrificing that important quality of rinsing off cosily, rinsing off completely. We would like to have you try this pure, easy-rinsing Fairy quality for your "winter skin." But be sure to make the trial a thorough one with both the complexion and bath benefits in ivunJ. -17OL' JL in * IMPORTANT FACTS *'!r;jtfYliar "a nd am ears-i iasiitz J*A k;r.wtruiia winter even i- th*n the jJd -,rt winter ctiir jnuc^ ci UK. fcn. nukii them lc*- : of tK- sim Av- n.* - SivJ ,j-*ftr>.>- .;.- '-fs r ' - ti> 'wrinttT " hr' ; - - -inl in the Comes in bodi Toil^f ami /I.irl. FAIRY SOAP ^l^i-.^ j/.'M a little Fairii i/i.i/oi"- fo.' t In this advertisement the illustration at the top, showing the winter sports of children, supplies the atmosphere for the message of the text. 46 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING new way to manicure without cutting the cuticle clea: Ibe aggcd edges and hangnail* vanish! How to manicure llic new way Send for the complete Manicure Set offered below and have your first Culex manicure. In the package you will find orange stick and absorbent otto Wrap a little the end of the stick and dip it into the bottle. Then carefully work around the base of the nail, gently pushing back the cuticle. Almost at once you After your first Cutex manicure, examine your nails. When you see how smooth the use of Cutex leaves the skin around the base of the nails how free it is from ragged edges and rough places that make hangnails, you will wonder how you ever got along without it. Try it today See for yourself! in 30c. OOc. and $1 25 bottles.' Cutex Nail White is 30c. Cutex Nail Polish in cake, paste, powder, -liquid or stick form is also 30c. Cutex Cuticle Com- fort for sore or tender cuticle is 30c. der direct from us. Complete Manicure Set for 15c IK with'lfr and wt will send you tins c plcte Midget Manicure Set, which today Address NORTHAM WARREN 114 West Uih St MAIL COUPON WITH 15 CENTS TODAY : NORTHAM WARREN If we can show by illustrations how to use the article we are exploiting we enhance the readers' interest and make the advertisement more productive of sales. The Cutex ad presented above is a fine example of this type of publicity. ON THE USE OF ILLUSTRATIONS 47 cartoons, which were the work of the best artists, were printed twice a week in 500 daily newspapers. They were also enlarged, and, printed as posters, were put up on billboards and dead walls in all parts of the country. Their effect upon the public was immediate. Thousands of men who could not read caught the point of these cartoons at a glance. Throughout the rural districts the liveliest interest was shown in them, and after the election had taken place the Democratic leaders admitted that the cartoons had done more to elect Mr. Cleveland than the stump speakers. One of the insurance companies the Prudential Insurance Company of Newark has made the Rock of Gibraltar famous in the United States through the advertisements it has published for many years showing a picture of the rock with the name of the company printed in large letters upon it. As a result it is almost impossible for the public to think of the Rock of Gibraltar without associating with it the Prudential Insurance Company. It is said that a traveler who took the Mediterranean trip, on his return to the United States expressed great surprise at not seeing the name of the company outlined in white letters across its surface. Advertisers are sometimes puzzled to know whether or not they should use pictures of themselves in their advertising. They have seen the features of W. L. Douglas in his shoe advertise- ments for a quarter of a century. They recall the pictures of Lydia E. Pinkham, Gerhard Mermen, Dr. Munyon, the Smith Brothers, and other less celebrated vendors of manufactured products who have achieved success through printers' ink, that were used in the same way. As a rule it is considered inadvisable to regularly employ the picture of the advertiser in his business announcements. It weakens instead of strengthens the advertise- ment because, if used continuously, it suggests egotism and a waste of space. Moreover, the advertiser misses the mark at which his advertising gun is aimed. He is not engaged in selling himself but his product. Public attention is diverted from the text to the picture, which adds little to the value of the appeal and has no selling force. Therefore, why should he employ it in his advertising? 48 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Photography is now generally utilized in securing suitable pictures for the illustration of advertisements. The ordinary photographer, however, is not successful in this kind of work. Those who specialize in commercial photography secure the best results. They understand what is needed to make effective copy. Some of the most productive illustrations in use are those employed hi the street car advertising of Omega Oil. The company dropped $400,000 before it discovered that it was using the wrong kind of a picture that of a boy carrying a bag of corn under his arm as he walked along the road, from which the kernels were dropping upon the ground only to be gobbled up by geese that were following him. The trouble with the picture was that it was in no way related to Omega Oil. But when the company introduced photographs of living models showing the oil being used to alleviate pain, the volume of sales rapidly increased. One of these shows a little girl whose sore throat is being treated with an application of the oil. Another reveals a man's back which is being rubbed with the oil for the relief of rheumatism. The Washburn-Crosby flour advertisement illustrations are made from photographs of real people. So are those employed in the Beechnut products and the Eastman Kodak announcements. These are only a few of the many advertisers who have dis- covered that the public is interested in pictures taken from life or nature more than they are in make-believe representations. The C. Kenyon Company, of Brooklyn, since it adopted the use of living models in preparing illustrations for its magazine and trade paper advertising, has increased its sale of women's coats far beyond all previous records. In order to secure satisfactory results in illustrations good copy must be furnished to the photo-engraver. This means that the pictures from which the cuts are to be made must be clear and distinct. No engraver, no matter how skillfuj he may be, can make a good plate from a poor photograph. Sometimes, however, a photograph can be made effective through retouch- ing by a capable artist who makes a specialty of that kind of work. By retouching is meant the bringing into stronger relief the principal and sometimes the subordinate features of the ON THE USE OF ILLUSTRATIONS 49 MAZDA ffot the name of a thing, but the mark of a service" A MAZDA Lamp for every purpo MAZDA is the trademark of a world- wide service to certain lamp manu- facturers. Its purpose is to collect and select scientific and practical information concerning progress and developments in the art of incandescent lamp manufacturing and to distribute this information to the companies entitled to receive this service. MAZDA Service is centered in the Research Laboratories of the General Electric Company at Schenectady, New York. The mark MAZDA can appear only on lamps which meet the standards of MAZDA service. It is thus an assurance of quality. This trademark is the property of the General Electric Company. RESEARCH LABORATORIES OF GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY The strong feature of this ad is the skillful manner in which the reader's eye is directed to " MAZDA" on the electric light bulb in the illustration. It is al- most impossible to glance at the page without following the pointing finger to the word. 4 50 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING The strikingly original advertisement of one of the leading firms of optical instrument manufacturers in the United States. ON THE USE OF ILLUSTRATIONS 51 photograph. It is expensive but adds so much to the appearance and drawing power of the illustrations that it is money well invested. The drawing or photograph should always be considerably larger than the cut which is to be made from it. When this sug- gestion is followed the picture printed from the cut will be sharper and clearer in outline than the original. Frequently it is neces- sary to rout out of the surface of the plate some of the background or unessential details in order to bring out more strongly the principal figures or features of the illustration. Proofs furnished by the photo-engravers should be printed on the same kind of paper that is to be used in the publication in which the illustration is to appear, in order that you may determine just how it is going to look. Usually the proofs are taken on high grade plate paper which, although it gives the illustration its full value, does not give a correct idea of its appearance when printed on ordinary paper. Unless the plate is adapted to the quality of paper that is finally to be employed it probably will print poorly. Examine the plate with care and see if the en- graver has given you what you want. Sometimes it is necessary to have it etched deeper before it will print satisfactorily on the press. Plates for illustrations are mounted on metal or wood bases preferably the former when they are to be stereotyped, because wood shrinks and warps on the steam table, thus making the base uneven. Halftones are photographic reproductions, usually on copper, but sometimes on zinc, of photographs, wash drawings, pen-and- ink and other sketches, and even of paintings, etched by a chemical process. A picture is taken from the photograph through a fine screen which is only a glass plate with lines en- graved upon it at right angles to each other. Upon the fineness of the screen depends the quality of the printing plate. For newspaper purposes the screen used is 68 that is, 68 lines to an inch. For halftones that are to be employed on a high grade of calendered paper a screen of 133 to 200 lines to the inch is used. If you will examine a plate under a magnifying 52 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING glass you will notice that there are a great many little dots which vary in size according to the fineness of the screen. Instead of solid blacks and whites the engraver is able to reproduce the vary- ing shades or tones of a picture hence the name, "halftones." Line engravings are made from drawings, sketches, etc., by a process of chemical etching, usually on zinc but sometimes on copper. In the chalk plate process a highly polished steel plate which is 34e in. thick is covered with a coat of soft white composition which gradually hardens. By means of steel tools a drawing is made by cutting through the soft composition to the surface of the steel plate. When the drawing is completed it is placed in a stereotyping box and a cast is made from it, the chalk plate serving as a matrix or mould. Molten stereo- type metal is poured in and the result is a plate reproducing the picture, which, after being cleaned and touched up, is ready for printing. Line cuts are used in newspaper and other work where it is essential to have plates that will make good impres- sions on coarse paper with rapid printing. Wash drawings are made with water colors or India ink spread lightly and evenly on drawing paper. Electrotypes are copper-faced duplicates of type matter or cuts. They are far less expensive than the original halftones or line cuts from which they are taken. They are copies of originals and therefore are not as sharp in detail. A vignette is a halftone illustration in which the background shades off gradually into pure white. In ordering a cut made from a picture you need indicate only one dimension, for if it is properly made the other dimension will reduce in proportion. You can determine the other dimension exactly by using the following diagram: Take a sheet of paper exactly the size of the photograph and draw the diagonal line A-B from the upper right-hand corner to the lower left-hand corner. Beginning at the left, measure off B-C to the right on the bottom line of the diagram exactly the length of the cut you want made. Draw from this point a perpendicular line, C-D, until it touches the diagonal. Then complete the rectangle by drawing the line E-D parallel to the ON THE USE OF ILLUSTRATIONS 53 base line until it strikes the perpendicular line at the left. You now have a diagram of exactly the size of the cut the engraver E B will furnish you. The length of the perpendicular line C-D connecting the base with the diagonal is the second dimension of the cut. Questions 1. To what extent are advertisements illustrated? 2. For what four purposes are pictures used in advertising? 3. Select from a newspaper or magazine advertisements that illustrate these purposes. 4. Name half a dozen articles that have been successfully advertised by means of pictures. 5. What is meant by "creating atmosphere" by the use of illustrations? 6. Give several suggestions on their employment. 7. Why should humorous pictures, as a rule, be avoided? 54 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING 8. Give an example of the improper use of an illustration. 9. Should advertisers use pictures of themselves in their announcements? 10. Name several national advertisers who use their own photographs. 11. What is a halftone? A line cut? An electrotype? A vignette? 12. In ordering a cut made from a picture, when one dimension is known, how can you determine what the second dimension will be? 13. Under what circumstances is a "pretty girl" picture appropriate in an advertisement? CHAPTER VI PUTTING THE ADVERTISEMENT INTO TYPE After you have hammered the copy for your advertisement into such shape that it expresses in exact form just what you want to say, the next step is to put it into an appropriate dress of type. If you are able to command the services of a high class printer who has made a study of advertising typography, and therefore knows how to adapt type to copy to the best advantage, you can safely entrust to him the typing of any advertisement you may wish to have set up. But as such printers are few, even in metropolitan cities, and are rarely found in the smaller towns, it is necessary for you to have a sufficient knowledge of the principles governing typo- graphical arrangement to enable you to tell any printer you may employ what kind of type to use and how to display the copy to secure balance, harmony, stability, and produce action. Let us start our discussion of the subject with the well estab- lished principle that the effectiveness of an advertisement depends largely upon the type in which the message is clothed, and upon such an arrangement of its several parts that the eye can rapidly take in the important facts presented and determine their relative value. There are many kinds of type, so many, in truth, that the beginner is bewildered by their number and variety, and con- cludes that he will never be able to identify or use many of them. And he is right, for the reason that the kinds or families of type that are especially adapted to advertising display do not, according to some of the best authorities, exceed a dozen. Benjamin Sherbow says that he has used hardly more than six in all his work. Those that have found special favor are: Caslon Old Style, Scotch Roman, Bookman or Antique, Chel- tenham Bold and the Bodoni family. To these may be added a very few others Kennerley, Cloister, Goudy and Goudy Bold, 65 56 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING 30 Point Scotch Roman ADVERTISING Advertising Knowle 24 Point Scotch Roman ADVERTISING KN Advertising Knowledge 18 Point Scotch Roman ADVERTISING KNOWLE Advertising Knowlege is acqui 12 Point Scotch Roman ADVERTISING KNOWLEDGE IS ACQUI Advertising Knowledge is acquired with years o PUTTING THE ADVERTISEMENT INTO TYPE 57 30 Point Cheltenham Bold ADVERTISING KN Advertising Knowled 24 Point Cheltenham Bold ADVERTISING KNOW Advertising Knowledge 18 Point Cheltenham Bold ADVERTISING KNOWLEDG Advertising Knowledge is acqui 12 Point Cheltenham Bold ADVERTISING KNOWLEDGE IS ACQUIRE Advertising Knowledge is acquired with years 58 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING 30 Point Bookman ADVERTISING Advertising Know 24 Point Bookman ADVERTISING K Advertising Knowle 18 Point Bookman ADVERTISING KNOWLED Advertising Knowledge is acqu 12 Point Bookman ADVERTISING KNOWLEDGE IS ACQU Advertising Knowledge is acquired with years o PUTTING THE ADVERTISEMENT INTO TYPE 59 30 Point Bodoni Bold ADVERTISING KN Advertising Knowled 24 Point Bodoni Bold ADVERTISING KNOWL Advertising Knowledge is 18 Point Bodoni Bold ADVERTISING KNOWLEDGE I Advertising Knowledge is acquir 12 Point Bodoni Bold ADVERTISING KNOWLEDGE IS ACQUIRED Advertising Knowledge is acquired with years 60 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING 30 Point Caslon Old Style ADVERTISING Advertising Know 24 Point Caslon Old Style ADVERTISING KN Advertising Knowledg 18 Point Caslon Old Style ADVERTISING KNOWLE Advertising Knowledge is acqui 12 Point Caslon Old Style ADVERTISING KNOWLEDGE IS ACQU Advertising Knowledge is acquired with years o PUTTING THE ADVERTISEMENT INTO TYPE 61 30 Point Bodoni ADVERTISING KNO Advertising Knowledg 24 Point Bodoni ADVERTISING KNOWLD Advertising Knowledge is a 18 Point Bodoni ADVERTISING KNOWLEDGE IS Advertising Knowledge is acquired 12 Point Bodoni ADVERTISING KNOWLEDGE IS ACQUIRED Advertising Knowledge is acquired with years of e 62 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Century Expanded and Century Bold, which are considerably employed by successful advertisers. The faces of type just mentioned differ so materially in design that it is possible for the ad writer to find among them faces that are adapted to almost any advertisement he may wish to construct. Type, besides conveying thought through words, can, through its shape or design, express refinement, strength, beauty, dignity, and even humor. Therefore, by the exercise of proper care in the choice of type, which someone has called " uncrystal- lized thought," you can create almost any kind of an impression you may desire. In this connection it is well to bear in mind that the type should, if possible, suggest by its physical appearance the character of the article you are to exploit. For instance, in picking out a suitable type for a jewelry advertisement we should choose an artistic and refined face like Caslon or Scotch Roman because they are suggestive of the creations of the gold and silver workers for which we seek purchasers. On the other hand, neither of them would be at all appropriate for a machinery advertisement which naturally calls for a more vigorous face like Bookman or a type of similar strength. Cheltenham, one of the popular type faces among advertisers, was designed a few years ago by Ingalls Kimball, of New York. Cheltenham Bold is adapted to nearly every kind of display. Its legibility and its peculiar adaptability to display are charac- teristics that highly recommend its use to advertisers. Caslon, although first cut in London over a hundred years ago, is a face that is much favored to-day by printers who like an Old Style face which, though heavier than some of the old models, is yet light enough in design to be suitable for booklets, circulars, programs and advertisements. It is a type possessing attractive features that give distinction to all classes of printed matter in the production of which it is employed. Scotch Roman, of later origin, is considered one of the most legible, precise and pictorially beautiful of modern faces, as distinguished from the Old Style, that we have. Century Expanded Roman, much employed in setting up news- PUTTING THE ADVERTISEMENT INTO TYPE 63 paper advertisements, contains no hair lines, is clear in design and wears well whether used in type form or in plates. We cannot at this time describe other kinds of type in general use because of a lack of space. Those students who are suffici- ently interested to pursue the subject further will find in the public libraries and elsewhere the catalogs of type founders and books on typography that will furnish all the information that they may desire. The kind of type with which we are most familiar is body type that in which text matter in books, newspapers and mag- azines is set. It was modeled after the letters used by the ancient Romans in written manuscripts and in mural inscriptions, and is known in the printing world by that name. All the faces used in text matter in books and periodicals are Roman and are classified as Old Style Roman and Modern Roman. The Old Style of today closely resembles the real Old Style of long ago, while the Modern resembles the style of letter cutting employed subsequent to the introduction of the original Old Style. The apparent difference between the two is that in Old Style there is less shading while in Modern Roman some of the lines are darker and stronger. Type is sometimes classified as light face, like Caslon or Scotch; monotone, like Bookman or Antique; and bold, like Cheltenham. How Type Sizes Are Indicated. Formerly the sizes of type were indicated by names. The smallest was known as brilliant and the next as diamond. Then came pearl, agate, nonpareil, minion, brevier, bourgeois, long primer, small pica, pica, etc. As there was no fixed standard of sizes the type cast by the several foundries did not agree in dimensions. Therefore it was almost impossible to lock up together in a form brevier, or any other size of type made by two or more type founders, because of this variation, without spending much tune in "blacksmithing" that is, in using bits of metal or pasteboard to fill up the spaces between the type. When, through the rapid increase in the use of printed matter that followed the close of the Civil War, it became evident that no one type-maker or group of type-makers could hope to monopolize the business, the type-founders of the United States 64 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING got together and adopted the Point System, which insured absolute uniformity in casting the different sizes. Under this system the measurements are based upon the seventy-two parts, or points, into which an inch is divided. For instance, the type formerly known as nonpareil is now called "6-point" or six seventy-seconds of an inch; brevier is " 8-point " or eight seventy- seconds of an inch, and pica is "12-point" or twelve seventy- seconds of an inch, etc. A printer can to-day buy type from any source and be certain that the sizes will be absolutely identical. How Type Is Measured. The em, which is the square of the body of any size of type, is the unit of measurement in computing the cost of composition, the dimensions of pages, or for indicating the size of dashes, quads, spaces, etc. The en, which is half the size of the body of any size of type, is used to designate the size of quads, leaders, etc., as an en-leader, an en-quad, etc. In line measurement the em of pica, 12-point is used. There are 6 ems pica to the inch. Therefore, a newspaper column 2^ in. wide contains 13 ems pica. One of the fundamental principles to be observed in selecting type for advertisements is that it should be easy to read. That is why fancy faces, those in which there are many fine straight or curved lines, or in which art work is introduced, should be avoided. Plain, clear type can be read by anyone who knows the alphabet. You don't have to study it, as you would a puzzle, to identify the letters. Another principle that should be kept in mind is that in an ordinary-sized advertisement not more than two or three, preferably two faces, should be employed and these should harmonize with each other. Advertisements containing half a dozen faces produce a crazy-quilt effect upon the mind. They look spotty and inharmonious. The best examples of advertisements found in the newspapers and current magazines owe their attractiveness to the use of one or two kinds of type. There are so many different sizes, in- cluding italic, of the same families that the printer is able to produce any typographical effect he may choose through their selection and grouping. PUTTING THE ADVERTISEMENT INTO TYPE 65 The Spirit of New England THE prosperity of present-day New original Plymouth settlers, who bought England is due in no small mcas- up in seven years all the stciek in the intinuanccof this old spirit London Company which financed the of the bootmakers of Boston. The policy of "good work and pride in it" ilony. New England's reputation for stabil- ity and integrity has led many non- with the Old Colony Trust Company, a practice which has decided advantag for Lynn, Brockton, Havcrhill, Boston, Manchester, Auburn and Lcwiston. So that today over half the nation is shod by New England. Not only in the shoe industry, but explained in our booklet, ** in other lines, the outstanding feature '/>- </ ll'ilh", mailed on reque is soundness, and investors the country Come to New England for the Tc over are appreciative of this quality in centenary of the Pilgrims' Landing- New England industries a heritage of and make this Company's office your the old "paymem-m-fuH" spirit of the banking headquarters. In typography, in the choice of illustration, in the character of the arrange- ment and in general design this advertisement of the Old Colony Trust Company satisfies the requirements for the highest type of advertising. 66 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING z n c IN BRASS A combination of zinc and copper gives mankind a wonderful metal enduring, rust-resisting, decorative, workable adapted to a thousand uses where no other metal would serve. This metal is brass. The sign on your office entrance, the hardware on the doors, the fittings in your car, the andirons in your home, the bronze statue on your mantle, the bed you sleep in, indicate the variety of ways in which it contributes to your many needs. Zinc for brass has long been an important product of this Company. The slab zinc from our Franklin ores, is the purest commercial metal in the world, and insures the durability and working properties that manufacturers of high-grade brass products demand. We have been producing zinc for more than 70 years. Our sources of supply, facilities and organization are such that we are able to supply all industries with the kind and quality of zinc they require. THE NEW JERSEY ZINC COMPANY, 160 fr**i Smtt, NW York ESTABLISHED <! CHICAGO Mintral Poini Zinc Company, Mil Minprttc Building PITTSBURGH: Tht Nt Jcory Ziiw Co. (of Pi I, 14i9 Oli.tr Buildinj Mam/Mlnnr, ./ Zi<- Or/*, .%/, (SpilHr), Sf,r e ,/mn, Lillafiru, Sulfliurit Jliul. KillrJ 2ni Slripi tnd flam, Ziitr Dult. Hall Cair and Ziiri Ckltndl The world's standard For Zinc productl New Jersey' zinc In the New Jersey Zinc ad the text is the thing. The story it tells is interesting and instructive. It is set in Caslon, with wide margins of white space, and looks inviting to the reader. PUTTING THE ADVERTISEMENT INTO TYPE 67 Elements of Display. Type is only one of the elements em- ployed in display, the purpose of which is to bring out the most important facts of an advertisement and secure for each its full attention value. The others are borders, illustrations, and gray and white space. HOW fortunate it is for us that the men who founded this business, set out with the simple idea of trying to build the best car of its class in the world. That clear-cut determination has led us to adopt policies which are careful and consci- entious, and manufacturing principles which are sound and substantial. The net result has been a most unusual and cordial relation between ourselves and our public- based on the confidence which people have learned to place in the Hupmobile and in the company which builds it. The ninety words in the above Hupmobile advertisement, set in Caslon Old Style, occupied a full page in the Saturday Evening Post. Without display type, an illustration or even a name plate, the good will message they carry im- presses itself upon the mind of the reader. Each word of this ad represents an investment of nearly $67. 68 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Display has been defined as a logical arrangement of copy for the purpose of making things plain, for attracting attention, for emphasis and for interpretation. It depends for its success upon contrast. Contrast is marked dissimilarity. In a group of several articles the one which, because of its size, shape, color, or character, differs most widely from the others, is most conspicu- ous. In display we try to construct advertisements in such a way that they will stand out conspicuously upon the page on which they appear. The principal elements of contrast used in display are black and white, big and little, far and near, and different faces of type. Value of White Space. It seems an ano- maly but it is a fact that white space is often more valuable than the other elements of display in attracting attention. An ideal display would be a single word in the center of a blank newspaper or magazine page. The white space by which it is surrounded concentrates attention upon the word. The eye finds no resting place until it sees it. When you add another word the attention is divided between the two. The more words you place in the space the more minutely divided becomes the attention value of each individual word. White space, judiciously apportioned, gives to the display lines or the paragraphs of an advertisement greater prominence. It fur- nishes peaks upon which the eye can rest in traversing the page and makes it easier for the reader to absorb the message of the text. You should never completely fill with type the space devoted to the advertisement for it needs breathing-space on all sides in order that its full value may be brought out. You have seen advertisements, no doubt, so crowded with type that they looked uncom- fortable. You did not stop to find out what Go to your favorite shop today and ask them to show you the three taffeta frocks as designed especially by Peggy Paige lor Peggy Paige Oreaa Week. . The charm of your youth and beauty will be enhanced .in If your favorite shop haa not been fortunate enough to have secured the exdulive tale of dresses fashioned by Peggy Paige, write ua for name of local dealer and at the same time we will send you our illustrated Styta Book. A* dress Dept B, PEGGY PAIGE Nor York C*j Oddity of size and shape and oddity of display type in adver- tisements have a cer- tain desirable value provided they are not carried too far or ap- pear too often. PUTTING THE ADVERTISEMENT INTO TYPE 69 they were about because they were uninviting in appearance. All things considered the advertisement that is most certain to put its message across is the one that is typographically easy to read. Type Colors. The advertisement writer must study the use of black, white and gray in order to give the right typographical tone to his work. Too much black type gives a somber, funereal appearance to the advertisement. The use of too much very light faced type makes it look characterless and insipid. Leaded DRINK AND ENJOY Maximum display in minimum space. matter gives a gray effect to the page. In order to impart to the advertisement the proper tone color we should, if possible, know the tone color of the other advertisements that are to appear on the same page with it. If they have a black effect then our advertisement should be light in tone so that it will win attention through contrast. A space filled with small type, producing a gray tone is often effective if adjacent to advertisements set in bold face type. About Borders. A border is the frame of the advertisement. It pulls its several parts together and gives it physical unity and individuality. A border has also been compared to a fence that keeps the neighbors from encroaching upon our property. A border is not an absolute necessity, its employment depending upon the character of the display. In fact, type well squared has a border value of its own and often shows to greater advan- 70 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING tage through contrast with surrounding advertisements in which borders are used. Nine-tenths of all the national advertisers favor borders for advertisements occupying less than a page, but drop them in full pages. SETH THOMAS 'E are careful that the name SETH THOMAS is placed only on clocks possessing flawless median- ism, accurate adjustment and precision of balance. <"*s> Clocks of less perfection '^D would not be worthy of such a time -honored name An example of hand lettering that wins attention because of its legibility and refinement. Although the advertisement contains only a few words of text the reader gets from them a distinct idea of the reliability and high-class character of clocks bearing itfl name of Seth Thomas. Borders and rules are furnished by type-founders in endless variety. They are made on the Point System, whether plain or ornamental. Plain brass rule borders are to be had in various sizes from 3^-point to 12-point and even greater thickness. Those most frequently employed are^-point, 1-point, 1^-point, 2-point, 3-point, 4-point, 6-point, and 12-point, the faces being solid black. PUTTING THE ADVERTISEMENT INTO TYPE 71 Some pleasing border effects are produced by placing a heavy and a light rule together. Ornamental borders frequently add greatly to the attractiveness of an advertisement, especially when To 27 Men MORE than 350.000 will read this morning's Times. We want to reach only twenty- seven men. These twenty -seven men are vitally interested in buying sugar mills and engines for cane-sugar plants in Cuba. We want them to find out why they should buy Hamilton Sugar Mills and Engines. The men who design and build Hamilton Sugar Mills and Engines built Henry Ford's 60,000 h. p. power plant in Detroit and he put it in a glass case and set it on the sidewalk for the whole world to see that it was good. They built marine engines for the Emergency Fleet Corporation.- and while others previously had taken six weeks to cast and machine one cylinder, these men built/bur complete 2800 n. p. marine engine*, a week and they, too, were good They have built thousands of power plants for many industries throughout the United States and engine Number One, built in 1882. is still in perfect running order, though it Jras passed through a fire and a flood. Best ef all, they have built com- plete sugar -mill equipment for many Cuban "Centrals." They have proved, by actual grinding through big crop seasons, that Hamilton Sugar Mills extract the highest possible amount . of juice from the greatest feed of cane at s cost that is small consistent with the sure, steady, continuous results and economical efficiency of operation. Each of these twenty-seven men can get fullconstructiondetailsfroro our illustrated catalog. THE HOOVEN, OWENS, RENTSCHLER CO tSTAKJSHUM Hamilton. Ohio. U. & A. New York Office: 39 Cortlandt Street Cc in mo* large citiw Representative in Ojba. Martial Facio,Obr[>i 23. Hav Set in Scotch Roman this advertisement shows what can be done with plain type and white space in securing effective display. The arrangement of the text in double column form, the use of short, leaded paragraphs and a direct address headline, make a combination that is strongly attractive. it occupies fairly large space. The best of those appearing in the magazines and big city newspapers are hand-drawn by high class commercial artists who specialize upon such work. 72 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING In such cases the borders not only furnish an artistic frame for the advertisements but serve to strengthen their appeal through the clever introduction of figures, illustrations or sug- gestions relating to the articles exploited. A Wrigley Chew- OFF1CERS GERHARD M. OAHL Prnfljc* LINDSAY RUSSELL ChtrnUM. Board of Dirteforl AUGUST LMONT Mai eUGBNB C. WORDEN SmctirT DOUGLAS L. DUNBAR AIM. 10 Prctldcnl OSCAR E. RILBY H<>< BANKERS TRUST CO. H ami I to Gerard Swopc Jacob H. Schiff 1 Herbert S. Houi.o* wfftffm 0*o J Baldwin JttmMlLUorM Wm'.'m North DoSM R. Ichlnomiy* Dr. Jokichi TakmniM Hon. El'bert H P G*ry " Called "The Gem of the World" NO traveler to Japan should miss a trip through the Inland Sea. Rich as Japan a in scenic beauty, the natural grandeur of this fairy waterway excels all eke. 240 miles from East to West and from 3 to 30 miles from North to South its four channels com- municate with the outer sea. The. shores of granite rock are splashed with gaily colored flowers. The islands which dot the basin contain many beautiful parks, all the highest examples of the Japanese landscape gardener's art. The waters of the Inland Sea, usually smooth as a mirror, contain more than one hundred varieties of fish. An ever-changing panorama of scenic beauty delights 'the traveler. The Sacred Island of Miyajima with its great Torii Gate rising from the water to a height of numerous side trips about the islands for those who wish a more extended tour than that offered by the main line steamships. Numerous ferries and launches provide transportation and overnight accommodations may be had in the native inns. Japan through the Japan Society, an organization of 1400 Americans, which places at your disposal its Trade, Travel, Service. News and Publication De- partments and its Trade Bulletin, How may we serve you ? Japan Society <OrMixcd 1907) 165 Broadway New York Simplicity and quiet charm characterize this Japan Society advertisement. It wins attention by its illustration and the reader's interest is aroused by well written text. ing Gum ad, occupying an entire page, had for its border small pictures of packages of gum printed in colors. In a highly artistic design one that challenges attention because of its beauty or its ingenious character there is danger that it will so dominate the advertisement itself that the reader will over- PUTTING THE ADVERTISEMENT INTO TYPE 73 look the text and entirely miss its message. The same thing happens in the use of illustrations. If they are strikingly beauti- '"Best in the Long Ttun MANY motorists think that the outer casing holds the air. But it doesrit! It holds the tube which holds the air. And the quality of the tube spells the value of the tire in service. The safest economy is to equip with Goodrich Red Inner Tubes in the first place. INNER TUBES TV a F. GooJmh Xubter OM0M Mm** Ohi Makers of Ike SIIVIATOWM Card Tin Hand lettering is used to advantage in this Goodrich ad. The wide white Bpace surrounding the reading matter throws the advertisement into promi- nence and greatly enhances its attention value. ful or unusual but do not directly relate to the article that is being exploited, they absorb so much of the reader's attention that little is left for the story in the text. 74 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING PV6UU -JttXlKli-ra.UUJEU'BlA. TteSUAY I1UB51AU. AlAit'Blf 3. 5Sg. i r;r WANAMAKER-S -.< WANAMAKER-S = WANAMAKER'S At Wanamaker's Where the Great Furniture Sale Is Welcome to the Guests of the Summer Resorts 100 Women's Summer Drexe* .^^ Speci*.IIyPriced Waists Women's Fine Fashion Pumps J^lsiUy Priced it $12 ^&^5sSJ5SiiBS^.Ti Many Men Need New Summer Suits Men's Panaro; i - Hats at $5 Diamond Jewelry Women's Terry Bathrobes Whh Good Soap 5 jr,irT.*! An August Rug Sale in Which You Can Get Genuinely Fine Rugs for Low Prices Orlett*! nun. sbuiotnl ooonetk ran. Snrjma ML **eei n* rocs. >e*se. Kre no*, il an O4.U BI.rt.-Gn...> Wntm ufiM.i'.:u "Only One Way to Realize What a Marvelous Thing Is This August Furniture Sale Come In and See the Goods! The best furniture sale from your point of view Is the sale that has the furniture you want at the lowest price* that ary one who values real quality and real economy is safe in paying.. This Is the Sale This is the sale for people who want to feel certain about the quality of the furniture they buy and who want to feel equally certain about the genuineness of the economy they effect in the buying of it- . The Wanamaker Furniture Sale has always been essen- tially and pre-eminently the sale of real quality and real economy. Today, more than ever, it fives up to that description. The finest furniture made in America and some, of the finest pieces made in Europe are here in an assortment with- out a rival either in America or Europe. There is not a maker of nne furniture in the country who. js not anxious to have his goods on these floors. The stock* as you see them represent the pick and choice of the oytput of the best shops in the land, and, no- doubtedly. they look it It is not only a pleasure to go through them, but some- thing of an education also. The beauty of them, tho fineness of the woodsmithing. the charm of the desi#i$ and theclevemess and skillof inte- rior and exterior cabinet craft are an impressive object les- son on the marvelous development that has taken place in the art of home furnishing in America within comparatively recent years. The one factor above all others responsible for this erer- rising standard is the Wanamaker Furniture Sale, It has spread the light regardingfurniture qualities, . ? :ir- niture beauties and furniture values.. And it must meet the Dew demand resulting from the newer knowledge of furni- ture and the furnishing arts as no other sale can meet them, because the people have made it the greatest sale of any kind in the world, and they must have good reason for doing so. The Three Chief Division* The Fifth Floor with all Its lovely and luxurious p(cw for tMnf The Sixth Floor contains a wonderful a<rraire of bedroom and dining-room E uita ranging all th way from the good -looting and : AfUm reproduction* ta Urrt r. ,ony of them charm. The wicker furniture is shown In fine amplitude on the Svi Floor. All our furniture It in the Hie, and price* Iv to 50 per c leaathan regular. . n novel and exc! uti ve l*.y la, The wicker furniture is ahown In fine a A typical full-page Wanamaker ad set in Century Expanded Roman. Note the attractive arrangement of the text matter and the free use of informative headlines. Wanamaker's ads are always interesting because they are written with that end in view. PUTTING THE ADVERTISEMENT INTO TYPE 75 Type is set solid or leaded. Leads are strips of metal varying in thickness from 1-point to 6-point, which are inserted between the lines of type, the amount of leading depending upon the character of the advertisement. Very small type, such as 5- and 6-point, should not be leaded more than 1-point; 8-point type does not require more than 2-point leads. In using the larger faces heavier leads can be employed. For instance, in 18-point type, 6-point slugs are used if a very open appearance is desired. The advantages derived from leading are that in separating the lines of type the white space makes the type easier to read, and gives the text a more inviting appearance. In farm papers and mail order publications the text matter of the advertisement is often set solid, the object being to crowd into the space as much informa- tion about the product as possible. In other mediums leads are generally employed. Common sense is as much a necessity in achieving success in advertising as in any other business. A knowledge of technique is, of course, necessary, but unless it is employed with good judgment and a fair understanding of what constitutes good taste, any campaign, no matter how extensive it may be, may fail to produce the results for which it was undertaken. Questions 1. Upon what does the effectiveness of an advertisement largely depend? 2. Name the families of type that are most popular with advertisers. 3. What can type express through its shape or design? 4. What type would you use in a jewelry advertisement? 6. What is meant by " bold face? " 6. How are the sizes of type indicated? 7. How is type composition measured? 8. What two principles should be kept in mind in selecting type for an advertisement ? 9. What are the elements of display? 10. How does white space add to the strength of an advertisement? 11. What effect do leads have upon the color of a page? 12. For what purposes are borders employed? SIZES OF TYPE SOLID INCHES 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 POINT POINT POINT POINT POINT POINT POINT POINT 1 69 47 38 32 28 21 17 14 2 138 94 76 64 56 42 34 28 4 276 188 152 128 112 84 68 56 6 414 282 228 192 168 126 102 84 8 552 376 304 256 224 168 136 112 10 690 470 380 320 280 210 170 140 12 828 564 456 384 336 252 204 168 14 966 658 532 448 392 294 238 196 16 1104 752 608 512 448 336 272 224 18 1242 846 684 576 504 378 306 252 20 1380 940 760 640 560 420 340 280 22 1518 1034 836 704 616 462 374 308 24 1656 1128 912 768 672 504 408 336 26 1794 1222 988 832 728 546 442 364 28 1932 1346 1064 896 784 588 476 392 80 2070 1410 1140 960 840 630 510 420 32 2208 1504 1216 1024 896 672 544 448 84 2346 1598 1292 1088 952 714 578 476 86 2484 1692 1368 1152 1008 756 612 504 SQUARE SIZES or TYPE LEADED with 2-point leads INCHES 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 POINT POINT POINT POINT POINT POINT POINT POINT 1 50 34 27 23 21 16 14 11 2 100 68 54 46 42 32 28 22 4 200 136 108 92 84 64 56 44 6 300 204 162 138 126 96 84 66 8 400 272 216 184 168 128 112 88 10 500 340 270 230 210 160 140 110 12 600 408 324 276 252 192 168 132 14 700 476 378 322 294 224 196 154 16 800 544 432 368 336 256 224 176 18 900 612 486 414 378 288 252 198 20 1000 680 540 460 420 320 280 220 22 1100 748 594 506 462 352 308 242 24 1200 816 648 552 504 384 336 264 26 1300 884 702 598 546 416 364 286 28 1400 952 756 644 588 448 392 308 30 1500 1020 810 690 630 480 420 330 32 1600 1088 864 736 672 512 448 352 34 1700 1156 918 782 714 544 476 374 36 1800 1224 972 828 756 576 504 396 Table for ascertaining the number of words to square inches. Use of this table in lay- ing out booklets and catalogs will not only save time but will minimize the chance of a miscalculation. CHAPTER VII ADVANTAGES OF COLOR IN ADVERTISING The use of color in advertising has become so popular among national distributors of merchandise and its value so generally recognized that it is important that you should give the subject careful consideration. It is a well-known fact that everybody, from the baby in its mother's arms to the old man whose race is nearly run, loves color. The primitive savage and the highest type of civilized man are attracted by it. Through its prodigal employment Nature has made the world a vista of enchanting beauty. It is because of this universal appeal of color that advertisers have found it a powerful means for influencing the buying public. Color Valuable in Three Ways. Color is valuable in advertis- ing in three ways: First, for attracting attention; second, in presenting the characteristic features of an article which will impress and influence the buyer; and, third, in reproducing the exact appearance of the containers in which the article is sold. We have already seen how typographical display and illustra- tions have increased the attention value of advertising matter by introducing the element of contrast. By the addition of color both of these factors have been raised to the highest degree of effectiveness in their power of appeal. The magazine publishers were among the first to discover the pulling force of color when they began using it on their front covers. The immediate result was the stimulation of news-stand sales. Advertisers quickly saw the advantages to be gained by the employment of color in their own announcements on the back pages of these periodicals, and it was not long before they were given the privilege of using it. Although a much higher rate was charged in some cases double what they had paid before they considered it a good investment on account of the unusual 77 78 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING attention their advertisements received from the public and the big increase in sales that followed their appearance. Colored Inserts. The demand for back cover pages soon became so great that it far exceeded the supply. Then the publishers introduced the use of colored inserts, so-called because they were printed or lithographed on coated paper by concerns specializing in that kind of work, and tipped in the magazine when it was being bound. During the last few years color printing has been perfected to such a degree that the weekly magazines now print advertisements in several colors on their regular presses. The effects secured in this way on calendered paper are almost as good as when they were struck off on coated paper on slower presses. High-grade Art Work Necessary. In preparing magazine advertisements that are to be printed in colors too much stress cannot be laid upon the importance of having the design and illustrations prepared by high-class artists. The cost of color printing and of space in the best periodicals is so great that it is a waste of money to use second-class art work. Color will not make a poorly drawn picture or cheap-looking typographical layout effective, but it will enormously increase the attention value of high-grade illustrations and artistically arranged type displays. Effectiveness of Color Advertising. Before discussing the technical principles involved in the employment of color let us consider some of the practical advantages to be derived from its use. One of the best examples of its superior sales compelling force when applied to advertising is to be found in the experience of a Chicago mail order house that brought out two catalogs which were precisely alike except that one was printed in colors and the other in black and white. When the results were checked up a few months later it was discovered that the one printed in colors had produced fifteen times as many sales as the one in black and white. The advertising manager of the largest manufacturer of cameras and photographic materials in the United States has stated that color, in conjunction with position, is worth all it costs in popularizing photography. The head of one of New York's most important advertising ADVANTAGES OF COLOR IN ADVERTISING 79 agencies has said that " colors are of tremendous value in ad- vertising when applied in the right way. But their mission is arbitrary. They appeal to the vision. Their greatest value maybe their only value in commercial advertising is to visualize attractively, or graphically, or both." Earnest Elmo Calkins, the author of the " Business of Adver- tising, " declares that "only a few kinds of advertising demand color as such. It is the innate appeal of color itself rather than its specific use that makes a selling appeal. Most color advertis- ing is done largely to get a preferred position on the back of a magazine, and then, having such a position, which has a certain poster opportunity, to make an advertisement in color that will have a long distance appeal." The advertising manager of a prominent silverware manu- facturing company asserts that he gets better results from the use of black and white in advertising the company's products, but admits he has found colors to be of great value in creating the atmosphere of the Colonial period in which the silverware was first produced. What Color Does. Color gives more snap, more vitality and more persuasion to the advertising appeal. It has the same effect upon the eye as music has upon the ear. Harmony in color is analogous to harmony in sound. Color enables the advertiser to present the physical characteristics of his merchandise. It is especially useful in advertising fruit, vegetables and other food products. How much more attractive, for instance, is an illus- tration showing a glass dish filled with ripe red strawberries or luscious yellow peaches, when printed in the colors that Nature gave them under sunny summer skies, than when printed in cold, black and white. Compare the photograph of a young woman with a portrait painted in color and note the difference. The first is lifeless and flat. There is nothing about it that stirs the emotions. The second, on the other hand, presents in an impressive way the physical charms of the original. You note the glow of youthful color in her cheeks, the dark blue of her eyes, and the golden sheen of her hair, and from them you obtain an accurate idea of just how she looks in the flesh. If you were given the choice 80 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING of ownership of one of the pictures you would unhesitatingly take the painting. The National Biscuit Company's early use of color in its poster advertising, the purpose of which was to familiarize the public with the Uneeda Biscuit package, was a strong factor in creating sales for that product. The purple wrapper with its white lettering and the Inner Seal trademark on the ends were so faithfully reproduced on billboards all over the country that persons who could not read had no difficulty in identifying the package on the grocers' shelves. By the use of color wall paper manufacturers are able to show the possibilities of their goods for decorative purposes by means of photographic reproductions of the walls of various rooms that are covered with the different patterns of paper they produce. Weavers of carpets and rugs, and manufacturers of silk, cotton and woolen fabrics can, through the employment of color, give the trade a correct idea of their quality and appearance. Manu- facturers of clothing for men and women have found it invaluable in arousing and sustaining an interest in their goods. The rail- roads have greatly increased their tourist travel by presenting in natural colors the beautiful scenes of mountains and lakes along their several routes. How Colors Aid Salesmen. Traveling salesmen representing some lines of business now carry photographs of the merchandise they handle printed in color, thus saving heavy baggage and express charges on sample trunks, and the rent of sample rooms in hotels. These photographs reproduce the appearance of the articles so accurately that in the case of textiles the merchant can obtain from them a correct impression of all their character- istics except those that are only revealed through the sense of touch. Colors are also employed to show the grain of the different kinds of wood used in the manufacture of furniture. Manu- facturers of cash registers, phonographs and pianos have found that the application of colors to the illustrations in their catalogs and booklets has helped sales, because from them the prospective buyer can get as accurate an idea of how they look as he would if ADVANTAGES OF COLOR IN ADVERTISING 81 FAIRY SHIP borne upon -waves of foam. ..The Fairy Queen commander... Upon the prow her willing crew unfurls the brilliant star-clad sail. . . Pearls in great ropes and jewels priceless hang o'er the stde...and in the hold a cargo fraught with charm. ..The winds, hed with fragrance rare, cling to the Fairy Ship. ..as if to test the beauty held within. Thus we may well ascribe the charm of c Djer-KiiS, brought to you from Ft pcrfec honed* smartness. The full beauty of this artistic creation can only be appreciated when seen in the brilliant colors 1 of the original Djer-Kiss advertisement which appeared in several high-class magazines and theater programs. 6 82 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING In the rich colors of the original this advertisement was a work of art. While admiring the beauty of the young woman and the lusciousness of the fruit you are not allowed to forget that it is an advertisement of Adams' Gum. ADVANTAGES OF COLOR IN ADVERTISING 83 The Wesson Oil people found this advertisement, when printed in colors, one of the most appealing and resultful they have yet published. 84 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING WILSON MAM THIS picture is from an actual photograph. It shows the quality that is "Certified" in these hams. We can certiiij it be- cause we -select the hams, give them our slow, mild cure and smoke them to the last touch of perfec- tion in flavor. CERTIFIED" quality \^r means hams that cook better, slice in tender, tempting style wafer- thin or as thick as you like and have a flavor that is unapproachable. We will be glad to send you free a copy of "Wilson's Meat Cook- ery" our book showing how to buy and cook meats economically. Address Wilson & Co., Deft. 1143, Chicago C7 The artist's work on the picture of the ham in the original of this Wilson ad- vertisement was so well done that when reproduced in natural colors the slices looked like the real thing and made a strong appeal to the appetite. ADVANTAGES OF COLOR IN ADVERTISING 85 DEPENDABILITY ATLAS-WHITE for the finish coat of stucco can be depended upon for the purest, permanent white when used with white sand alone: and for highest accentuation of color tones when used with color aggregates one of the reasons why so many eminent architects specify Atlas. THE ATLAS PORTLAND CEMENT COMPANY The illustration in the original advertisement was printed in warm, contrasting colors which threw into relief the white front wall of the quaint old house and emphasized the value of Atlas White. 86 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING How to keep Bread fresher YOUR bread can't keep "fresh" even for a day in a stale bread box. Mere scalding with hot water is not 'enough. A tablcspoonful of Gold Dust t of hot water takes wonderful ear Boxes because- Cold Dust e every tiny particle of grease in nits. And, very imferMtu, it pletcly. Now staid with hot sun, il possible. With this simple Gold Dust treatment you never need -worry about stale or "mouldy" bread boxes. And your "staff of lite" needs the best of care, doesn't it? tn do your work 1 In this advertisement, occupying a full page in women's magazines and printed in color, some of the many uses of Gold Dust are demonstrated in illustrations. The package itself is prominently displayed. The text supplies additional in- formation that stimulates interest in the product. ADVANTAGES OF COLOR IN ADVERTISING 87 he visited the factory or the agent's warerooms hundreds of miles away. The dry-goods dealer, the glove manufacturer, the corset maker and the ribbon weaver can show his goods in all the hues ,of the rainbow. In truth there seems to be no end of the articles that can be exploited to advantage through the use of color. As women are more susceptible to the refinements of color than men they are more easily attracted and influenced by it. This is why in the high-class women's publications color is so generally employed in the advertisements of women's wearing apparel, millinery and toilet accessories. Psychologists tell us that color is emotional rather than intellectual in its appeal. This perhaps accounts for its effect upon the fair sex. Mere descriptions of colors do not mean the same thing to all people. When you say a thing is red it means little to many persons, for the reason that there are so many different tints of red, the technical names of which they do not know, that they cannot tell which one is designated. Written descriptions of goods are all right as far as they go, but we do not all receive a like impression from them. On the other hand, when you visual- ize the goods in your advertising by means of an illustration you increase the number of persons who can understand what you are talking about. If you go a step farther and print the pictures hi colors corresponding to those of the articles you are exploiting, you eliminate all possibility of misconception on the part of the reader. Technical Details. There are a few technical details concern- ing the application of color in advertising that are worth remembering. A beam of white light falling upon a glass prism in a dark room is dissolved into the seven colors of which it is composed violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Sir David Brewster declares that the three fundamental colors are red, yellow and blue. The combination of any two of these results in the formation of a secondary color which contrasts with the third color. Secondary colors should be used for backgrounds, leaving the primary colors to bring out the strong points in the advertisement. To develop the true brilliancy of a color it must be supported 88 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING by a contrast or a complementary color. For instance, the red of the rose harmonizes with the green of the foliage. The warm colors are red, yellow and' orange. The cold are blue, violet and green. In fixing upon a good color scheme for a design one that is harmonious and strong it is usually wise to select complementary colors and deepen or gray one of them. Here is a list of colors and their complements: Red Green Red Orange Green Blue Orange Blue Orange Yellow Purple Blue Yellow Purple Yellow Green Purple Red Green Red Green Blue Red Orange Blue Orange Blue Purple Orange Yellow Purple Yellow Purple Red Yellow Green Strong contrasts of color must be aimed at, for it is the strong but pleasing contrasts that attract the eye and live in the mem- ory. One must know how to produce harmony through the proper selection of colors just as the musician must know how to combine the notes in the scale to produce harmony of sound. According to a series of tests made by psychologists men have a preference for blue and women for red. Yellow is more favored by young people than by old. With advancing age the preferred color passes on down toward the violet end of the spectrum. The younger the person the nearer the red end will be found the color that pleases most. In regard to the selection of stock for printing colored ad- vertisements, it may be said that since warm colors are demanded oftenest for the strong spots of the design, on account of their more pleasing and interest-exciting qualities, the stock should be a pale tone of the red-orange, orange and the orange-yellow, or yellow colors. These are all cream or buff in tone. Very ADVANTAGES OF COLOR IN ADVERTISING 89 valuable colors for stock are pale yellow-green, green, green-blue and blue-purple. There are several color printing processes employed by printers. The most popular are the three- and four-color processes. The three-color process is based on the three fundamental colors red, yellow and blue, which may be combined to produce any shade or color desired, a different plate being used for each color. Sometimes a fourth plate is used to print in the black or gray to obtain neutral tones and blacks. Questions 1. In what three ways is color valuable in advertising? 2. What are colored inserts and in what class of mediums are they employed? 3. Why is it uneconomical to use cheap art work? 4. Give two instances in which the introduction of color increased the pulling power of advertisements. 5. What products can be advertised to special advantage by the use of color? 6. In what way does the use of color aid salesmen in selling goods to dealers? 7. To what part of our nature does color appeal? 8. How does color prevent misunderstanding? 9. Name the three fundamental colors. 10. What colors indicate warmth? What colors indicate cold? 11. What is the favorite color of men? Of women? 12. In advertising a refrigerator or an ice company what would be an appropriate color to use? 13. How is brilliancy of color best brought out? CHAPTER VIII PLANNING A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN General advertising campaigns may broadly be divided into three classes: 1. Extensive campaigns involving large sums of money, carried on in behalf of articles which have a general or national consump- tion and which have been advertised for years and are therefore firmly established. 2. Campaigns to exploit articles similar to those comprised in the first class but which have never been advertised before, the amount spent depending upon the object to be accomplished. 3. Campaigns to introduce new products having little or no distribution and requiring educational work to acquaint the public with their uses and trade-marks. These may be at first territorial in character, and, later, may take in the whole country. It is obvious that each of these classes requires different treatment. The plan and copy must be adapted to the purpose of the campaign. It is quite evident that in exploiting an article that has been on the market for years you would employ a different kind of copy than for a brand-new article with which the public is unacquainted. The first thing to do in planning a national campaign is to answer these questions: What do I want the advertising to accomplish? Is it to introduce a new product and arouse interest in it? Is it to build confidence and good" will through what is known as institutional advertising, or is it to produce immediate sales? When you have reached a decision, the next step is to settle upon the plan of campaign, which should be based upon informa- tion contained in the answers to the following questions: To what class of people does the article appeal? How large a territory is to be covered by the campaign? Based upon popula- 90 PLANNING A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN 91 tion, what are the maximum sales possible in this territory? What competition will have to be overcome? Are the goods sold through jobbers or direct to retailers? Are they well distributed? From the consumer's viewpoint, is the article a necessity, a luxury or a public convenience? Not until this information is assembled is it necessary to give much attention to the advertising appropriation. Having determined what results you want to secure, the territory to be covered, and the best mediums for reaching the people who may become interested hi your products, you can then figure out the cost of the campaign. But when the figures have been assembled it may be found that the sum of money called for is more than the finances of the firm will allow to be invested at the time. In which case it will be com- paratively easy to cut down the number of mediums to be used and the territory to be covered until the amount falls within the ability of the firm to pay. The trouble with many new advertisers is that they start in to advertise at a pace they cannot maintain for any length of time. They attempt to cover the whole country when they should con- fine the campaign to a small section of it. They expect too much from their advertising at the beginning. They fail to appreciate the fact that it takes time to familiarize the public with the advantages of a new article and create a determination to possess it. Few persons rush out and buy it when the first advertisement appears. A certain amount of mental inertia must be overcome before they will react to the appeal and this is accomplished through a repetition of the advertising impression. Hence the necessity for continuous advertising. In another chapter (Problems of the General Advertiser) the advertising appropriation is discussed at some length and therefore we need not dwell upon it further here, except to emphasize the desirability of adopting a fixed sum and sticking to it. If the amount is 2 per cent, of the gross sales of last year let that figure stand no matter what pressure may be brought upon you to change it. The advertising manager then knows just where he stands. He has a definite sum to put into advertis- ing for the next twelve months and can plan Jiis campaign accord- 92 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING ingly. If he is wise he will so arrange his schedule that he will always have a small amount of money on hand with which to take advantage of any unusual advertising opportunity that may arise. The fixed appropriation removes uncertainty and pro- motes confidence in the selling organization. Not only can better results be obtained but also at less expense. On the Selection of Mediums. Having selected the territory the advertising campaign is to cover, the next important step is to choose the mediums that are to be used. The greater part of the appropriation of most general advertisers, and especially of those who are marketing an article having a wide appeal, is invested in the newspapers, because they are universally read by the masses who constitute the bulk of the buying public, and exert a direct influence upon them. If the goods are on sale in the stores the newspapers bring the buyer and seller together in a natural way. The manufacturer describes his product as at- tractively as possible and then tells where it can be found right in the town in which the newspaper is printed. Every live city of 5,000 inhabitants and upward has at least one daily newspaper. Some have three or four, while New York, America's greatest city, has 56, one-half being printed in foreign languages. In each city containing two or more newspapers there is usually one that dominates the field and is the best medium in which to advertise. In addition to knowing the best newspaper in each community it is advisable to know the character and peculiarities of the population. There are, for instance, cities of equal size, twenty- five, fifty and one hundred miles apart, that differ amazingly in many ways. Some run to clothes, some to amusements and some to automobiles. Some towns buy half as much food as other cities having the same population. You can tell very little about the buying capacity of a town until you learn the nature of the principal occupations of the inhabitants. Next to the newspapers the magazines, monthly and weekly, stand highest in favor among general advertisers. The quality of their readers is above the average and their ability to buy is larger. Because of the superior grade of paper upon which they are printed, a higher class of illustrations can be used, and the PLANNING A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN 93 advertisements show up better and are more attractive. Another advantage is that magazines permit the employment of colors, which greatly enhance their effectiveness. Other popular mediums are booklets, folders, catalogs, posters and painted bulletins, electric signs and street car cards. Each one plays an important part in a general advertising campaign. The fact that the most successful advertisers use these mediums year after year is proof of their merit. Further on in this book the several mediums are discussed at greater length. How Lists of Newspapers and Other Publications Are Prepared. Having determined upon the territory to be covered, whether a district, section or the entire country, the advertising manager, or, in case the account is handled by an advertising agency, the space buyer, proceeds to make up the list of periodicals to be used. The directory containing the largest and most reliable list of publications is issued by N. W. Ayer & Son, of Philadelphia. It gives the name, publisher or editor of 25,000 publications of all kinds, together with the dates when established, their circu- lation, frequency of issue, and the population of the town or city in which they are printed. In addition, the advertising agent has on file a vast amount of information relating to ad- vertising rates, discounts, the size of pages, width of columns, character of cuts that will be accepted, limitations as to the character of copy carried, closing dates of magazines, politics of daily papers, statistics regarding the industries, businesses, schools and churches of the cities in which they are published. While the advertising manager of concerns that have been advertising for years may also have much of this information at his command, the agent's data is usually more complete and reliable. Take the matter of rates as an illustration. All periodical or newspaper publishers furnish their rates on application either hi the form of a letter or a rate card. Buyers of advertising space know from experience that rate cards do not always tell the truth that lower rates than those given can often be obtained through diplomatic offers of cash with order, by quoting lower rates that have been accepted by other publishers, or by promises of using larger copy later on. 94 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING The agent, buying as he does for many clients, soon learns the ins and outs of rate cards and can drive hard and fast bargains with periodicals with which he has dealt before. He knows when he is getting rock-bottom rates, and therefore can save consider- able money for his clients. The advertising manager does not usually have this intimate knowledge of rates because he only buys space for the house with which he is connected. Occa- sionally he may pick up a little valuable information on the sub- ject by comparing notes with other advertising managers, but, as a rule, such data is not peddled about. In making up the list of publications the size of the appropria- tion is an important factor. It may be large enough to warrant the use of all of the daily newspapers of a city, or perhaps two newspapers, a morning and an evening; or the limit may be one newspaper, in which case the one having the largest circulation would probably be selected. Negotiations are carried on by the advertiser with each publication for the amount of space re- quired and contracts covering the period of the campaign are signed. Sometimes, in cases where a newspaper and an adver- tiser have been doing business together for years, the formality of drawing up and signing contracts is dispensed with, the usual order for the space required being regarded as sufficiently binding. Bills are rendered weekly or monthly according to agreement, but the usual custom is to send them monthly except in the case of a few weeklies of large circulation whose page rate is several thousand dollars. A discount of 2 per cent, for cash in 10 days is frequently allowed. The advertiser is supplied with copies of the publication in which his advertisements appear as proof of the fulfilment of the contract. How Often Should Advertisements Be Run? Experienced advertisers have found that in daily newspaper campaigns cover- ing the greater part of the year it is not necessary to advertise seven days in the week in order to obtain maximum results. The schedule adopted by several manufacturers provides for an advertisement every other day. When this plan is followed the public gets the impression that it appears in every issue of the paper. Some advertisers order insertions to be made on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday in morning PLANNING A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN 95 newspapers. Others prefer Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Outside of New York and a few cities where the large department stores are closed either all day or half a day on Saturday during July and August, more goods are sold on Saturday than on any other day in the week. Thursday is the next largest sales day. In New York Monday is also a big day for shoppers. Large space used, on Wednesday or Friday, and Monday two days a week will produce good results. Sunday editions are not regarded with favor by most national advertisers because of the large amount of local advertising which they carry that day, and which absorbs the attention of the reader to an unusual degree. Sunday is the one day in the week, they declare, when nothing is lost by staying out of the paper. There are, however, several classes of advertisers who have found the Sunday news- papers the most profitable editions of the week, namely, book publishers, the summer and winter resort hotels, and the steam- ship and railroad companies that cater to tourists and vacationists. Advertisements that appear only one day a week are hardly worth while unless half pages or whole pages are used. Far better results can be secured by dividing the space into three parts, filling each with good stirring copy and running one of these advertisements every other day for a week. A few ad- vertisers have had success in using 1- and 2-in. advertisements 365 days in the year. In each case, however, the article adver- tised was a specialty that was sold at a low price and for which only a limited demand could possibly be created. As we have already stated elsewhere, it is, as a rule, far better to use fairly large space in a few good mediums than small space in many. Now as to Copy. If the plan of campaign has been carefully worked out beforehand, as it should be, the copy-writer is now in a position to lay out to advantage a series of advertisements for the campaign. Every campaign should have at least one idea behind it one purpose in view. The degree of skill with which the idea is developed and presented will measure the success it will achieve. Some articles are easily advertised because of the abundance of material at the writer's command. Take silks as an illustration. 96 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING So much can be said about the cultivation of the silkworm, of the cocoon that it spins, of the winding of the gossamer threads, of the spinning, weaving and dyeing of the silk fabric, of its fashioning into exquisite garments for the adornment and com- fort of women, that there is practically no end to the interesting advertisements that can be prepared on the subject. In contrast to silk take soap. There is very little in the way of variety to be said about soap, especially about the kind made for washing clothes and for cleaning purposes. You cannot put much heart interest into advertisements about it. The sub- ject does not appeal to the imagination. You cannot get very enthusiastic over kitchen soap. And yet there are at least two brands of household soap that have been advertised continuously for 35 or 45 years. If you will look over the advertisements that have been printed during this period you will find that there has been a surprising variety of copy employed. The style has changed with the times. The illustrations have been adapted to the day, and the copy to the prevailing method of presentation. All of which goes to show that the wide-awake advertisement writer who studies his product continuously and who knows how to take advantage of information picked up by salesmen, or from correspondence flowing through the office, is never lacking in good material out of which to construct advertisements that will pay. What Should Be Done to Help the Retailer? The general advertiser who takes no further interest in his product after it has been sold to the retail merchant is making a great mistake, for unless the goods move off the dealers' shelves within a reasonable length of time, the latter will buy no more of them. The ex- pense incurred in selling the first bill of goods to a retailer is seldom offset by the profit made on the transaction. Only those accounts are worth while that represent repeat orders. It is therefore to the manufacturer's interest to watch the retailer's sales, and if he needs help to give it to him ungrudgingly. The more progressive man does not need to be asked for -assistance he volunteers it at the start. While magazine advertising is introducing the product to the general public and newspaper advertising is creating a local PLANNING A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN 97 demand and telling where it can be purchased, it is often desirable to cultivate the local field more intensively by the employment of additional mediums and methods. Moreover, there are some cities and towns in which the daily newspapers, for various reasons, cannot be employed. Retailers in such places must use other means for letting their customers know what they have to offer. The general advertiser finds it advisable to furnish these merchants artistic window and counter displays, hangers, folders, booklets, "and advertising novelties. If provided with a list of a retailer's customers he will gladly mail to them letters bearing the merchant's signature and calling attention to the article for which a market is sought. In the large cities where the retailers have the benefit of local newspaper advertising they are supplied with many of the dealer helps just enumerated. In addition the manufacturer furnishes cuts for the merchant's store advertising and puts on demonstra- tions of his products in the stores for a few days. Foods, relishes, new beverages, and cleaning preparations are advertised profitably in this way. Another means of attracting buyers for a product is through the distribution of samples by the advertiser's own crews employed for the purpose. Unless the work is done with great care and discretion this method is apt to prove ex- pensive, especially when the unit cost runs above 10 cents. It is not advisable to furnish advertising matter of any kind to the retailer unless he has requested that it be sent, or has agreed to properly distribute it. And even then the manufacturer does not know whether the advertising matter is being used unless he sends inspectors among the stores to find out. The owner of a prosperous drug store in a large city near New York asserts that thousands of dollars' worth of such material which he can- not possibly use, is sent him unsolicited every year. The only way he has of getting rid of it is to sell it as waste paper to a junk dealer. When packages of booklets, circulars and folders arrive at the average retailer's store they are either left unopened in the store-room or are thrown under a counter where they are soon covered with dust and become soiled and unpresentable through the neglect of the clerks. If a dealer appreciates the assistance that the right kind of 7 98 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING printed matter can render, and will see that it is properly dis- tributed, he will find that it will have a great influence in creating sales. Should Dealer Helps Be Furnished Free of Charge? It is becoming more and more the custom to charge the dealer a proportionate share of the advertising matter furnished him by the general advertiser, more especially in the case of expensive booklets and folders. One argument advanced in support of this practice is that the retailer ought to bear a part of the burden of advertising cost and not expect the producer to shoulder it all. Another reason is that any retailer who wants printed matter badly enough to pay for it will see that it is properly distributed. We do not usually waste anything that costs us real money. One of the interesting developments in furnishing advertising helps to retailers is the marked improvement in the character of the printed matter they distribute. The cheap stuff put out fifteen years ago would not be accepted as a gift today by wide- awake retailers. Our merchants know what good printing is, and when they pay money for advertising matter of any kind they insist that they get their money's worth. Should Advertising Precede or Follow Distribution? The public cannot buy your product unless it is in the hands of the dealer when the advertising starts, and hence every person who might be influenced to go to the stores and inquire for it, should the advertising appear before distribution is effected, would be disappointed when told that it was not in stock. Moreover, he would feel that he had been deceived. Your advertisements probably said or implied that the article was on sale at the grocer's, the druggist's, or the dry-goods stores, when such was not the case. You may think that these inquiries will force the retailers to put it on sale and it may after months of advertising but what of the sales that might have been made in the meantime had the goods been in stock? By far the most sensible plan of procedure is to secure distri- bution first and thus get the full benefit of your advertising from the start. This, we will admit, is not an easy task, but good salesmanship, backed by convincing proof as to the character and amount of the Advertising that is to be employed to exploit PLANNING A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN 99 the merchandise and help move it off the dealer's shelves, will have its effect. If only one or two retailers in a town can be persuaded to give trial orders at the start the others will, later on when the advertising begins to pull, be glad to stock up. Questions 1. Name the three classes of general advertising campaigns. 2. What things are to be considered in laying out a campaign? 3. In introducing a new article why is it best to try it out in a limited territory first before attempting to cover the country? 4. Why is the newspaper regarded as a desirable medium by national advertisers? 6. How are lists of newspapers and magazines prepared? 6. How can the advertising agent help? 7. How often should the advertisements appear? 8. What days of the week are most favored by national distributors? 9. Where can the material for advertisements be found? 10. What should be done to help the retailer? 11. Should a charge be made for advertising material furnished? Give the reasons. 12. Should advertising precede or follow distribution? 13. Select three newspapers in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago that could be used to best advantage in creating a demand for a medium priced shoe for men and women on sale at local stores. 14. Prepare a 5-in. D. C. advertisement for a new kind of wheat break- fast food. Secure the material by calling upon the owner or manager of a local grocery store. 15. If you were called upon to invest $100,000 in a national advertising campaign for a line of men's and youth's clothes, what mediums would you use and how would you apportion the money among them? CHAPTER IX PROBLEMS OF THE NATIONAL ADVERTISER The commercial business of the world is carried on by three groups of men manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers. Of these the manufacturers and the wholesalers, or jobbers, as they are often called, are national distributors, and the retailers, local distributors of merchandise. As the former sell goods to mer- chants in all parts of the country their advertising is called general advertising because it is confined to no one city or dis- trict. The largest national advertisers are the manufacturers of food products, cigars and cigarettes, chewing gum, automobiles and automobile accessories, shoes, men's clothing, soap, musical instruments and toilet articles. One tobacco company is in- vesting more than $3,000,000 a year in advertising. A talking machine is being exploited to the extent of over $2,500,000 annually. A gum manufacturer is putting $1,750,000 into his advertising every twelve months. There are at least twelve national advertisers who belong to the million-a-year class. In an earlier chapter we enumerated several things the general advertiser should be certain of before starting an advertising campaign, the most important being that his goods are right and meet the needs of the consumer; that the price is reasonable; that the capacity of the plant is sufficient to meet the demand developed by the advertising or can be enlarged to take care of it, and that the goods are properly marked so they can be identified by the consumer. Selecting the Advertising Agent. The importance of selecting a competent advertising agency to handle the advertising cam- paign cannot be too strongly emphasized. While the problem is not as difficult of solution as it was a few years ago, before the American Newspaper Publishers Association and the Peri- odical Publishers Association established certain rules to which 100 PROBLEMS OF THE NATIONAL ADVERTISER 101 the agents must conform to secure recognition, care must still be taken in making the choice. The agents themselves have done much to strengthen their position with both publishers and advertisers through the adoption of standards of practice. They have organized the American Association of Advertising Agencies, having a membership of 132, the object of which is to put the business on a higher basis. There are now few cities in which one or more thoroughly dependable agents cannot be found who are competent to handle an advertising account. The largest agencies those equipped to take full charge of appropriations running into thousands of dollars and even millions of dollars are located in the metropolitan cities. They command the services of the best copy-writers, the highest grade of commercial artists, and the keenest investigators in the field. Lists of recognized and unrecognized agents are published from time to time in Printers' Ink, the Editor and Publisher and the Fourth Estate, all located in New York City. While the former include a majority of the largest and best known agencies it does not follow that the latter are unreliable or incapable. In fact, there are among them many who render advertisers excellent service. There is, however, a distinct advantage in dealing with the recognized agents. You know that they have been investigated by representative organizations and have been admitted to their lists because they have been found to measure up to certain standards which they have established. What Mediums to Use. The selection of the right advertising mediums is fully as important as the choosing of an advertising agent. Just as an incompetent agent can make a fizzle of a campaign through mismanagement so the selection of poor mediums can waste the advertiser's money. If you pick out a reliable agent, one acquainted with the best practices, he will prepare a list of mediums which he considers best adapted to your needs as an advertiser. That is a part of his job. His constant study of newspapers and magazines gives him an accurate knowledge of their character, their circulation and their influence. He is familiar with their rates, the cities in which they are pub- lished and the kind of people who read them. Such knowledge cannot be picked up in a day, a month, or a year. Directories 102 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING contain some of the information, but the most of it can only be ac- quired by those who have had actual dealings with the publications in placing advertising contracts, and through correspondence and special investigations. If an advertising agent is not available the publisher of the local daily newspaper can be of assistance in selecting the proper mediums. The mediums employed by the general advertiser include newspapers, weekly and monthly magazines, trade publications, circulars, mailing cards, booklets, broadsides, folders, catalogs, letters, posters, street car cards, painted bulletins, motion pictures, samples and novelties. Only those advertisers whose appropriations are very large use all of them. The bulk of their investment as a rule goes into newspaper and magazine advertising. Several manufactured products have achieved a remarkable success through the use of street car cards alone, two of the best known being Omega Oil and Campbell's Soups. Just what kinds of mediums should be used depends upon the class of people to whom the article is to be sold, where they live, their ability to purchase, transportation facilities, etc. How to secure maximum sales at a minimum expense should be the aim of all advertisers. In marketing food products, wearing apparel and household articles of various kinds, the newspapers have been found economical principally because of their universal appeal. Magazines, especially the popular weeklies, are extensively em- ployed in creating interest in a product that already has general distribution. Trade and class publications should be used when the article to be sold strongly appeals to technical, professional, trade, industrial, religious, social or other groups of people. For in- stance, a new electric motor for power or electric lighting plants should be advertised in such publications as the Electrical World and the Electrical Review because they are read by electrical engineers who buy machines of this kind. If you are marketing an article that is used by breeders and drivers of horses you would find such a magazine as the Rider and Driver a good medium. If you want to reach the followers of Isaac Walton you should not overlook Forest and Stream. PROBLEMS OF THE NATIONAL ADVERTISER 103 Gonfessions of a jtfild "Havana T^OR years now, men who JT had a hankering for ripe Havana leaf made palatably mild, have found in Robt. Burns their beau-ideal. Robert Burns explains it thus: "My full Havana filler rarely fails to give my friends delight. The fact is, special curing brings my choice Havana to just the right degree of mildness. My deli- cately neutral Sumatra wrapper leaf helps that mildness. Deft fingers fashion my well-pro- HAVE YOU TRIED portioned,, easy-drawing form. "But after all, the test lies here Suppose you ask my friends among the trade, what luck, they have with substitutes." A WORTHY TEST but here's a better yet; suppose you inter- view Robt. Burns himself. Keen smokers, men who know, declare he's an even better cigar than ever which is saying much. ONE LATELY? U. S.1 E,. P.., J.. ]4. HZO This is a refined, well-balanced advertisement. The composition is in good taste. The illustration suggests the pleasure of an after dinner smoke and the text recommends the Robt. Burns Cigar. 104 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING A Sweetheart in Every Port Ship ahoy, Sailor boy Sweetheart alongside She'f to coy, he'i all joy Cracker Jack's their pride! CVERYONE likes Cracker Jack ]_, It's a delicious confection and a wholesome food. Made of carefully-selected, crispy popcorn and roasted peanuts, all gen- erously coated with molasses candy. Just try Cracker Jack for breakfast with milk or cream no sugar. Or as a satisfying dessert to crown a well-arranged meal. Cracker Jack is a wonderful treat "The More You Eat. the More You Want." Take home a few packages to the folks. ly supply you. send 45 cents for six package*, l post, prepaid, anywhere in the United States. RUECKHE1M BROS. & ECKSTEIN o *nd Brooklyn, United St*l of Amcric* America's Famous Food Confection Cracker Jack ads have a way with them that wins the interest of grown-ups as well as children. The illustrations, of which the above is a representative example, are always in good humor. PROBLEMS OF THE NATIONAL ADVERTISER 105 Analyzing Results. The national advertiser who invests his money right along in advertising mediums has a right to expect definite results. If they do not materialize there is something seriously wrong either with the mediums or the copy. Manley M. Gillam, who was John Wanamaker's advertising manager for several years, and who during his long career spent $60,000,000 in advertising for his clients, once said : " I do not believe in that advertising that compels you to wait a year or two years for results. Advertising should achieve results at once, and by that I mean within a reasonable length of time. If it does not it shows that the advertising has not been properly prepared." To illustrate what advertising can do Mr. Gillam cited the case of Vici Kid. When the manufacturers of this leather started their first campaign, from $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 worth was being sold annually. At the end of 11 months the sales had mounted to $12,000,000, and at the end of the second year to $18,000,000. For handling this campaign Mr. Gillam and his partner were paid $40,000 a year for two years, and the third year, $50,000. An advertiser whose announcements appear in 2,000 cities has found that when he uses 400 newspapers he secures the maximum results. When he employs fewer papers his sales drop. When you are planning an advertising campaign you should clearly determine in your own mind what you want it to ac- complish. Is it to interest jobbers or retailers in your product so that when your salesmen call upon them they will know some- thing about it? Is it to induce the consumer to visit the retail stores and purchase the article, or to order it by mail from the manufacturer? Is it to win the confidence and good will of the public ? Or is it merely to keep your name and your trade-marked goods constantly on view? The character of the copy you are to use in the campaign is determined by the result you seek to accomplish. Four things are essential to good advertising accuracy, sincerity, variety and persistency. Unless advertisements tell the truth in season and out of season they will fail to create a permanent demand. You may deceive the public for a while but in the end 106 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING it will find out the truth. When once convinced that you have deceived it you cannot regain its confidence, no matter how much space you may use or how frequently your advertisements may appear. Hence, if you expect to build up a patronage that will stick by you and become more valuable as the years go by you must be honest and sincere in your advertising. Don't let your advertising become monotonous in construc- tion or in appearance. People tire of the same arguments, the same illustrations, and the same style of display. While the facts about the product upon which your advertisements are to be based may be few yet the ways in which these facts can be presented and made attractive to readers by a clever writer are innumerable. Excellent material can be picked up by salesmen out on the road, or it may be found in the letters written to the firm by dealers telling of their experience with the product. It is a good plan now and then to change the type in which your advertisements are being set. You may be able to choose a face that is specially adapted to your purpose and that will increase the pulling power of the advertisements, in which case it would be unwise to adopt another. If you have been using pictures for many months cut them out altogether for awhile. If you have been running half pages in the magazines or quarter pages in the newspapers try doubling the space for a few issues. Anything that will make people read your ads is desirable provided, of course, it is in good taste. "Shockers" should always be avoided. Be Persistent in Your Advertising. It is a sheer waste of money to advertise a product for a few months and then quit. Better invest the cash you would spend in an automobile or in a trip to Europe. It takes some time to make an article known to the public to win its confidence and approval. The manufac- turer of a food product, at the end of his first advertising campaign, was so disappointed with the immediate returns that he vowed he would never spend another dollar in printed salesmanship. His advertising agent, however, put up such a good argument that, much against his will, he consented to continue his advertising another year. Much to his surprise business began to pick up right away and before the campaign PROBLEMS OF THE NATIONAL ADVERTISER 107 ended he had to enlarge his factory to take care of the orders he received. When once a concern has established a demand for its product it must keep the interest in it alive through advertising. People Why have Why have your letters your letters written twice? written twice? dor Every time you dictate a letter to a stenographer she writes it in shorthand. Then she writes it on her typewriter. Double work, double cost and it's all so inefficient and extravagant. Every time you dictate to The Ediphone Your stenographer writes your letters once on her typewriter. Writes 50% more, writes Better Letters, writes them for a Va less cost writes them in comfort and ease. The easiest way to dictate a letter A forceful presentation of a single idea. Every word counts. The cut at the top visualizes the argument and takes the place of a formal headline. forget easily. A thousand and one things claim their attention. Impressions must be often repeated to induce action. The con- tinued appearance of a firm's advertising is a constant reminder that the firm is still doing business, and, incidentally, an assurance that its merchandise is being kept up to the standard. On the 108 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING other hand if the advertising, for any reason, is discontinued, other products claim attention and the public soon gets the impression that the manufacturer has gone out of business and therefore ceases to call for his merchandise. It is the continuous, and not the occasional or spasmodic advertiser that establishes the best-paying volume of patronage, just as it is the regular meals a man eats that build bodily strength and health and not the big feasts of Thanksgiving Day, Christmas or other anniversaries. Some Copy Suggestions. As advertising in popular mediums costs as much as $5 and $6 a line, every word that goes into the copy should be carefully selected. Cut out the superfluous all the "verys," the "bests" and the "greatests." Avoid long, unusual words. Don't use words from foreign languages unless their meaning is well known to the people who will read your advertisements. There is no better vehicle for conveying ideas than the simple words used by the average man or woman in everyday life. See that the article you wish to sell and the advertisements ex- ploiting them are adapted to the sections of the country in which your selling campaign is to be conducted. Don't advertise fur coats in Southern California or ice-cutting machinery in Florida. It is not advisable, in many cases, to use the same copy in all parts of the United States and Canada. A number of years ago Scott's Emulsion of Cod Liver Oil was advertised in Canada in precisely the same form used to advertise it in the Southern States. The result was that people living in Louisiana were not much interested in the statement that Scott's Emulsion fortifies the body to withstand the intense cold of Canadian winters. Likewise the residents of Winnipeg did not rush to the drug stores to get a bottle of the Emulsion when they were told that it was very beneficial to those who had been weakened by attacks of malaria and swamp fever. When Thomas E. Dockrell became advertising manager of Scott & Bowne, the manufacturers of the preparation, he soon discovered this waste of advertising effort and made plans to stop it. Instead of running the same advertisement in the newspapers of all the states Mr. Dockrell prepared several, each adapted to PROBLEMS OF THE NATIONAL ADVERTISER 109 the section in which it was to appear. The effect of this change in copy was seen almost immediately in the sales which were much larger than they had ever had before. In other words the efficiency of the campaign had been greatly increased through the simple expedient of adapting the copy to the special needs of people in the different parts of the country. It takes two or three times as much argument to induce a customer to write and post a letter making an inquiry about the goods as it does to get him to call at the store where they are on sale and ask to see them. In order to make it as easy as possible for the consumer to make an inquiry or send in an order many general advertisers incorporate with the advertisement a coupon which, when properly signed, can be cut off and mailed to the dealer or manufacturer. It is usually placed at the lower left- or right-hand corner next to the margin of the page. General advertising copy in order to produce profitable business must in many cases not only bring inquiries, but also be so well written that the consumer will insist upon getting the advertised article and will not accept a substitute. It should inspire con- fidence right from the start. If the reader is made to feel that the article will contribute to his comfort, or supply a need, he is sold on the proposition and sooner or later will possess it. On the Value of Inquiries. Only a small percentage of the people who ask questions about merchandise through curiosity become purchasers. On the other hand, a majority of those who write for information because they have been convinced of its merit, buy the article. You cannot expect to get full value out of your advertising unless you take proper care of the in- quiries it produces. In a test made a short time ago an investigator answered 64 advertisements, each of the letters requiring a reply. Sixty- two of the manufacturers responded, but only 33 afterward sent a follow-up. Of these only 16 sent a second follow-up, four, a third follow-up, and only one a fourth follow-up. Just think of it! Twenty-nine national advertisers written to didn't consider the inquiry of sufficient value to send even one follow-up letter. The new advertising manager of a company that was seeking to popularize an agricultural implement among farmers, in 110 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING looking around the office one day discovered several boxes filled with unopened letters. "What are all these letters?" he asked one of his assistants. "Oh, those are requests for booklets sent in by people who have read our advertisements in the farm papers," was the reply. "Well, why haven't they been sent?" inquired the advertising manager. " It's too much bother to mail them every day, so we wait until we have received a big bunch of requests and then send them all at once." Many of the letters were six weeks old. The people who wrote them had doubtless become tired of the long delay in receiving a reply and had either lost all interest in the article advertised or had purchased a similar article elsewhere. "Hereafter," said the advertising manager, "all letters must be answered the day they are received. No wonder the president has been kicking because the results from the $50,000 advertising campaign that has just closed have been so meager." Be Prompt in Answering Inquiries. Promptness in answering questions or in filling orders is essential in all kinds of business, but it is especially important in the case of those that are pro- duced by advertising. If money or a check is sent with the order to a concern with which he has had no previous dealings and there is much delay in receiving the goods, the customer be- comes suspicious fears that he has been swindled. He resolves that if the article at length arrives he will never buy another dollar's worth of the manufacturer. Promptness in filling orders breeds confidence and promotes further orders. General advertising should be cumulative in effect; that is, the several advertisements should present in regular order the arguments or points in favor of the article to which attention is directed and the sale of which it aims to promote, so that when the end of the series is reached the public will have a clear idea of its quality and desirability. This statement is made upon the assumption that the advertising is not spasmodic, but con- tinuous, and follows a well-thought-out plan. Hit-or-miss advertising accomplishes but little. It is the organized and persistent attack that wins the battle. PROBLEMS OF THE NATIONAL ADVERTISER 111 Would You Give Up Your Telephone) I_TO\V often you have said you couldn't keep house *- without your telephone. You'll say the same about P. ANDG. The White Naphtha Soap, after you once have tried it. P. ANDG. The White Naphtha Soap is a modern soap for modern women. It launders clothes, washes dishes, cleans and scrubs more easily and more quickly than other soaps because it combines the good qualities of high-grade white laundry soap and quick-working naphtha soap. No hard rubbing. It loosens dirt merely by contact. You'll like this new-idea soap because it makes such good suds even in hard water; because it has such a clean, sanitary odor; and because it saves so much time and effort for you. 'Phone your grocer for a bar, and try it. Not merely a white laundry soap; Not merely a naphtha soap; But the best features of both, combined. WHITE NAPHTHA SOAP In this P and G ad the illustration furnishes the text for the advertising sermon that follows. The question asked by the headline catches the eye and curiosity leads its reader to look at the message. 112 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING for crystal-clear windows THE panes are actually invisible after I have gone over them with Bon Ami not a speck of dirt or a cloudy streak remains. It's so easy, too! Just a thin, watery lather of Bon Ann spread over the glass and then wiped away when it s dry! Tissue paper is good for wiping off the dry Bon Ami saves soiling a cloth. Made in kvth cafe and powder farm. The look of satisfaction on the face of this housewife at the results of the use of Bon Ami upon the window she has just cleaned, and her own testimony given in the text, are strong arguments in its favor in the eyes of other housekeepers. PROBLEMS OF THE NATIONAL ADVERTISER 113 How Much Money Should Be Spent in Advertising? This is a question often asked by new and inexperienced advertisers. In brief it may be said that it depends upon several things the nature of the product, the size of the business, the amount of capital at your disposal and the extent of the field in which you propose to operate. Some articles can only be sold during a certain season of the year; as for example, sleds, sleighs, skates, can be profitably exploited from November to February, and bathing and yachting suits, sport goods, etc., from March to October. Articles of general consumption, like flour, shoes, soap, break- fast foods, and baking powder, must be extensively advertised throughout the country the year round, if nation-wide distribu- tion is to be effected. Articles in which the margin of profit is large admit of more extensive advertising than those in which the margin is small. Those for which, because of their limited appeal, only a comparatively small sale can be expected, do not call for a large advertising expenditure, but in order to secure maximum results at a minimum cost the mediums employed must be selected with special care. As a general rule the advertising appropriation is based on the gross sales of the previous fiscal year, the percentage varying widely according to the nature of the business. Public service corporations operating hi several cities, con- tractors and concerns of like nature spend 1 per cent. A large electrical goods manufacturing company that in 1911 had gross earnings of $38,000,000 adopted 1 per cent, as its annual advertising expenditure. A Pennsylvania bank did $1,000,000 worth of new business on an advertising investment of ^ per cent. Automobile manufacturers are spending on an average of 4 per cent. Some drop as low as 2 per cent, and others go as high as 6 per cent. A Detroit motor-truck manu- facturer one year put 33^<j per cent, of his net receipts into advertising, his purpose being to set forth in detail the advantages of his machine and the experiences of those who had used it. A grain house which is an extensive advertiser considers an 8 per cent, appropriation reasonable. Advertisers of some toilet articles spend from 25 to 50 per cent, of gross profits in advertis- 114 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING ing their products. Patent medicine manufacturers are accus- tomed to put about the same amount into publicity. Producers of food stuffs usually limit their appropriations to from 1 to 2 per cent, of gross sales. One of them, however, is said to invest 50 per cent, of his profits. The relative value of large and small space has received consider- able attention from advertising experts. Prof. Walter Dill Scott, of the Northwestern University, who has thoroughly investigated the subject, states as the result of his studies that a full- page advertisement has 25 times the value of a half page, and a half page is 15 times more valuable than a quarter page. The constant use of large space gives prestige to the advertiser. The public argues that no firm will continue to spend the big sum it repre- sents unless the article exploited possesses substantial merit and the advertiser is honest. While page advertisements are the rule in national magazines they have not been employed in newspapers by general advertisers very extensively until within the past year or two, when it has not been unusual to see four- or five-page ads in a single issue of the big city dailies. This change in attitude no doubt is due in large part to the example set during the great war by the Liberty Loan and Red Cross advertising. While large space has many advantages there is a considerable number of firms that have built up a wonderfully successful busi- ness by the aid of small advertisements. It has often been said that it requires greater skill to write a 3- or 4- in. single- column ad, than one occupying half a page. Small advertisements should contain only one or two well- constructed arguments briefly expressed and the illustrations should be confined to a single figure. The advertiser who uses advertising space regularly, no matter how small it may be, gets the reputation of being a much larger advertiser than he really is. The Association of National Advertisers, which is composed of 320 of the leading national advertisers, is of great service to its members in supplying information of a vital character. It employs an efficient staff of investigators and others for the collection and analysis of data relating to advertising and to marketing. Through its assistance millions of dollars have been saved to its members. PROBLEMS OF THE NATIONAL ADVERTISER 115 Questions 1. Who are the largest national advertisers? 2. Give the names of six with whose products you are familiar. 3. How would you select an advertising agent? 4. What mediums are employed in national advertising? 6. Upon what does the selection of the right mediums for advertising a product depend? 6. In what kinds of mediums would you advertise grape juice? Ma- chinery used in the manufacture of textiles? Refrigerators for apartment houses and hotels? A beauty toilet soap? 7. If, after running a well-planned advertising campaign for six months your sales had not materially increased, what would you conclude was the trouble? 8. How is the character of the copy to be determined? 9. What three things are essential to good advertising? 10. Why is variety in copy and style desirable? 11. When a manufacturer as the result of several years of advertising has secured country-wide distribution for his product, why shouldn't he stop advertising and save the cost? 12. In advertising a medical preparation would you use the same copy in all parts of the country? Why not? 13. What are follow-up letters and when should they be used? 14. How much money should a manufacturer invest in advertising? Give examples. 15. Discuss the relative value of large and small advertisements. CHAPTER X RETAIL ADVERTISING By retail or local advertising we usually mean the kind of advertising employed by merchants and others in selling goods to individual consumers. But it also includes the advertising used by professional men like dentists, lawyers, architects and civil engineers to get clients; by churches to gain members or fill empty pews: by theatres to draw audiences, and by municipal candidates for office to win voters. All help and situations wanted, for sale, to let, lost and found or other classified advertisements come under this head. Retail advertising differs from national advertising in two general ways: first, in being confined to a town, city, or district; and, second, in the character of the copy used. While the ultimate object of most advertising is to market merchandise, retail advertising must first induce the public to visit the store where the goods are on sale, or the offices where service is to be rendered. There is, of course, a limit to the distance from which a merchant can hope to draw customers, the limit varying in different sections of the country. In the far West where the trade centers are widely scattered people drive long distances to do their shopping. The sales of these small town merchants are frequently as large as those of retail stores in cities of 50,000 or more population. For instance, in Devils Lake, North Dakota, a town of 5,500 inhabitants, there is a merchant who is doing a business of $600,000 a year, the result of enterprising sales methods and the right kind of adver- tising. Customers are drawn to the store from points 40 miles distant in one direction and 90 miles in another. How to Get People to Visit the Store. Many things can be done .to induce the public to come to the store. Some of them are the following: 116 RETAIL ADVERTISING 117 Give the Price of the Different Kinds of Goods You Have to Sell. People want to know how much articles cost before they go shopping in order that they may determine beforehand whether they can afford to buy them. Most women desire to keep the household or their personal expenses within a certain limit which is fixed by the family income. The quoting of prices helps them in selecting what they can afford to buy. No woman likes to go to a store with her mind made up to purchase an article and be told a price that is so much more than she was prepared to pay that she cannot buy it. Create an Interest in the Store. This may be done by taking advantage of news events, such as the season's anniversaries, national holidays, and local celebrations in your advertising. For instance, the Fourth of July marks the beginning of the vacation season. This suggests the desirability of advertising for two weeks before that event and two weeks or more afterwards the things that people will need during their stay in the country or at the seashore, such as outing suits, sport hats, trunks, suit- cases, handbags, bathing suits, fishing tackle, camp outfits, tennis rackets, golf sticks, croquet sets, tents and many other articles. September marks the beginning of the school year when the children are to be fitted out with suitable clothes for the fall and winter months; when books, lunch boxes, pencils, paper, rulers and other articles for use in the schoolroom are to be purchased. It is also the time when people buy furniture and other household effects; when new suits and hats are needed. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and Easter are occasions for special sales of seasonable articles. January is the month of white sales, August of furniture sales, and so on. Play up the New and Novel Things in Your Advertising and Thus Arouse Curiosity. People like novelty. Anything that is radically different from the general run of merchandise appeals to them. They want to see such articles even though they may not want to buy them. They like to keep posted on store news just as they do on local or national happenings. Call attention to special displays of goods, to demonstrations that are being given in the store, and to important "openings" in the millinery and dress departments. 118 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Make the Store Itself Attractive. Have it well lighted. Don't skimp on your electric illumination during the dark hours of the day. People like brightness in the shops where they trade. Have the walls and ceilings painted in cheerful colors. Provide rest rooms, and chairs or stools throughout the store for tired women. Don't allow your clerks to over-urge people to buy goods. The better class of trade will keep away from stores where it is done. A cheerful store, intelligent clerks, good service and reliable merchandise is a winning combination. The strongest and most productive retail advertising is usually to be found in the big cities where stores are numerous and com- petition keenest. The latter command the best advertising talent because they pay the largest salaries. The lure of great centers of business draws to them men who are ambitious, resourceful and eager to win places for themselves. The intense rivalry between the department and other leading retail stores in all lines of trade is a constant stimulus to advertisement writers. The big cities, however, do not monopolize all of the good talent, by any means. The instruction in advertising now given in many schools, colleges and universities is working wonders in disseminating a practical knowledge of advertisement construc- tion among merchants. The result is seen in the marked im- provement that has taken place in the character of the copy put out in practically all of the cities and towns of the country during the last few years. Outstanding Characteristics of Successful Retail Advertising Copy. First it should possess a news interest that is not found in the long-range general advertising appearing in the maga- zines and periodicals. The chronicling of the arrival of new styles in dress goods, millinery, and other things dear to the feminine heart; the announcements of special sales of household furnishings and supplies, are as eagerly read by women as the record of local happenings in the news columns. Women are more interested in the latest fashions on display at the leading department or dry goods store than they are in the report of a Peace Conference or a Congressional debate. They buy the most of the things that go into the home. From 50 to RETAIL ADVERTISING 119 90 per cent, of the men's underwear is purchased by women, who also have much to say in the selection of men's hats, shoes and suits of clothes. Being constantly in the market for goods of one kind or another they are ever on the lookout for store news. The merchant who knows best how to create a news interest in his advertising, providing, of course, he has the confidence of the community, will draw the largest percentage of trade. Second, retail advertising copy should have individuality in order that it may be easily identified by the reader. People soon learn to distinguish the advertisements of one store from those of another without looking at the name plate, the determining factors being the typography, the way the goods are described, or the style of the illustrations. Usually the advertising of a store reflects the personality of the owner. Therefore, after reading a series of his announcements you can get a fairly accurate idea of his character. If they are bombastic, contain exaggerated or misleading statements as to values or prices, you are warranted in believing that the advertiser is a trickster and a cheat. On the other hand, if they are straightforward, tell the truth, and are conservative in statement you are not mistaken in believing that he is honest and dependable. The advertisements of John Wanamaker have marked individ- uality and are regarded as models of their kind. They are attractive in appearance and easy to read. They are written in such an interesting way that you often forget for the moment that they are advertisements and think you are reading a page from a book of travel or a romance. They are cheerful in spirit and educational in purpose. From them you receive the impression that Mr. Wanamaker is an optimist and practices the golden rule. It should be the constant aim of the retailer in his advertising to build confidence and good will, two of the best assets he can possibly have. He should never publish statements about his merchandise that he cannot prove. If he makes a mistake he should acknowledge the error and make good any loss entailed by his customers resulting from it. Advertising is retroactive. Rightly used it builds a reputation that must be lived up to. It erects standards that must be maintained or the whole struc- 120 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING ture of confidence will come tumbling to the ground. There have been instances in which advertising has revolutionized store policies and store methods by creating good will of such enormous value that the very foundation of the business had to be rebuilt to support it. Some Suggestions Regarding the Writing of Retail Copy That Will Be Helpful. Give prices but don't lie in quoting them. If you have a special sale of goods name the price at which you have been selling them and the cut price. Don't say an article "is worth $2, but we are selling it for 50 cents." If it was really worth $2 you certainly would not sell it at any such reduction. It may have been worth $2 at one time, but because of a change in style or because it has become shopworn it is not worth a cent more than you now charge for it. What you can truthfully say is that "we formerly sold the article for $2, but because it is now out of style we have cut the price to 50 cents." Avoid Comparative Prices. There may occasionally be a tune when their use is warranted as, for instance, when you are getting rid of left-overs, odd sizes, etc., at the end of the season. The trouble with comparative prices is that they are in most cases misleading. For instance, a shirtwaist is advertised thus: Price $3, worth $4.25. How is the reader to know that the statement is true? Whose estimate of value is it, the manu- facturer's or the retailer's? Is it at all likely that a merchant will sell an article for 33^ per cent, less than it is worth if he could get more? In most cases he uses comparative prices for the sole purpose of making the public think that the article is better than it really is. Women often know values just as accurately as the retailers. If they find, upon examination, that the goods are not worth any more than is charged for them they will lose confidence in the store. Do not Over -emphasize Price in Retail Advertising. Unless a merchant wants his store to be known as a "bargain house" or a " Cheap John " shop he should be careful how he uses prices to attract trade . While the patronage of bargain hunters is not to be despised nevertheless the most desirable customers are those who consider quality first and price next. They know that the better classes of goods give the greater satisfaction and are therefore RETAIL ADVERTISING 121 the most economical to buy. Those who purchase them con- stitute the backbone of the retail business in nearly every com- munity and it is their patronage that the merchant should seek. As the quality appeal carries great weight with them the adver- tiser should lay considerable stress upon it in his advertising. Adapt Your Copy to Your Audience. Don't use pedantic language at any time. Educated and refined people dislike it In full swing now! Revisions! All through our men's Summer suits. $50 to $75 now for quali- ties that were much more. ROGERS PEET COMPANY .Broadway Broadway' at isth St. "Four at 34th St. Convenient Broadway Corners" Fifth Ave. at Warren. at 4ist St. , The Rogers Peet Company style of advertising has many imitators but none are as good as the original. The ads which are in one-column measure, carry a humorous picture at the top. The type is Bookman. Note the short, crisp sentences which are characteristic of all Rogers Peet copy. and those whose school days have been few do not understand it. The safest plan to pursue is to write your copy in plain, simple, everyday English, using short sentences and appropriate illustrations. You will then be certain that your message will reach all classes. Avoid the use of long words or those not commonly employed in the newspapers. The only exceptions are the technical or trade terms used in the description of new fabrics for women's wear. 122 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING FRANKLIN SIMON MEN'S SHOPS 2 to 8 WEST 38th STREET Men's English Foulard Scarfs Hand-Made 8150 This season's importation Last season's price WHILE some shops are ask- ing $1.75 for machine-made foulards, we are asking only $1.50 for a hand-made scarf of imported material. No other men's shop offers so much to its patrons or demands so little for itself. The variety in these foulards is prodigious. A pandemonium of patterns and a chaos of color and yet discrimination chaperon- ing both. Please look them over. Bat Wings $1.00 FIFTH AVENUE Retail advertisements like the above win perusal from busy men because the display lines, which can be taken in at a glance, tell what they are about. The headlines are set in Bodoni Bold and the body matter in Bookman. RETAIL ADVERTISING 123 If your advertisements are to appear in high-grade class pub- lications which circulate only among people of wealth and position, greater attention should be given to the quality of both the text and the illustrations. A well-dressed and well-groomed salesman Stern Brothers West 42nd Street (Between 5 A and 6th Avenues) West 43rd Street WOMEN'S HIGH-GRADE PUMPS and OXFORDS r= REDUCED T0= $8.85 Below Original Cost A variety of distinctive models suitable for 'dress or general wear developed in selected grades of Tan Russia Calfskin dazed Kid Patent Collskin Matt Kid Gun Metal Brown Kid Military, Dolly or Lours XV Heels. Hand Turned or Welled Sole. It is the usual practice to employ cuts in both wholesale and retail shoe adver- tisements. That a shoe ad can be made attractive without illustrations is shown by the Stern Brothers announcement above. who uses correct English in conversation can secure a hearing among high-class business men which would be denied to the salesman who wears ill-fitting clothes and betrays his lack of an education by coarse and ungrammatical language. 124 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING On the other hand in advertisements addressed to a community largely composed of toilers in workshops and factories, the simplest kind of language should be employed. What the latter want are facts briefly stated in words with which they are familiar. They like chatty talk with plenty of pictures that tell their own story. >-^i-ran.-a^.|agia 9"he Dcbts-knit Top Jacket, shown in the illustration, is offifed in a va- riety of attractive mixtures . Dobbs- tailored with exquisite nkiety of de- tail. A Dobbs Hat. DobbsShirtand Dobbs Skirt complete the costume. "IheTop Jacket is F(fty Dollars. Sbc-tvenQr Fifth Avon* This Dobbs ad possesses character and individuality. Its artistic design and its quiet tone appeals to people of refinement and good taste. Avoid Superlatives. Don't say that an article is "the best made" or that you have "the finest line of merchandise in the State," or that you offer "the most wonderful bargains ever seen in this city." How ridiculous it is for a merchant occupy- ing a small three-story building to advertise that he carries the " greatest assortment of dry -goods in the city, "when right across the street is a department store, occupying an entire block, that RETAIL ADVERTISING 125 sells more goods in a day than he sells in several months. What is the use of lying when the truth is so much more effective? You cannot safely say that anything is "the best" because you don't know and you cannot know. There are enough plain adjec- tives to use in describing the store or the goods it carries without employing superlatives. It is better to understate than to over- state the quality of merchandise. STORE HOURS 9:30 A. M. to 6 P. M. you get nto a Saks-tailo red garment you just can't help feel- ing the least bit conscious of the quality. The feeling may wear off but the quality won't! BROADWAY AT 34th STREET Small space utilized to its full value. One of a series of Saks ads that appeared in New York dailies. Just a sentence or two, set in large plain type, with the name plates at top and bottom, enclosed in a double 4-point border. Get Your Clerks Interested in Your Advertising. Every employee in the store should be "sold " on the firm's advertising. Without the hearty cooperation of the clerks half the value of the advertising will be lost. They ought to see in advance of publication every advertisement that appears that they may intelligently answer the inquiries of customers who ask about the day's offerings. In order to get them to read carefully each 126 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING advertisement, some firms offer a prize of $5 to any clerk who finds an error in it. If all the clerks are furnished correct information about the merchandise they sell their efficiency behind the counter will be greatly augmented. Many a sale has been lost because they were not sufficiently posted to answer convincingly the questions of customers. The girl at the hosiery counter ought to know temfi and shades juring Au[uit WHILE we do not wish to cry "wolf, wolf, it is nevertheless true, that it is impossible to replace, at the same pri- ces, many lamps and shades in the Ovington showing, which', during August, may be had at dis- counts of 10% to 50%. OVINGTON'S "Tbt Gift Skop ef Fifth Avenue" 314 Fifth Ave. nr, 32d St. Ovington's small ads they seldom run over three inches are models of their kind. They are set in Bookman, with a two-line initial, carry a single figure illustration and are framed in an artistic border. why the brands she sells are better than some others. She should be informed as to the different weaves, the effect of dyes upon the wearing quality of the hose, how silk stockings should be washed, and a hundred other things that will be helpful to the customer. The man who sells shoes should be a mine of information on the entire subject of footwear. He should be acquainted with all kinds of leather, should know when to recom- mend a straight last and when Q, curved; he ought to be able to RETAIL ADVERTISING 127 fit anyone with the proper kind of foot covering. With intelli- gent clerks behind the counter, people who take a real interest in their work, a store is in a position to render the public a real service. The mediums employed in retail advertising are newspapers, street car cards, posters, booklets, catalogs, letters and store windows. Department stores in the larger cities use them all. In the smaller cities retailers confine their advertising to one or two newspapers and to their store windows. Of these mediums newspapers have the lead in popularity for reasons that will be given in another chapter. There are few towns with a popula- tion of 500 in which there is not at least one newspaper published. Therefore it is the most available and the most direct means of reaching customers and prospective patrons of the store with the single exception of the show windows. Window Displays. Many retailers fail to make full use of the store windows in advertising their goods. Sometimes the clerks are too busy or too lazy to dress them attractively. In the big department stores expert window dressers who draw large salaries are employed to do the work. In the average retail establishment one of the clerks who has shown that he possesses better taste in planning displays than the others is entrusted with the job. Even in the country towns there is little excuse for poor window dressing as there are half a dozen trade papers that devote much attention to the subject. At least one periodical is wholly devoted to it. These tell how to arrange artistic displays that will attract attention to the store. Then, too, many manufacturers employ traveling window dressers to call on retailers who handle their goods and show them how to make effective displays. Manufacturers who do not send out special men for the purpose often supply ready-made window displays or furnish full descrip- tions of several designs which any intelligent clerk can lay out himself. One of the main advantages of window .advertising is that you can show the goods amid attractive and appropriate surroundings. By the aid of wax figures you can display gowns, hats and other apparel worn by women, almost as effectively as you could upon 128 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING THE KEWTORK TIMES. SVCTAY.^ MJCUST 1. 19. . Sale Begins Monday 9 A. M. An Economy Event Watched For and Taken Advantage Of By Home Makers people look forward to our Mid-Summer Sale of Hut year will prove no exception to the high reputation daioed t caaiaioaeMurebeeiu2tdbrthemai,r inquirietthM our preriotii evenn. Plant arc complete and we tut ready. odFumimicomraaineaMrebeffaugedby the majyinquirie* that our prerioui event*. Plant are complete and we art ready. For many yean, people ha<re instinctively turned to E&&9 Furnt- . conuiteticly knveu-Irvchc-c.tr prices. Un, confident that new hofnn could be fumithed and old one* re- Suiies and odd piece* ot funuture for io*r home arc auembled M> chat twd with a uiirum.ua of ciDene- aadtfactory iclechoa it aNurcd. For Your Dining Room furaiined with For Your living Room l prte. UO OfAn- iUtlrw Boom Odd Arm Chain " ^^'gyggutaa For Your Bedroom tf~~} f~*. PA g,,,., ,y propottlon mat i-Mtja ot period to featured. *- CdVCha flOrrtNaUnd kd Rtom-ftukix-fil-kinifiaaM dcfdtnton; nfu AijUTj l RiSrS.,ji JUJl '" r " - hu a t*d.'ir, diLffc*^ wmtin't mMtin, rf d. 1 .^ Cwtii-.ni*iiiTieUT."ti**i'*''""o.l ( -* lt ** toOH Ufck; fa piccfav MM*. full i bed, rtiiKwot*. taki Utk; B Bs S B*-*^-M ! ^---*i caK.as.sf'**' iS*jS.jL.g.j ntuci> o.' Brtaifa-l Room Soltea Bedroom Furniture SS^S^S^ S^S.T'ij!.! SSSr.iJS; c:u~. j< SS5?k . . JH ^^, ullllt eiaebdtekbclooiboerd,dett.er. curff MreA Tencer "wite, eontlrtinj jcJrt^,bk.eL, ^.' 1 ^y^g55;;^ 1 Metal Beds and Bedding iu>d. (nr the Fill tilled endilic*lr. efdcwrttx ui, . fe 1 ^!.".-: ,' . ;.. _s *-^> * :;,. sw Herald Se,iu t^/lC. </ Nt " Yo ' k One of R. H. Macy & Co. department store, page newspaper ada, showing what can be done without column rules or divisional panels. Their absence does not confuse the reader because white space is judiciously employed to separate the individual announcements. RETAIL ADVERTISING 129 .L.HUDSON COMPANY Today Saw the Beginning, of Two Events of Extraordinary Interest to Women This Great Mid-Summer Sale Has An Extraordinary Showing of Living Room Furniture At Prlcet .loir Will Hardly Watt to Mia . t^HMI hlMTJ* fi I II II Come and See the Sale T*iH.fc*. ^ III I .! IMi - wUty^l I Hi h rtlk *U> *~ OKI Tht Pnblk Is Now Giricg Its Veriict ^yagg> ti rt> FVxir of tfc F>nr St A Woodnrd An t Many Unusual Values in the Girls' Shop Important A Sale of 2,500 Women's Blouses at J 3.95 BBfa-^irTis In the Infants' Shop Mid-Summer Sale of Rugs 40 Bot> t S15S 6 Bngi at M9.50 PilloWCases, Etc. GnrtoMn* ft auuni*! trait ttatbMaBltlfoBdMM tdt tkji^ to b* abte to HT puaiUMij *fc^ w OTMUv **^* It bMi>othli>IB>ltiitt!iitt<T<i<&i*m eoWkte d tbwt * . . wSrtis^E'iicvass jj5:*sri.ca' " " r~i, .* T Over a Quarter of a Million Dollars in Coats and Small Fora >.^s!"n^mrtr<s Another style of departmeDt store full page advertising. The Hudson Com- pany has its own ideas about typographical arrangement. The relative impor- tance of the several offerings is indicated by the size of the headlines. 130 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING living models. One of Pittsburgh's leading department stores gives such an artistic setting to its displays that women come long distances to see them. As there is practically no limit to the advertising possibilities of window displays, a wide-awake mer- chant ought to dress his windows at least once a week. In giving advice to a young merchant on how to build up a successful business, one of New York's largest retailers of men's clothes said: "Make the front attractive through seasonable and appealing window displays. Learn the names of your regular customers so that you can properly address them when they call to make purchases . Keep your store up-to-date in its appoint- ments so that people will like to visit it because of its cheerful appearance. Get rid of your old stock at a loss if necessary. Shelf room costs money. The greater the percentage of your turn-over, the lower the selling expense and the smaller the capital required to handle the business. And last, and most important of all, advertise attractively what you have to sell." Keep a Card Index of Customers. Whenever you have an opening sale of millinery or women's gowns, send a letter on choice stationery to those whose patronage you specially ap- preciate, inviting them to visit the store a day ahead of the pub- lished date and inspect the new season's styles. Enclose a card bearing the customer's name and entitling her to admission to the show rooms. The women who receive these invitations will appreciate the favor and their good will toward the store will be strengthened. Men are just as appreciative of any special attention. If you deal in men's clothes and haberdashery and are putting on a special sale of overcoats or suits, before you announce it in the newspapers send your regular customers a short business-like letter calling their attention to it. Having been tipped off in this way they will be ready to take advantage of the bargains you offer on the opening day. In many cases they will call up on the telephone and ask you to pick out an overcoat or suit for them and hold it until they can visit the store. As you have their sizes on record in the store and know the kind of clothes they want it will be an easy matter for you to do this. Men do not have as much time to shop as women and are therefore grateful RETAIL ADVERTISING 131 for any cooperation the dealer may give that will help them to get what they want. Questions 1. In advertising a retail business what is the first object to be attained? 2. From what distance can a store draw trade? 3. What are some of the things that can be done to induce people to visit the store? 4. What are some of the characteristics of successful retail copy? 6. What can you say about the importance of giving individuality to a merchant's advertising? 6. What are the striking features of John Wanamaker's advertising? 7. Give five suggestions regarding the preparation of retail copy. 8. How can the interest of the clerks in the advertising be stimulated? 9. How can their efficiency be improved? 10. What mediums are employed in retail advertising? 11. What can be done to make the show windows sell goods? 12 How can a card index help the retail merchant? CHAPTER XI WHY ADVERTISE IN THE NEWSPAPERS Ours is a nation of newspaper readers. The average American would as soon think of going without his breakfast as without his morning or evening paper. And in those sections of the country that are remote from the big centers where dailies are published the people are no less eager in devouring the weeklies which bring to their doors the news of the local field and the great outside world lying beyond the horizon. It is because of their universal distribution, the thoroughness with which they are read, and the reasonableness of their charges for space that newspapers have become the most popular of all advertising mediums. When it is remembered that there are several thou- sand towns and cities having less than 1,000 inhabitants, in which at least one newspaper is published, and whose continued existence would be impossible without advertising, it will be seen that the great centers of population have no monopoly of this particular medium. Advantages of Newspaper Advertising. 1. Newspaper advo- cates claim that newspaper advertising is the cheapest advertising known because it reaches more people in proportion to the amount of money expended than any other medium. William H. Rankin, of Chicago, an advertising agent of wide experience, is authority for the statement that a quarter of a page advertisement can be placed in every daily, weekly, bi- weekly and tri-weekly newspaper, representing a total circulation of 46,000,000 copies for less than $200,000. Harry C. Prudden, one of the most experienced space buyers in New York, a short time ago estimated the circulation of the 2,044 daily newspapers in the United States at 26,595,204 copies. A recent estimate based upon Government and Audit Bureau of Circulations reports gives the circulation of all the morning newspapers at 10,271,137 and of the evening papers, 18,353,904, 132 WHY ADVERTISE IN THE NEWSPAPERS 133 or a total of 28,625,041. The cost of running an advertisement in the entire list would be about $61.74 a line. A national advertiser paid $6.50 a line for a list of 25 representative city dailies having a total circulation of 3,500,000 copies. In the daily newspapers the rates run from 6 to 10 cents a line in small-town publications; and from 20 to 70 cents and even $2 a line, according to classification, in the metropolitan dailies. In the country weeklies the rate runs as low as 6 cents an inch. One of the big national literary weeklies sells its space at $6 a line. If you want to get a good idea of the low cost of newspaper advertising take your pencil and figure out what the expense would be of preparing a circular, letter or folder, and sending it to the subscribers or readers of any representative daily news- paper with which you are acquainted. In making the estimate you would have to include such expenses as writing the advertise- ment, the cost of the paper, composition and press-work involved in its production, the folding, enclosing and addressing of the several thousand copies, the postage, and the delivery of the sacks containing them to the Post Office. Compare the total of all these items with the cost of an advertisement containing the same amount of matter placed in a newspaper and note how much less is the expense involved in the use of newspaper space. 2. Newspaper Advertising Has the Advantage of Timeliness. Time is a most important element in advertising. Because of the frequency of publication the advertiser is able to place his message before the public in a few hours. He does not have to furnish copy from six weeks to two months in advance, as in the case of many of the magazines, but can write it, have it put in type and inserted in a newspaper all in the same day. He is therefore in a position to take advantage of any unexpected event or situation. A few years ago when Passaic, N. J., had a $500,000 fire, the enterprising agent of a patent fire extinguisher happened to be in town. He saw in the event an opportunity to center public attention upon the device and make sales. Finding, upon inquiry, that the local agent had only a few of the fire extin- guishers on hand he telegraphed to all the branch houses in the 134 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING adjacent territory to send to Passaic at once all they had in stock. Then he placed large display advertisements in all the daily newspapers of the city, in which, after telling of the ad- vantages of the extinguisher, he asserted that, had the buildings that had been destroyed been equipped with it, the flames could have been easily extinguished and the $500,000 loss prevented. Appearing as it did when the entire business public was excited over the fire, the advertisement made a great impression and during the next few days the sales of the extinguisher in Passaic were the heaviest ever known in the city, and gross after gross were sold in the surrounding territory. Here was a case where enterprise and newspaper advertising, coupled with opportunity, made a ten-strike at small expense. Advertisers are more alert in taking advantage of disastrous fires to sell their products than they were formerly. When an event of this character now occurs not only will the manufac- turers of fire extinguishers and apparatus make use of the ad- vertising columns of the newspapers, but also the insurance companies, the builders, the dealers in fireproof material and office furniture, and the real estate men who have stores and lofts to rent. Retail merchants appreciate the value of newspaper advertising in getting quick action on special sales or in meeting a mer- chandising emergency. It is not unusual for the sales manager of a department store to cancel suddenly the advertisement prepared for the following day and substitute for it another ex- ploiting several lines of goods omitted from the previous an- nouncement, but which it had been found desirable to sell immediately. Sometimes these changes in copy are due to the weather or to the unexpected arrival of shipments of goods for which there is a heavy demand; sometimes to the action of a competitor in making a drive on a particular article. National advertisers are quick to employ newspaper space to head off legislation that would harm their business; or defend their products from attacks made upon them by physicians or Health Bureaus, or by rival manufacturers. By promptly com- batting the charges made they are often able to neutralize their effect and turn the tables on their opponents. WHY ADVERTISE IN THE NEWSPAPERS 135 raspberries red or black Think of winter breakfasts with raspberry jam on but- tered toast! Think of clear, red jelly and raspberry tarts! Don't let raspberry time slip by without doing up all you can both black and red. There is so much nutrition in preserves that they should be used to replace more costly winter foods. When you order your sugar see that it's Domino Granu- lated. Domino comes in tight, dustproof packages, ac- curately weighed, packed and sealed by machine. Domino sugars are all pure cane sugars of the highest quality, packed in convenient sturdy cartons or strong cotton bags. American Sugar Refining Company "Sweeten i'( with Domino" GmraUted. Tablet. Powdered, Confectioner!. Brown. Gotdeo Syrup. KueUe> Cane Sugars SAVE THE FRUITCROPJ An advertisement like this appearing in the newspapers when berries and other kinds of fruit are ripe is certain to appeal to housewives. The bag of Domino granulated sugar and the heap of ripe raspberries, suggests the desirability of canning fruit for winter consumption. 136 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING 3. Newspaper Advertising Produces Quick Results. A daily newspaper is published 30 or 31 times a month, a magazine, usually once a month. The salesman who can talk to his customers or prospects every day in a month has a tremendous advantage over the salesman who can talk to them but once in that time. Frequency of appearance is, therefore, one of the chief advantages of the newspaper as an advertising medium. If, however, newspapers were not continuously read by a majority of the buying public frequency of issue would not carry much weight with advertisers. It is because they are bought and read by practically the same people, day in and day out, that they are of special value to those engaged in the sale of merchandise. Reiteration of statement is one of the most effective means of influencing the human mind. Through the constant repetition in advertisements of a fact or series of facts about an article it is possible to produce an indelible impression upon the mind of the reader. He may or may not know that the impression is being made, but in the end he will be led, consciously or unconsciously, to buy the article if it comes within the range of his needs or desires and he has the money to meet the cost. Some of the most successful and most profitable business enterprises of our time have been created through newspaper advertising. C. W. Post, of Battle Creek, Michigan, brought out Postum Cereal, a new substitute for coffee, in 1895. Through the liberal use of newspaper publicity he made a profit of $175,000 the first year. His success was so unusual that a dozen or more cereal substitutes for coffee, several being close imitations of Postum, were placed on the market at a much lower price Postum retailed for 25 cents a package. In order to meet the competition of the cheaper brand Mr. Post organized another cereal company and placed on the market a coffee substitute called "Monks' Brew," which was sold at retail at 5 cents a package and was advertised as "The equal of any cereal coffee made." Admitting that Postum was the best coffee substitute on the market Mr. Post did not misrepresent the new product as every carton labelled "Monks' Brew," it afterward turned out, contained real Postum. WHY ADVERTISE IN THE NEWSPAPERS 137 Sold by Reliable Dealer* Phone Prospect 1800 for puna of dealer in your neighborhood PHESE tires are JL built on the prin- ciple that you can't get the best out of your tires unless the best was putin them in the first place. C. KENYON COMPANY, Inc. Maktrt of Ktnyon Weathtrproaf and Kmreifn Waterproof Coat* DEALER'S SERVICE DEPT. 754 Pacific Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. There is no fuss or feathers about this Kenyon newspaper ad but it does three things and does them well. It visualizes the tire by means of an outline picture; it impresses its name, "Kenyon Cord," upon the reader's mind, and by a single brief sentence starts a train of thought that ends in the conclusion that Kenyon tires must be good tires. 138 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING This move drove the rival manufacturers out of business. As soon as this happened the Monk's Brew advertising was stopped and the demand soon dropped off to such a degree that the wholesalers sent it back to Battle Creek by the carload. Post accepted the returned shipments and promptly mailed checks for the full amount paid by the jobbers and retailers. The manufacturer poured the contents of the packages into 25- cent Postum cartons, which were then shipped out to fill orders for Postum that had been received from all over the country. At the end of the second year this enterprising manufacturer found that he had lost $46,000. The following year Mr. Post's profits were $384,000; the next $465,000; the next $930,000, and for\ number of years after that they averaged over $1,000,000. In 1908 he invested $1,317,952.- 55 in newspaper advertising; hi 1909, $1,245,779.30, and in 1910, $1,500,000. At the time of his death a year or two later he was spending more than $2,000,000 annually. In an address before the Sphinx Club Mr. Post stated that his sales increased in direct proportion to the amount he put into advertising. He laid down the principle that "in conducting successful newspaper campaigns it is of the first elemental im- portance that you have a high-grade article, containing all of the honest merit that human intelligence can put into it. Let the advertiser know the ground-floor facts about his product, and then tell them steadily and persistently, and all the time right in the face of all ignorant criticism, however perverted it may be, and he will win out in time for the people seek facts and ride over biased and self-seeking comment." W. L. Douglas, at one tune Governor of Massachusetts, and one of the largest manufacturers of advertised shoes in the world, once paid this tribute to newspaper advertising: "Newspaper advertising has made me what I am. I have tried all the advertising mediums there are and the newspapers give me far the best results. A newspaper advertisement strikes the eye the moment the sheet is opened. The same advertise- ment would be hidden among the many pages of a magazine until the reader found his way to it, if he ever did. Every man reads a newspaper but every man does not read the magazines. There WHY ADVERTISE IN THE NEWSPAPERS 139 4 never-ending procession of ships is passing along this route, bringing fresh, fra- grant Lipton's Tea to America. In the great Lipton Plantations of Ceylon and India, over 8,000 miles awayj the picking, curing and shipping of is always going on. That is why you always get fresh tea when you buy Lipton's. Freshness is vitally essential to the satisfying flavor and fragrance of tea. Tell your grocer you want Lipton's Tea because you know it will have this freshness. Look for the signature of Sir Thomas J. Lipton on every package of tea you buy TEA COFFEE** COCOA PiMtTfuCtruoH It insures you the utmost in tea quality and is a guarantee that you will enjoy tea drinking at its best. Ask your grocer for Lilian's blends of Ceylon and India Teas Black, Green or Mixed, also Orange Petot THOMAS J. LIPTON, Inc. Hobokeo San Francisco Chicago Toronto London The never ending procession of ships carrying Lipton's tea from Ceylon to New York, as shown in the illustration, is, to the reader, convincing proof of its popularity. The reproduction of Lipton's signature, and the package in the lower left-hand corner are helps to identification. Well adapted to newspaper 140 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING is no place where the newspapers are not read with eager interest. That is why I advertise exclusively in the daily newspapers." Mr. Douglas has invested from $200,000 to $300,000 a year in this kind of publicity. It would have been utterly impossible for Mr. Post or Mr. Douglas to have achieved the great financial success they did without advertising they say newspaper advertising. A large national advertiser in starting out to introduce a new product began by spending $300 a month in the local newspapers of a restricted territory. Disregarding the cost of advertising he made a profit of $50, the first month; $75 the second; $100, the third and so on up to the twelfth when the profit was large enough to cover the cost of advertising for the month. At the end of 18 months the profit equaled the cost of the advertis- ing for the entire period, and beginning with the nineteenth month he was doing a large volume of business with a fair profit. He continued this same policy for 17 months in several other localities, the results of the three years' use of local mediums being three new factories with a fourth under construction to meet the demand that had been created. The above are only three out of hundreds of cases that might be cited to show the substantial results that can be achieved in a comparatively short time through the employment of newspaper advertising. Herbert Kaufman says: "Newspaper advertising is to business what hands are to a clock. It is a direct and certain means of letting the public know what you are doing. A dealer who does not advertise is like a clock that has no hands." 4. Newspaper Advertising Increases Profits by Speeding Up the Turn-over oj Stock. It is a well-known merchandising principle that the more frequent the turn-over of goods the greater will be the profit, as overhead expenses remain practically the same. Hence the more goods sold the larger the profit. Frequency of advertising, provided, of course, it is of the right kind, promotes frequency of turn-over. It is this constant turn-over of capital that makes large profits possible upon a comparatively small initial investment. Volume and reasonable profits should be the WHY ADVERTISE IN THE NEWSPAPERS 141 aim of both manufacturer and retailer. Newspaper advertising promotes both. 5. What You Get When You Purchase Newspaper Space. When you place an advertisement in a newspaper you buy much more than the white space it occupies. Along with it goes the prestige and influence which the paper has been building up for many years. Victor Lawson spent $25,000,000 in developing the Chicago Daily News. Four hundred thousand families read the paper daily because of its dependability and their confidence in it. Every advertiser in its columns buys the good will that has been created by many years of square dealing and efficient public service but all he pays for is space. It took the great war to demonstrate to the Government, bankers and business men of the country, the dominance and force of newspaper advertising. One of the most impressive illustrations showing what can be done through newspaper ad- vertising was the Chicago Red Cross Membership Campaign. By using 42 full-page advertisements in the local dailies for four weeks the enrollment was increased from 17,000 to 416,000, at a total cost of 7% cents a member. The best previous cost record made without advertising was 16 cents per member. 6. Another Advantage oj Newspaper Advertising Is Its Flexibility. You can localize your advertising by adapting it to the varying social, financial, business and climatic conditions of the territory you wish to cover. You can use one kind of copy in Florida and Louisiana, another kind in Ohio and Kentucky, and still another in Oregon and Washington, in each instance the text matter being adapted to the special needs and customs of the people of those sections of the country. A newspaper advertising campaign can be confined to one state or group of states, or it can cover the country like a blanket. It can be canceled on a few days' notice or it can be extended to territory that was not included in the original plan. The ad- vertisements used need not be of uniform size. You can run a page or double truck on Sunday, a quarter page Wednesday, and a column or half a column on Friday, without the slightest trouble. When the season for your product is on, if you are a manufacturer, you can employ as much space as you may need 142 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING to properly influence trade. In the dull season you are under no obligation to advertise in the newspaper unless you want to. 7. One More Point to Be Considered in Newspaper Advertising Is the Promptness with Which Newspaper Readers Respond to Ad- vertising Appeals. They have been taught by experience to act at once, notably in responding to classified and retail advertising. They know that unless they immediately visit the store where a special sale is taking place their chances for getting one of the articles advertised are few. Delay mean loss of opportunity. Prompt action prevents disappointment. National advertisers say that readers of newspapers are more quickly responsive to their advertisements than the readers of magazines. It is this habit of promptness in answering advertisements that appeals to merchants. They can tell within 24 or 48 hours after a special sale advertisement has been printed just what results have been achieved through that particular piece of copy. How to Know What Newspaper to Use. The retail merchant has little difficulty in selecting the proper daily or weekly papers for his advertising. He lives right where they are published. He reads one or more of them every day if he is a live and intelli- gent merchant. He hears them discussed by customers in the store, and by his friends and neighbors. He knows which ones print the most reliable news and are the most helpful to the community. Therefore when he advertises he is measurably certain to pick those that will do his business the most good. The national distributor hi making up the list of newspapers in which his advertising is to appear naturally does not have first-hand knowledge of the several city dailies possessed by the local merchants. He can find in the newspaper directories facts that will help him in his selection, but aside from the circulation figures, political complexion, frequency of publication and the names of the owners, there is little information that will assist him in determining their standing in the community or their value as advertising mediums. The basic facts that are most helpful to the national advertiser in determining the real advertising worth of a newspaper do not appear in directories. They can only be found in the possession of the large advertising agencies and big national advertisers 143 who have assembled them for their use as the result of thorough and costly investigations made by members of their own staffs. What advertisers want to know is embodied in the answers to these questions: What kind of people comprise the bulk of the paper's readers? Is it an alert and progressive publication, taking the lead in civic affairs and making its influence felt in all directions, or does it drift along without definite aims or purposes? Is it a sensational or a conservative newspaper? Does it print objectionable advertising? Are its rates reasonable and are they the same to all people? Does it give the advertiser a square deal? Is the paper well printed and edited? Does it have backbone in dealing with public questions? Are its classified columns fat or lean? Does it have a distinct moral tone? When these questions have been satisfactorily answered the advertiser can make his selection with intelligence and good judgment. Questions 1. How does the cost of newspaper advertising compare with that of other mediums? 2. What would be the expense of running a 10-line advertisement in all the daily newspapers of the country? 3. Give six advantages of newspapers as an advertising medium. 4. Tell the story of Postum. 6. What effect does newspaper advertising have upon turn-over? 6. In buying space what do you get besides the white paper? 7. Are the readers of newspapers more quickly responsive to advertise- ments than magazine readers, and if so, why? 8. How can an advertiser tell what newspapers to use in a campaign? 9. What are some of the points that should be considered in their selec- tion? CHAPTER XII MAGAZINES AS ADVERTISING MEDIUMS All magazines may be grouped under three heads literary, class and business. Usually when we speak of magazines in advertising circles the literary or class publications are meant. Because of their country-wide distribution magazines stand in high favor among national advertisers. Retail merchants do not use them in their campaigns unless, like B. Altman & Com- pany, Tiffany and the Gorham Company, of New York, and Marshall Field & Company, of Chicago, they have mail order departments. Owing to the nature of their business they aim to concentrate their advertising upon the territory from which they can reasonably expect to draw customers. For their pur- pose the local daily or weekly newspaper is an ideal medium. On the other hand, the national advertiser generally a manufacturer or jobber who sells his product all over the country wherever he can find a market, uses the magazines be- cause of their wide distribution. The publishers of these period- icals do not contend that theirs is the best or the only advertising medium that should be used in a general advertising campaign. As a matter of fact they recognize the value of newspapers and are themselves liberal advertisers in them. They have found by experience that if they want to arouse public interest in a striking feature article, or in an unusual story appearing in their magazines they must use newspaper space. The Literary Digest, the Pictorial Review, the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's, employ full pages in the highest priced dailies in the country for this purpose. Whenever the time element is an important factor the newspaper is undoubtedly superior to other mediums. The Place of the Magazine. Before enumerating the argu- ments in behalf of the magazine as an advertising medium let 144 MAGAZINES AS ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 145 us consider the position it occupies in the reading world. Maga- zines are not a necessity in the same sense as are newspapers. Their function is different. Business men depend upon news- papers for market reports and other information which is of vital importance to them in the conduct of their affairs. From this viewpoint it would not make much difference to them if no magazines were published. And yet magazines are generally regarded as indispensable to modern civilization. They are the medium through which its highest culture finds expression. In them may be found much of the choicest literature of our time, the results of scientific research, articles on art, music, the drama, travel, health and other topics that appeal to men and women of education and refinement. The magazines discuss many subjects with a thoroughness that is not possible in the newspapers because of space limitations and the speed with which they must be produced. They furnish thousands of people with the only means they have of intellectual improvement. Some are devoted to the home, some to women and some to the children. Others to health, religion, education, out-door sports and agriculture. They are read during leisure hours when the mind is not absorbed with business affairs or by social or household duties. Their monthly or weekly arrival is looked forward to with pleasurable anticipation by all members of the family. For thirty days they continue a live attraction of the center table, and when the new issues come they are put aside for future reference, and at the end of the year are bound in volume form and placed on the shelves of the library. Advantages of Magazine Advertising. We are now hi a posi- tion to understand wherein the value of the magazine as an advertising medium lies. Among its advantages are the following : 1. It Is Read in the Home and Forms a Part of Its IntettectualLife. It has the confidence of the members of the family a confi- dence that has been born of long familiarity with its ideals and purposes as reflected in its pages. The publisher regards himself as a trustee for the home into which his magazine enters and there- fore keeps out of it all advertisements that might deceive or harm the members of the family. That is the reason why for many years before the prohibition law went into effect the pages of the 10 146 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING standard magazines were free from beer, whiskey, patent medicine and other objectionable advertisements. In one year Everybody's rejected $200,000 worth of this kind of advertising. 2. Every Advertisement Appearing in Its Columns Has Behind It the Implied, if Not Expressed, Personal Endorsement of the Publisher. The reader does not question for a moment the truth of the statements. He believes them because of his faith in the responsibility and integrity of the sponsors of the magazine. The advantage which this reader confidence gives the national distributor of merchandise, whose advertising is admitted to its columns, is incalculable. He can bank upon the results that will follow with a greater degree of certainty than is possible when some of the other mediums are employed. Magazine publishers have claimed, and apparently not without reason, that reader response is far greater in proportion to circulation than in the case of the newspapers. 3. It Furnishes a Stable Market. Herbert S. Houston, of Doubleday, Page & Company, publishers of the World's Work, maintains that the magazine is most effective in creating a broad and enduring market for staple articles having wide distribution, for example, like Walter Baker's Chocolate, Royal Baking Powder or Regal Shoes. Such a market depends upon the home for its support and the way to reach the home, he asserts, is through the literary and other magazines that cover the country thoroughly many times a year. 4. It Protects Readers Against Loss Through Fraudulent Ad- vertising. The readers of a magazine take it for granted that the publisher guarantees the responsibility of his advertisers, and hence, when they find they have been deceived, do not hesitate to call upon him to make good any loss they have sustained. A man in Florida who purchased some fancy pigeons that had been advertised in a prominent monthly wrote the publisher that they were not as represented. The latter requested him to forward the birds to New York by express where he would have a pigeon fancier decide whether they came up to the description given by the seller in his advertisement. The expert reported that the pigeons were of the ordinary barn-yard variety and not Belgian MAGAZINES AS ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 147 Some national advertisers depend upon illustrations to put their message across. In this William Rogers ad the picture conveys the idea of quality, the few lines of type underneath being supplementary. 148 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING JW, .*> *-x SHRE'DDl'MBlH Vjfi SHREDDED Bumbles K rumbles the real vim an "DVERY bit of the perfect nutrition nature -L-' puts in the whol,e wheat grain is in Krumbles. That is why eminent food author- ities say one could live indefinitely on Krum- bles and milk. Krumbles gives you the valuable mineral salts and other elements that benefit muscles and nerves build up vitality and provide pep. Krumbles is made in the same big, modern kitchens as Kellogg's Toasted Corn Flakes, Kellogg's Krumbled Bran, Kellogg's Drinket, etc, and comes to you from your grocer in our flavor-hokUng"waxtite"pack- age, with this signature- " Here, again, we see in this Kellogg ad a happy combination of illustration and text. The picture of the jolly-faced, wholesome-looking Boy Scout at the top, and the package and prepared dish of berries at the right, are full of sugges- tions to parents. MAGAZINES AS ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 149 Homers, as claimed. Thereupon the publisher forwarded to the Florida buyer a check covering the price he had paid for them and sent the birds back to the advertiser whom he compelled to repay the money. There are few representative magazines in America that do not protect their readers from loss in a similar manner. It is a tribute to the watchfulness of the publishers that so few mis- leading or deceptive advertisements find their way into their periodicals. 5. Advertisements Appear in Good Company. A magazine advertiser is morally certain that his advertisement will be in good company when it appears. If he is selling the bonds of an industrial corporation of established reputation he knows that it will not be elbowed by the alluring announcements of wild-cat oil or mining companies. In business, as well as in society, we like to be associated with honest and respectable people. We know that if we are frequently seen in the company of men and women who have an unsavory reputation, we will soon be classed with them. In the same way we want our advertisements to have the right kind of neighbors when they appear in print in order that they may share in the advantages which such association brings. Physical Advantages of Magazine Advertising. Because magazines are printed on a fine quality of paper, on slow-running presses, and under conditions that allow more time for make- ready and greater care in printing, they offer advertisers better typographical effects and art values than the newspapers. Finer screens can be used in making the halftone plates for the illustrations, thus insuring clearer and more attractive pictures. Within reasonable limitations the better the typographical and artistic appearance of an advertisement the more likely its chances are of being seen and read. The shape and size of a magazine page contributes to the effect- iveness of the advertisement printed upon it. The fact that full pages are used by a majority of national advertisers gives to each one an equal chance to interest the reader. There is no division of attention. When you riffle over the pages every advertisement has an opportunity, however slight it may be, of catching and 150 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING holding your eye long enough to awaken a desire to read it. It is the absence of counter-attractions that gives an added strength to magazine advertisements. Magazines Maintain Service Departments. Many of the more important magazines have established service departments for the assistance of advertisers in the preparation of their copy and to supply valuable merchandising and marketing information. While most of the national advertising is prepared and placed by advertising agents, many new advertisers who have not reached the point where they consider it advisable to turn over their publicity campaigns to agents, are glad to avail themselves of the advice and assistance given by the service departments of the magazines. Sometimes a charge is made, but usually the service is furnished free to those who have contracted for space. But whether or not a charge is made for writing the copy, the expense of all art work, halftones or other cuts, is borne by the advertiser. How Magazines Help the Dealer. The national distributor who wants to get the most out of his advertising should not be content to sit back and wait for results. He should see that the retailers who handle his goods know about his campaign and the names of the magazines he is using. This information can be supplied to them through the manufacturer's salesmen who call upon the merchants. They should carry with them copies of the advertisements that are to appear during the campaign and explain how they will increase sales. It is a good plan to furnish copies of one or more of the magazines containing the advertise- ments to the dealers so they can place them in the show windows in which the goods are displayed. People passing by will see them and be duly impressed by the fact that the articles thus advertised in publications having a national reputation, are on sale in the store. They will conclude, and rightly too, that the goods must possess merit or the manufacturer would not spend a large amount of money in advertising them. Moreover they take pride in the possession and use of articles that have been made popular through advertising. The merchant also takes pride in selling them. To have on his shelves trade-marked products that are being exploited in MAGAZINES AS ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 151 high-class magazines that circulate among his best customers gives to his store a prominence in the community it would not have if he dealt only in commonplace brands. The Life of a Magazine Advertisement. Thirty days is the limit of the active life of a magazine just as a day is the limit of a daily newspaper. The magazine advertisement, however, continues to pull long after the month of publication has gone by. The Michigan Stove Company inserted a 224-line advertise- ment three times in a select list of magazines and weeklies having a national circulation. One of its features was a coupon offering advice about stoves to any person returning it to the company's office. Six years after the advertisement had appeared the offer had not been repeated in the meantime the coupons were still coming in, some from remote districts of Europe and other foreign countries The explanation, of course, is that magazines are not thrown away, like newspapers, but in many instances are kept for a long time in bound or unbound form. Some- times old copies are sent to institutions where they are read and re-read until worn out. A magazine frequently has half a dozen sets of readers, the copies being sent from one home to another among the relatives and friends of the original owner. While formerly it was the custom in binding copies into volumes to discard the advertising sections, in these days, owing to the increased size of the magazine page and the custom of running reading matter and small advertisements together, it is impossible to do so. It follows, therefore, under this arrangement, that the advertisements are preserved indefinitely, and, as often as the volume is opened are ready to deliver their message to the reader. Things to Be Considered in Magazine Circulations. While quantity of circulation is regarded as a most important factor in newspaper advertising, in magazine advertising it is geo- graphical distribution. The national advertiser wants to know whether it covers the entire country or only a section of it. When he buys magazine space he prefers that it shall be in a periodical that covers the territory where he has the best dis- tribution of his product. Some mail campaigns will undoubtedly pay best in the far West and in the Southwest where facilities for buying the article 152 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING of local dealers are limited. Several of the magazines having large circulations now furnish the advertiser statements showing their geographical distribution by States. From them he can tell whether the publications reach the people in the territory in which he seeks to build up sales. Half the population of the United States and Canada lies east of the Mississippi and north of Ohio, but the purchasing power of the West undoubtedly warrants a larger advertising investment, according to population, than the East. There is also less competition to be encountered. Another important point to be considered about a magazine's circulation is the manner in which it was secured. Was it the result of premium or clubbing offers, of prize contests, or of sub- scription drives? or was it the result of volunteer subscriptions? Forced circulations are not as highly regarded by advertisers as those that have had a natural growth. People who take a magazine to get a premium or to help someone win a prize usually care little about the publication itself. The most profitable reader for the advertiser is the one who buys or subscribes for a publication because it appeals to him and he wants it. He not only desires to read it, but feels under an obligation to do so. The man to whom a magazine is sent free is influenced by neither of these sentiments. Magazine circulations do not fluctuate like those of newspapers. Severe rain or snow storms do not lessen the demand for them. In the big cities where newspaper circulations depend largely upon street sales it is not uncommon for the sales to fall off from 25 to 40 per cent, because of a spell of bad weather. The mag- azines, with possibly one or two exceptions, are not sold by newsboys. Stand sales keep up in spite of weather conditions because the stands having the largest sales are located at rail- way stations, near post offices, or other places where traffic is heaviest. Reliable figures regarding magazine circulations may be obtained from the Publishers' Periodical Association, the Audit Bureau of Circulations, and from N. W. Ayer & Son's News- paper Directory. MAGAZINES AS ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 153 ^| Increasingly Appreciated The exquisite beauty of tone and craftsmanhke finish of The Cheney is becoming known to an ever enlarging group of dis- criminating purchasers. There is romantic interest as well as unique acoustic superiority m the fact that The Cheney embodies the principles of the pipe organ and the violin. "THE LONGER You PLAY IT, THE SWEETER IT GROWS." The increasing appreciation of The Cheney manifests itself in an enlarg- ing volume of sales, most gratityuig to dealers. O/ie In the Cheney Talking Machine ad the sole purpose of the illustration is to create atmosphere. It gives the impression that the Cheney appeals to people of refinement. This impression is further strengthened by the reading matter. 154 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING GrinneU Gloves "Best for every purpose" GrinneU "Limp-Kuff" 'Driving gloves An ideal motoring glove; with the snap of real style; light-weight; smooth- fitting; soft, easy, comfortable; the flexible, limp-cuff keeps out wind, dust, rain or snow, and crumples down naturally on wrist. Snug strap fastener at wrist completes its handsomeness. Ask your dealer for the GrinneU Limp-Kuffand other GrinneU gloves. Whatever kind of glove you want, for driving, work, dress or play for men, women or children, you'll find it among GrinneU styles. The GrinneU trade-mark is a sixty- four-years-old guarantee of quality. Write us for the 1920 GrinneU Giove Book. &5*KA^Si MORRISON RICKER MFG. COMPANY "TrS-Jfc"- A capital specimen of effective glove advertising. Prominence is given, and very properly, too, to the maker's name; the character of the glove is shown with photographic accuracy and its use is indicated by the automobile in the picture above it. MAGAZINES AS ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 155 Questions 1. Under what three heads are magazines grouped? 2. What kind of advertisers employ them in their campaigns? 3. What special services do magazines render the public? 4. Give the arguments hi behalf of the use of magazines in advertising campaigns. 5. How do the magazine publishers protect their readers against loss from fraudulent advertisers? Give an illustration. 6. Why are most magazine advertisements believable? 7. What can you say of the typographical and art value of magazine advertisements ? 8. In what practical way do magazine publishers help their advertisers? 9. How do magazine advertisements help the retailer? 10. What is the length of life of a magazine advertisement? 11. What things are to be considered in magazine circulations? Are magazine circulations more stable than those of newspapers? Why? CHAPTER XIII THE ADVERTISING VALUE OF TRADE AND CLASS PAPERS "The trade paper binds everybody in the business into a fraternity which spells length of days because it serves, and its service is based upon specific knowledge." ELBERT HUBBARD. Newspapers fill so large a place in the stirring, aggressive life of to-day that we may overlook the existence of an exceedingly important though not generally circulated group of publications known as technical trade and class journals. The great public knows little of them because they are seldom found on the news- stands, are not sold on passenger trains, and are only occasionally encountered in libraries except in the larger cities. And yet these same journals occupy an exceedingly important place in the social, religious, professional and business life of the age in which we live. Millions of dollars of capital are employed in their production. Their annual revenue from advertising is estimated at from $46,000,000 to $50,000,000. The list of these publications which cover many activities is a long one and includes periodicals devoted to the iron, steel and coal industries; to the manufacture of textiles, shoes and clothing; to education, religion and sociology; to science, commerce and banking. There are few, if any, businesses that are not rep- resented by one or more of them. Selective Character of Circulations. The chief argument in behalf of business papers as advertising mediums is based upon the selective character of their circulations. They assemble in groups those who are engaged in specific occupations. "The trade and technical journals of the country are like magnets picking iron filings out of the dust," says II . R. Shuman, of Chicago. The public to which the national advertiser desires to appeal is selected for him automatically from the millions who 156 ADVERTISING VALUE OF TRADE AND CLASS PAPERS 157 have no interest in his product. Their readers are brought to- gether at stated intervals to consider important problems relating to the business they represent. They are told how to do things quicker, better and cheaper. They are supplied with informa- tion of vital value concerning new and improved manufacturing methods and processes; concerning markets and the best way to reach them ; concerning new products, new businesses and new opportunities for increasing sales. These publications give you an opportunity to present your business story to the selected groups of readers they have as- sembled. You can talk to them under ideal conditions just as you would if they were gathered together in a big field or audi- torium. The advantage which such a privilege gives is incalculable as most of their readers are either themselves buyers of merchandise or are in close contact with those who buy. Horace M. S wetland, of New York, one of the largest trade paper publishers in the world, says : "It may be stated as a cardinal principle that wherever an industry is served by a thoroughly competent industrial publica- tion its pages offer the cheapest advertising that that industry can buy." H. E. Cleland, long regarded as an expert in the technical advertising field, in an address before the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World that won the Higham Prize as the most con- structive delivered at the St. Louis Convention, gave these reasons for the economy and resultfulness of trade paper advertising : "First The editorial character of each paper limits its circulation to those men in an industry or trade who are responsible for results. They are the men who actually buy or recommend the buying of the machinery or merchandise advertised in the paper. "Second The buying power of the subscriber represents an in- finitely greater sum than the buying power per subscriber of any other class of publications because each buyer purchases for business and not for private consumption. "Third The editorial contents of the paper are in harmony with the advertising pages. The former tells a man 'how' and the second shows 'what with.' 158 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING "These three fundamental reasons form the backbone of effective economy in advertising. Business paper advertising is economical because it reaches and the advertiser only pays for a circulation of tremendous buying power, which is continually being taught by the publication itself to want the products advertised." In an article in the Dry Goods Reporter, of Chicago, on the ad- vertising value of trade papers, the writer says : "The buying power of 5,000 readers of the average trade paper is greater than that of 500,000 readers of the average popular medium, and the advertiser who will avail himself of the privilege of winning the acquaintance and confidence of those men through their own business journals will find a new and signal solution to the increasingly difficult problem of getting efficiency out of his advertising outlay." Proof of the statements made above is readily available. Trade-paper advertising in 15 years brought a soda fountain house from a position of obscurity to a point where it is the largest in the world. Through the use of double-page spreads in five trade papers, at an expense of $4,000, a contractor secured $8,000,000 worth of new business in a year's time. The Royal Waste Company, of Rahway, N. J., by the investment of 2^ per cent, of its sales in trade paper publicity was able to win, in a few months, a commanding position in the trade. Its slogan "Our Waste Your Gain" is known wherever cotton waste is used. Industrial Publications. A group of publications that wield a tremendous influence is made up of trade and technical publica- tions representing the leading industries of the country. In the amount of capital invested, in the cost of maintenance, and in the volume of advertising carried they easily lead all other business papers. Formerly trade papers had little excuse for their existence. The most of them were poorly edited, wretchedly printed, and had small circulations. They contained very little news and few articles that were of value to their subscribers. In fact, many were established for the sole purpose of " pulling the leg" of the more important manufacturers engaged in the industries represented. To-day business papers are conducted by experts who receive large salaries. In fact their publishers are obliged to compete ADVERTISING VALUE OF TRADE AND CLASS PAPERS 159 with great manufacturing, industrial and commercial houses that are always on the lookout for brainy men, in securing the services of expert writers. These journals are now regarded as indispensable to the trades to which they are devoted. They print the news of the week in each particular field; they give market quotations and publish articles upon the business topics in which their readers are most interested. The engineering paper, for instance, contains a list of new plants that are being installed, or are contemplated; presents discussions of intricate problems encountered by engineers in their work and tells how they were solved; gives descriptions of new inventions that promise to be of value to the trade, etc. Such a periodical enables the engineer in the wilderness of the Northwest to keep in pro- fessional touch with his fellows in the big cities. These industrial and technical journals reach special groups of readers who are buyers of raw or manufactured materials, and who are dependent upon them for information as to prices' and markets. Every manufacturer of machinery, every electrical engineer, every factory owner is always on the lookout for new devices that will reduce the cost of production or lessen the hours of labor. What better medium can there be for presenting an article employed in a trade or industry than the publication representing it? That there is none, in the opinion of thousands of advertisers, is indicated by the volume of advertising carried by such periodicals. A single issue of the Iron Age has contained 450 pages of advertising. Special editions of the Textile World the Dry Goods Economist, the Automobile Journal, and a dozen other trade publications, have printed as much advertising. Farm Publications. Of the several groups of periodicals one of the most important, in point of circulation and influence, is composed of agricultural publications, of which 512 are issued. Of these only a comparatively small number have attained na- tional distribution, the circulations of the majority being restricted to certain states or sections of the country. Some are devoted to the general subject of farming the cultivation of the soil, the use of fertilizers, rotation of crops, and the discussion of every-day farm problems. Others specialize on stock and poultry raising, on bee culture, dairy production, etc. . 160 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING The field covered by agricultural papers is much more extensive and important than most people suppose. It is a fact, however, that it is the country and not the city that furnishes the bulk of ordinary trade. Sixty out of the ninety millions of our popula- tion live in rural districts and in towns of less than 10,000 popula- tion of these 30,000,000 actually reside on farms. In other words, in order to reach two-thirds of our population an advertiser must use mediums that go to people living in towns of 10,000 and under. Buying Power of Farmers. While the farmers have always been the largest wealth producers there was a time when they received only a small share of the value of their products. Some of us can remember when the financial market was flooded with West- ern farm mortgages paying from 6 to 12 per cent, interest; when the small cotton planters of the South were so enmeshed in the usurers' nets that their crops were mortgaged for nearly their full value and the money spent, before they were grown. During the decade immediately preceding the great war the farmer began to come into his own. The introduction of the telephone and automobile brought him into closer contact with his markets and enabled him to get better prices for his products. Improved agricultural machinery and the adoption of business methods in farm management were instrumental in increasing his crops and in reducing the cost of raising them. Then came the world war that sent the prices of all food stuffs to unpreced- ented high levels. Wheat that only a short time before had sold at 60 cents, and a little later at $1 a bushel, went up to $2.50 and $2.75 a bushel. Beef, pork and lamb were sold at an advance of 300 per cent. The demand, even at these figures, was greater than the supply. Hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of grain and food supplies of various kinds were sent abroad, not only to feed our own soldiers and those of the Allies, but to keep the inhabitants of nearly every country of Europe from starvation. No authentic figures are available showing to what extent the wealth of the farmers was increased by the extraordinary condi- tions prevailing during and immediately following the great war, but the present average income is $3,500 a year. No other ADVERTISING VALUE OF TRADE AND CLASS PAPERS 161 class of our population possesses such aggregate buying power. The home of the farmer of to-day is equipped with practically the same conveniences as that of the city dweller. He sends his children to the best schools and colleges. A $300 or $400 piano occupies the place in the parlor once held by the $25 or $50 parlor organ. A victrola or graphophone, with an assortment of the latest operatic, instrumental or song records, stands in the corner of the room. Gas or electric light has superseded the kerosene lamps of yesterday. The kitchen is equipped with a washing machine and the dairy with a cream separator and a power churn. The farmer's wife and daughter wear hats, wraps and gowns of the latest mode, ordered from New York or Chicago shops. The telephone keeps him in touch with his neighbors, no matter how far away, and when he goes to town he rides in an automobile. In order to reach the farmer the standard agricultural paper is employed. He subscribes for it, not to be amused or entertained, but to get information that will help him in his business, that will tell him how to get rid of insect pests that destroy his crops or show him how to secure better prices for his products through the exercise of greater care in packing. Because of the very close relationship that exists between the farmer and the agricultural paper he reads weekly or monthly, advertisements appearing in its pages carry greater weight with him than those appearing in other publications. A Missouri farmer, without making a single inquiry, sent his check for a $2,000 order of merchandise to an advertiser whose announcement appeared in his favorite agricultural journal. He knew nothing about the reliability of the manufacturer, but the fact that the latter's advertisement was admitted to its columns was to him sufficient proof of his honesty. In other words, the farm paper had, through its straightforward policy and helpful attitude toward its readers, gained his confidence and good will. It is because of this confidence that advertisements appearing in the farm journals bring such a hearty response from their subscribers. Through them manufacturers in one month sold $60,000 worth of automobiles and $25,000 worth of pianos hi one county in Iowa alone. 11 162 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Class Publications.-^-Under the head of class publications may be listed a number of groups of papers. One group is composed of those devoted to the professions law and medicine. Another, of journals representing religious denominations. A third, of periodicals dealing with education. A fourth is made up of fraternal or insurance papers. In fact, there is hardly a subject or a form of human activity in which people are interested that is not represented by one or more periodicals. The religious field is thoroughly covered. Every denomination or religious organization has its own papers. Those devoted to Catholicism and Methodism are the most numerous because these churches have the largest memberships. The religious papers have always been regarded as good advertising mediums because of their authority and standing. Business announce- ments in their columns carry weight with their readers who assume that the advertiser has the endorsement of the church authorities. Unfortunately there was a time when the publishers in their eagerness to fill their papers with profitable advertisements did not exercise sufficient care in excluding misleading and decep- tive announcements, the result being that swindlers took advantage of their laxity and obtained large sums of money from the trusting readers through the promotion of fake oil, mining and other companies. In recent years the religious press has not been open to this charge. It would now be almost impossible to secure the insertion of a misleading or deceptive advertisement in any one of the standard publications. Religious papers are highly re- garded as advertising mediums by many of the foremost business concerns, including Huyler's, Scott & Bowne, Royal Baking Powder Co., Heinz, and the Procter & Gamble Co. Their influ- ence in the home is such that advertisements appearing in them have a strong pulling power. In making your selection of the business or class papers you are to use in your advertising campaign you should, in case you are unfamiliar with their relative value, seek advice from business men engaged in the trades they represent. There are always one or two publications that are regarded as leaders in the field and because of their standing are the best mediums in which to ADVERTISING VALUE OF TRADE AND CLASS PAPERS 163 advertise. Don't waste your money on journals that are trying to get a foothold in a field that is already adequately represented by well-established periodicals. Don't worry about position. If you can secure one of the cover pages, the first page opposite the second page of the cover, or a page facing reading matter, well and good. You will have to pay a premium for such space and sometimes it is worth it. But in the event you cannot get one of these preferred positions be content with any position as your advertisement is certain to be seen wherever it is placed. The pages of business papers are more carefully examined than those of literary or society publications. They are read not for entertainment but for help. Hence if you have something worth while to sell and advertise it in one of these journals you are measurably sure of finding among their readers many who will buy it. When once you have started advertising in one or more of these business papers don't stop, unless for financial reasons you are compelled to do so. Start in with the maximum amount of space you can afford to use throughout the year. If it is a monthly don't advertise one month and drop out the next with a view of saving money. Trade papers are kept on file a long time after their date of issue. If a man who saw your ad in one issue, happens, in trying to find it a few weeks later, to pick up an issue in which it did not appear, he may conclude you have gone out of business or that you have discontinued the manu- facture of the article you were advertising. When you take your place hi the ring stay there until you are either licked or you win out. Plunges are wholly speculative. It is better to use a quarter page in every issue of a weekly or monthly trade paper than a page every fourth issue. Keep your flag flying at the top of the mast all of the time when once you have put it up, in order that the world may know you are still alive and doing business. Questions 1. In what ways do business publications differ from general magazines? 2. What is the difference between trade and class papers? 3. What is the chief argument in behalf of these publications as advertis- ing mediums? 164 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING 4. Give H. E. Cleland's three reasons for the economy and resultfulness of trade paper advertising. 5. Give an instance of the successful use of this medium. 6. How many farm publications are there? Name some of them. 7. What can be said regarding the buying power of farmers? 8. Why are trade and technical publications of special value to the manufacturer? Give the names of several with which you are acquainted. 9. What are class publications? 10. What are the arguments in behalf of religious papers? 11. Give several suggestions concerning the use of advertising space in business periodicals. CHAPTER XIV ADVANTAGES OF OUTDOOR ADVERTISING Outdoor advertising is the oldest form of written advertising we know anything about. In the Louvre, in Paris, may be seen a poster, made of papyrus, dated 146 B.C., offering a reward for the recovery of two slaves who had escaped from Alexandria, in Egypt. Another found in a temple in Jerusalem and issued in the reign of Herod the Great, forbade the entrance of foreigners to certain parts of the temple upon pain of death. In the British Museum in London there are exhibited well-preserved posters, also of papyrus, taken from the walls of buildings in Pompeii and Jerusalem. From the early days of civilization until now the poster has been a popular medium for placing before the public commercial, religious, or political information. Wherever men congregate posters have been found effective. When placed upon walls or billboards on public thoroughfares where they can be easily seen they usually arrest the attention of passers-by long enough to put across the message they convey. To 85 per cent, of the population outdoor advertising offers a blackboard from which there is no turning away. It teaches people when they do not know they are being taught. Thou- sands of persons who are indifferent to newspaper or magazine advertising cannot escape the lure of the attractive posters, the printed bulletins, or the flashing electric light signs that greet them on every side. Outdoor Advertising Involves No Expense to the Reader. Newspapers and magazines must be bought before the ad- vertisements they contain secure an attentive audience. Outdoor publicity necessitates no turning of pages, no examination of endless columns of text and advertising matter. It greets the eye of the shopper on the way to the store, the merchant going to and from his place of business, the idler in search of 165 166 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING entertainment, and the worker returning to his home after a day's toil. The three most popular forms of outdoor advertising are the poster, the painted sign or bulletin, and electric light displays. Of these the one most frequently called into service by national advertisers is the poster, which takes the place of the bellman of Colonial days. As we have already noted it was in use long before the Christian Era began. Its earliest employment was by kings, emperors and other rulers to convey proclamations to their subjects. Then the merchants adopted it as a medium for advertising their goods. In the time of Christ they even hung posters about the necks of idols in the temples of Greece and Rome. In our day the circuses and the patent medicine manufacturers were the first to perceive the value and make full use of the poster for advertising purposes. P. T. Barnum, L. B. Lent, John Robinson, James A. Bailey and other circus owners in the seventies depended upon posters displayed on billboards, fences, barns and even houses to fill their tents in the cities and towns where they exhibited. The posters were crude in design and coloring. The showmen vied with each other in displaying pictures of weird-looking animals that never existed except in the imagination of the artists who drew them but which, the cir- cus owners asserted, were on exhibition in their menageries; and of acrobats and equestrians defying all the laws of gravita- tion. The more improbable they were the more eager people were to see the show. During the last few years there has been a great improvement in the character of circus poster advertising. It is still flamboyant but much more truthful. No less successful in the use of posters in those early days were the manufacturers of patent medicines, liniments and other external remedies such as Flagg's Instant Relief, Hostetter's Bitters, Ayer's Hair Vigor, Hood's Sarsaparilla, and Beecham's Pills. Present-day posters are in many instances veritable works of art. A number of our foremost painters and illustrators design them for the largest national advertisers. Some of their crea- tions are so well executed that if reduced in size and reproduced ADVANTAGES OF OUTDOOR ADVERTISING 167 LIGHT UNION MADE ve rails outwear two ordinary pair Posters. In most of the commercial posters, of which the above are examples, illustrations have been found to add so much to their appeal value that they are generally employed. Care is taken to have them properly displayed in appro- priate surroundings. Some posters are veritable works of art. 168 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Painted Bulletins. The United States Tire advertisement shown in the lower panel is one of several thousand painted bulletins erected along the highways of the country. They are popular with automobilists because they present interest- ing historical data about places neur which they are erected. ADVANTAGES OF OUTDOOR ADVERTISING 169 in oils on canvas they would bring good prices from art connois- seurs. Maxfield Parish's designs for the posters of the Fisk Tire & Rubber Company, James Montgomery Flagg's pictures on the United States Rubber Company's posters, and Charles Dana Gibson's Liberty Loan poster creations show that the best that art can give to advertising is none too good. Art does not demean itself in lending its aid to the adornment of business messages that will be seen by millions. If the mission of art is to uplift and appeal to the higher emotions, where can it find a greater or more worthy audience than is reached by the ad- vertisements seen on the billboards or in the magazines and newspapers? Posters are used by the United States Department of Agricul- ture for various purposes. Railroads find them effective in attracting homesteaders to their farm lands. Government offi- cials have declared that without posters the task of raising billions of dollars through bond sales during the great war would have been much more difficult. Cities and states have em- ployed them to secure manufacturing plants. Political parties regard them as indispensable in national campaigns. Manu- facturers of automobiles, paints, articles of food, soap, tobacco products, clothing, shoes, furniture and the hundred and one articles entering into home consumption, who seek national distribution for their goods, make large appropriations for this form of publicity. The Michigan Agricultural College and the United States Department of Agricultural put on a campaign to increase the consumption of milk in that State. Three posters were shown, one to interest the children, one the women, and one the men. At the end of two weeks the consumption of milk had increased 10 per cent.; cottage cheese, 3 per cent., and butter, 15 per cent. Tile advantages of poster advertising, as enumerated by its advocates, are these: First, the poster is of heroic size the 24-sheet stand, in com- mon use, being 9^ ft. deep by 21 ft. in length. It is mounted in a frame 11 X 25 ft., leaving a margin of white space all the way around it, thus giving it greater prominence. 170 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Second, it has the attraction of color, the value of which in catch- ing the eye cannot be measured. Moreover, the actual appearance of the goods exploited can be faithfully and realistically repro- duced and their attractive qualities set forth. Third, the poster, because of its bigness, allows the display of the name or trade-mark of the article, or the name of the manu- facturer in letters of such large size that they can be easily read at a considerable distance. Moreover, it affords the artist an opportunity to employ designs of a most appealing character in the adornment of the text. Pictorial posters will sell goods to the illiterate and to the foreigner who cannot read English. A poster to be effective from a selling standpoint should com- bine beauty and strength oj design and coloring. In order to accomplish the purpose for which it is intended it must put its message across in a flash, say, two seconds. Therefore, the text should be brief and contain at least one well-defined selling idea. Pictures that are irrelevant or that must be studied to reveal their meaning have no place on a poster. People are usually in motion, riding or walking, when they pass by the billboards; Hence they must take in both the text and illustra- tion of the poster at a glance. If the former is printed in small display type or if the picture must be studied to reveal its mean- ing, then the poster misses the mark. Sometimes a poster carries a picture and only one line of text. The fact that most of the posters seen on the billboards to-day are the work of skilled artists is proof that illustrated posters have been found more resultful than those in which type alone is employed. In any event there should be only one predominating feature in a poster. When more are employed the impression made upon the reader is confusing because of the exceedingly brief time the observer has to analyze the message. Some Mechanical Details. In bill-posting the one sheet poster, 28 X 42 in., is the unit of measurement. The 24-sheet poster which covers an area of 9^ X 21 ft. is the size most popular with advertisers. Billboards are now made of sheet iron rather than wood because they retain their shape in all kinds of weather and require little attention from year to year. The bill-posting of the country is controlled by the Poster ADVANTAGES OF OUTDOOR ADVERTISING 171 Advertising Association, representing 8,000 plants, which has done more to standardize the business and put it on a sound footing than any other association. It has established rules to protect advertisers from irresponsible and dishonest bill-posters. Through a Censorship Committee it keeps a sharp lookout for deceptive or objectionable advertisements and will not allow them to appear on the billboards of the organization. For some time before the prohibition law went into effect no liquor ad- vertisements were accepted for posting. What Posting Costs. Rates for posting are fixed by each individual plant owner. They are based upon the class of serv- ice rendered at so much a sheet per month whether one or a million are used, a bill-poster's month being four weeks and not a calendar month. In New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston the rate is 30 cents for regular locations. In towns of from 2,000 to 5,000 in New York State it is 9 cents. In towns of from 5,000 to 12,000, it is 12 cents. In the average run of towns it is 7 cents a sheet. Displays on the billboards are called "showings." A full showing on all the billboards of the United States costs $197,000 a month and requires 26,138 posters. Very few full showings are used. An advertiser can make a contract for a three-quarter, a half, or a quarter showing. In the Manhattan and Bronx Boroughs of New York City there are 228 regular and 124 special locations or stands. These cost from $7.20 a month for regular and from $20 to $30 for locations at dominating points. An ade- quate showing can be had in these three boroughs for $3,000. The advertiser supplies the posters at his own expense, which varies widely according to the cost of the design, the number of colors used, and the character of the lithographing or printing. In lots of 5,000, when printed in from four to six colors, the cost, excluding the design, is from $1.50 to $1.75 per 24-sheet poster. The advertiser must furnish enough paper (the sheets compos- ing the poster) not only to cover the boards once, but also to re- place any posters that may subsequently be defaced by boys or spoiled by storms. He is given a list of the stands upon which they are placed and their locations in order that he may check 172 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING up the posting, through his salesmen or inspectors, to see if it has been properly done. The Poster Advertising Association has its own system for checking the work of local bill-posters and if they find one who does not live up to his contract he is com- pelled to make a rebate to the advertiser. Poster advertising is specially helpful in supporting newspaper and magazine campaigns. The impression made by advertise- ments in these mediums is continued and intensified by the posters. They familiarize the public with the name and charac- ter of the product through repetition. In a city in which 100 stands are located the posters are telling their story all day long from each of these places. They are more effective than 100 men would be calling out their messages like the town criers of the Colonial days, because they have the added attraction of color, of variety of design and of large display. They are always ready to tell their story to whoever passes by. Poster advertising is effective at all seasons of the year but renders its greatest service in the Spring, Summer and Fall when people spend more time out-of-doors, and it therefore has a larger "circulation." Moreover, the days are longer and the posters are seen to better advantage. Valuable in Special Drives. The advertiser finds posters of great assistance in special drives and intensive campaigns. A full showing in a town attracts wide attention. The new advertiser should beware of trying to cover too much territory at the start. Better try out your product in a few cities and add others as the increase in business warrants. The advertising highway is lined with corpses of advertisers who tried to blanket the country with their advertising and salesman- ship efforts. Insufficient capital, an untried article and an inordinate ambition to get rich quick were some of the causes of their failure. Painted Signs and Bulletins. In addition to the hundreds of miles of billboards, having a total area of 26,000,000 sq. ft. of surface, and used exclusively for poster advertising in 2,726 cities and towns, there are about 1,000 solid miles of fence 10 to 12 ft. high devoted to painted signs and bulletins. While a large proportion of the display space is located along railroads ADVANTAGES OF OUTDOOR ADVERTISING 173 and highways, a considerable amount is found in the populous cities. The railroad bulletins, averaging in size 10 X 48 ft., cost $10 to $12 each, under a year's contract. A reduction is made on a two or three years' contract. City bulletins, aver- aging 10 X 20 ft., or a total of 200 sq. ft., are sold at a general average of 30 cents per lineal foot or $6 each, on a six months' contract. There is practically no limit to the size of painted bulletins. The bare walls of high buildings that are exposed to view when adjoining buildings are torn down to make way for new and larger structures are frequently used for advertising purposes. A few years ago the wall of a skyscraper on lower Broadway was employed to advertise Wilson Whiskey. Upon its surface was painted in colors the picture of a typical Southerner, 100 feet tall, in the act of making a highball by the aid of real water running from a 30-ft. syphon into a 9-ft. glass, with whiskey taken from a 48-ft. bottle. The picture was so well painted that for weeks it was the talk of the city and thousands of people journeyed downtown to see it. One of the special advantages of painted signs is that they are not affected by heavy rain storms and retain their freshness of coloring for months. Changes of copy are not made more fre- quently than three or four times a year. The Appeal of Electric Signs. Of all forms of outdoor adver- tising the latest, and by many considered the most impressive because of its novelty of appeal, is the electric light display. People may not read the advertisement in the newspapers and magazines but the message of fire blazing from the roofs or fronts of buildings at night compels their attention. There is probably no better way of impressing upon the mind of the passer-by a trademark, the name of a product or firm, or a short message of any kind. The most brilliant and beautiful display of electric sign ad- vertising in the world is on view nightly on Broadway from 34th to 59th Streets, New York. Standing in Longacre Square the spectator sees a bewildering series of electric light advertising displays some glowing steadily like constellations in the heavens; some flashing out their message for a few seconds and then 174 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING going out; some representing objects in motion; some that appear to develop under the hand of a hidden artist. Along this thoroughfare from six o'clock until midnight flows the human tide of the great city to and from a hundred theaters and places of amusement, restaurants, hotels and railway ter- minals. It is composed of from three hundred and fifty to five hundred thousand people representing not only New York but practically every city in the United States and every quarter of the globe. Not one of them, unless he is blind, fails to see the advertising messages that greet the eye from every roof and building front along the Great White Way. Results of Electric Light Advertising. A few years ago a cleanser of men's and women's garments who had just established himself in New York used a novel electric sign on Broadway to advertise his business. Up to that time the public had never heard of him. Thirty days later he was doing business in eleven states as the result of his electric light display. Heinz, of the "57 Varieties" fame, whose products were ad- vertised by means of a huge electric sign on the north wall of the Cambridge Building, which occupied the lower end of the triangle at the junction of Broadway and Fifth Avenue, where the Flat- iron Building now stands, once stated that the advertisement brought him orders for goods from Africa, South America and Russia. Manufacturers of various kinds of merchandise have asserted that one of the most valuable features of these electric displays lies in the fact that through them they are able to luence the hundreds of thousands of buyers of mercantile lishments who flock to New York yearly for supplies of good :>r several years the Nonotuck Silk Company displayed d Street and Broadway an electric sign showing a kitten ^ mg with a spool of Corticelli Silk, in order to reach dressmakers and dry- goods dealers who purchase spool silk in large quantities. Perrier, the natural sparkling table water, was for some time advertised by an electric sign, 55 X 108 ft., reproducing the fountain at Versailles. Through a mechanical device ten streams of water apparently rose from the ground to a height of 25 ft. and fell back into the great basin below, live steam being ADVANTAGES OF OUTDOOR ADVERTISING 175 Electric Light Displays. These reproductions of notable night advertise- ments give little idea of their real beauty and effectiveness. The Wrigley display, in the second panel, is the costliest yet erected. 176 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING utilized to produce the. effect of spray. Twenty-two hundred and thirty electric lamps were employed in the design. Another notable sign erected on the roof of the Hotel Nor- mandie showed a realistic Roman chariot race with the horses running at full speed and the driver's tunic streaming behind him in the wind. The appearance of motion was produced by the opening and closing of 2,750 switches. The sign, which was 40 ft. long and 20 ft. high, was composed of 20,000 electric light bulbs and required a 600 h.p. engine to operate it. The ad- vertisements of various products were flashed out on a screen just below the chariot design. The largest of all electric light signs on view in New York is that of Wrigley's Spearmint Gum, which occupies a space 200 ft. long and 50 ft. high on the roof of a building a block long be- tween 43d and 44th Streets on Broadway. By the use of white and colored bulbs the artist who designed it shows two great peacocks with tails 60 ft. long, in their natural colors, with fountains playing on either side, while whimsical figures go through a gymnastic drill. Over 17,000 electric lights are employed. Cost of Electric Light Displays. The expense of electric advertising displays depends upon their size and location. The Wrigley sign above referred to costs $7,500 a month or $90,000 a year. The cost of the average display ranges from $2,000 to $1,500 a month according to locations. Small signs such as appear in front of stores, composed of 24-8 candle power lamps, are furnished free by some of the electric light companies, provided a minimum of $3 is paid each month for the electric current supplied. The larger signs cost from $5 to $15. Slogan Signs. Slogan signs are used by many cities for advertising purposes. They are usually erected near railroad stations where they can be seen by passengers on the trains. The cost of operation is small $3 to $5 a night. Here are a few of the slogans now employed: Atlantic City, "America's Playground;" Galveston, "The Treasure Island of America;" New Orleans, "Welcome to the Winter Capital of America;" Schenectady, "Lights and Heats the World;" Chattanooga, "The Dynamo of Dixie." ADVANTAGES OF OUTDOOR ADVERTISING 177 In all electric light advertising the advertising message must be brief and expressive of a strong selling point unless its purpose is simply to present the name of a product, firm or business. The importance of using a picture or design having pronounced attention value should not be overlooked. People will remember a striking illustration long after they have forgotten the inscrip- tion that accompanied it. In selecting locations choose those on the busiest thorough- fares where they will be seen by the largest number of people. Some of the best are found near theatres, department stores, popular places of assembly, public squares, and railway terminals when close to the business center of a town. Questions 1. What is the oldest poster of which we have knowledge? 2. In what one way does outdoor advertising differ from all other kinds? 3. What are its three most popular forms? 4. Who were first to make an extensive use of posters? 5. For what other purposes are posters employed besides selling goods? Give examples. 6. Name three specific advantages of poster advertising. 7. What are the characteristics of an effective poster? 8. What is the unit of measurement? 9. How many bill-posting plants are there in the U. S. and how are they controlled? 10. Give some idea as to the cost of posting. 11. How can this form of advertising be helpful in supporting news- paper and magazine campaigns? 12. What is the cost of painted bulletins? 13. What are the advantages of electric light advertising? 14. Give examples of its successful employment by national advertisers. 15. Describe any one of the electric light displays given in this chapter. 16. Give some idea as to the cost of this kind of advertising. 17. Give an example of a slogan sign. 18. What are the best locations for electric light displays? CHAPTER XV THE APPEAL OF STREET CAR ADVERTISING One of the mediums that, figuratively speaking, compels you to read its advertisements whether you want to or not, is the street car. When seated in one of these vehicles you see dis- played before you in tempting array a row of fourteen or more attractive cards, the most of them printed in colors and appro- priately illustrated, each carrying an advertising message. Above your head is a similar arrangement of cards. As long as you continue to read a newspaper or look out of the window none of the cards will get your attention, but the moment you lay aside your paper and allow your eyes to wander about, the strong appeal of the cards makes itself felt, and before you know it you are taking in their advertising message. During the fifteen minutes or more that your trip takes you cannot, unless you deliberately exercise your will-power, keep your eyes away from them. In order that we may better understand the value of the street car as an advertising medium let us look at a few facts concerning the street railway industry. The increase in street railway mileage in recent years has been amazing. There are now few cities in the United States with 5,000 inhabitants, unless they are located on the sides of hills or mountains where the grades are too steep to allow of their opera- tion, that do not have street railroads. In New York City alone there are 108 lines, including the elevated and subway systems. During the last twenty-five years the greatest development has been in the contruction of interurban roads that link together half a dozen or more towns or cities. The building of these transportation lines has done more than anything else to stimulate the movement of people from the densely populated cities to the suburbs and the open country beyond, where living conditions are more favorable to health 178 THE APPEAL OF STREET CAR ADVERTISING 179 and the rearing of children. They also bring the farmer into closer touch with marketing centers where he can sell his products and furnish the members of his family educational and social advantages that may be derived from high-class schools, theaters, concerts and other forms of entertainment. In the larger cities the street cars are indispensable for carrying the armies of workmen, clerks and other business men and women to and from their places of employment. It is when a strike occurs among street railway operators and the cars cease to run that people find out how dependent they are upon them. On the occasion of a big street railway strike in New York a few years ago the retail merchants lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because customers from distant parts of the city and from the suburban towns could not get to their stores; manufacturers could not operate their plants effectively because of the inability of their employees to reach them, and the theaters played to empty seats. According to the reports of the Public Service Commission the number of passengers carried by the rapid transit and surface railway lines of New York City in 1919 was 2,079,942,604, an increase of 104,430,015 over 1918. . The average traffic each day during the fiscal year was 5,700,000 which about equals the popu- lation of the city. Each of the 10,000 cars in constant use on the 108 lines carried an average of 570 people daily. The records of street railway traffic in other cities show that a proportionate number of passengers travel on their several lines. We are now in a position to understand why national and local advertisers invest approximately $14,000,000 a year in street car publicity. A medium that reaches such a large proportion of the community is worth your careful consideration. Advantages of Street Car Advertising. Among the advantages claimed for street car advertising are the following: 1. All Advertisers Occupy the Same Space. Therefore every advertiser has an equal chance to put his message across. This prevents the merchant or manufacturer who has a lot of money to spend from blanketing the advertising of a struggling competitor. Every advertiser is placed on the same footing. This is real democracy in advertising. 180 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING 2. Street Car Advertising Reaches the Masses. Fifty-eight per cent, of the inhabitants of a city ride on the street cars twice daily. They include all classes and represent a majority of the buying public the people whose patronage business men are anxious to secure. 3. When People Ride on Street Cars They Are in a Receptive Mood. Unless they read newspapers or talk to acquaintances there is nothing to engage their attention. Those who travel over the same road every day are not interested in the buildings or scenery along the route, and therefore do not spend much time looking out of the windows. In glancing about the car their eyes naturally fall upon the artistic advertising cards displayed directly in front of them. Their attractive features arouse their interest and they read them. 4. The Last Advertisements a Woman Sees When She Goes Shopping Are the Street Car Cards. She may have made up her mind as to what she is going to buy before leaving home, and perhaps not one of the articles thus advertised is upon her list, and yet as she sits there, pocket-book in hand, looking at the attractive announcements she may become so favorably impressed by them that on arriving at her destination she will purchase one or more of the articles she had seen exploited. 5. Street Car Advertising Sustains and Strengthens the Impres- sion Previously Made by Advertisements Appearing in the News- papers, Magazines, and Other Mediums. The brief messages, usually artistically illustrated, reiterate the sales arguments with which the public has already become familiar. The person who sees these advertisements twice a day for weeks at a time is, consciously or unconsciously, influenced by them. The standard card used in street car advertising is 11 X 21 in. The advertiser therefore knows that his cards will fit the display racks of every street car in every city in the country. The adop- tion of a uniform size simplifies the work of both the printer and the agency that handles the campaign, and lessens the expense. Brevity a Necessity in Car Card Copy. Owing to space limi- tations the number of words used on a card should not exceed 40 or 50 if the text is to be set in type that can be read at a distance of from 6 to 12 ft. The fewer the number, the THE APPEAL OF STREET CAR ADVERTISING 181 182 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING greater the opportunity for display. Some of the most effective cards we have seen contained less than 10 words. In advertise- ments of this kind it is imperative that the type should be plain in outline and easy to read. The text should present one and usually not more than two selling points about the article advertised on each card of a series. The sentences should be brief and so constructed that persons having a limited education will have no trouble in under- standing them. Avoid the use of foreign, technical, or unfamiliar words. The usual aim of the car card is to reach all classes of people. Many of the patrons of street railway lines, and especi- ally those born in countries where languages other than English are spoken, cannot grasp the meaning of many of the long words that are in common use here. There are enough short, simple words in our own language to express any selling ideas you may have. Fully 90 per cent, of ail car advertisements are illustrated for the very good reason that there is nothing that so quickly catches and holds the eye in advertising as an attractive picture printed in colors. Commercial art has been so greatly improved in recent years that it is now possible to reproduce in natural colors fruit, flowers, food products and other articles so accurately that at first it is difficult to tell the artificial from the real. Moreover, some of the best artists of our time are devoting their skill to the preparation of illustrations and other designs for car card advertisements. It is not unusual for an advertiser to pay from $300 to $500 for a single picture. Be Careful in the Use of Colors. When a card is put through seven or eight lithographic printings its character is apt to be impaired. A few well-selected colors will give the best results. The jemployment of a wide variety of colors in the text matter should be avoided. Multi-colored letters are confusing and give the impression of patchwork. Don't display the name of your product in such large type that little room is left for text and illustration. While prominence should be given to the name it is also desirable to tell why the article is a good purchase. In a recent successful campaign the name of the article was not displayed, but was set in the same THE APPEAL OF STREET CAR ADVERTISING 183 size type as the body matter. Although the advertisements contained not more than fifty words of text and carried no illustrations, the argument was so skillfully presented that the resulting sales were surprisingly large. The stock used in car cards is usually six-ply, enameled surface cardboard, which permits the use of halftones, wood-cuts, line- cuts and lithography. Only high-grade stock should be employed as the cheaper grades will not take colors well or stand up under the handling they will receive. The cost of producing car cards depends upon the charge for the design, the number of colors employed and their reproduc- tion by lithography or ordinary printing. For 1,000 cards the cost of stock and press work is about as follows: 1 color, $25.15; 2 colors, $32.35 ; 3 colors, $41.30 ; and 4 colors, $48.65. The work should be done by a concern that specializes in the designing and printing of car cards rather than by the average job printer who turns out only a few jobs of this kind in a year. In the former case the printer, by concentrating his attention on such work, is able to furnish a superior product. He employs men who are experts in designing and printing this form of adver- tising, and although he charges more than the ordinary printer the superior character of his work warrants the additional ex- pense. Some of the car advertising companies have service departments that prepare and furnish the cards at cost. Car cards are changed weekly or monthly according to the terms of the contract made with the advertising agent who handles the business. John Wanamaker once carried on a campaign in New York in which the cards were changed every day. The expense involved in designing, printing and placing them in 10,000 cars was, however, so heavy and the results so out of proportion to the expense, that, at the expiration of the contract, he did not renew it. Changing the cards once a week or every other week is sufficient. Cost of Street Car Advertising. Advocates of street car advertising affirm that dollar for dollar it offers the advertiser more circulation and more space in which to tell and illustrate his story than any other medium of national circulation. One of the largest street car advertising companies that claims to 184 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING control 67 per cent, of the street railway advertising of the coun- try, during the war quoted the following rates : "For a three months' run in all the cars it controls, 50 cents a month per car; for six months, from 45 to 62^ cents and for a year, 40 cents. When less than a full run is taken, but not less than half the cars in any town or group, 5 cents extra." These rates do not include the cost of the cards. The present rates are higher and in a country-wide campaign the cost would aver- age about 65 cents per car per month. The total number of street cars in the country that are avail- able for advertising purposes is 75,000. One-tenth of all the money invested in street railway advertising is spent on the passenger transportation lines of New York City. New York is such a large city and has so many different busi- ness and residential centers that it is possible for the advertiser to cover any one of them by using the street cars of a comparatively few lines. As some sections are regarded by advertisers with greater favor than others the prices charged for space in the cars vary. The Broadway and Madison Avenue lines, for in- stance, command a higher rate than those running through the East Side. The advertiser can make his own selection of street railway lines and spend much or little as he may deem best. The national advertiser can make a contract with the com- panies handling street railway advertising for a campaign cover- ing the states or sections of the country in which he has his largest distribution. The length of the campaign depends upon the results to be accomplished. As rule it is not advisable to make a contract for less than six months or a year. Three- or five-year contracts are numerous. It frequently happens in the large cities that all the space in the street cars is sold, in which event, prospective advertisers are sometimes obliged to wait several months for a chance to get in. Results Achieved Through Street Car Advertising. Some of the biggest businesses in the country owe much of their success to street car advertising. William Wrigley began advertising his chewing gum in this medium in 1905. He invested $40,000 the first year, but the results were so unsatisfactory that he was about to abandon this form of advertising when he was per- THE APPEAL OF STREET CAR ADVERTISING 185 suaded to continue, on the ground that he had been using the wrong kind of copy. The second year's campaign, in which a more attractive and convincing line of copy was used, was so satisfactory that the Wrigley advertising has been running in the street cars ever since. The amount now annually invested by the company in this medium is about $1,000,000. The Coca-Cola Company began its career with an initial ex- penditure of $300 in street car advertising. This amount was gradually increased until its announcements were appearing in the street cars of every state in the Union. This company is now doing the largest soft drink business in the world and not a little of its success is attributed by S. C. Dobbs, the president, to street car advertising. When the Joseph Campbell Company, manufacturers of Campbell's Soups, started its first advertising campaign in the street cars in New York City in 1899, its total sales per month in the metropolis did not exceed 16 cases. The appropriation was a small one, $350 a month, and for this amount only a few cars could be used. The advertising, however, was so productive that the number was gradually increased until the company was using every car in the city. Then it extended its campaign to other cities until, in 1910, it was advertising in practically every street car in the United States. During this period the annual sales went up to 20,000,000 cans. In 1911 the company dropped street car advertising and went into the newspapers and magazines. At the end of three years, after spending annually four times as much money in these mediums as in street cars, with no better results, the company resumed its street car advertising on the same scale as before. It is now the largest manufacturer of condensed soups in the world. President Frailey recently made this statement concerning the company's experience: "This business, aggregating $2,000,000 a year at retail prices, has been built up almost wholly through street car advertising." Questions 1. What is the annual expenditure for street car advertising? 2. What are some of the advantages claimed for this medium? 186 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING 3. What are the limitations as to the number of words that should be used on a car card? 4. How many selling points should be presented? 6. What precaution should be taken regarding the use of colors? 6. What are the elements entering into the cost of the printed cards? 7. How often should car cards be changed? 8. How many street cars are there in New York? 9. In the United States? 10. What is the average monthly charge per car card? 11. For what period should a campaign be run? 12. Give the experience of the Joseph Campbell Company in advertising its soups. 13. What would be the cost of a half-run of cars on New York City's transportation lines? 14. If a national advertiser wanted to use all the cars in the United States for one month what would be the cost? 15. Prepare a car card advertising Ivory Soap. CHAPTER XVI DIRECT AND MAIL ORDER ADVERTISING Direct advertising is the term applied to printed matter that is sent by the advertiser direct to the prospect, usually by mail. Next to the personal solicitation of a salesman it is the most intimate method of selling employed in marketing. All businesses can use this kind of advertising. Many of the great industries depend upon it for the bulk of their sales. Small manufacturers, wholesale and retail merchants employ one or more of its principal mediums. An examination of the advertis- ing costs of a well-known steel furniture manufacturer showed that of every dollar invested 16.4 cents went for overhead charges, 21.8 cents for magazine advertising, and 61.8 cents for direct advertising, of which nearly one-half was spent for booklets and folders. The appropriations of seventeen national advertisers indicate that an average of 38 per cent, went for direct advertis- ing. Tt is estimated that in 1919 the total amount expended was nearly $110,000,000. Advantages of Direct Advertising. Some of the advantages claimed for direct advertising are the following: 1. It is Selective and Individual. The advertiser can pick the buyers with whom he wants to do business and hammer away at them so persistently with his battery of argument that their indifference is overcome and their interest aroused. He can confine his campaign to one class of people in a single state or he can extend it to several classes in all the states. 2. It is Confidential. Through direct advertising it is possible to get closer to the prospect and talk to him in a more intimate manner. The latter is made to feel that the message is for him alone or for a selected group to which he belongs. He therefore takes a greater interest in it, so its advocates claim, than he does in general advertising. You can talk to him in a letter, for in- stance, with less restraint and less formality. 187 188 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING 3. It is Forcible. Through its aid you can marshal an army of facts in such a way as to carry conviction. You are able to anticipate the objections that may be raised and answer them beforehand, thus saving time, and increasing the chances of making a sale. You can go into details and explanations that would be impossible in other forms of advertising. 4. It is Flexible. Direct advertising may be employed for many different purposes. It introduces the salesman to pro- spective customers or supplements his call. It arouses interest, creates good will, and establishes confidence. It directs trade to the manufacturer, to the jobber or to the retailer, as desired. 5. It is Timely. It can be used to meet an emergency. For example, a manufacturer or wholesaler finds at the end of the season that he has on hand a large stock of a certain article which, although of excellent value, has not moved as rapidly as it should. By sending to his customers a letter announcing a heavy cut in the price he can often dispose of the goods in a few days, thus releasing the invested capital and preventing a heavy loss that would have been incurred had he not brought advertising to bear upon his market. 6. It is Economical. There is no waste circulation every piece of copy that goes out can be placed in the hands of a definite person who may become a buyer. You can limit or expand your field of operations in accordance with the amount of money you wish to invest in advertising. Mediums Employed. The mediums employed in direct ad- vertising are letters, circulars, folders, mailing cards, broadsides, house-organs, booklets, catalogs, blotters, fillers and specialties. Because advertising matter coming under this head is usually distributed through the postoffice it is frequently spoken of as mail order advertising. This, however, is incorrect. Mail Order Advertising is the term applied to advertising employed to sell articles by mail regardless of the mediums used. Millions of dollars worth of mail order advertising ap- pears in national publications. There is practically no limit to the number of articles that can be sold by mail. This is shown by the success of such concerns as Sears, Roebuck & Company and Montgomery Ward & Com- DIRECT AND MAIL ORDER ADVERTISING 189 pany, of Chicago, that handle hundreds of thousands of different kinds of merchandise, ranging from pins to automobiles, and from spice boxes to houses. The immensity of the business carried on by these great mail order concerns is indicated by the fact that in 1918 Sears, Roebuck & Company sold $181,000,000 worth of goods. It has a $6,000,000 plant, carries a stock of $6,000,000, owns 40 factories, makes 7,500 vehicles a year and has 8,000 employees. Some of the large mail order houses confine their sales to a few lines of merchandise, often to a single one. The National Cloak & Suit Company, of New York, which occupies an eleven- story building covering one end of a city block, does a very large business in women's wearing apparel. The Chicago House Wrecking Company began its career by selling the building material left after dismantling the Chicago Exposition, and later, that of the St. Louis World's Fair. Gradually it enlarged its scope until it now handles all kinds of merchandise obtained from receivers' and sheriffs' sales. Through advertising it has devel- oped a remarkable business. It receives 50,000 letters a day and employs 110 stenographers to take care of its correspondence. Its daily shipments amount to from 20 to 25 carloads. The mail order experts assert that outside of the half dozen or more big concerns that handle all lands of merchandise the greatest successes have been achieved by those dealing in goods listed under the following classifications: medical preparations, patented articles, specialties, trust schemes, things sold on the instalment plan, stock corporations and correspondence schools. The best advice that can be given to persons who wish to estab- lish a profitable, direct mail business is this Get hold of some- thing new, a household novelty preferred. The more practically useful the article is the better its chances for success in the market. Compiling the Mailing List. Having selected an article for which it is believed a strong demand can be created through direct advertising the next important step is the compilation of a mailing list. This requires careful consideration for upon it depends to a large degree the success or failure of the enterprise. It is easy enough to get a list of names from a dozen different 190 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING sources but unless they are the names of persons who may become interested in, and possible purchasers of the article you are selling it is worthless. The important thing to do at the very start, therefore, is to decide upon the class of people with whom you hope to do busi- ness. Are they of the wealthy class, are they persons of moderate means or are they wage earners ? Are they householders, grocers or drygoods dealers? Are they young men, widowers or bach- elors? Are they yachtsmen, golfers or lovers of the races? Assuming that the article to be marketed appeals to farmers there are several ways of compiling the mailing list. Upon application to the United States Bureau of Agriculture or the Agricultural Boards of the several states lists of the Granges, agricultural associations or other farmers' organizations may be obtained. By writing to the secretaries and offering to pay a small fee for copying, if they are not printed, lists of members may be secured. States and country directories and voting lists are also helpful. The telephone directories are especially valua- ble in selecting the better class of farmers. In Canada postmas- ters are required to post lists of mail delivery box holders. If you want to reach city dwellers you can buy lists of names from directory publishers. These are so classified that you can get complete lists of different kinds of people, such as advertising agents, real estate owners, persons who live in apartments, etc. Manufacturers of goods in any line of business that are sold to retailers can usually obtain the names of dealers in these several lines of goods by consulting the trade papers and the trade directories. Desirable lists of names are sometimes obtained through news- paper or magazine advertisements in which a booklet or other article is offered to anyone sending in a list of people who might become interested in the goods. Importance of Keeping the Mailing List Up-to-date. After having assembled the best list of names you can procure it must be kept up-to-date or its value is soon impaired. It has been found that mailing lists deteriorate at the rate of from 15 to 35 per cent, annually unless measures are taken to prevent it. This is due to deaths, changes in address, and other causes. If, DIRECT AND MAIL ORDER ADVERTISING 191 therefore, the mailing list is not corrected at least once a month the letters or catalogs sent to some of the names will not be delivered and therefore become a dead loss. It costs much time and considerable money to keep the list up-to-date but it is well worth the price. Many campaigns have failed through the use of poor mailing lists. Hence the need of being continually on the alert to make them 100 per cent, efficient. The number of names carried by mail order houses often reaches into millions. Sears, Roebuck & Company's list con- tains 7,000,000. Some of the insurance companies carry from 2,500,000 to 5,000,000. The Larkin Company's mailing list contains 1,000,000 names and that of the National Cash Register 1,110,000. Butler Brothers not only keep a large clerical force busy on their big mailing list the year round, but also employ investigators who travel over the country checking up the names and seeing that their catalogs do not fall into improper hands. Because of the wide variety of mediums that may be employed in direct-by-mail advertising it is possible to select one or more that are especially adapted to the class of people you want to reach. In some cases letters will be found the most effective; in others, booklets or folders. When a number of different things are to be marketed catalogs often produce the best results. Broadsides and bulletins are used to arouse dealer interest. Booklets are valuable in introducing a new article or line of goods requiring more extended description than can be given in a catalog. Envelope stuffers are advertisements printed on thin colored paper which may be slipped into an envelope containing a letter without appreciably adding to its weight. Book publish- ers use them extensively. Mailing cards, which have been called "silent salesmen," have been found especially effective in paving the way for sales- men in new territory. The outside of the folded cards carries a single line of type so worded as to excite the curiosity of the recipient as to what is inside. Sometimes it is accompanied by an illustration that serves to heighten his interest. A par- ticularly good example of this type was a card so folded that the two ends met in the center of the side containing the address. Upon it was printed pictures of two fierce-looking pirates standing 192 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING on guard on either side of a brass-bound treasure chest. Across the top was the inscription "There's Treasure Within." In opening up the card the lid of the chest was lifted, revealing the advertiser's message attractively set forth within. In using mailing cards it is well to confine their shapes to conventional forms, except in rare instances. Odd-shaped cards, and particularly those that are intricately folded, often fail of their purpose for the reason that the reader's attention is so taken up with their novelty of form that he overlooks or fails to be impressed by the message they carry. The backbone of the advertising of the great mail order houses is the catalog. Sears, Roebuck & Company issue two catalogs a year, each containing from 1,500 to 1,700 pages and weighing from 33^ to 5 Ib. a piece, and 60 to 75 special catalogs. Six thousand of the large catalogs will fill an ordinary freight car. As 4,000,000 catalogs are printed and shipped twice a year to the 72 catalog warehouses from which they are distributed, some idea of the enormous cost entailed can be obtained. Elsewhere in this volume, (see p. 208), will be found a chapter devoted to catalog building. Object of Direct Mail Advertising. Nearly all direct-by- mail advertising is designed to produce immediate action. If the prospect is not urged to respond with a cash order he is encouraged to send for a booklet with an attractive title giving additional information, or to ask questions direct about the goods advertised. The richest crop of business is often developed from these requests and inquiries, much depending upon the skill of the correspondence clerks in handling them. Advertisers have learned the value of the follow-up and es- pecially those who are engaged in the mail order business. Homer J. Buckley, of Chicago, once said that he used to pay little attention to inquiries written on cheap paper or postal cards on the assumption that the persons who sent them couldn't amount to much and that their patronage was not worth seeking. One day, however, he wrote a three-page reply to an inquiry of this kind and found that the writer was a manufacturer whose early education had been neglected. The correspondence that followed resulted during the next two years in business amounting DIRECT AND MAIL ORDER ADVERTISING 193 to $27,000, not a penny of which would ever have gone to Mr. Buckley had he not answered that misspelled, cheap-looking letter. Promptness in answering inquiries and fitting orders that are accompanied by cash is essential in direct-by-mail advertising. Delays from whatever cause result in disappointment and are often destructive of confidence. It is a standing rule with the mail order houses to answer all letters and fill all orders the day they are received. The wisdom of such a rule is apparent. The goods are promptly received by the customer who is made to feel that the firm values his patronage, however small it may be. Moreover, it acts as a stimulant to further orders. If he wants something else he knows he can get it without delay. While prompt service benefits the consumer it also directly benefits the dealer or manufacturer as he can turn over his capital more rapidly. The customer has no time to change his mind and cancel his order. Some Useful Suggestions. An offer to send small samples inspires confidence. It is a good plan to make a nominal charge for them as it serves to discourage children and curiosity seekers from writing for samples. Several tests that have been made show that while an advertisement offering something free will pull 1,000 replies, it will not pull 200 when a 2-cent stamp is required for the postage. If a person's desire for a sample is not strong enough to induce him to send 2 cents or any other small amount for it his patronage is not worth cultivating. Price is often a determining factor in direct advertising, es- pecially when the privilege of returning the goods is not allowed. People want to know what an article costs without being obliged to write to the advertiser to find out. Sending goods on approval is not usually satisfactory. In the mail order business you are dealing with people concerning whose character or financial responsibility you know nothing. It is just as easy for a thief to send in a request for the privilege of inspecting your goods as for the honest man. The one never intends either to buy or to return them; the other will. Not all who fail to pay for them or send them back are intentionally dishonest. Some are careless or forgetful; some change their 13 194 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING addresses and do not receive the letters you send them about the matter; some delay the returning of the articles so long that they are ashamed to do so, seemingly overlooking the fact that by this act they lay themselves open to prosecution. The expense involved in following up those who neither return the goods nor pay for them not only eats up the profits on those actually sold, but in many cases drives the advertiser who has only a limited capital into bankruptcy. Unless the article that is being marketed is a novelty that can be sold for only a short time while it is popular, the constant aim of the direct-by-mail advertiser should be to obtain re-orders. Except in the case of articles that bring a comparatively large price there is little net profit on single sales. It is only when customers repeat follow up their first by other orders that a remunerative business can be established. Questions 1. Define direct advertising. 2. In the case of seventeen manufacturers cited what was the average per cent, of the annual appropriation spent for direct or mail advertising? 3. Name six advantages to be derived from it. 4. What are the principal mediums employed? 5. Give the names of three of the largest mail order houses. 6. What kinds of goods have been most successfully sold by mail? 7. How would you go about securing a mailing list? 8. What is the annual depreciation in the value of a mailing list? 9. In what way are mailing cards helpful to salesmen? 10. What is the chief object of direct advertising? 11. Why should a small charge be made for samples? 12. Should goods be sent on approval? Why is it desirable to name prices in direct advertising? CHAPTER XVII BUSINESS GETTING LETTERS Letters are used to solicit business, to promote friendship, to ask favors and to insist upon our rights. Of all the advertising mediums they are the most available and the most easily em- ployed. A sheet of paper, and a pencil or pen are the only things necessary for the production of a letter. No business is so small or so unimportant that it cannot afford to make use of this form of advertising. Letters may be written by hand in the old-fashioned way, or on a typewriter; or they can be set up in type and printed or lithographed. Copies can be reproduced by the mimeograph, multigraph, Hooven, Underwood and other mechanical processes. The following suggestions will be found helpful in writing business getting letters: First. Have something that is attractive to offer to your pros- pective customer. No one will buy an article for which he has no use, no matter how good it may be or how reasonable its price. Second. Make your letter personal in its appeal. Write in much the same way you would talk if you were in the presence of the prospect. Make him feel that you recognize his standing in the community and want his cooperation and support. The following letter, which was addressed to printers, is a good example of the personal appeal style of letter writing. DEAR SIR: "Ting-ailing," goes your telephone. You take the receiver off its hook, put it to your ear, and presto! there's an angry customer sputtering on the wire wanting to know why the printer's devil you haven't delivered his job at the hour promised. That's incident number one. Five minutes later, in walks your outside man with an animated countenance. He slaps a big contract, apparently profitable, on your desk. You congratulate him, and put it in work. But your 195 196 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING press-room is only equipped for your usual quota of job work. The large order is a bomb scattering confusion. To turn it out other patrons must be neglected; the bigger the contract, the longer they must wait. That's incident number two. The next morning two of your feeders are among the missing. Perhaps the wanderlust had seized one, a strong thirst the other. Two presses remain idle that day and the rest of the boys work overtime that night. The crippled force crawls through the week. In the meantime, your outside man is in despair and the dawn editions of the newspapers carry your frantic appeal in the classified advertisement columns captioned HELP WANTED MALE. That's incident number three. It never rains but it pours! You return to your office dis- couraged, and learn that a dissatisfied customer has dumped a 5,000 lot of 12-page booklets back on you: "Solids on the cover poorly laid; halftones do not show up well; rotten impression; poor inks; badly soiled by finger prints; the stuff was promised days ago and it is too late to use now." Well, it was really a cylinder proposition but you had figured low because you could not afford the expense of extra plates. You solemnly mark the transaction down on the "We mourn our loss" side of the ledger. That's incident number four. And then comes the postman with this letter. It deals with your troubles one by one. Now it tells you that the AUTOPRESS van- quishes them all. This is what the AUTOPRESS does: Insures quick deliveries and pleased customers; Turns big contract emergencies into a mere incident in the day's work; Rises above feeder frailties; always stays on the job; Splits hairs in register; lays solids of intense density; reproduces the artist's proof in halftone work; runs at a guaranteed speed of 5,000 impressions an hour; gives the quietus to three or four platens and their attendants. SUMMARY: The AUTOPRESS produces more and better out- put in quicker time, at lesser cost. Of course, The Autopress Company want to sell you an AUTO- PRESS. It is not what they want but what you must have. Your business problems combine in a Gordian knot, hard to undo. Don't try. Cut it with a bold stroke a keen investment the purchase of an AUTOPRESS. Third. Adapt the length of the letter to the nature of the appeal and the character of the audience. While there can be no hard and fast rule in regard to the length of letters, in the majority BUSINESS GETTING LETTERS 197 of cases single-page letters will best serve the advertiser. The head of one of Chicago's largest letter-writing agencies says that out of 5,000 letters he has written only five were two pages long. And yet there are tunes when short letters are inadequate. If you were trying to interest a man in an important business enter- prise, or you wanted to sell him an automobile or a country estate, a two- or three-page letter would be required to properly present the information he would need in order to decide upon the merits of the proposition. When a person is deeply interested in a subject he will read every line of a long letter providing the facts are attractively set forth. Some of the occasions when long letters can be employed to advantage are these: 1. When writing to a woman, and especially a housewife about an article that will make her family happier, her home more cheerful, her children prettier and herself more beautiful, the paper used should be a delicately tinted bond, of good quality, and the envelope of baronial size, the aim being to give the letter an air of refinement. Women do not receive as many business communications as men and therefore attach much importance to those addressed to them. 2. When answering letters requesting information regarding your proposition. If a person is sufficiently interested to ask for further data he will read all you write in reply. Go into details. Tell him exactly what you would want to know if you were in his place. If you have any printed matter that is pertinent to the subject send that along too. The mistake of mailing advertising matter under separate cover when sending a letter of this kind has resulted in the loss of much business. Although mailed at the same tune, the letter, because it travels under first-class postage usually reaches its destination first. Any interest it may create in the reader's mind is apt to die out because of the delay in receiv- ing the supplementary literature to which the letter refers. This situation can be prevented by the employment of a new envelope device which permits the letter and advertising matter to travel together but each under its own mail classi- fication. 198 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING 3. When writing to a customer who has purchased your product to tell him how he can get the most out of it. People are usually grateful for any suggestions that will help them to secure better results from an article they already possess or adapt it to new uses. 4. When you have important facts to tell a man about his own business. Distributors of merchandise have found that one of the best ways to hold customers is to show them how to sell their products, how to increase their revenues by the adoption of new methods of salesmanship or a different arrangement of the goods displayed in the store, or to call their attention to a new and more economical plan of store management. The merchant is made to feel that the manufacturer or wholesaler is interested in his success apart from the quantity of goods he purchases. Letters bearing upon these and other subjects will always be read no matter how long they may be. Short letters may be used to advantage under these circum- stances: 1. When you have a real bargain to offer and you do not need to go into details regarding it. If you say too much the prospect may think you are trying to bamboozle him or cover up a defect in the merchandise. 2. When asking for an appointment to show your goods. Arguments and explanations in behalf of your line are unneces- sary. If you state them in your letters the buyer may say, " What's the use of telling me all this stuff in a letter and then asking for an interview to go over the same ground again?" Therefore, your letter should be confined to a bare statement of what you have to offer and the request for an interview. If he is not interested in your line of merchandise he will turn you down anyway. 3. When sending a catalog, or acknowledging a remittance or the receipt of an order. 4. When answering an inquiry for confidential information about a man's credit, regarding which you have little or no positive knowledge. Much care should be taken in the preparation of follow-up letters, which are an important part of every advertising cam- BUSINESS GETTING LETTERS 199 paign, no matter what mediums are used. They may be insistent without giving offense. In any case they should be diplomatic. Don't "demand" an answer to sales letters. Because you have written several to a merchant, especially when he is not a customer, is no reason why he should acknowledge their receipt unless he has previously asked for information. Merchants in the smaller cities are not given to much letter writing and object to any attempt to force replies from them. Fourth. Make your business letters cumulative in interest and in sales pulling power. The first blow of a sledge hammer upon a big rock seems to make little impression upon it, but if the blows are continued for any length of time the rock is finally split open. It is the accumulative force of all the blows that accomplishes the result. Similarly under the constantly applied influence of a series of well-constructed, forceful letters the indifference of the prospect is gradually overcome, his interest is aroused and he is won over to the proposition. (a) Endeavor to form a picture in your mind's eye of the man you are addressing. (6) Try to appreciate the local conditions under which he works or conducts his business, (c) Try to get a fairly accurate idea of his likes and dislikes which, in many instances, may be determined from his environment, (d) Re- member that there is no man, no matter who he is or where he lives, who is not susceptible to the right appeal, (e) When you have finished your study of the prospect and his local surround- ings talk to him sensibly, as man to man. Be sincere, friendly, but not too familiar. There is no hard and fast rule for building a sales letter. Different men have different ideas as to how it should be done. Nevertheless a careful study of a number of successful letters shows that a certain plan is consciously or unconsciously followed. Edward H. Schulze, a New York authority on business letter writing, after examining many letters of this kind deduced the following paragraph arrangement for a winning letter. First Paragraph. Attention getting opening. Creating the right atmosphere. Second Paragraph. Continuation of first paragraph. Show prospect what your product will do for him rather than what it is. 200 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Third Paragraph. Description of your product as the buyer or user would describe it. Fourth Paragraph. Argument in favor of the product to be sold, not a description. Fifth Paragraph. Proposition. Attractively worded answer to the question, "Why should the prospect buy of you now?" Closing Paragraph. There is a wide difference between a newspaper or a mag- azine advertisement and a personal letter. In the former the message is addressed to the general public, in the latter to an individual member of that public. In the one case we talk to a few hundred or many thousands or millions of people the country over; in the second we take each man or woman aside and tell our story in the direct, personal way we speak to our friends. Therefore, a good letter writer must be a student of and under- stand human nature. He must know how to appeal to the differ- ent types and classes of people. He must have an easy flow of correct English. This implies, of course, a thorough knowledge of grammar and punctuation. He should so master the details of letter writing that each letter of a series he prepares will per- form its own office and add strength to the entire campaign. He should keep track of the letters sent out and the results that follow by means of a card index. Such a record if carefully filed and studied will save thousands of dollars annually to the direct mail advertiser. Fifth. Business selling letters should be correct in form and printed on good quality of bond paper if they are to impress the prospect with the dignity and responsibility of the company or firm that sends them out. People are apt to judge of the charac- ter of a concern by its stationery, just as we are inclined to judge of a man's character by his dress. Swindlers take advantage of this fact and invariably employ expensive stationery in all their correspondence with persons whom they are trying to induce to invest in their schemes. Sixth. Letters should be properly folded, sealed and stamped. A carelessly folded letter with the stamp stuck on any old way and the address poorly written or misspelled creates an unfavorable impression no matter how fine the quality of the stationery, or BUSINESS GETTING LETTERS 201 how excellent the typography, or how important its contents. The man who receives such a letter feels affronted that the sender did not regard him of sufficient importance to see that the mailing was properly done. The most glaring evils of the usual type of circular letters are the use of cheap stationery, the absence of the names of the per- sons who are supposed to receive them, the misspelling of names, the omission of a hand-written signature, failure to fold letters neatly and to affix stamps properly, and, finally, neglect to affix sufficient postage. If you want to get a merchant's attention talk about his business and show him how you can help him make or save money. Make it a "you" letter instead of an "I" letter. He is not going to buy your goods to benefit you, but himself. What you have got to do is to convince him that he can increase his income and add to his prestige in the community by selling your product. The primary object of most sales letters addressed to the trade is not so much to create immediate sales as to elicit replies for further information, or to pave the way for the sales- men when they make their calls. The narrative form of writing is popular with business men. They like a clear presentation of facts with as little fancy trim- ming in the shape of decorative language as is consistent with the subject. If you can arouse their curiosity at the start by a statement that is new or novel you have a good chance of holding their attention to the end of the letter. Don't tell everything about your product in one or two letters. Say enough to make the reader hungry for more information. Leave something to the imagination. Cultivate conciseness in your letter writing. Think out what you are going to say before you write it down. A rambling, pointless letter is an abomination to be shunned. Learn to use words that exactly express your meaning and that the average man or woman can readily understand. The merchant who receives a letter written in "highbrow" language, which may be Greek to him, is not going to expose his ignorance by ask- ing one of his office assistants to explain its meaning. Get away from stereotyped expressions such as " In reply to your 202 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING favor of the the contents of which have been carefully noted, " " We beg to inform you, " etc. You wouldn't use such phrases if you were writing to a friend because they would make your letter so deadly dull and formal. Why, then, use them in your correspondence with business men whose good will and favor you are trying to cultivate? Business letters are employed for other purposes than the selling of merchandise. The sales correspondent of a wholesale grocery house, in looking over some old ledgers, was surprised to see on their pages the names of so many firms who were no longer customers of the house. He made a list of them and after crossing off those that had gone out of business, and checking up the others through Dun's or Bradstreet's, he wrote them a diplomatic letter asking why they had dropped out. Eighty per cent, replied, and of these a majority were induced to resume their old relationship to the house. At the end of three years it was found that these merchants had purchased more than a million dollars worth of goods. Little things sometimes nullify the effect of carefully prepared letters. A strong letter sent to Catholics to arouse their interest in and secure their support for a Church publication brought back only one per cent, of returns. This was such a poor record that an investigation was made to see where the trouble lay. It was found that the letters had been posted at the Masonic Building branch office of the post office, and were so stamped. Most Catholics are strongly opposed to Masonic and all other secret societies and when those to whom the letters were sent saw that they were stamped "Masonic Building" their antipathy was at once aroused. When the publishers changed their mailing station the returns from their letters immediately increased. 'A manufacturer of toilet articles that are sold by mail, whose factory and office were located near the Chicago Stock Yards, wondered for a long time why his mail matter did not pull better. A shrewd advertiser told him to mail his letters and circulars from a postal sub-station in a more attractive neighborhood and see what would happen. He did so and was surprised to note how quickly his business began to improve. The business letter writer must be ever on the alert to take BUSINESS GETTING LETTERS 203 advantage of changing events in the commercial world. Giving a news twist to correspondence helps to arouse the prospects interest. How many follow-up letters should be sent to the same person or firm? The number of follow-ups depends on the profit that lies in the sale if it is secured. This does not mean the profits on the first order, if there are chances for repeat busi- ness, but the profits the sender of the letter might ultimately expect from the account. Thus, in selling machinery running into the hundreds or thousands of dollars, it is obvious that if one sent a letter every week for a year (52 weeks at 2 cents postage per week is $1.04) the amount thus expended would be small when the profits on a possible sale are considered. On the other hand, in selling a $2 article, upon which there is no chance to get repeat orders, it would not pay to send more than two letters or perhaps three, as the amount of money allowed for selling is proportionally smaller. It is best to consider the number of follow-ups in relation to how much one can afford to spend to get a sale. Here is a follow-up letter that brought replies from a large proportion of the firms to which it was addressed : DEAR SIB: Twenty minutes past two. In half an hour, the afternoon mail will be in. I'm sitting here waiting for an envelope with your name in the upper left- hand corner. An answer to my letter of November 23d. That letter went to a great many Meat Packers. And a great many letters have come in return. Most all of them containing Keepdry Barrel Cover orders for trial. One arrived yesterday from the Morton-Gregson Co. Quite prominent in the meat industry. They think Keepdry Covers are worth a trial, so they're going to try them. And now there are 25. Let's name a few of them : Armour, Agar, Buckley, Ballard, Cudahy, Dunlevy, Hammond- Standish, Hormel, Kalbitzer, Kingan, Lima, Oscar F. Mayer, Swift and Underwood. Pretty soon Morton-Gregson will say to ship some more Keepdry Covers. At any rate that's what has happened with all the others after they have tested out a few. 204 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING I wonder if that mail will bring your trial order. If not I am going to shoot this little reminder along to-night just so that you will know that I sat here waiting. But it isn't too late yet. Concerning Form Letters. Every concern doing a fairly large national business receives every day many letters on the same subjects and which require the same replies. It is obviously a waste of time to dictate or write over and over again differently worded answers to the same questions, or replies to the same complaints. Hence the economy and convenience of form letters. These should not be dictated right off the reel as a part of the day's work, but should be the result of a close study of the firm's correspondence extending over several months. If you will look over fifty or a hundred letters that have been written on the same subject you will find some of them much better than others. In one you discover a paragraph in which the idea is set forth in an exceptionally strong and clear manner. In another you observe a phrase or a paragraph that strikes you as specially clever. One letter has an introduction that is out of the ordinary and rivets attention. You admire the wind-up of a fourth letter, or the convincing way in which a complaint is answered in a fifth. By combining these or other paragraphs you produce a letter that covers the subject in a thorough and satisfactory manner and can adopt it as one of your form letters. By listing a number of the paragraphs on a sheet and giving to each a number you can use one or several in dictating other letters by simply giving the numbers to the stenographer. Pursue this same course in preparing form letters on other subjects. With these letters in hand routine correspondence can be quickly disposed of by the office staff at minimum cost and maximum efficiency. In mailing circular letters should 1- or 2-cent stamps be used? Here again no categorical answer can be given. The A. W. Shaw Company, of Chicago, publishers of business books, state that they have secured as many responses when letters bore 1-cent stamps as when 2-cent stamps were used. Much depends upon the nature of the offering and the class of people to whom the letters are addressed. When letters are sent to BUSINESS GETTING LETTERS 205 prospects in rural districts, or elsewhere, who are not accustomed to receive much mail matter, a 1-cent stamp can be used. But when, on the other hand, your letters are mailed to persons or firms who receive a large amount of advertising matter and many letters every day, your communications have a much better chance of being read if they bear a 2-cent stamp. Why? Because, in sorting the mail the clerks are usually instructed to separate the first-class from the second-class matter. The first- class mail has the right of way and receives the direct personal attention of the executives, while the second-class matter is referred to one of the office staff for examination, in which case it often happens that circular letters never reach the important heads of the business but are dumped into the waste basket unread. Of course, the 2-cent stamp will not insure the de- livery of your letter into the hands of the person for whom it is intended, but you may be reasonably certain that it will, in most instances, accomplish that purpose. On the Use of Window Envelopes. Considerable expense can be saved in mailing large editions of circular letters by the em- ployment of window envelopes. It costs from $2.75 to $3.00 a thousand to address envelopes on the typewriter. This expense can be eliminated if the letters are so folded that when enclosed in the window envelopes the filled-in address at the top of the first sheet shows through as the mailing address. If, however, you have a high-grade proposition to submit to a select list of out of the ordinary prospects, typewritten addressed envelopes would be more appropriate and make a better impression. Return Postage. When you enclose a post card for a reply it is not necessary to use a stamped card unless you are writing to a customer, or asking a favor as, for instance, for the names of friends or acquaintances who might be interested in your offering. A Wisconsin concern in order to determine the value of furnishing stamped return postal cards mailed 3,000 letters enclosing them. Six hundred came back. As 2,400 were not used those returned cost 5 cents apiece in addition to the other mailing cost. A second lot of 3,000 letters were mailed in which the cards enclosed were not stamped. Of the latter 526 were returned. As no postage was paid on these cards the firm saved $10 on each thou- 206 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING sand sent out. It is the opinion of most mail order houses that the man who is sufficiently interested to furnish a stamp for an enclosed card asking for particulars is a much better prospect than the one who replies only when a stamped card is furnished by the advertiser. On the Use of Enclosures. In sending out business getting letters, whatever their character may be, do not enclose several pieces of advertising matter for they have little chance of being read. It is a much better practice to use one piece at a time. When a business man receives an envelope stuffed to the limit with advertising leaflets, poorly printed, on cheap, thin paper, he is likely to throw the contents into the waste basket without reading, on the ground that no responsible concern doing a pros- perous business would send out such a mess of junk to a pros- pective customer. One concern that tested the value of various enclosures found that the fewer the enclosures the greater the attention given to the letter, the best results being obtained when a well-printed booklet, giving the history of the product was the only enclosure. Signatures. All circulars, form, or other letters should carry a personal signature. If sent out by a company, the name of the president or some other executive should appear below that of the company, the reason being that the person who receives such a letter will attach much more importance to it than he would if it only bore the company name. To many people a corporation is an intangible, soulless body with which it is impossible to establish an intimate relationship. If, however, these same persons are brought in contact, through correspond- ence or otherwise, with its president or someone else in authority, they will have an entirely different idea regarding it. To them the president or other official is the company and can be dealt with as a person. When they receive circular or other letters from an executive of such a corporation they are impressed by the fact and their interest is aroused. In the production of facsimile letters in quantities the signa- ture is printed with the letter, and, when the work is well done, it cannot be distinguished from the hand signature of the writer. In instances where the letters are of more than ordinary importance BUSINESS GETTING LETTERS 207 the letters should be signed by hand and the name typewritten underneath in case the signature is difficult to read. Questions 1. In writing business-getting letters what are some of the things to be kept in mind? 2. Under what circumstances can long letters be employed to advantage? 3. When is it advisable to use short letters? 4. Before writing a letter what should you do? 6. Give Mr. Schulze's plan for writing a business getting letter. 6. What are the qualifications of a good letter writer? 7. Why should special care be taken in the selection of stationery? 8. What are some of the glaring evils of circular letters? 9. How can you quickly get a merchant's attention? 10. What form of letter writing is popular with business men? 11. Give several stereotyped phrases that should be avoided. 12. When should follow-up letters be discontinued? 13. What suggestions can you make concerning the preparation of form letters? 14. In mailing circular letters should 1- or 2-cent stamps be used? 16. When are window envelopes to be preferred over the ordinary kind? 16. When should return postage be enclosed if replies are desired? CHAPTER XVIII SUGGESTIONS ON CATALOG MAKING The most important mediums employed in direct advertising are letters, folders, booklets and catalogs. They are the back- bone of practically all mail order advertising campaigns and a vital necessity in the marketing campaigns of general and tech- nical advertisers. Of these catalogs are depended upon for the heavy work. They are used to back up newspaper and maga- zine advertising; to obtain new customers and to hold those who have already been lined up; to pave the way for the visits of salesmen, and to secure direct orders from places to which it is not feasible or possible to send salesmen. Through catalogs the manufacturer can present information that cannot be presented in newspaper or magazine advertising. Charles W. Beaver, in speaking of the characteristics of the catalog, says: "The catalog must be your personal representative, duly accredited, backed by your word, vested with the authority of knowledge, and lacking none of the polish essential to the most profound courtesy. Lacking the magnetism of the human voice its cold type must be in- fused with a message so true, and its every page so suggestive of uses and applications that the prospect is made to see each article as his own." The fact that a large amount of money is wasted annually upon catalogs and booklets that are thrown away unread because they are unattractive, or have no real selling value, shows how necessary it is that we should know how to prepare the kind that will market the goods at a profit to the advertiser. The contents of the waste- paper basket of the average busy executive ought to be a con- tinual warning to every advertisement writer if he would save his own work from a like fate. A Catalog in Physical Appearance and in Text Matter Should Reflect the Character of the Firm by Which It Is Issued. Much 208 SUGGESTIONS ON CATALOG MAKING 209 depends upon the first impression it makes upon the prospect when he opens the envelope containing it. If it has an attractive cover, is printed on good paper, is appropriately illustrated and contains information of value to the recipient, it will receive the attention it merits and will be kept for future reference. No business house of standing would think of sending out on the road a salesman who is slovenly in dress, boorish in bearing, and cannot talk to a customer in an intelligent manner. The salesman, when he calls upon a merchant, is, for the time being, the house he represents. If the impression he makes is favorable the firm back home profits by it; if it is unfavorable the reputation of the house suffers. Catalogs Are Silent Salesmen, Deputy Ambassadors of Busi- ness, Sent Out to Promote Sales. Like salesmen they must have a certain personality to win attention and favor. They should have an inviting, prosperous look that will make the recipient want to study them carefully. They should present facts about the merchandise offered in such a clear, straightforward way that they will gain the reader's interest and confidence and induce him to send in his order. The three kinds of commercial catalogs : 1. The mail order catalog, designed to reach the consumer, is abundantly illustrated, contains full descriptions of the articles offered, numbering in some cases 150,000, quotes lowest prices, and gives full directions for ordering and paying for the goods. 2. The wholesaler or jobber catalog, which is sent out by the manufacturer, is confined to brief descriptions of the goods, a list of sizes and prices, and the terms under which they are sold. 3. The retailer catalog, also distributed by the manufacturer, and frequently by the wholesaler, contains, in addition to much of the information presented in the wholesaler's catalog, a list of selling points or arguments showing the superiority of his goods over those offered by competitors; statements regarding the profits to be derived from handling them; and a list of dealer helps furnished, such as advertising cuts, window trims, cut-outs, display cards, posters and other materials. Catalogs in many cases are issued monthly and in others only twice a year, in Fall and Spring. H 210 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Every Catalog or Booklet Should Have a Plan Behind It. Next to letters, catalogs and booklets are the most intimate form of advertising and therefore special care should be given to their appearance and contents. A catalog is not hastily pitchforked together, but is deliberately planned and executed. Before the details of mechanical construction are taken up, decision should be reached as to its character and purpose, the style or method of presentation, and the class of people to whom it is to be sent. Then comes the consideration of its physical features the size, cover, paper, illustrations, type, use of colors and the binding. If these things are determined beforehand there will be no confusion and no misunderstanding on the part of the printer as to what is required of him. It is just as neces- sary for the advertisement writer to have a plan for the production of a catalog as it is for the marine engineer to have a plan for the ship he is about to construct. Things to Be Considered. Most catalogs are not as volumi- nous as they were years ago owing to the present high cost of paper, engravings and printing, but what they have lost in bulk they have gained in attractiveness and in pulling power by the use of color. These are important factors in selling merchandise through the printed word. The fact that national distributors in their magazine and newspaper advertisements frequently request readers to send for a booklet or catalog indicates that they do not depend entirely upon periodical announcements to market their goods. Technical advertisers especially rely upon catalogs to make sales. In one respect a catalog is better than a flesh and blood salesman it can illustrate an entire line and keep it before the buyer indefinitely. In other words, it is a show room as well as a salesman, a combination that is of great advantage in selling merchandise in remote towns not covered by the regular salesmen. The Introduction. Every catalog should start off with a live message from the advertiser to his customers or the prospects who are to receive it. This should outline the policy of the house, tell of its business methods, and give a general idea of the char- acter of its products and its facilities of manufacture. Sometimes it is well to say something about the personnel of the firm and SUGGESTIONS ON CATALOG MAKING 211 their experiences in developing the business in which they are engaged. The introduction should not be a dry recital of facts, but a statement that is full of human interest. It should make the customer feel that in trading with the firm he is dealing with real men and not with a thing that has neither soul nor feeling. If written in the right spirit it will give to the pages that follow added interest and pulling power. The Problem of Size. The first thing to be decided upon in considering the physical aspect of the catalog is its size. It should be large enough to comfortably accommodate all the text matter and illustrations you can use to advantage and yet be small enough to be easily handled. There are a few concerns that, because of the number of their products especially in hardware publish catalogs a foot thick and weighing 12 or 15 Ib. Recently, however, a tendency to issue several catalogs, each devoted to a different kind or line of mer- chandise, has been noticed. While the cost of production is greater this is more than offset by the saving effected in their dis- tribution. Many merchants carry only a single line of a manu- facturer's products. Why go to the expense of mailing them a catalog of 2,000 or 3,000 pages when one of 100 pages describ- ing the goods in which they are interested, would meet all their requirements? Hitherto it has been somewhat difficult to select from the many different sizes of catalogs the one that would best serve the purpose of the advertiser. Both advertisers and printers have long wished that the time might come when catalog sizes would be standardized, because of the saving of time, cost and labor that would follow. The first concerted attempt to bring this about was made at a conference of representatives of the United States Chamber of Commerce, the United States Department of Commerce, the National Association of Purchasing Agents and twenty-six engineering, printing, paper and allied associations, held in Chicago in 1918. Three standard sizes were recommended as a result of their deliberations : 6 X 9, 7^ X 10% and 8X11 in. The Purchasing Agents preferred a single size, 7^ X 10%, or its half-size, saddle-stitched so that the catalog will lie flat. Its 212 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING advantages are that it fits in a standard letter file and thus makes possible a uniform filing and indexing system; it effects economy in filing space and thus insures the instant availability of the catalogs when wanted. This size page can be cut from standard size sheets of paper without waste and can be folded on all makes of folding machines. Eighty per cent, of the printing presses now in use can economically print it in 16- and 32-page page- forms. One of the largest catalog printers in the country has con- centrated production on the 7^ X 10% size. Selecting the Cover. The cover should be of heavier weight and of more durable stock than the paper upon which the text is printed. Its toughness and color should depend upon the amount of handling the catalog is to receive. In trade catalogs that are frequently consulted the cover should be dark in color so as not to soil easily, and tough in texture so that it will with- stand hard usage. Choose a cover that will be in keeping with the business that is being advertised. The cover of a refrigerator manufacturer's catalog that attracted much attention was a light green; that of a water-heater and furnace manufacturer, red and yellow. Dark browns, blues and grays are in demand for machinery catalog covers. Jewelers use white and bright tints while light gray is favored by schools and colleges. Excellent cover color effects may also be secured through printing. Kind of Paper to Use. For catalogs in which line cuts and coarse screen halftones are used newspaper stock is employed, but for those in which artistic typographical effects are sought coated papers are necessary. There are several kinds of finish high, medium and dull or semi-dull. The latter is much easier to the eye than a high finish and takes a better impression. All coated papers have a grain running lengthwise of the sheet in the roll as it is manufactured. When cut into sheets care should be taken in printing to have the grain so run that, when folded, they will not crack. The Different Finishes of Paper Are Machine Finish, Super- calendered, Coated, Plated and English Finish. The machine finish is produced by the steel rolls through which the paper runs in the course of manufacture. Super-calendered finish is given by passing the paper at high speed between steel rolls under SUGGESTIONS ON CATALOG MAKING 213 heavy pressure. Coated paper is paper to which a thin layer of white clay has been applied to give it body and an extra-smooth surface. Plated paper has a surface somewhat similar to that of super-calendered paper, produced by pressing it between steel plates or rolls. English finish is given by introducing a small amount of clay into the paper pulp during the process of manufacture instead of adding it to the surface after it is made. It should be borne in mind in selecting paper of any class that there are many different grades and weights of that class produced by the many different mills. Unless you are careful you may find when you come to print your catalog that the paper instead of being clean and clear is muddy and dirty, although the finish and weight are exactly what you ordered. Type. What kind of type shall we use in printing the catalog? It depends largely upon the nature of the product. Quality may be indicated by the type faces used. Experts say that Caslon Old Style stands supreme as a good readable type and that it is as popular to-day as when first cast many years ago. Some type faces, while artistic in outline, are not easily readable or pleasing when used in combination with cuts except when they have been modernized. The body type faces in common use in catalog printing, in addition to Caslon, are French, Century and Roman Old Style, Old Style Antique, Cheltenham, Bodoni, Modern Roman and Scotch. Type faces generally used for display purposes include Jensen, Delia Robia, Cheltenham Bold, Bookman, Post Old Style and Bewick Roman. Lines set in capital letters need more leading than those set in lower case or small letters. It has been found by experiment that the length of line easiest to read is 2% in. It can be read at the rate of Q^Q words per second. A very short line, singularly enough, is as hard to read as a very long line. Black letters on a white background form the best combination in printing provided the paper is not high-finished, coated stock. The size of the type should be in proportion to the size of the catalog page. Ten-point is recommended for the ordinary size page, although 12- and 14-point can be employed to advantage when the page is 9 X 12 or larger. 214 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Cuts and Illustrations. In order to secure the best results in the reproduction of illustrations the cuts or plates must be made with due regard for the work they are expected to do. The two most popular kinds are line cuts and halftones. The use of wood cuts, once in favor with catalog makers, is a fast dying one. The character of the cuts depends upon the kind and quality of the paper to be used in printing. It is therefore highly important in ordering them from the engraver that he be furnished these facts in order that he may produce the right kind of plates. High- grade line cuts which are almost etchings in effect are more applicable to high-quality advertising than the ordinary half- tone. In technical advertising halftones are preferable. The proper screen for halftones when a dull paper is to be used is 133 lines to the inch and for coated stock from 150 to 175 lines. As we already know, a screen is a sheet of glass upon which parallel lines are drawn at right angles to each other, the fineness of the screen depending upon the number of lines to the inch. These lines break up the surface into dots. On the negatives the shadow dots are sometimes allowed to run a little larger than for ordinary work, according to the ability of the paper to take care of the spreading of the ink. The larger dots in the high lights permit of deeper etching. Because of the absorbent qualities of the paper and the pressure required to get a good impression the plates have a tendency to flatten out unless they are treated in this way. If you want a good job of printing do not use old and new cuts together on the same page. The old cuts, being worn, will not show up as well as the new. Binding. Up to 80 pages, the stock being on the basis of 25 X 38-80, the catalog should be saddle-stitched, with two wires through the cover, trimmed flush. If 7 X 10 in. in size, three wires will give additional strength. The cover, which should be tough, but not too thick or of too hard a finish, should be sufficiently porous to take the glue. If the stock is heavy it should be scored so that it will crease properly and not break away so readily when glued to the book. No catalog over 1 in. in thickness should be wired. Catalogs that are to be handled much should be hand- or saddle-stitched so that they will lie flat when opened. SUGGESTIONS ON CATALOG MAKING 215 Distribution. Catalogs run into money very fast. There- fore they should not be sent out indiscriminately. See that your mailing list is kept up-to-date and contains no "dead" names. There is a certain waste that cannot be avoided, especially when an advertiser offers to mail a catalog on request. Many persons who have not the slightest intention of buying will write in for copies. The sales department of one of the best known auto- mobile concerns in America once received a request for a catalog written on the crested letterhead of an exclusive coast hotel. In an effort to further interest the prospect several letters were written to him, but they elicited no response. Finally the manager of the branch office nearest the place where the hotel was located was instructed to call upon the writer. Visions of the sale of a $4,000 car flitted through the agent's mind as he made the forty-mile trip. When he arrived at the fashionable hostelry and asked that his card be taken to the room of the guest whose name was signed to the request for the catalog, he was told that no one of that name was stopping at the hotel. The automobile agent insisted that he must be there. The clerk thought a moment and then suddenly exclaimed, "Sure he's here! He is the head bell-hop." They went to the boy's room, where they found enough automobile catalogs to fill a bushel basket, not one of which cost less than 40 cents, and several as much as $3. Export Catalogs. Now that the United States, as a result of the great war, is actively engaged in foreign trade, catalogs are being largely depended upon to carry the business messages of our manufacturers and merchants to foreign countries. In preparing catalogs for distribution among people whose language, customs and traditions differ materially from our own, certain things must be taken into consideration. Catalogs Should be Printed in the Language in General Use in the Country to Which They Are to Be Sent. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been wasted by the United States exporters on catalogs printed in English and circulated in South America where Spanish and Portuguese are the only languages spoken by more than 90 per cent, of the population. Don't send catalogs in English to any of your foreign customers unless you know they 216 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING understand that language. If you wish to do business in Brazil your catalog must be printed in Portuguese; if in Argentine and other countries of South America, in Spanish. Another point to be remembered is that you should avoid the use of American slang or colloquial expressions. In describing your goods give full details leave nothing to the imagination. Remember that the buyer may be unfamiliar with the product you are selling or he may never have purchased merchandise in the United States. He wants to know all he can about your firm, your goods and your method of doing busi- ness. Make everything so plain that requests for further infor- mation by letter or cable will be unnecessary. In Giving Weights and Measures Use the System in Vogue in the Country in Which the Catalog is to Be Circulated. The Metric System is in general use in Latin America, France, Spain and many other countries. It is not advisable to print prices except when the catalog is to be distributed among consumers. Better print the price list on a separate sheet. Make Your Catalog Durable. Cheap paper, flimsy covers, poor printing and careless binding are a poor investment in angling for export trade. If it falls into the hands of a good prospect or is received by a customer it will be constantly used and consulted, and therefore should be so well built that it will not fall apart after it has been consulted once or twice. Use Illustrations Freely, but See to It that They Do Not Misrepre- sent the Goods. Lying pictures will destroy confidence as quickly as lying text. If you can put local color into your illustration you wiU greatly enhance the value of their appeal to your for- eign audience. When you have an English catalog translated into another language have the work done by a person who is thor- oughly conversant with business terms and practices in both countries. Several New York exporters who cater to South American trade have their translations made in Rio Janiero, Buenos Aires or Santiago because of the superior quality of the work done by native translators. You can secure the addresses of reliable translators here or abroad by writing to the editor of any one of the leading export publications. SUGGESTIONS ON CATALOG MAKING 217 Questions 1. For what purposes are catalogs used? 2. In what respect should a catalog reflect the character of the advertiser? 3. Name the three kinds of catalogs. 4. What points should be determined before the actual work of con- structing the catalog is begun? 6. In what respect is a catalog better than a salesman? 6. What should be the character of the introduction? 7. What three standard catalog sizes have been adopted? 8. What things should be considered in selecting the stock for a cover? 9. Name the different finishes of paper. 10. Name some of the type faces used in catalog printing. 11. What length of line is easiest to read? 12. Wliat size of type is recommended for the ordinary size page? 13. When cuts are ordered of the photo-engraver why should he be in- formed as to the character of the paper to be used? 14. When should a catalog be hand-stitched? When wire-stitched? 15. In distributing catalogs what precautions should be taken to prevent waste? 16. Give several practical suggestions for the preparation of export catalogs. 17. In what language should a catalog be printed that is to be distributed in Brazil? In Argentina? CHAPTER XIX THE MISSION OF THE BOOKLET A booklet has been defined as "a salesman traveling by mail." Some of the suggestions made in the preceding chapter con- cerning the selection of paper, covers, and type dress for a catalog, apply with equal force to a booklet. In the catalog, as we have already seen, we deal with classified information price lists, simple or technical descriptions of many articles of merchandise, with accompanying illustrations that usually bulks large and is frequently referred to by those who are in- terested in its contents. In the booklet, on the other hand, we present arguments in favor of the articles or services offered and give reasons why they should be purchased. We go more into details than is possible in newspaper or magazine advertisements. Often booklets contain entertaining stories about the firm and its manufacturing processes, statements about its policies, the distribution of its goods, and such other matters as would appeal to the public who buy, or the retailers who sell its products. "Reason, sunlit with imagination, should characterize the ideal booklet," says an advertisement writer. "Put a little of the pink flesh of imagination on the dry bones of logic. " Argument will sell golf balls to a golf player, but not to other people. If you want to influence the latter you must appeal to their imagina- tion through pictures of scenes on the golf links and descriptions of the pleasures and benefits to be derived from the game. In Writing a Booklet the Story Form of Presentation Will Be Found Particularly Effective. People like to read stories, what- ever the subject, if they are well told and have a human interest. Men and women are only grown-up children. In their kinder- garten days they were taught many important facts about the animal and vegetable worlds by means of stories related by their 218 THE MISSION OF THE BOOKLET 219 teachers or parents. In their mature years they are still sus- ceptible to this kind of instruction, but insist that the matter presented shall be of sufficient importance to be worthy of their attention. When you write a business story be sure you stick to facts. It's so easy to exaggerate and misrepresent in order to make the narrative grip the reader that unless you are constantly on your guard you will find yourself spinning Munchausen tales that no one will believe. Avoid the Commonplace. Don't follow a bell-wether. Be original don't "crib" other people's work. We all use practic- ally the same words but we have a chance to show our origi- nality and ability in the way we combine them. A booklet should be entertaining as well as instructive. If it lacks spontaneity, life, and a purpose it will not make a favorable impression. Booklet Sizes. The size of a booklet has much to do with its attractiveness. While booklets are still made in many shapes and sizes, advertisers who have been most successful in their use favor the smaller, standard sizes those that will fit the pocket. They are handy to hold and are convenient to read in the street cars or while waiting for an interview or for a train. A large proportion of those put out by leading manufacturers are 33^ X 634 in. and will exactly fit a 6^ envelope. Large booklets are hard to handle, take up space and can only be read to advantage when spread out on a desk or table. More- over, they are difficult to file. They cannot be folded without spoiling their appearance. Sometimes it is necessary to make the booklet large for the sake of impressiveness or to accommo- date large cuts and diagrams. The proportion of a booklet should be carefully considered. It is possible to make a mistake in such a simple geometrical figure as an oblong. One man will lay it out in such a manner that it will be graceful in its proportions while another will produce a booklet that is ungainly. The nature of the product to be advertised may be suggested by its shape. For instance, a line of imported parasols or expensive hosiery would suggest a long, slim, booklet while cement blocks or machinery would require one that is nearly square. 220 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Coated and Highly Calendered Paper Should Be Sparingly Used. The shiny surface is not grateful to the eye as it furnishes a trying background to the printed page. The glaring effect of the paper upon the eyes makes the type hard to read. The best thing in its favor is that it brings out the details of fine half- tone plates better than any other kind of paper. When the greater part of the space is occupied by text matter the most satisfactory typographical results may be secured by the use of dull-finished, hand-made, or machine-made paper that imitates hand-made, or even a good book stock, if cheapness is to be considered. On this kind of paper zinc engravings, instead of halftones, can be employed to advantage. It is well to remember that the illustrated booklet tells no more and no less than the advertiser wants to make known. The Booklet Should Be Inviting in Appearance. Its appeal may be based on two things its purpose as indicated by the title and its intent as shown by the arrangement. A lot of money is wasted on fancy designs for the front cover page. If a suffi- cient amount of thought is given to the title it should be possible for the advertiser to write a line or a sentence that will literally compel the person who receives the booklet to open and read it. "There's Treasure Within," "How to Save Money," "How to Double Your Income," and "A Short Cut to Wealth" are titles of this character. Arranging the Type. Type matter should not be placed in the center of the page, but above it, and nearer the fold than to the opposite edge. This arrangement places the widest margin at the bottom of the page and the narrowest next to the fold. The old-time bookbinder laid out the page in this way to allow convenient space for making notes on the margins and while note-making is no longer in vogue the practice is continued for the reason that it produces a much better look- ing page. When the page is not broken up by illustrations, subheads should be used unless it is quite small in size. There are two kinds of subheads one, the centered horizontal line, set in small caps, and the other, the indented. The former best serves its purpose in large booklets and the latter in the smaller ones. THE MISSION OF THE BOOKLET 221 <s$ A group of booklets showing a wide variety of treatment in cover designs and titles. In some cases illustrations are introduced to advantage. 222 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Subheads should not be placed above the text at the top of the page or below it at the bottom. The employment of large initial letters at the beginning of a booklet or in the introductory paragraph of a section gives an attractive appearance to the page. Cheltenham and Scotch Roman type are well adapted for this purpose. Fancy, specially designed initial letters are frequently employed in the more expensive booklets to carry out the idea of exclusiveness or class. Concerning Illustrations. In selecting booklet illustrations you should keep in mind these three requirements: First, a picture should truthfully and graphically represent the advertised article; second, it should, if possible, show the article in use; and third, it should be artistic and pleasing unless it is technical in character. In short, the illustration should represent the article so convincingly that the reader of the booklet will be seized with a desire to possess it at once. Cost of Booklets. Booklets of a pretentious kind are ex- pensive. Those issued by several automobile companies cost $5 apiece and upward. Ordinary booklets run from 10 or 15 cents to $1. Therefore you should carefully estimate the number you can use to advantage and order accordingly. It is safer to get out larger editions of booklets having a permanent value than of those that only serve a temporary purpose. For example, a booklet devoted to the history of a business can be distributed to advantage for a long time, while one describing a novelty that is the season's vogue has little or. no value the following year. Folders and Their Uses. Folders are sheets of paper so cut that when folded they resemble a booklet in appearance, are convenient to carry in the pocket and can be mailed in standard sized envelopes. Because they are less expensive than book- lets they are more extensively employed in advertising campaigns. Some advertisers have found them more productive of business than letters. Folders are employed to develop and retain trade; to keep alive interest in the store or the product; to furnish information to travelers regarding railroads and steamship lines; to show, through pictures, how a device or machine is operated; to call attention to special sales, etc. THE MISSION OF THE BOOKLET 223 If the text is arranged in page form each page should form a complete unit by itself in other words, the type matter should not break over from one page to another. The copy should be chatty in style except when tabulated matter is presented. Use pictures on the inside of the folder and a catch-line on the outside. The title should be such as to arouse curiosity, as, for example, "This Is The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of." Sometimes a post card is made a part of the folder for the convenience of the reader in ordering goods or in sending a request for a booklet or further information. Persistence is essential to success in getting business through folders. When a Pittsburgh collection agency started its career it relied upon folders to obtain clients. Twice a week for several years these trade messengers were sent out to a list of prospects. A curious thing about its experience was that although its busi- ness rapidly increased year after year, direct results from the folders were hard to trace. When the manager one day figured out how much the direct inquiries he received cost and found it was $50 each, he threw up his hands, but kept on advertising. To-day the agency has over 2,000 clients and is one of the largest collection agencies in the world. The results from the use of folders are liable to be disappointing to new advertisers for they are sometimes felt rather than seen. The fact that progressive firms doing a large business continue to employ them in their advertising campaigns is proof that they are satisfied with the service they perform. Folders are one of the cheapest advertising mediums that can be used. Quite an effective campaign, consisting of 12 pieces of copy, mailed at the rate of two pieces a month for 6 months to 2,000 persons, can be carried on for $3,000. As one folder has been known to bring in a single order that paid the entire expense of its produc- tion, there is always a gambling chance that the next folder you send out may put you in touch with customers whose purchases will amount to many thousands of dollars. Questions 1. What is a booklet? 2. What advantages does it have over a newspaper or magazine ad- vertisement? 224 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING 3. Why is the story form of presentation effective? 4. What is a favorite size for a booklet? 5. Why should highly calendered paper be sparingly used? 6. What is the rule for the arrangement of the margins surrounding the type page? 7. When should subheads be employed? 8. What are the three requirements in the selection of booklet illustra- tions? 9. Give some idea as to the cost of booklets. 10. What are folders and for what purposes are they used? 11. Give the experience of a Pittsburgh collection agency hi building up its business through the employment of folders. 12. About what will it cost to send twelve pieces of copy to a list of 2,000 people? 13. Prepare layout and copy for a twelve page booklet of Regal Shoes. (You can secure the material from one of the company's retail stores or from its published advertisements.) CHAPTER XX USEFULNESS OF HOUSE ORGANS What is a house organ? A house organ is a magazine or bulletin issued by a person, firm, corporation or organization to dealers, customers, employees or members for the purpose of promot- ing good will, increasing sales, inducing better salesmanship or de- veloping greater profits. The public knows less about this medium than some of the others because little is said or written about it by advertising men. And yet its value is recognized by many of the foremost commercial and industrial concerns. Eighteen hundred house organs are published annually in the United States and Canada at an estimated cost of $7,500,000. One, the Metropolitan, issued by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Com- pany, of New York, for its agents and policy holders, has the largest circulation of any periodical in the world 5,000,000 copies. The oldest house organ is the Fall River Line Journal which has been issued since May 15, 1879. Printers' Ink was started by George P. Rowell in 1888 as a house organ for his advertising agency. System, the magazine of business, began life as the house organ of a filing cabinet manufacturer. How Classified. House organs may be classified under four heads : 1. Those issued for jobbers and retailers. 2. For consumers or users. 3. For agents, salesmen and other employees either at home or in the field. They vary in size, weight and appearance, and are printed on a fine quality of paper. Their covers are, in many instances, especially designed by high-priced artists and are printed in several colors. In physical appearance some compare favorably with the best literary magazines. 4. For members of fraternal, social, religious and other associations. 15 225 226 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Popular Sizes. The two sizes of house organs that have found the greatest favor are 7 X 10 and 4^ X 6 in., the former being known as the "magazine" size, and the latter as the "pocket" size. The number of pages varies, being in multiples of 4 as 8 pages, 16, 24 and 32. Twelve- and 20-page papers are not economical on account of the extra expense involved in cutting and folding the sheets upon which they are printed. If halftones are used, coated, enameled or dull-finished stock gives the most satisfactory results. The proper size of sheets for the magazine-size page is 28 X 42, the weight, 60, 80, 100, and 120 lb., depending upon the number of pages and the postage limit. If you want to limit the postage to 1 cent a copy for a 16-page publication, 80- or 100-lb. paper should be selected. Who Are the Publishers of House Organs? They are manu- facturers who employ them to reach the jobbers or retailers who already handle their products, or prospects whom they desire to convert into customers, and, to a limited degree, the consumer. The house organ is also used to develop esprit de corps, loyalty, cooperation and good will among employees or agents. Its aim, generally speaking, is to bring those to whom it is addressed into a closer and more friendly business relationship. The house organ is issued in various forms. Sometimes it is a newspaper printed on newsprint stock with illustrations and headings like those of a daily or weekly journal. Sometimes it is a bulletin, a single- or double-page sheet. Or it appears as a blotter, in which case the reading-matter is confined to a few items. The Travis Milk Bottle, of Clarksburg, W. Va., takes the novel shape of a milk bottle. The most popular sizes, of course, are the magazine and the pocket, already described. The House Organ Is the Printed Message of the House to Those Whose Cooperation Is Desired. It contains news of the person- nel of the organization; it gives details of policy, of management, of changes in prices and of new territory opened up. It paves the way for the salesmen out in the field by acquainting the retailer, in advance of their coming, with the character and quality of the goods they have to offer and the standing of the house that makes them. When they call on the jobber or retailer USEFULNESS OF HOUSE ORGANS 227 A group of representative house organs. Note the wide variety of treatment of their cover pages. The Metropolitan is said to have the largest circulation of any periodical in the world 5,000,000 copies. 228 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING prospect they do not have to spend several hours in describing the house they represent or the goods they sell. Many house organs are educational in character and aim to teach merchants and clerks better business methods and higher standards of efficiency. House organs are also employed by retailers as an intimate medium of communication between them and their customers. In such mediums they can give details about their goods that would be impracticable in other mediums because of the cost. They present the news of the store, tell of new supplies of merchandise received, new departments established, and new clerks employed, and give reports of entertainments and other functions. House Organs as Advertising Mediums. The value of the house organ lies in its directness and its automatic, relentless repetition. It drops into the hands of the reader regularly and systematically. The latter may not at first pay much attention to its contents or be influenced by it, but if the magazine is well edited, as it must be to achieve success, and contains bright, snappy articles relating to the house and its products, judiciously interspersed with others written in a lighter and interesting vein, he will soon fall under the spell of its influence. The Willys-Overland Company declares that its house organ is "the most direct form of advertising we know of." A singular thing about house organs is that although the most successful make no special effort to produce sales, they are, in many instances, remarkably effective in bringing in business. A well-known machine company traced sales amounting to $18,000 in one year, and to $76,753 the next, directly to the influence of its house organ. In the case of a New York manufacturer of railway supplies, the first year after he established a house organ his sales jumped 130 per cent, over those of the preceding year. Three years later the increase was 250 per cent. The Miller Sawtrimiter paid its way from the first issue. The second number, in the five days following the date of its first publication, produced $20,000 worth of orders. Six years after an Eastern manufacturer had established him- USEFULNESS OF HOUSE ORGANS 229 self in business he decided to start a house organ. At the end of another six years he had developed a $5,000,000 demand for his product. The only advertising support he gave his salesmen was that afforded by the house organ. The latter found they could cover more ground at less cost than formerly, and sell more goods. Another firm discovered that its house organ had produced a volume of new business equivalent to the efforts of its six expert salesmen at the cost of one. Moreover, its salesmen were able to call on dealers more frequently and thus keep constantly alive their interest in the firm and in the line of goods handled. Robert E. Ramsay, author of "Effective House Organs," cites the case of the Houghton Line, published by E. F. Houghton & Company of Philadelphia, which in nine years quadrupled the company's business and reduced the cost of obtaining inquiries through advertising by 90 per cent. George Frederick Wilson in his book, "The House Organ: How to Make It Produce Results, " cites the case of a manu- facturer of railroad equipment who sold eight passenger cars, one baggage car and five snow ploughs directly through a single issue of his house organ. He also tells of a shoe manufacturer who enclosed an order blank in one issue of his house organ which in 30 days brought $60,000 worth of orders. The Trenton Potteries Company printed in its house organ, which had a circulation of 10,000, a notice of a new catalog it had just issued, and received 1,000 requests for copies. A concern manufacturing motors increased its business 113 per cent, after five issues of its house organ had been distributed. Immediately following the appearance of the several numbers the entire normal output of its factory for the remainder of that year and the year following was sold. A large addition to the plant had to be made to keep up with the demand that had been created by the house organ. The Globe Machine & Stamping Company, of Cleveland, manufacturers of tumble barrels and automobile parts, in 1906 established a house organ called The Silent Partner, because it had become convinced that however profitable trade paper advertising might be to other concerns it was not paying the 230 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING company. The magazine was printed on antique book paper, 24 pages to an issue, the cover being of a different color each month. It was received with such favor that several thousand people now pay $1 a year to have the publication sent to them. Seven-eighths of the names on its mailing list are those of execu- tives of some of the largest business concerns. It accepts no outside advertising and restricts its own advertising to a few pages. The Silent Partner has none of the earmarks of a trade paper; in fact, the aim of the company is to keep it as far away from the trade paper field as possible. A house organ that is well known in all parts of the country is Buck's Shot, issued by the Buck Stove & Range Company of St. Louis. It is an excellent publication and is read with eager interest by nearly every stove retailer in the country. The Sherwin Williams Paint Company issues five different house organs The S. W. P., The Home Decorator, The Colorist, The Chameleon, and The Spectrum, one for the dealer, one for the consumer, one for the architect, one for the painter and one for the salesman. This we believe, is the largest number published in the interest of a single manufacturer. The Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company spends $40,000 a year on its house organ and considers it a good invest- ment. The Burroughs Clearing House, issued by the Burroughs Adding Machine Company, has a circulation of 50,000 copies a month and is considered an invaluable aid to the company's business. If a house organ is fortunate enough to attain any consider- able measure of success, the publisher, when he sees the cost of pro- duction mounting upward, is tempted to seek outside advertising for its columns in order to reduce expenses. Such a course would seem desirable but experience shows that it is not always wise to solicit advertising for a house organ in competition with the trade press. The house organ's principal object is to further the interest of a single firm, while that of the trade paper is to serve the interests of all who are engaged in the business it represents. Hence, the trade paper has a stronger claim for support from manufacturers and others in its field. When a USEFULNESS OF HOUSE ORGANS 231 national distributor is approached for an advertising contract by solicitors representing these two mediums, nine times out of ten he will choose the trade paper rather than the house organ, on the ground that his chances for increasing his sales are greater in a publication devoted to the entire industry rather than in one whose principal purpose is to further the interests of a single firm engaged in that industry. The chief objection to the publication of advertisements of other concerns in a house organ is not, however, the competition of trade papers or the tendency of general advertisers to regard requests for advertisements for a house organ as a "hold-up," but rather that every outside advertisement printed in it ab- sorbs a portion of the reader's attention and therefore lessens the amount he would otherwise give to the firm's own message. Therefore it would seem to be a good business proposition for publishers to exclude from the pages of their house organs all outside advertisements. Otherwise' they will soon find that their house organs have lost their individuality and become trade publications. The reason why you issue a house organ is that it may serve as your personal messenger to those whom you desire to influence favorably, those whose cooperation and support you are anxious to enlist. When you open your columns to other advertisers, even though they may not be competitors, you proportionately weaken the strength of your own appeal. The importance of placing a competent editor in charge of your house organ cannot be overemphasized. Don't entrust the work to an overburdened clerk or a busy executive and expect it to succeed. If you have in your employ a man who you think is competent to fill the position, give him all the time and help he needs and let him alone. If he fails, get someone else. Whoever he is, he should have a nose for news, possess a sense of humor, and have a good knowledge of the house and its business. If you have no one in your employ who can edit your publica- tion you can make arrangements with any one of several con- cerns that make a specialty of issuing house organs for manufacturers or other business concerns, to bring out the magazine for you. 232 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Questions 1. For what purposes are house organs issued? 2. Name the oldest house organ and the one having the largest circu- lation. 3. How are house organs classified? 4. What are the popular sizes? 6. Give a comprehensive definition of a house organ. 6. State the experience of several concerns that have been successful in employing house organs. 7. Wherein does their value lie? 8. Name a house organ that sells for $1 a year. 8. What manufacturer issues five different house organs? 9. Why should the advertising of outside concerns, as a rule, be excluded ? 10. What would be an appropriate name for a house organ published by a shoe manufacturer for circulation among retailers? 11. Prepare a dummy for a 16-page house organ devoted to the employees of a large electric light company. CHAPTER XXI ADVERTISING SPECIALTIES An advertising medium that is rarely ever discussed at ad- vertising club meetings or advertising association conventions but which, nevertheless, is extensively used by commercial con- cerns, are those advertising specialties which may be described as "articles of utility used to carry an advertising message." The importance of this medium is indicated by the fact that $30,000,000 a year are invested in specialties which include an infinite variety of articles ranging from corkscrews to balloons and from buttons to cut-out window displays. They are made of wood, glass, paper, metal, leather, textiles and celluloid, and range in price from a few cents to $5, and even $10 dollars each. There are specialties for every kind of business under the sun. They are used to advertise banks, locomotive works and life insurance companies, as well as cigars, groceries and patent medicines. Specialties were first employed for advertising purposes in 1870, the earliest being a coin purse, a cigar case and a comb- holder all made of leather. This material, because of its adaptability to many purposes, has been one of the most popular among advertisers. A list of articles made of leather that are used for advertising purposes would fill a page of this book. The number of specialty manufacturers in the United States is between 500 and 600. Of these, 200 belong to the National Association of Advertising Specialty Manufacturers which has its headquarters in Chicago. Six of them individually do an annual business of $1,000,000 or more. Three thousand sales- men are employed, then- average pay being from $35 to $50 a week. A few experts earn from $15,000 to $25,000 a year. Sell- ing specialties is an attractive occupation and offers excellent opportunities to ambitious young men who are good salesmen. 233 234 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Among the questions that naturally suggest themselves in the study of this medium are these: How does the appeal of special- ties differ from that of the newspapers and magazines? In what ways do they influence people? Are they instrumental in making sales? In Order to Know Why Advertising Specialties Are Effective We Must Understand Human Nature. The fact that people may be influenced by gifts was known in the earliest days of civilization. The pages of history contain innumerable instances in which presents were made to win the favor of those in authority or to express gratitude for services rendered. People are so constituted that gifts appeal to them. To get something for nothing is the desire of a majority of the human race. While presents of any kind are acceptable, provided they are appro- priate in character and are given in a way that is void of offense, those that have a utilitarian value are the more highly prized. If You Want to Make a Favorable Impression upon the Average Man, Bestow upon Him an Article that Will Contribute to His Comfort, or Make His Work Easier, or That Will Add to His Enjoyment of Life. It must not be cheap in appearance and should be useful, otherwise after a few days it will be given to the office boy or thrown in the waste basket. Business men will not clutter up their desks with a lot of folderols. They would never buy such things themselves and do not want them around. Articles that serve a purpose are always acceptable. It may be an ash receiver, a pocket cigar lighter, or a match safe; a pair of shears, a ruler, a set of calendar blotters; or it may be a pocket knife, a cigar holder, a bill fold, a coin purse or a pack of playing cards. When a manufacturer distributes an advertising specialty among his friends or prospective customers he does not expect that it will perform the same service as a display advertise- ment in a newspaper or magazine, for the only reading matter that can be printed upon it, unless it is a wall calendar or any other article having a large blank surface, will be the name and location of his firm and that of the product or line of goods he is marketing. Even if there is room for other inscriptions they are usually omitted, because if more are used the article would ADVERTISING SPECIALTIES 235 have too much the appearance of an advertisement. In special- ties the advertising must usually be subordinated to the article itself, otherwise the purpose for which it is intended will be defeated, as the person receiving it will be unwilling to carry it around in his pocket or have it seen on his desk. The more unobtrusive the advertising message, the greater will be his readiness to accept and make use of it. // the Direct Object of the Advertising Specialty Is Not to Sett Goods, What Valuable Service Does It Render? Perhaps the most important of its several uses are to create good will and supple- ment educational advertising in newspapers, magazines, catalogs and other direct-by-mail mediums. When a dealer receives from a manufacturer an advertising gift that is attractive in appearance and that he can use he is grateful to the sender. This mental attitude makes him predisposed to entertain favor- ably any business proposition that may afterward be made to him by the manufacturer through letters or salesmen. If he is not at the time in the market for the article advertised, its name and that of the producer become so impressed upon his mind that when the need of it arises he will instinctively seek it from the advertiser. Specialties Are Helpful in Introducing Salesmen to Dealers. When employed for this purpose they are sent to the dealer a few days ahead of the salesman's call so that when the latter arrives and presents his card the merchant will be much more approachable and friendly than would ordinarily be the case had the way not been prepared for him before he arrived. Sometimes the salesman presents the specialty during his intro- ductory call, which is usually devoted to making the acquaintance of the dealer and not to securing an order from him. If the advertising specialty and the salesman himself make a favorable impression, the next time the latter makes the town he will have a fair chance to interest the merchant in his goods. Specialties Are Used to Express to the Dealer in an Unobtrusive Way the Manufacturer's or Jobber's Appreciation of His Patronage. Such articles are more expensive than those distributed by the merchant among the patrons of his store. When Possible the Specialty Should Be Appropriate to the Busi- 236 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING ness of the Advertiser or to the Business or Occupation of the Recipi- ent. For instance, Heinz, of the "57 Varieties" fame, adopted a midget pickle as his trademark and gave away millions of them to be worn by men as watch charms or as stick-pins. Procter & Gamble have distributed countless numbers of toy miniature bars of Ivory Soap made of white composition. Flour and baking powder manufacturers present to housewives measuring cups, biscuit cutters and rolling pins. The Curtis Publishing Com- pany furnishes the newsboys who sell the Saturday Evening Post all over the country well-made white cloth bags, upon which the name of that publication is displayed in large black letters. Tobacco manufacturers find that smokers are always glad to receive cigar cases, cigar holders and pocket match boxes. Clothing manufacturers and dealers give away coat hangers and moth-proof bags in which to hang winter garments during the summer months. Before prohibition went into effect the dis- tillers of Gordon Gin presented metal cocktail shakers to their cus- tomers. The Orange-Judd Company, publishers of agricultural periodicals, for several years distributed canes at the Associated Advertising Club conventions. The International Harvester Company has given county and state maps to farmers at county fairs to call attention to their gas engines. When the Hartford Fire Insurance Campany cele- brated its semi-centennial it presented to each of its 15,000 agents a fine $4 gold pencil, suitably inscribed. Libby, McNeil & Libby, the Chicago packers, have used enamelled stick-pins and bronze metal watch fobs to advertise their products. The Remington Typewriter Company has given three-color blotters to buyers. Swift's Cottolene has been exploited by means of enameled cuff buttons, fans and other specialties. A manufacturer of food products consumed in the home selects for distribution through the jobbers and grocers who handle them, advertising specialties that will appeal to housewives because of their usefulness. The list includes, among other articles, kitchen reminders, egg-timers, wall match safes, calendars, wooden spoons, lacquered trays, biscuit cutters, can and bottle openers, cork screws, bottle stoppers, bundle handles, yard sticks, tape measures, button hooks, pictures and novelty darners. ADVERTISING SPECIALTIES 237 Sometimes the appeal to parents is made by means of articles that are for the amusement or instruction of the children, such as alphabet blocks, Noah's Arks, ball bats, toys, games, books, balloons, whistles, caps, book straps, bookmarks, foot rulers, pencils, etc. Advertising specialties may be employed to produce direct and immediate sales, although, as we have already seen, they are more frequently used to create good will and serve as reminders. In selecting articles for this purpose they should be of such size and shape as will permit the printing upon them of an advertising message that will make people desire to buy the product. When, a few years ago, Marshall Field & Company, of Chicago, estab- lished an office furniture department in their store, they wanted, as soon as possible, to bring it to the attention of 4,000 firms, corporations and business men who might be interested in it. The medium chosen was an artistic celluloid-backed blotter pad containing three pieces of fine white blotting paper. The cellu- loid back was beautifully decorated in lithographed colors and bore a dignified announcement of the opening of the new depart- ment. The letter with which it was enclosed contained an invitation to the recipient to visit the store and inspect the office furniture. The result of this direct form of advertising was gratifying. Within a few weeks its new department was doing a business that might ordinarily have taken months to develop. Tom Murray, one of Chicago's best-known, because best- advertised, outfitters for men, distributed thousands of celluloid pocket mirrors, on the back of which his trademark a picture of the back of his own head appeared. The inscriptions "Meet Me Face to Face" and "The Other Side Not So Bad" made people laugh. In commenting upon it Mr. Murray said, " When they smile you have got their trade coming." Banks and trust companies are among the largest users of advertising specialties, their average investment being from $3,000 to $5,000 a year each. A large part of their appropriation for this medium is expended for calendars that are fine examples of the lithographer's art. Other articles distributed by banks are pocket diaries and memorandum books, desk calendar pads, pencils, peoholders, pocket books, coin banks, and bill folds. 238 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING How Specialties Are Distributed. Gifts employed for ad- vertising purposes are distributed in various ways. They are given out personally at business conventions, reunions, exposi- tions, county fairs. They are sent by mail, by parcel post or by express. They are sometimes packed with shipments of goods. Salesmen deliver them when making the rounds of their customers. It is not unusual for manufacturers or jobbers to make a cooperative arrangement with the dealers under which the expense of distribution is divided between them. Some- times they are given as premiums for the return of a cer- tain number of labels or coupons clipped from newspaper advertisements. The method of distribution should be selected with considerable care in order to avoid unnecessary waste and expense. If the article is to be sent by mail should it be under first- or third-class postal rates? If the article is small and is to be accompanied by a letter a sealed envelope bearing a 2-cent stamp is necessary. Bulky articles should be sent by parcel post. Some concerns send the specialties only upon receipt of a request from those who have seen the offer made in periodical or newspaper ad- vertisements. This method has much to recommend it from an economical viewpoint although it is certain to be taken ad- vantage of by persons who write out of curiosity rather than because of any interest they may have in the advertised product. Another way of effecting distribution is to ask people to call for the specialty at the store where the merchandise is on sale. It is not unusual for a manufacturer who is a national adver- tiser to make a charge for his advertising specialty. The makers of Pompeian Cream, Cleveland, have for several years sold their advertising art calendar. This plan was adopted to cut down the heavy cost of production and to ensure the preserva- tion and display of the calendar by those who receive it. Large and small advertisers use outdoor signs which are made by manufacturers of specialties. They are made of metal, cloth, fiber, glass, vitrolite, wood and enamel. The lithographed steel art signs printed in colors will last four or five years. They are extensively used by the makers of Coca-Cola, soda and other beverages, and by baking powder, flour, hardware and numerous ADVERTISING SPECIALTIES 239 other manufacturers. One company's order for a single season amounted to fifty carloads. Cloth signs are short-lived, six months being about the limit. If the product to be advertised is one the sale of which is confined to a few months in the year, cloth signs might be used to advantage. It should be remem- bered, however, that it costs just as much to put up a cloth as a metal sign. Cloth is a much cheaper material to use than metal, but it is, of course, far less durable. If the product is well distributed and is sold the year round the metal sign is to be preferred above all others. A form of specialty advertising that always attracts attention is the electric flashlight, transparent window or counter display signs. They are usually operated mechanically by clockwork. The more elaborate are loaned by the manufacturer to the dealer for one or two weeks at a time. These signs present scenes or pictures which are linked up to the product in some direct way that will be suggestive and impressive. Other specialties extensively employed for advertising pur- poses are colored pictures stamped out of metal; decalcomania, to be pasted upon dealer's windows; cut-outs, often arranged like the scenery of a theater, that present pictures of articles or persons so faithfully that they are mistaken for the moment for the real thing; and kites, carrying advertising streamers or other advertising displays, that are sent up in thickly populated or congested business sections of a city. Decorative designs, arranged to fill an entire window and serve as a frame or back- ground for artistic displays of the merchandise that is being ad- vertised, are furnished by a number of the larger manufacturers of popular articles of consumption. For instance, the Loose- Wiles 3jnd the National Biscuit Companies supply metal stands to grocers for displaying their products. Because of the wide variety of advertising specialties the manufacturer or dealer should have no difficulty in selecting one that is appropriate to his product and that will be reasonable in cost. A classified business directory will furnish you the names of firms that make advertising specialties. If such a directory is not available a list can be obtained on application to any one 240 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING of the publications devoted to the advertising field or by writing to the National Association of Advertising Specialty Manu- facturers, Chicago. Questions 1. What are advertising specialties? 2. Of what materials are they made? 3. How much money is invested in them annually? 4. How many manufacturers of specialties are there in the United States? 5. What is the name of their national organization? 6. What is the psychological effect of a gift? 7. For what purposes are advertising specialties employed? 8. What principle should you observe in selecting a specialty? 9. What specialty has been exclusively employed by Heinz 57 Varieties? By Procter & Gamble? By the Orange- Judd Company? By the Inter- national Harvester Company? 10. What specialties would you recommend food manufacturers to use? 11. Give the experience of Marshall Field & Company in introducing a new department in its Chicago store through the use of a specialty? 12. Enumerate the ways in which specialties are distributed? 13. What about the use of electric flashlight signs and window displays? 14. What specialty would you use in advertising a stationery store? A millinery establishment? A hotel? CHAPTER XXII MOTION PICTURE ADVERTISING The latest, and by many large distributors of merchandise regarded as one of the most important advertising mediums, is the motion picture. The popularity of motion pictures as a form of entertainment or for educational purposes is attested by the statement that there are 14,000 theaters in the United States devoted to their presentation, with daily audiences aggregating 14,000,000 persons, or over 5,000,000,000 a year. The possibility of placing an advertisement of any kind before an audience of this vast size strongly appeals to the imagination of merchants and manufacturers with products to sell. It was only a short time ago that the motion picture producers awoke to its value as an advertising medium and introduced "industrial" pictures, as distinguished from film plays and other forms of screen entertainment. This term was doubtless given them because the first advertising productions exploited industrial enterprises. The Appeal of the Motion Picture Is Universal. Young and old, rich and poor, and the educated and uneducated, no matter what their nationality may be, are susceptible to its charm and influence. It speaks in all languages and, although a man may not be able to read or write, if he possesses intelligence he can interpret the message of the screen picture. Educated people, however, have this advantage they see more because they have developed the ability to reason things out and can discover hidden beauties in the pictures that are not revealed to the untrained mind. Many persons with plenty of money to buy things, but who never read the magazines and therefore never see the advertisements they contain, attend the moving picture theaters. Before the alphabet was invented the only way the ancients 16 241 242 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING had of recording events was by means of crude pictures carved or painted upon the walls of tombs, public buildings or upon clay tablets or monuments. These hieroglyphics, as they are called, are now read by language experts who have mastered the subject almost as easily as by the men who made them thousands of years ago. Pictures have been employed in all ages to express ideas. With the development of art has come increased power of inter- pretation. The invention of the motion picture has made possible the presentation of action the endowing of objects with life, so that the spectator sees them just as they are. Lantern slides have been employed for years to present advertising messages to audiences, but they possess no special advantages over ordinary mediums except those derived from the use of light and color. It is one thing, however, to see still pictures showing the successive steps in the making of steel, for instance, and quite another to see in a motion picture the work carried on before your very eyes. The pouring of the molten metal with its starlike, flying sparks, the heating and annealing of the steel ingots, their passage through the great rolling ma- chines and their shaping into steel rails, beams and hundreds of other steel products, are shown almost as realistically as they would appear to the person who actually visited the steel works and saw the processes carried on before him. The advantages of motion picture advertising, as set forth by its advocates, are as follows: 1. Through motion pictures the advertiser is able to show his product in actual use under the most favorable conditions and thus create in the minds of the spectators an earnest, compelling desire to possess it. 2. The details of manufacturing processes that give to the article special value can be set forth in such a way that the consumer can understand their significance. 3. Motion picture advertising is presented under ideal conditions. In the darkened theater the attention of the audience is centered upon the brilliantly lighted screen upon which the pictures appear, as it is the only thing that can be seen. The spectators are in a receptive mood. They are there to be entertained or instructed. When they enter the theater they leave business MOTION PICTURE ADVERTISING 243 and household cares behind and, with open minds, are ready to receive impressions from the film productions. 4. Motion pictures may be employed to promote dealer coopera- tion. The exploitation of any article the retailer has on sale in his store appeals to his self-interest and to his pride. The novelty of such advertising, the fact that a large number of his customers will see it, and be favorably influenced by it, will arouse in him a desire to take advantage of the publicity and push the sales of the article. 5. The advertiser can use as many or as few theaters for the display of his moving picture advertisement as he may desire. He can select the class of people to whom his appeal is to be made by choosing the theaters they patronize. 6. Motion pictures may be so constructed that they will contain all the features of good advertising copy and at the same time give a demonstration of the product. 7. Motion picture advertising can precede, accompany or follow an intensive selling campaign in selected territory. Its adapta- bility to the needs of the advertiser is one of its strongest features. 8. Motion pictures are effective in teaching salesmen the selling methods and the business policies of the firm they represent, in acquainting them with the distinguishing characteristics of the products, and in showing the features of advertising campaigns that are to be launched. Copy-writers occasionally have difficulty in describing an article or a process in language that will convey the same im- pression to all readers. Some will "get" the intended message, others will not. In motion picture advertising there is little danger that anyone in the audience will fail to understand what is meant, because the message is presented in picture form. Valuable in Selling Goods in South America. J. B. Benson, advertising manager of the Advance Rumely Thresher Com- pany, who resided in South America for several years, in dis- cussing the use of motion picture advertising in selling goods in the Latin countries, says: "Down in South America it takes a week or ten days before you can begin to talk business to a merchant. He is not accustomed to 244 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING the sudden-attack method of American salesmen and don't like it. He wants to get acquainted with the salesman first, perhaps lunch or dine with him, before he is ready to listen to his sales story. Most of the merchants you approach may be unacquainted with your house or its products. Hence they want a lot of information about them. By the aid of motion pictures you can present this in- formation more convincingly than in any other way. Pictures do not lie about the size of your factory or the character of your product. After about two weeks of calling, and lunching, and driving, you will be permitted to bring your suit-case projection machine to a mer- chant's office and show him a reel or two of films describing your product and its manufacture. "You can tell a man your story through the mail, but I would like to see anybody write enough letters to transport an entire factory over the sea to distant lands. With motion pictures you can unload the factory, the executives at the head of it, the sales-force backing it up, the whole works, in a buyer's office thousands of miles away." How They Are Constructed. Motion picture advertising films are constructed in the same way as the play feature produc- tions. The plants of the principal companies engaged in the business represent an investment of millions of dollars in scenery, costumes and other accessories. Hundreds and sometimes a thousand or more actors and supernumeraries are required in the preparation of a film play. In making industrial films the entire resources of these great organizations are available to the ad- vertiser in presenting his selling story. The method of procedure in the preparation of a motion picture advertising campaign is as follows : When the advertiser has decided upon its size and character, after several interviews with the representative of the film manufacturing company, and has signed a contract covering the period during which the picture is to be shown, a careful study of the advertiser's business is made by the company's experts to ascertain how its important features can best be presented on the screen in picture form. When this point has been satisfactorily settled experi- enced writers are called upon to prepare the scenario, and when that is completed to every body's satisfaction, then the actual work of making the picture begins. This calls into service a MOTION PICTURE ADVERTISING 245 large production staff the assistance of as many skilled actors and actresses as are needed to provide the personnel, and the resources of a studio that is equipped with every conceivable device and accessory for making the right kind of film pictures. Advertisers who have used film productions assert that the most effective are those presented in the form of a play. People like stories, written or pictured, better than they do a series of disconnected scenes in which the human element is lacking. The presence of heart interest has much to do with the success of a screen picture. Must Be Entertaining. An advertising film must be entertain- ing as well as interesting and should not in any way offend the motion picture lover's sense of what is appropriate and what is not. In other words, while it presents your business proposition just as you want it to, it must do so in an unobtrusive but suggestive way to secure the best results. This requires experi- ence and skill, and the intimate knowledge of theater requirements which those who are engaged in the production of motion pictures possess. A good example of an advertising film play is " Straight Goods," which has been shown in many moving picture theaters in different parts of the country. It tells the story of a young husband who has presented his bride with a box of Holmes & Edwards silver. When she finds that the tableware is not solid silver she expresses her disappointment in a way that discon- certs him. Later in the evening a burglar is caught in the act of stealing it. The young wife asks him why he wanted to carry away a box of silver that was not solid silver. His reply was that inlaid silver is just as good as solid silver. He then goes on to tell her how the Holmes & Edwards silver is made. Simultaneously the audience is taken through the factory of the manufacturers where the several processes in the production of silverware are plainly shown. The principal selling point brought out is that the parts upon which the heaviest wear comes are inlaid with solid silver. The gentleman burglar finally makes his escape. Throughout the picture the dramatic interest is well sustained and the climax comes with a gratifying surprise ending that pleases the spectators. 246 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING "Careless America," made for the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, is a different type of a picture. Its object is to call public attention to the evils of reckless automobile driving in such a vivid way that after seeing the production people will take greater care in the management of their cars. The lessons taught by this cleverly constructed motion picture were so impressive and so valuable that in many cities it was shown under the auspices of Chambers of Commerce, Automobile Clubs, and city officials. It is said to be the first advertising film for which national distribution was attempted. It has never been shown, however, in a city where there was no Firestone dealer. " Care- less America" was exhibited in 430 Chicago theaters. Another Firestone picture, "Over the Roads of War," a war film, was shown in 1,973 towns in New England. The International Correspondence Schools, of Scranton, Pa., put out a story film entitled "Heads Win," designed to awaken interest in its educational courses, which has attracted much attention. The White Company, of Cleveland, manufacturers of White Trucks, found " The Open Road to Greater America " an excellent medium through which to arouse a greater public interest in the development of national highways and the promotion of high- way transportation systems. Other national advertisers that have employed motion pictures in their advertising campaigns are the United States Rubber Company, the National Cash Register Company, the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, the B. F. Goodrich Company, the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, and the H. Black Company, of Cleveland, manufacturers of Wooltex. Paving the Way for the Film Pictures. In a motion picture advertising campaign the film is not expected to do all of the work. Thirty days before the date of its appearance at a theater a letter is sent to all the dealers in town who handle the mer- chandise notifying them that the play is to be presented, also a booklet giving plans for the tie-up, and urging them to co- operate in making this event a success. It is suggested that, if they do not have sufficient stock on hand to make an adequate display, they place an order at once. Two weeks before MOTION PICTURE ADVERTISING 247 the date of the play's presentation the dealer is given the name of the theater or theaters in which it is to be shown. Advertising matter consisting of window picture cards, illustrated circulars for distribution among customers and electrotypes for newspaper advertisements, are furnished at the same time. The theater manager receives from the film company one-sheet lithograph posters, a set of 8 lobby photographs, 8 X 10 hi. in size, and a lantern slide announcing the coming of the play, which is to be run at the exhibitor's expense for the week preceding the opening. If the advertising aids are properly used public interest in the forthcoming picture can be so thoroughly aroused that large audiences will fill the theater during the period of its presenta- tion. Sometimes the. local dealers buy blocks of tickets at a reduced price and present them to their regular customers with their compliments. In other cases the tickets are given as premiums to those whose purchases amount to a certain sum. In selecting the theaters it is desirable to choose those nearest the stores in which the advertised article is on sale. The dealers, who have also been supplied with their own advertising matter, make special displays that people will see in going to and from the theater while the play is on. In this way they are able to cash in on any demand that may be created by the picture. National advertisers who have given motion pictures a thorough trial appear to be well satisfied with the results they have secured through this new medium. One large distributor of automobile tires was so much pleased with the first production made for him that he afterward ordered eleven more. Can Results in Motion Picture Advertising Be Traced? The advertising manager of Holmes & Edwards states that when letters were sent to dealers notifying them that the "Straight Goods" film was to be shown in local theaters 19 per cent, placed orders for silverware to take advantage of the demand that it was expected the play would create, and 39 per cent, asked for advertising matter to use in connection with its appearance. The first month the film was shown the firm received $7,500 worth of orders that were directly traceable to it. " Considering the cost of the campaign," says the advertising manager, "we received in results $3 for every $1 we put into it." 248 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Quite a number of the most important manufactures now make a regular appropriation for motion picture advertising. The film companies charge an average of $5 per day per theater for this service. The number of reels employed in covering the territory scheduled depends upon the time allowed for the campaign. A single film cannot be shown in more than four or five cities a week, owing to the distances they must travel even when shipped from district exchanges. Questions 1. In what way does the motion picture differ in its appeal from other forms of advertising? 2. Enumerate the principal advantages of this kind of advertising. 3. Why ia an advertising film certain to receive attention? 4. How can motion picture advertising be used to advantage in increas- ing the efficiency of salesmen? 6. How can it be used in selling goods in foreign countries? 6. What method is pursued in the preparation of an industrial picture? 7. From the spectators' viewpoint what quality must the film play have? 8. Give the names of any advertising motion pictures you have seen. 9. Describe just what is done to arouse interest in a film production and how the cooperation of local stores is secured. 10. Can direct results be traced ? Give an example. CHAPTER XXIII DUTIES OF THE ADVERTISING MANAGER The person who has charge of the advertising of a retail or wholesale business, or of a publication, is known as the advertis- ing manager. His duties vary with the character and size of the concern by which he is employed. The advertising manger of the smaller retail store is usually the owner, the manager, or a clerk who devotes only a part of his time to the duties of the position. He prepares the advertise- ments that appear in the local newspapers and the letters and circulars that are mailed to customers calling their attention to special sales, openings, anniversaries, etc. He also looks after the dressing of the store windows, often doing the work himself. The advertising manager of a department store, which may be described as a store in which a number of different lines of business are grouped under one roof and a single ownership, occupies a much more important position. He has from four to a dozen assistants, including copy- writers, artists and stenographers. He is clothed with greater authority than is given to the heads of other departments. While he virtually has nothing to do with the management of the store his advertising directs and reflects its policies. He takes part in the conferences of the executives that are held from tune to time to discuss important matters connected with the business. In these store councils he repre- sents the public, for it is his duty to keep informed as to its attitude toward the store and its merchandise. Upon his efforts depends, to a considerable extent, the success of the business, and if, for any reason, the advertising produced by his department does not bring the public to the store and sell goods he will soon be looking for another position. He must not only be an expert in all kinds of retail advertising 249 250 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING but he must also possess an accurate knowledge of merchandise and of salesmanship. It is his duty to keep watch of the sales of every department. If the goods are not moving as fast as they should he must devise ways and means for making them move. In apportioning the space in the daily advertisements of the store among the several departments he must exercise tact and good judgment. The managers of all departments want their goods exploited every day, an evident impossibility. In their eagerness to get space they sometimes misrepresent the quality of the merchandise they want advertised. If the ad- vertising manager is not posted on values he will get into all kinds of trouble. Should he give considerable space to a few of the departments he will incur the enmity of the others, who see in the act a deliberate attempt to boost the sales of those depart- ments at their expense. If, on the other hand, the advertising manager has had merchandising experience he knows to what departments the space should be allotted, after listening to their claims, and his decisions are respected. Moreover, one of his most important functions is to see that the public is not deceived by the store's advertising. If values are misrepresented and attempts are made to palm off "seconds" as first-class goods, people will soon discover the fact and lose confidence in the store. In every line of copy the right kind of an advertising manager seeks to maintain and add to the firm's reputation for reliability and square dealing. To him the good will of the public is invaluable and must be won and retained at any cost. Besides keeping an eye on the sales barometer, studying public taste in merchandise, making suggestions that will increase the popularity of the establishment and move off the shelves goods that have a slow sale, the department store advertising manager furnishes pep and enthusiasm to the big staff of employees. If the sales of a department fall off he evolves a plan to stimulate them and gets the clerks to pitch in and score a success. If the employees have a dance or an entertainment he takes good care that the newspapers are told about it and that a report of the affair is printed by them the next day. 251 In preparing advertisements he puts into them the real news of the store the things that the public likes to know about. In collecting this news he resembles the city editor of a newspaper, assigning to the several members of his staff, acting as reporters, the subjects upon which they are to write and telling them where they can get the material. In these great stores that sell many different kinds of merchandise, brought together from all quarters of the globe, there is to be found data for an endless number of interesting stories that can be used to arouse public interest. John Wanamaker's is a good example of live store news advertising. It is full of variety, is never dull, and is worth reading whether you want to buy anything or not. There is always something worth while to talk about in every big store. If you can get people so thoroughly interested in your advertise- ments that they will look for them every day when they read their favorite paper, just as they do for the news of the city or country, you can bank upon the hearty support they will give the store. National Advertising Manager. If the business is large, covering the country, he has a staff of assistants to prepare the various kinds of copy that must be produced. In retail adver- tising, as we have already seen, the mediums used are few in number, and include daily and weekly newspapers, street cars, electric light signs and occasionally letters and circulars. National advertising calls for the employment not only of these mediums, but also of magazines, trade and class publications, posters, booklets, electric light displays, specialties and moving pictures. Some of the large distributors of merchandise use them all. To prepare effective advertisements for each of these different mediums requires superior advertising ability. The Duties of the Advertising Manager of a Wholesale Business Are Numerous and Exacting. He plans and carries out national advertising campaigns. He is responsible for the advertising copy, selects the mediums, makes contracts with newspaper and magazine publishers for advertising space, furnishes cuts or mats of advertisements for the use of retail dealers, prepares window displays, directs the activities of sampling crews and demonstrators in various cities, gets up special articles for 252 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING magazines and newspapers about the welfare work carried on for the benefit of the employees in the mills and factories of the company, conducts house organs, and produces booklets, folders, letters and broadsides for direct advertising campaigns. Because the work of the advertising manager and the sales manager is directed toward the same end the sale of merchan- dise and because of their close relationship to each other, there has of late developed a tendency on the part of some concerns to combine the duties of the two positions in one person, in which case the advertising manager discharges the duties of a sales manager, or vice versa. Although such an arrangement may work satisfactorily in a small-sized business it is almost certain to fail when applied to a large and important business. While it is always desirable that the advertising manager should have a practical knowledge of the principles of salesmanship and that the sales manager should know something about advertising, there are very few men who can handle both departments successfully. An expert knowledge of advertising or of salesmanship cannot be acquired in a few months. In fact, it takes several years to develop a first-class advertising or sales manager. Constant changes are taking place in advertising methods and practice, and to keep up with them the advertising manager must be ever on the alert. If he is entrusted with the grave responsibility of investing one or two million dollars a year in advertising, he has no time to devote to other matters connected with the business. On the other hand, the sales manager who has charge of from forty to a hundred and fifty traveling salesmen is too busy to plan advertising campaigns. When a Manufacturer Places His Advertising Account in the Hands of an Advertising Agent He Still Needs the Services of an Advertising Manager. While the greater part of the work inci- dental to an advertising campaign is taken over by the agent, the advertising manager has a most important function to per- form. To the public he represents the firm or company in all its advertising activities. He knows more about its business, its policies, its management and its goods than any agent that could be employed. DUTIES OF THE ADVERTISING MANAGER 253 The agent recognizes his value and is more than anxious to have his help in carrying out the firm's advertising plans. Some- times a wholesale concern prepares its own advertising copy and turns it over to the agent to place in a selected list of mediums, in which case a well-organized advertising department must be maintained. When, on the other hand, the copy is written and most of the work of the campaign is done by the advertising agent, a large advertising staff is unnecessary. In order to do his best work the advertising manager must have the cooperation of the sales manager, the production manager and the owners of the business. Presumably he knows more about advertising than anyone else in the concern. This fact alone should place him beyond the criticism of any of the execu- tives save that of his employer, and even then deference should be paid to his experience. If the advertising he creates increases the business he is working along the right lines and ought not to be interfered with. Qualifications of an Advertising Manager. Some of them are these : He Should Be Tactful. In conducting an advertising depart- ment he deals with many kinds of men both inside and outside the establishment. Unless he is careful he will say or do things that will needlessly antagonize many who can be of service to him. A little tact and a little diplomacy will do much toward winning the good will and cooperation of his associates. He Must Possess Energy and Perseverance. Sometimes he will be overwhelmed with work and will have to put in nights and occasionally a Sunday to get through with it, but if he tackles the job with a determined spirit and sticks to it he will complete it in a creditable manner. He Must Have Administrative Ability. The advertising mana- ger who conducts extensive advertising campaigns cannot carry on the work alone and therefore must have competent assistants. He must know how to manage these assistants in such a way as to develop their best ability. He must be able to lay out the work of his department to such advantage that there will be no lost motion and that results will be achieved economically and effectively. 254 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING He Must Be Resourceful. In the practice of advertising there is a constant need of new ideas. Advertisements cannot be run in a mould like cement houses. They must have variety of form and method of presentation. The advertising manager should originate new ways of dressing up old facts and making them interesting. In carrying on campaigns he must meet and over- come the opposition of competitors through aggressive argument. The advertising manager of a publication, unlike the advertising manager of a retail or wholesale business, is a seller rather than a buyer of advertising. Therefore his duties are entirely different. He has little to do with the preparation of advertising copy, his chief task being to get advertising for the magazine or newspaper by which he is employed. He ranks next to the publisher or business manager in importance. He is the producer of revenue and unless he can induce the local merchants and the national distributors of merchandise to advertise in his newspaper there will be no money to pay bills or salaries when Saturday comes around. The advertising staff of an important city newspaper is com- posed of an advertising manager, an assistant advertising mana- ger, half a dozen or more solicitors, and a number of stenographers and clerks. It is customary to divide the work in such a way that each of the salesmen will handle the kind of business with which he is most familiar or to which he is best adapted. The local advertising is taken care of by one set of men and the foreign (or national) by another. In soliciting local advertising one salesman calls upon the department stores; another upon specialty shops; a third upon the big grocery and drug stores; a fourth upon the dealers in men's shoes and clothing; a fifth upon banks trust companies and brokers; a sixth upon schools and colleges; a seventh solicits theatrical and other amusement advertising; and an eighth, with several young men assistants, looks after the classified advertising. Others canvass the book publishers, the summer and winter resort hotels, and the steamship and railroad companies. The term "foreign," as used in American advertising circles, is applied to advertising that exploits products having general distribution, such as Bull Durham Tobacco, Shredded Wheat, DUTIES OF THE ADVERTISING MANAGER 255 Keen Kutter Tools and Diamond Dyes. The foreign advertising manager has a wide acquaintance among national advertisers and the advertising agents who handle their campaigns. He calls upon the most important of these himself, leaving the others to his assistants. The advertising manager of a newspaper or magazine is ever on the alert for the appearance of new advertisers in the various publications. He picks up advertising tips at his club, at restaurants frequented at lunch time by friends and acquaint- ances in business and advertising circles, and at the country club when he plays an occasional game of golf. Tips come to him over the telephone, by letter, and now and then by telegraph. All of them receive his careful attention, those that appear worth while being referred immediately to the various members of his staff, who follow them up. Every live advertising manager who desires to secure as much national advertising as possible for his publication keeps on file in his office a reliable list of all general advertisers in the country, their advertising managers and their advertising agents. Such lists are prepared and furnished by at least two bureaus at a fixed price to whoever wants them. With this information in hand the advertising manager knows to whom his letters of solicitation should be sent or upon whom his salesman should call. He does not attempt to work the entire list, for that, as he has learned from past experience, is a waste of effort, but selects from it those concerns whose products could be advantageously advertised in his publication. Not every article can be profitably exploited in newspapers or magazines. A card index in which is recorded the results of interviews salesmen have had with prospective advertisers is of great service to the advertising manager in running his department. Such an index will save the office time and money in following up prospects later on. All information that will be of assistance to the next salesman who calls on an advertiser should be kept on file. The advertising manager should not stick too closely to his desk, but should get out and rub elbows with the leading business men of the community. He ought to study their advertising 256 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING problems and help them to arrive at their correct solution. He should be able to suggest, now and then, a series of advertisements that will, because of their timeliness or their special appeal, boost a merchant's sales. If you can show a retailer how he can increase his sales without spending more money than the addi- tional sales would amount to, you will win his friendship and support. How Merchandising Service Departments Aid General Adver- tisers. The recent introduction of merchandising service depart- ments in the offices of several metropolitan dailies, and a few weeklies and magazines, has added to the responsibilities of the newspaper advertising manager. The object of this service is to help the national distributor realize upon his advertising invest- ment. Different methods are employed by different publications. Information that will aid the advertiser in sizing up the market is furnished free of expense by all of them. The New York Evening Journal collects data regarding any product handled over the retail counter. For instance, a packer of meat products asks for information regarding the bacon market in New York. A comprehensive questionnaire is prepared and submitted to repre- sentative dealers throughout the city by members of the Journal's service staff. The answers are then carefully tabulated and the completed re- port turned over to the concern making the inquiry. The report shows what percentage of purchasers ask for a particular brand and the name of that brand; whether the sale of "jar" bacon is increasing or decreasing; what brands of ham or bacon they prefer to handle, etc. With this information in hand the packer can intelligently decide whether or not he should try to break into the New York market, or, if his products are already being sold, how they are regarded by the trade. The manufacturer of a macaroni product wants to know his chances of success should he advertise it. The Journals' merchandising department sup- plies him with a survey of the market that tells him how much money is spent for macaroni and spaghetti, the names of the three leading brands, the most popular price and the size of the most popular package, the average margin of profit on the goods, and the amount of the jobber's discounts. DUTIES OF THE ADVERTISING MANAGER 257 The Journal publishes each month trade papers for four kinds of dealers grocers, druggists, dealers in men's and women's wear and shoes and dealers in automobiles and automobile accessories. Prizes amounting to $200 are offered monthly for the best window displays in each of these classes. The New York World's merchandising service furnishes accurate information regarding the buying habits of the people; the number and character of the stores in each line of business; the buying and selling habits of the retailers with whom the ad- vertiser must deal. It offers advertisers a letter of introduction to the dealers of New York if they use adequate space under a non- cancellable contract. It has prepared zone maps showing the location of 2,600 druggists and 16,000 grocers in the city, by the aid of which the sales manager who has a product to market that can be sold by either or both of these classes of retailers can so route his salesmen that they will cover the entire trade in the shortest possible time. The World also issues "The World Retailer," a copy of which is placed in the hands of every grocer and drug- gist in the city. This publication is designed to help retailers sell more goods and improve their store service. The idea that a newspaper should do something more for its advertisers than print their announcements is favorably regarded by the more progressive publishers. It is reasonable to believe that the more goods a manufacturer or merchant sells through ad- vertising, the more he will want to invest in it. If a newspaper takes an active interest in making a selling campaign a success the advertiser will appreciate the fact in a way that will please the cashier. Merchandising service departments are expensive but if they are rightly conducted they will undoubtedly be of great value in attracting to the publication a large volume of profitable advertising. In his desire to make the department effective the advertising manager will be tempted to undertake more than he should. One thing he should not do; that is to take on any of the work that properly belongs to the manufacturer's salesmen. It is not the province of a newspaper or a magazine to send out the members of its staff to personally take orders for merchandise. 17 258 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Questions 1. What are the duties of a department store advertising manager? 2. Describe the work of the advertising manager of a manufacturer who does a national business. 3. What are his qualifications? 4. What are the duties of a newspaper or magazine advertising manager? 6. How do merchandising service departments help the advertiser? 6. Give specific illustrations. 7. In what ways are the publications benefited by rendering this service? CHAPTER XXIV WHAT THE ADVERTISING AGENT DOES FOR THE NATIONAL ADVERTISER Years ago, when the advertising business outgrew its swaddling clothes and began to get its stride, a new figure appeared in the advertising field. He was called an "advertising agent" and the name has stuck to his successors ever since. At first he was only a broker who bought space in bulk from the newspaper and magazine publishers and retailed it in small quantities to mer- chants and manufacturers at a large profit. He rendered no special service to the advertiser, his sole concern being to collect the money due him for the space sold. But after awhile the agent found that if he was to establish a permanent business on a sound foundation he would have to make the advertiser's investment pay. This meant better copy, better display, and better illustrations. He began by writing the copy, then he selected the pictures to accompany it and, finally, he told the printer how to display the advertisements in such a way that they would attract the maximum amount of attention. As his efficiency increased through experience he was able to give better and still better service to his clients. To-day the advertising agent occupies an impregnable position. He is indispensable both to advertisers and to publishers. He has done and is now doing more to develop business of all kinds than anyone else. Ninety per cent, of all the national advertis- ing appearing in the newspapers and magazines, representing an investment of $200,000,000 a year, is placed by advertising agents. There are fifteen or twenty agencies that handle from $1,000,000 to $8,000,000 worth of advertising annually. Single accounts, in at least three instances, run as high as $3,500,000. Only a very small part of the money expended in advertising is spent for materials plates, mats, paper, cardboard, stationery, 259 260 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING etc. The bulk goes for the purchase of white space in popular mediums, or rather, for the privilege of filling it with business appeals, and for brains to originate plans, copy and illustrations that will sell merchandise or anything else. An advertising agent stands in much the same relationship to the advertiser as a lawyer to his client. He is entrusted with his business secrets, he gives him advice regarding the marketing of merchandise, he prepares and carries on his advertising cam- paigns, he makes trade investigations and, on occasion, dictates the policies governing production and distribution. A general agent specializes on national advertising but in the small cities occasionally handles retail advertising. Some agents are experts in financial, technical, electrical, textile, mechanical, educational, or religious advertising. Others confine their activities to the preparation of booklets, catalogs, folders and other forms of direct mail advertising, or to the designing of illustrations. The Agent's Equipment. No business commands the services of a better type of men than advertising. In order to succeed in the agency business a person must be well educated. He must possess executive ability of a high order, must be able to analyze markets, must understand the principles of salesmanship and know how to influence people through the written word. A man without these qualities, but having a glib tongue and an agreeable presence may call himself an advertising agent and persuade some people to trust him with their advertising, but his incompetency and unreliability will soon prove that he is only a counterfeit and not a real advertising agent. He who would win and keep the confidence of business men must first qualify at the bar of advertis- ing practice". In order to secure recognition as an agent from the American Newspaper Publishers' Association, which is composed of 600 leading dailies, and the Periodical Publishers' Association, repre- senting the foremost weekly and monthly magazines, the appli- cant must convince these organizations that he is a man of character; that he is qualified to render valuable service to his clients; that he possesses sufficient capital to finance his business; and that he has several active accounts in hand at the time his request for recognition is filed. WHAT THE ADVERTISING AGENT DOES 261 While it is true that no advertising agent is obliged to seek recognition from these associations in order to do business with the newspapers and magazines, nevertheless his path will be made much smoother and his chances for building up a profitable business much greater if he has it. Recognition entitles him, with- out question or argument, to the agent's commission and a certain amount of credit from all members of the American Newspaper Publishers' Association and the Periodical Publishers' Association with whom he may desire to do business. These privileges are, of course, most important to a young agency that has a small capital and great ambition. How the Agent Helps the Advertiser. The first important service the agent renders the prospect is in deciding whether he is in a position to advertise. The agent will not, if he is honest, and most agents are honest, advise a manufacturer to under- take an advertising campaign unless he is confident that the article to be exploited possesses real merit and that a profitable demand for it can be created. In other words, the agent will not induce a man to advertise solely for the sake of the commission he may receive for handling the account. A New York advertising agent was requested in a letter from a manufacturer in a near-by city to invest for him $20,000 in an advertising campaign. The agent did not respond to the invita- tion to call upon the prospect for several days and when he finally appeared the latter expressed surprise at his delay. "What do you suppose I have been doing in the meantime?" the agent quietly asked. " I have been visiting the plants of three of your principal competitors. From information I picked up I am convinced that you are in no position to advertise." "Do you mean to tell me that I should not spend my $20,000 in advertising?" enquired the advertiser with a surprised look. "Can't I do what I please with my own money?" "Of course, you can throw it away if you like, " responded the agent, "But if you put it into advertising it will be wasted. The machinery in your factory is antiquated while the factories of your rivals have new up-do-date equipment. They can manu- facture the product at a lower cost and therefore can undersell you hi the market. Until you put in new machinery you can- 262 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING not possibly compete with them. Therefore, as I said before you had better keep your $20,000 until you are ready to advertise." The manufacturer heeded the advice of the agent and two years passed before he was prepared to meet competition. Then he invested not only the $20,000 he had originally appropriated, but $20,000 more, in an advertising campaign that helped him to secure, later on, the lead in his field. Trade Investigations. Before undertaking the work of plan- ning a campaign or of getting up the advertising copy the agent makes a thorough study of all the information available concern- ing the product and the market. He visits the factory and notes the quality of the materials and the workmanship entering into its manufacture. He makes an analysis of the markets to find out where the goods can be sold to best advantage and through what mediums. He finds out what the channels of distribution are and what competition must be met. It is only after he has completed his investigation and has analyzed the facts he has assembled that he is ready to intelligently advise his client upon his advertising problems. The advertiser himself is too close to his own business to see its needs and its possibilities. The agent with his outside view frequently discovers valuable facts about the product that the manufacturer has entirely overlooked. Sometimes he makes a single suggestion, perhaps about the package in which the article is sold, or concerning the method of distribution, that turns his client's business from a failure to a success. Market investigations are now regarded of such great im- portance and involve so much expense that a service charge is made for them by most agencies. Sometimes half a dozen high class representatives are employed for months at a time in traveling over the country in search of information that will be of value to the advertiser. Investigations are made to find out what competitors are doing, why sales have fallen off, what improvements in the product can be made as the result of inter- views with consumers, why dealers object to handling the goods, what can be done to cultivate good will, how advertising cam- paigns are pulling, etc. It is not unusual for a big corporation WHAT THE ADVERTISING AGENT DOES 263 to spend through its advertising agency from $3,000 to $10,000 on one of these investigations. Advertising agents are particularly well fitted to undertake this work for the advertiser. Many of them were formerly news- paper reporters or editors, and the training they received in digging out news stories and in analyzing facts and information qualifies them to conduct inquiries of this character. Moreover, they bring to the work an unbiased mind one that is equally receptive of favorable or unfavorable facts. If a manufacturer undertakes to secure special trade information through his own salesmen the results are unsatisfactory for the reason that the merchants upon whom they call are usually acquainted with the salesmen and tell them what they think they would like to have them say, rather than what they ought to say. In other words, the information is colored and therefore worthless. The merchant usually does not know he is being interviewed by the advertising agent and talks frankly to him upon the subject of the inquiry. Facts obtained in this way are much more reliable and therefore much more valuable to the advertiser. Selecting the Mediums. In advertising, one of the most important things is the selection of the mediums in which the campaign is to run. There are 2,528 daily newspapers, 15,000 weeklies and 4,900 monthlies, quarterlies and other periodicals published in the United States and Canada. How can an ad- vertiser who has had little or no experience with these mediums choose those that will best serve his purpose? How can he tell whether the rates quoted him are the publisher's lowest? He might pay 25 per cent, more than one of his competitors and not be aware of it unless some disinterested friend told him. It is the agent's business to know all there is to know about mediums. He can tell you the circulation, politics and standing of the leading newspapers of the United States and Canada. He is posted on the character of populations, the chief industries carried on, the kinds of goods that are in greatest demand. He gets the lowest rates because he handles many accounts and is in a position to know when they are rock-bottom. In every city one newspaper dominates the field, not always in circulation, but in influence and advertising patronage. If the advertiser can 264 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING use but one newspaper in a town, the agent knows which paper should be selected. This service alone is worth many thousands of dollars to the client when a large number of mediums is employed. The Agency Organization. The agent who looked after the advertising of several concerns having national distribution found out long ago that he could not do all the work alone and so he proceeded to organize a staff of assistants to help handle the business. He engaged solicitors or, as the agents prefer to call them, service men, to interview prospective clients, secure their advertising and handle accounts; copy-writers and artists to prepare the advertisements for the several publications in which they were to appear; a space buyer to make contracts with publishers for the space they were to occupy; clerks to look after the correspondence and the files and to send out mats or plates to the newspapers and magazines, and to check up the advertisements as they were published, and attend to the other office details; bookkeepers, stenographers, a cashier, an office manager, market investigators, etc. According to the size of the business the number of employees now engaged in an agency vary from half a dozen to 212, the latter comprising the staff of New York's largest advertising agency. In the smaller agen- cies one man performs the duties of several of the above positions. In organizing an agency oare is taken to secure men who have had experience in handling accounts and are thoroughly ac- quainted with advertising requirements. If any agency spec- ializes on financial advertising it is most important that the chief of the copy department or one of his assistants should possess expert knowledge of banks, railroads, steamship companies, industrial and mining corporations. If it confines its attention to textiles, those who are responsible for its success must be as well informed upon all phases of the business as the manufac- turers themselves. Often they have had actual experience in the production of textiles. In any event the executives must be able to discuss the manufacturer's problems as experts and not as amateurs. The same things may be said of those agencies that specialize on other technical and professional lines of advertising. WHAT THE ADVERTISING AGENT DOES 265 What the Agency Does. Let us summarize briefly the service the modern advertising agency renders the client: 1. Makes market and trade investigations. 2. Plans advertising campaigns. 3. Prepares copy and illustrations. 4. Selects the mediums and makes contracts with the news- papers and magazines for the space to be used. 5. Furnishes the publishers plates or mats of the advertise- ments and a schedule of the dates upon which they are to be printed. 6. Checks up the advertisements as they appear in order to see that they are inserted upon the proper dates and in the position called for by the contract. 7. Prepares dealer helps booklets, folders, leaflets, hangers, counter cards, window displays, advertisements for local news- papers, house organs, etc. 8. Pays the bills as they fall due and renders an account of same to the advertiser. 9. Secures the cooperation of the manufacturers' and jobbers' salesmen by showing them copies of the advertisements and a list of the mediums in which they are to appear, and by pointing out the several ways hi which the advertising will help them to sell more goods with less effort. The manufacturer or wholesaler who places his advertising direct that is, who furnishes his own copy and makes contracts with individual publishers must employ a staff of clerks and bookkeepers at considerable expense to look after the advertising in one or two hundred publications and mail checks for the amount due once a month to each of them. All this bother and expense is avoided when the advertising is placed in the hands of an advertising agency. Every month the client is billed for the month's advertising, which he pays by a single check. What Agency Service Costs. In conducting newspaper and magazine campaigns the agency charges the client for all art work, cuts and mats furnished the publications in which the advertisements are to appear, and for special trade investigations. Its renumeration for services rendered in planning and carrying on the campaign, however, comes from the publications in which 2C6 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING the advertising appears. The standard commission paid by the large daily newspapers and magazines is 15 per cent, of the amount charged for the space used. The smaller dailies and weeklies pay 25 per cent. There are several agencies that credit the advertiser's account with all commissions and dis- counts received from publishers and charge a fee of 15 per cent. on the net cost. A few make a service charge to the client in addition to the commission, but the most of the agencies receive no other remuneration than that paid by the publishers. Why the Publisher Pays the Agency a Commission. A majority of the manufacturers who become national advertisers owe their start to the missionary work of the agents rather than to their own initiative. One of the most important functions of the agent is the development of new advertisers. He patiently and persist- ently labors with prospects, of ten for months, sometimes for years, before he induces them to take the plunge that perhaps leads to fortune. Every new advertiser he brings into the fold means more money for the publisher, but the expense involved is borne solely by the agent. The publisher is indeed glad to have the agent develop for his periodical new business that has cost him nothing, and it is in recognition of this service that he pays the agent a commission on the space he buys for his client. Whom Does the Agent Represent the Advertiser or the Pub- lisher? This is a question often discussed at advertising club meetings and other conferences of advertising men. As the agent's remuneration comes from the publisher it would seem, at the first glance, that he represents the publisher. At the same time it should be remembered that the agent is not governed in his selection of mediums for a client's campaign by the amount of the commission paid him upon the quantity of space purchased, as the rate is practically the same on all publications of the same class, but upon the service the publications can give the advertiser. As a matter of fact the agency really represents the advertiser although not paid by him. If the latter should place his advertis- ing direct with the publisher he would not be allowed the com- mission usually paid the agent and therefore would gain nothing by the transaction. The advertiser engages the services of the agent because he wants the assistance and advice of an advertis- WHAT THE ADVERTISING AGENT DOES 267 ing expert who has made a study of merchandising problems and knows just what to do to get the best results. He takes the agent into his confidence and tells him things about his business which, if revealed to his competitors, might be used by them to his disadvantage. That his confidence is rarely ever betrayed is a fact well known in the advertising world. The advertiser places his entire appropriation, sometimes amounting to a million dollars, in the hands of his agent to be spent according to an approved plan. In all disputes that may arise over advertising contracts made with publishers the agent always looks after and protects the client's interests rather than those of the publisher. He advances money to pay the adver- tising bills before he has received the amount due from the advertiser. If, through any cause, the client fails to meet his obligations, the loss falls on the agent and not upon the publisher. It is the agent's business to make advertising pay the advertiser. If he succeeds he is not always certain that the account will remain in his hands indefinitely, although it not infrequently does; and if he fails he knows that his client will either become discouraged and drop out of the advertising ranks or seek another agent who may invest his appropriation to better advantage. The agent's hardest task is not the preparation of copy, or the placing of contracts for advertising space, but finding the big selling idea upon which the advertising campaign can be prof- itably based. Every article to be marketed must have at least one advantage over others of the same class if it is to achieve much of a success through advertising. When an agency takes on an account about the first thing it does is to try to discover the quality or characteristic of the product that differentiates it from its competitors and which can be used as a lever to get business. An advertising agent who had taken on a hosiery account tried to originate a new idea for advertising the product. He studied the problem from every possible angle but for a long time made no progress. The hosiery apparently differed in no way from the hosiery manufactured by half a dozen leading concerns. In talking one day with one of the factory foremen the latter told him that in the process of manufacture the yarn was given an 268 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING extra twist in order to improve its wearing qualities. This was the big idea he had been looking for. He made it the basis of the advertising campaign which was launched shortly afterward and which proved to be wonderfully successful. A New York agency was called upon to market a new brand of grapefruit. It sent a representative to Porto Rico where the orchards were located to dig up important facts that would help the agency create a market for it. The representative, after spending several days in studying the methods employed in cultivating the grapefruit, in picking it from the trees, and in packing it for transportation, was unable to discover anything that gave it distinction over other grapefruit. He was really discouraged when he chanced to ask one of the workmen em- ployed by the owner in what way the Porto Rico product differed from that grown elsewhere. "Why," he exclaimed, "They are regular balls of juice." That phrase, "balls of juice," furnished the keynote of the advertising campaign that followed, which resulted in creating an extensive demand for the grapefruit. The advertising agents have made great progress in recent years in standardizing the business through their several asso- ciations. The American Association of Advertising Agencies, their national organization, has a membership of 132, which in- cludes the representative agencies of the United States. Local chapters have been established in several of the larger cities. Many of the agents also belong to the Agent's Division of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World and attend its annual meetings. Constant improvement is being made in advertising practice as a result of the earnest work that is being done by these associations. One of their greatest accomplishments has been the securing of the enactment of laws in thirty-six states providing for the punishment of persons who deceive the public through lying advertisements. Twenty-one of the states have adopted the Printers' Ink Model Statute. The Special Agency. Newspaper advertising, as we have already learned, is classified under two heads local and national. While the bulk of it is of necessity local in character, a consider- able part of a newspaper's income is derived from national advertising, which publishers consider desirable because it is high-class and possesses a certain news value that interests the WHAT THE ADVERTISING AGENT DOES 269 general reader. Moreover, it often pays a better rate than local advertising. The most of the national advertising originates in the metropolitan cities and is not easily secured by newspapers issued in smaller cities. There are only two ways of getting this business by cor- respondence and by personal solicitation. The first method is slow, uncertain and unsatisfactory; the second is expensive and can only be used by large and prosperous newspapers, for the publisher of the average daily cannot afford to open offices and employ salesmen to solicit business in the principal cities where national advertisers have their headquarters. How to obtain national advertising on a profitable basis was a problem that the smaller newspaper publishers tried in vain to solve for a number of years. Finally several New York adver- tising salesmen came to their aid by proposing to establish in that city special agencies which, for a reasonable fee, would repre- sent them in the national field. While the amount to be paid by each publisher was relatively small the total amount paid by half a dozen or more publishers would give an agency an attractive income. The proposition appealed to the newspaper publishers, who were glad to sign contracts for their services. The special agents were so successful in getting advertising for their clients that they soon earned for themselves a permanent place in the advertising field. To-day these special representatives, as they prefer to be called, are to be found in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Atlanta, Detroit, San Francisco and Boston. A special agency has a number of publications on its list whose advertising interests it looks after in the national field. Several agencies in New York, where many of the largest are located, represent thirty or more out-of-town newspapers. The size of the territory covered by an agency depends upon the importance of the publications. Sometimes an agency's activities are con- fined to a single city like New York; sometimes to a group of States like New England, the Atlantic Seaboard, the Middle West or the Pacific Coast; and sometimes they cover the entire country. Publishers' representatives are paid in three ways a straight 270 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING salary, a straight commission or a combination of salary and commission. The more important agencies work on a commis- sion basis, the smaller ones on a salary basis. When an agency is paid a commission any business originating in its territory, whether obtained by its solicitors or sent direct to the publications by the advertiser himself, is credited to its account. The special agencies not only secure national advertising for their several publications, but they also attend to the billing and collecting on such business. These organizations employ a corps of expert salesmen who have a wide acquaintance among general advertisers in each of the cities where they have offices. In order that they may efficiently represent the newspapers of their clients the agencies send their solicitors once or twice a year to the cities where they are published, to obtain at first hand a knowledge of local conditions, and their advantages as a market; to get in touch with the jobbers and retailers and find out the nature of their business and the kind of goods they handle. This personal contact enables the salesmen to give the manu- facturer they approach in the national field accurate information concerning the local market and, frequently, to put him in immediate contact with a live dealer who will be glad to handle his line of goods. A special representative of the first class is a developer of business. His solicitors scour the country and call upon every prospect, however remote, from whom there is the slightest chance of securing an advertising contract. It is not infrequently the case that a special agency places a newspaper on the national advertising map as the result of its constant solicitation of manufacturers or of the general advertising agents who handle their accounts. The special agency does not in any way encroach upon the field occupied by the general agency. It writes no copy, fur- nishes no illustrations or art work, performs no other services that are usually rendered by the advertising agent. Its service to the advertiser, after the contract has been signed, begins with the receipt of the advertisements that are to appear in the mediums it represents. It forwards the advertisements to the publishers, sees that they are given correct position and that WHAT THE ADVERTISING AGENT DOES 271 they appear on the dates called for in the schedule. In due time it bills the advertiser for the space used and collects the money. The special agency at all times represents the publisher; the general agency, the advertiser. The advertising agent finds the special representative of great assistance in preparing a list of mediums for an advertiser to use, as the latter always keeps on file accurate information concerning the publications he represents and the cities in which they are located. The general agent does not have to write or wire for the data he may need; all he has to do is to tele- phone the special representative. Questions 1. What proportion of all general advertising carried by newspapers and magazines is placed by advertising agents? 2. How many agencies handle a million dollars' worth of business a year? 3. What are the qualifications of an advertising agent? 4. What is his relationship to the advertiser? 5. Why is recognition by the American Newspaper Publishers' Associa- tion desirable? 6. What is the first important service the agent renders the advertiser? Give an illustration. 7. What are the purposes of trade investigations as conducted by agencies ? 8. What services are rendered by the agency in the selection of mediums? 9. Outline an agency organization. 10. Give a summary of the things an agency does for a client. 11. How is the agency paid for its services and by whom? 12. Who does the agency represent the publisher or the advertiser? 13. What should be the agent's chief aim? 14. What is his hardest task? Give an illustration. 16. What is the name of the general agents' national organization? 16. What are special representatives? 17. In what cities are they located? 18. What service do they render the advertiser? 19. How are they paid and by whom? 20. In what ways do they differ from general agents? 21. Name three nationally known advertising agencies. CHAPTER XXV THE ADVERTISING SALESMAN While the principles involved in selling advertising are the same as those governing the sale of merchandise, it does not follow that a man who has been successful in the latter occupation will be equally successful in the marketing of advertising. The reason is easily apparent. The dry-goods salesman disposes of manu- factured products, something tangible, something that can be delivered in bulk to the dealer. The advertising salesman, on the other hand, sells space, perhaps in a newspaper or magazine, in street cars, on the side or top of a building, or on a billboard. Now white space in a newspaper or any other medium is intrinsi- cally worthless, but when it is used to present an important business message it becomes valuable. The advertising solicitor therefore sells the advertiser some- thing more than space. He sells opportunity, a chance to place before thousands of possible buyers the merits of his goods. Opportunity is real, but it is intangible. It cannot be measured by a yard stick or weighed on scales. When a salesman who has been selling merchandise switches over to advertising he is at first disconcerted by the new condi- tions he encounters. He feels that in selling space he is disposing of something that is unsubstantial and visionary. How can a man, he asks himself, work up much enthusiasm over a thing so characterless and inane as white space? Moreover, the circumstances under which he works are so different from those to which he has been accustomed, and he finds so much difficulty in adjusting himself to them, that he often becomes discouraged and returns to the merchandising field. To succeed as an advertising salesman a man must have imagination, the ability to visualize the future and to point out convincingly to the advertiser the possibilities that may be 272 THE ADVERTISING SALESMAN 273 realized through the aid of advertising. Otherwise, how can he expect to convince a manufacturer that it would be a good in- vestment for him to buy a page in a popular magazine at $5,000 or $6,000 several months from now, especially when results cannot be guaranteed and the only thing he gets for his money is a place to post his business appeal where many people can see it? Qualifications of a Good Advertising Salesman. This leads us to the consideration of the question, " What are the essential qualifications of a successful salesman of advertising?" One of the most important is that he shall possess the knack of sales- manship. It is not acquired; he was born with it. Thousands of men who win distinction in business and professional life do not have it. We have known many of them. They couldn't sell gold dollars at 50 cents apiece. The real salesman can take the blank dummy of the first issue of a (new publication and go out and get advertising for it not always, perhaps, but frequently. He has the ability to convince and win over the advertiser. If a man lacks this qualification he cannot acquire it through study or training. If he at first possesses it only to a limited degree it can be cultivated and developed through practice until he becomes a successful salesman. He Should Be Well-educated. The solicitor of advertising need not necessarily be a college graduate, although many of them are, but the wider his range of knowledge, the better are his chances of success, for the reason that he comes in contact with the highest grade of business men and must be able to talk intelligently, not only about advertising but upon the live topics of the day. The national advertisers or the prospects with whom he will deal, either directly, or indirectly through their principal assistants, are the owners or chief executives of the businesses represented. He must meet them upon their own level and submit the proposition he has to offer in grammatical form and in a manner that carries conviction and commands respect. He Should Possess a Pleasing Personality. The salesman should dress well but not extravagantly. The man who wears "loud" clothes and showy jewelry is sometimes a good salesman but more frequently he is not. He relies too much upon his 18 274 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING apparel to make an impression upon the advertiser and too little upon the presentation of logical arguments and convincing facts. His flashy appearance is likely to arouse suspicion and distrust. The salesman who commands the attention of busy executives dresses neatly and in good taste, is clean-shaven and has the bearing of a gentleman. A finely cultivated, well-modulated voice, a graceful manner, and good health, are considered valuable aids in the effective presentation of any line of goods. In the early days of civiliza- tion it was the eloquence of the vendor and his ability to charm humanity that led to successful selling despite the quality of the merchandise offered. The modern salesman is alert in his manner, looks "like ready money," and brings good cheer along with him when he makes a call. There is no place in the sales field for a pessimist. Business men have troubles enough of their own to think about without listening to the gloomy statements and prophecies of animated crape-hangers. The salesman should always be the bearer of good tidings. If he takes proper care of himself, lives a tem- perate life and cultivates a cheerful disposition, he cannot help being an optimist. If he has a friendly, sunshiny smile one that warms and cheers those upon whom it is bestowed he has an asset that is worth a million dollars even though he may never be able to cash in upon it to that extent. He Must Have Enthusiasm. Without enthusiasm the adver- tising salesman will make slow progress. If he is in poor health, does not love his work, or has little or no confidence in his medium as a producer of results, he cannot arouse enthusiasm in others. In order to impress people with the worth of your publication you must believe in it yourself not in a half-hearted manner, but with your entire being. It may not be the best or the most popular medium, but if it possesses real merit and the men behind it have your confidence because of their character and ability, you can go out and fight for business with an enthusiasm that will kindle the interest of advertisers and produce contracts for space. Enthusiasm that is born of conviction is the kind that moves men to action. The salesman who has it finds it invalu- able in winning the attention of prospects. It helps him to THE ADVERTISING SALESMAN 275 overcome their apathy, their indifference, and sometimes even their open hostility. But be sure that your enthusiasm is genuine and not counterfeit, as the advertiser is quick to detect insincerity and bluff. The advertising salesman should have as complete a knowl- edge of his publication as possible not alone, as to what it prints but where and among whom it circulates and what re- sults it gets for advertisers. Failure to get results is more often due to defects in the plan of campaign than to the medium, once the medium is intelligently selected. Consequently the advertising salesman should know how and why advertisers who have secured good results achieved their success, so that they may give prospective customers the benefit of that ex- perience. He must be able to visualize the tangible out of the seemingly intangible. Perseverance a Necessary Qualification. The selling of ad- vertising is not by any means a lazy man's job. It is hard work and calls for the continuous exercise of every faculty you possess. In no business or profession is there greater need of persistency and perseverance. Prospects are not easily persuaded to become advertisers. Contracts are rarely signed as the result of the first interview. It is only after they have been called upon many times that manufacturers or merchants are won over to your proposition. William C. Freeman, formerly advertising manager of the Evening Mail and of the New York American, in telling of his experiences as an advertising solicitor, says: "In my earlier career, I called on a man once a week for seventy- eight weeks, each time taking less than five minutes, but I tried to say something interesting in one minute, giving the other four minutes to the man himself. "On the seventy-eighth call he gave me a 25-line advertisement, which cost him $5.00. He gave me $5.00 ads for three weeks; then he increased them to $10.00, $15.00, and so on. At the end of eighteen months he had spent $35,000. He is an advertiser to-day." Mr. Freeman's experience is not unusual. A dozen instances might be cited in which publishers' representatives have 276 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING regularly called upon prospective advertisers from one to three years before they secured a single order for space. It requires great patience to keep up this kind of work, especially when the solicitor has no means of knowing whether he will ever be able to secure a contract. Of course, after he is convinced that it would be a waste of time to continue his calls he drops the prospect from his list and finds a more promising one to take his place. There are many reasons why it sometimes takes so long to land an advertiser. If the solicitor represents an advertising agency and he is endeavoring to secure the account of a manu- facturer who has never advertised before, he must, before pre- senting the advantages of the agency's service, convince him that advertising is an economic force through the employment of which it is possible to market his product to better advan- tage than is possible in any other way. This takes time, owing to the difficulty he experiences in securing interviews with the pros- pect and the latter 's reluctance to discuss the subject of advertis- ing, concerning which he may have some uncomplimentary opinions. When the salesman has at length "sold" him on the advantages of advertising, his next important problem is to prove to him that the agency he represents can give him superior service in handling his advertising interests. And, finally, the solicitor must get the prospect to sign a contract authorizing the agency to plan and carry out a well-defined advertising campaign. From the foregoing it will be easy to see why patience and persistency are so vitally necessary in soliciting advertising. If the salesman fails to keep after the prospect when he has once gained his attention, if he allows his enthusiasm to peter out, or if he neglects to supply the information asked for, he is likely to lose all chances of landing him as a client. The number of calls a solicitor can make in a day depends upon the distance he travels, the success he has in finding the advertiser in and willing to see him, the length of the interviews, etc. Twelve or fifteen in the larger cities is about the limit. Four Elements Necessary to a Sale. The elements entering into a sale, whether of advertising or of merchandise, are: (1) the THE ADVERTISING SALESMAN 277 article to be sold; (2) the buyer; (3) the salesman, and (4) the profit. Unless there is a profit the transaction is not a sale, but merely an exchange. "Successful selling is the art of apply- ing to a prospective customer at the proper time and place the intimate knowledge held by a competent person upon the sub- ject of the goods he is handling." This definition,' given by Eugene L. Markey, for many years sales manager of the Duplex Printing Press Company, is worth remembering. It does not re- quire much skill to sell goods at less than cost or their real worth to the purchaser. Any fool can give them away. Such a sales- man would not last long on the payroll of his employer. The advertising salesman whose services are in demand is the one who can sell space in a publication at regular rates and therefore does not need to cut them to get business. Salesmen are employed by advertising agencies, by newspaper and periodical publishers, by manufacturers of advertising specialties, by firms or companies engaged in selling street car, poster, electric light and window display advertising. Because of the wide variety of mediums the solicitor can find at least one among them that specially appeals to him. Some salesman are most successful in selling newspaper and magazine advertising, while others score heaviest in selling street car or outdoor ad- vertising. The best advice that can be given to the beginner is: Select the medium that you will most enjoy working for and which promises you a good return for your services. When you have made your choice stick to it no matter what happens, unless, after a thorough tryout, you become convinced that you are not adapted to the work. It is better to discover your in- capacity early in your career and take up another medium than it is to go on for two or three years knowing that you can do better at something else, and that you are thoroughly dissatisfied with your lot. That man is happiest and does his best who is engaged in an occupation that he likes. Problems of the Salesman. Lack of preparation before interviewing a prospective advertiser is often the cause of the salesman's failure to land a contract. Assuming that he knows all there is to know about his medium and other mediums in its field, and about the results that have been secured through the 278 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING use of its columns, he is not in a position to make the most out of his first interview. Before calling upon the prospect he should find out all he can about him and his business. He should know something about his product if he is a national advertiser, how the product is regarded by the trade, how it is distributed, and how and to what extent it has been advertised. With this information in hand the salesman should decide in what way his medium or agency can be of service to the prospect, so that when he makes his first call he will have something definite to suggest. The salesman who bases his appeal for a contract on the argument that because the manufacturer's advertising is appearing in a rival publication it ought also to appear in his, is making the weakest kind of a canvass. On the other hand, if he can present a single practical suggestion of value to the advertiser he will secure at once the latter's attention and in- terest, and in the end may obtain an order from him. Be of Service to the Advertiser. It is well to remember that in selling advertising the salesman should continually keep in mind the idea of being helpful to the advertiser. The appeal should never be, "We need your support because we are publish- ing a newspaper or periodical that is of benefit to the public," but rather, "We can be of service to you by introducing your product to thousands of our readers who have the money to buy it." It is this idea of service to the advertiser that ought to be emphasized in all soliciting interviews. Manufacturers want to increase their sales and widen their influence in their own field. How to achieve these results at a minimum of cost is their ever- present problem. If a salesman can throw any light upon the subject he is rendering a service to the prospect that he will not soon forget. If you show him that you are posted upon condi- tions existing in his line of business and know what you are talking about, he will listen to what you have to say with keen interest. There is nothing that will more quickly exasperate a merchant than the misstatements and ignorance of a salesman who under- takes to enlighten him about his own business. Some Practical Suggestions. It would be impossible within the limits of this chapter to present all of the helpful suggestions that might be given to a young salesman. Those listed below THE ADVERTISING SALESMAN 279 have been crystallized out of the experiences of many successful advertising men and are therefore worth remembering. Don't Misrepresent Your Medium. In presenting the advan- tages of your medium do not exaggerate or misrepresent its merit. Give the facts about its circulation, the class of readers it reaches and its standing in its field. If the advertiser finds that you have lied to him on any one of these points he will lose confidence in other statements you may make. If your publica- tion is not suited to a man's business don't solicit his advertising. You will lose a commission but you will keep your self-respect. The solicitor who induces an advertiser to take space in a publica- tion that cannot serve his interests is little better than the dealer in gold bricks. A magazine solicitor who, while interviewing an advertiser, was asked how many inquiries he would guarantee from one insertion of an advertisement in his publication, replied, "Not a single inquiry, but the best possible publicity." His frankness had its own reward, for the prospect in giving him an order for six pages said, "I wouldn't have bought a line in your magazine had you guaranteed results/* It is not as difficult for an advertiser to find out the circulation of a periodical as it was a few years ago, when publishers either refused to quote circulation figures or exaggerated them. It was not unusual in those days to claim several thousand more readers or subscribers than it had. George P. Rowell did what he could to induce publications listed in his American Newspaper Direc- tory to tell the truth about their circulations. He went so far as to offer $100 to anyone who would prove that a publisher had made a false statement in his directory. He paid out quite a lot of money in this way but the effect upon circulation state- ments was beneficial. The Audit Bureau of Circulations, to which a large number of the most important publications now belong, has done more to make circulation statements believable than any other organiza- tion. It has the full confidence of advertisers and it goes a long way when a salesman, in soliciting business, says that his newspaper is a member of the A. B. C. and has a circulation of so many thousand copies. There is, therefore, no sense in mis- 280 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING representing the figures. It is not always the size of a circulation that determines its desirability as an advertising medium, but its quality. Lord Northcliffe, London's greatest newspaper and periodical publisher, when he was known as Sir Alfred Harms- worth, in discussing with Manley M. Gillam, of the New York Herald, the European edition of that newspaper, said: "The Paris Herald, with its circulation of 15,000 or 20,000 copies, is more valuable than the 750,000 or 800,000 of the London Mail. My papers go to the Continent to people who are abroad to make money, while your papers go to people who are abroad to spend money. I don't hesitate to say that, for such advertising, your paper is more valuable than mine." In presenting to an advertiser the advantages to be derived from the use of his publication the solicitor is justified in making them as attractive as possible, but he should make no statements that he cannot prove. Don't Knock Your Competitors. It is not good business to attack other mediums in your field in an effort to make your own appear to better advantage in the eyes of the prospect. The man to whom you are talking may know some one connected with the publication that you are saying uncomplimentary things about and resent your remarks, although he may not open his mouth. Moreover, it is human nature to take the side of any one who is being attacked. A salesman had made fine progress toward securing a contract from a large manufacturer, when, in order to strengthen the position of the newspaper he represented, he began to knock his chief competitor. The ad- vertiser, after listening to him for a few moments, with an impatience that he made no effort to conceal, exclaimed, "After what you have said about the I wouldn't give you an order for space under any consideration. You evidently thought that I had no knowledge concerning it and therefore would believe anything you might say to its discredit. I happen to be a small stockholder in that paper and know that the state- ments you have made are untrue. I don't want to have anything further to do with you." Know When to Stop Talking. If you have been given an opportunity to present your medium say what you have to say THE ADVERTISING SALESMAN 281 briefly and to the point. You should have your arguments so well thought out and arranged beforehand that you waste no words. Your line of talk is suggested by the questions of the prospect or the circumstances under which you are addressing him. A good salesman doesn't prepare a set speech which he delivers as soon as he finds himself alone with the prospect. A parrot-like canvass is a bore. No business man wants to listen to it. Let what you have to say be spontaneous and expressed in the language of the moment. If you know your medium, as you should, and are full of facts about it that are of interest and value to advertisers, you will have no difficulty in putting your message across. You should know when you are through, when it is time to ask the prospect to put his name on the dotted line. We have heard of instances in which salesmen, after hav- ing sold the advertiser on their proposition, have kept on talking untO they have unsold him. If the prospect wants more time to consider the matter, or if, for some reason, his mind is preoccupied and he does not give your statements the attention they deserve, don't argue with him further. Wait until another time to complete the canvass. Whether your reception has been cordial or not always leave the door open behind you, figuratively speak- ing, so that you can return. Closing the Sale. dowry Chapman, author of "The Law of Advertising and Sales," in an address before the advertising staff of the New York Times, said: "Cold and abstract logic never closed a sale unless accompanied by some suggestion that created a mental image of the prospect's con- dition and needs, and converted an impression into an impulse. It is not always possible to create these mental images during an interview. Sometimes they precede and sometimes they follow an interview. Sometimes they are not created by the spoken word at all but by some visible impression." If the mental image created through suggestion is strong and appealing, the impulse naturally, but not always, follows. A single valuable idea presented to a prospect by a solicitor will, in almost an instant, produce a favorable reaction. In selling advertising for a publication devoted to the newspaper industry the writer interviewed the owner of a daily that had led all 282 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING others in the volume of advertising printed during the year. The advertising manager said that his chief was a hard man to get any advertising out of and doubted very much whether he could be landed. The interview with the owner did not last ten minutes but it resulted in an order for advertising. What won him over was the argument that having carried more ad- vertising in his newspaper than any one of the great dailies of New York and Chicago, he ought to tell newspaper publishers, as well as national advertisers, about it and thus add to his paper's prestige and at the same time call attention to its stand- ing as an advertising medium. In other words, the appeal was to his pride and his business acumen. The mental image created by the suggestion was so attractive and convincing that he was impelled to respond. For years the salesmen of the National Cash Register Company tried to secure a hearing from George Gould when he was actively engaged in the railroad business, but failed. Finally, they prepared and sent him a catalog printed on Japan paper and bound in vellum, with his crest inscribed in gold on the cover. This was enclosed in a leather case and securely locked. From the number of orders sent in by Mr. Gould's railroads shortly after he had received it, it was evident that the catalog with its attractive illustrations and typography had won him over. Some solicitors have trouble in closing the sale. They are able to present their proposition in such a way as to interest the prospect, but when it comes to getting his signature to a contract they have great difficulty. The Western representative of a New York magazine had a particularly hard case to deal with. He couldn't seem to bring the advertiser to the sticking-point and so when the New York manager came to Chicago on business he asked him to call with him on the prospect. The interview lasted perhaps half an hour, the manager leading the conversation and confining his remarks to general topics. Several times the prospect tried to open up the subject of advertising but each time the manager parried, much to the amazement of the Western representative who, when they left, asked him why he had not allowed the man to talk about advertising. "Bet you a gold watch," the manager answered, "the next THE ADVERTISING SALESMAN 283 time you call on him you'll get an order." And sure enough his prophecy came true. What the manager had done was to create desire without seemingly making an attempt to do so. Don't afford the advertiser a chance to give you a flat refusal to buy what you have to sell. Assume that he will eventually give you an order and that the delay is due to reasons that will shortly be overcome. It takes some men a long time to make up their minds. If you force them to an early decision it is likely to be unfavorable. Be patient, keep your temper however exasperat- ing the delay or how cavalierly you are treated. Make the prospect feel that you are more anxious to serve him than you are to earn a commission. If you personally make a good impression upon him through your unfailing courtesy and your consideration of his interests, the turn-down of to-day may be- come a contract to-morrow. Advantage of Knowing How to Prepare Copy. The solicitor who understands advertisement layout and copy construction has a distinct advantage over the one who does not. Through his close contact with the prospect or the client and the business he represents he can make suggestions and submit plans that would not occur, perhaps, to the solicitor who has had no practical experience in the preparation of copy. He not only strengthens his hold on the advertiser but he enhances his own value to the periodical or the agency he represents. A working knowledge of copy-writing can be acquired through study in the courses of advertising provided by the Y.M.C.A., by schools, colleges and universities. As instruction is given in evening classes in most of these institutions when they are located in large cities, it is possible for the young solicitor to attend them without interfering with his daily occupation. When instruction of this kind is not available the correspondence school courses will be found exceed- ingly helpful. Best Time for Interviews. Salesmen who have been long in the advertising field do not agree as to when the first calls of the day should be made. Business men do not usually fix appointments much earlier than 10 or 11 o'clock, unless their offices are open at 8 o'clock. They devote the first hour of the day to looking over the morning's mail, dictating letters 284 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING and giving instructions to their assistants. If conferences with department heads or associates are scheduled they may take up the entire forenoon. When salemen's calls are made before the luncheon hour the time chosen should be between 10 and 12 : 30 o'clock. Several salesmen have told me that they are much more liable to find advertisers in and willing to see them after lunch than before, as they are then through with the most strenuous work of the day, and having had something to eat and smoked a good cigar, they are more approachable and in a more receptive frame of mind. Most business men are at their offices until 5 o'clock and make appointments up to that hour. If possible it is advisable to secure an appointment with the prospect by letter or by telephone in advance of your call. It saves time and enables you to arrange your day's work to the best advantage. When you arrive at your office in the morning you should spend the first hour in arranging the day's schedule and in preparing for the interviews you expect to have. Don't waste time sitting around the office. Get out on your rounds as soon as you can and make a definite number of calls every day. If you keep a memorandum of the results of these calls the information will help you in future interviews. Don't be super- stitious. Friday is just as good a day for doing business as Monday or Wednesday. Questions 1. What does the advertising solicitor sell besides white space? 2. Why is it desirable that he possess a good education? 3. In what way does a pleasing personality contribute to his success? 4. Why are enthusiasm and perseverance necessary qualifications? 6. Why does it sometimes take months to get a contract from an ad- vertiser? 6. What four elements enter into a sale? 7. What are some of the things to be considered by a young man in selecting the medium he is to represent? 8. What preparation should a solicitor make before calling upon a prospect for the first time? 9. How can a solicitor be of service to the advertiser? 10. Why is truth-telling essential in selling advertising? 11. What should be the salesman's attitude toward competitors? THE ADVERTISING SALESMAN 285 12. Give several practical suggestions concerning the canvass of a prospect. 13. What are some of the things that help in closing a contract? 14. Give Clowry Chapman's views on the subject. 16. Is a knowledge of copy-writing helpful to a solicitor? In what ways? 16. What are the best times in the day to interview an advertiser or a prospect? CHAPTER XXVI HOW TRADE-MARKS HELP THE ADVERTISER Andrew Carnegie, in addressing the graduating class at Stevens Institute, on one occasion said: "Young man, make your name worth something. If you can sell a hat for $1 you can sell it for $2 if you stamp it with your name and make the public feel that your name stands for something." Mr. Carnegie probably did not know that in these few words he embodied the philosophy of the trade-mark. Roy W. Johnson, an expert authority, says: "A trade-mark is a symbol attached to the goods which indicates their origin." Another writer has defined it as "a symbol or device used to identify goods or service." A trade-mark, however, does something more than identify the product or service: 1. It safeguards the consumer against substitution and imita- tions. The buyer who knows and likes the merchandise, and is familiar with its trade-mark, is not to be put off with another brand that is "just as good." He insists on getting what he calls for and if he cannot get it in one store he will go to another, and so on until he finds what he wants. 2. It protects the manufacturer's sales. The dealer who handles his goods knows it is for his interest to sell them because they are so well advertised that he needs spend but little time or effort in trying to interest his own customers in them. Virtually the goods are already sold when he puts them on his shelves. 3. Trade-marked goods, intelligently advertised, yield the manu- facturer a larger return for his labor, and are usually purchased by the consumer at a lower price. The greater the volume of sales the lower the unit cost of production. This means that the public gets a better article at a less price. 4. The trade-mark fixes responsibility and assures the consumer that the manufacturer will maintain the standard he has adopted 286 HOW TRADEMARKS HELP THE ADVERTISER 287 for his product. It is, of course, possible for a manufacturer, after he has established his market, to substitute cheaper ma- terials and cheaper workmanship; and while, for a few weeks, the demand would continue just as strong as before, the public would soon learn of the deception, the trade-mark would become discredited and the sales would fall to an unprofitable level. Any deterioration in the product means a corresponding decline in the value of the trade-mark. But whatever other missions the trade-mark may have, its primary and most important function is to identify the goods. 1 1 enables the buyer to pick out of a dozen articles of the same kind, the products of as many manufacturers, the one that he knows, from experience or through advertising, to be the article he wants. They may be exactly alike in physical appearance and yet the one bearing the familiar trade-mark is preferred by him above all the others. He takes greater personal enjoyment out of its possession because of the prominence given it in the advertising columns of the newspapers, and because he has been led to appre- ciate its qualities through the same medium. A woman when out shopping may forget the brand name of an article she desires to purchase, but if she knows the trade-mark it bears she will have no trouble in identifying it at the store. A little girl who had been sent to the druggist for talcum powder asked for the kind "with a face on it." The druggist gave her a box with the picture of a baby on the front. "That ain't the one," said the child impatiently, "I want the one with a man's face on it" (Mennen's) and she got it. On account of its importance, much thought and study should be devoted to the selection of a trade-mark, because when it has once been adopted and registered it cannot be altered or changed without imperiling whatever' good will or other value it may have acquired through advertising and the satisfactory service the article has rendered the consumer. There are certain principles which, if kept in mind when you are deciding upon a trade-mark, will save considerable expense and annoyance in the future. A trade-mark may be a word, a symbol, or a picture; or it may consist of a combination of any two or all three of these elements. On another page may be seen a number of trade-marks that have 288 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING (YALE-) A group of trade-marks that have been made famous through advertising. HOW TRADE-MARKS HELP THE ADVERTISER 289 been made nationally famous through advertising. Most of them are extremely simple in design and are easily identified. Pictorial Trade -marks. The pictorial trade-mark makes the most vivid and lasting impression. The quaint picture of the Dutch housewife chasing dirt, which appears on every can of Old Dutch Cleanser, has been considered by many advertising experts one of the best trade-marks in use at the present time. When you have once seen it and understand its symbolism you can never forget it. It has a strong individuality. The uplif ted stick, the hurrying feet and the pose of the woman's body all indicate aggressive action. You feel that if there is any dirt concealed in the kitchen she is going to find it and chase it away with Old Dutch Cleanser. Another conspicuous example of the pictorial trade-mark is that of the Victor Talking Machine, showing a dog listening at the mouth of the reproduction horn of a phonograph to "His Master's Voice." There is not probably in the United States a town or city in which a majority of those who read the newspapers or magazines are not familiar with the Victor trade-mark. Equally well known, perhaps, is the picture of the Chocolate Girl which, for nearly half a century, has appeared on every package of chocolate and cocoa made by Walter Baker & Com- pany. The Gold Dust Twins, of the N. K. Fairbank Company, is another distinguished example of the pictorial trade-mark. Symbol Trade -marks. The best known symbol trade-mark is probably that of the National Biscuit Company. When it was first adopted in 1900 there was much speculation as to its origin. Some thought it was an adaptation of Plimsol's mark used on the hulls of English ships to indicate the loading limit. W. W. Green, who was then president of the Company, finally ended the dis- cussion by stating that it was the symbol employed by a Venetian printer several hundred years ago to mark the products of his shop. Two trade-marks consisting of words only are those of the Yale and Towne Manufacturing Company and Postum Cereal. The word "YALE" is stamped upon every lock produced by the former company. Postum Cereal is not only the brand name of the product indicated, but it is also its trade-mark. As it 19 290 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING THIS tit He root-lettered" word b the biggest possible cuurfntee you can have of quality, security and fitness in Locks, Padlocks, Ni'ghl-l.tclies. Oir Closers, or Builders' Hardnnre. Back of this guarantee stands an enviable record of successful achieve- ment, built upon better goods, made in a belter plant, and by better workmen. To Uantmtn <Wm . ffoodt or M//IM? kilpi, irriti The Yale & Towne Mfg. Co. tlikrn of TALE ProducU: Locks, ritllocki. Oattmt Ofatt > East 40tb Su New York, U. S. A. An ingenious way of impressing a trade-mark upon the mind of the reader. HOW TRADE-MARKS HELP THE ADVERTISER 291 has been advertised to the extent of over a million and a half dollars annually for the past fifteen years, Postum has become the best-known substitute for coffee in the world. The trade-mark or catch phrase should be in some way associated with the name or some particular characteristic of the goods. A good example is the Prudential Life Insurance Company's Rock of Gibraltar, which conveys the impression of solidity and strength. When the Eastman Kodak Company adopted the phrase, "You press the button, we do the rest," and advertised it extensively, no other camera was being exploited in the news- papers and magazines. There was no danger, therefore, that the public would associate the slogan with any other make than the Kodak, itself a coined word. Avoid the Use of Descriptive Words. "Premier, " "De Luxe, " "Exclusive" and "Quality" sound well and look well in print, especially when the lettering is distinctive, but as trade-marks they are a delusion and a snare, for the reason that other manu- facturers cannot be prevented from employing them as descriptive adjectives. If you cannot be protected in the exclusive use of a word of this kind, except under extraordinary conditions, why use it as a part of your trade-mark? Use of Geographical Terms and Family Names Should Be Avoided. If you were a manufacturer of furniture at Grand Rapids, Michigan, it would look like a good advertising propo- sition to use as a distinctive feature of your trade-mark the words "Made in Grand Rapids" or just "Grand Rapids" and thus identify your products with the leading furniture manu- facturing center of the country. And so it would, but every manufacturer in Grand Rapids has a right to say that his goods are made there and mark the name upon them. In other words, there can be no exclusive use of the name of the furniture city. Therefore, you can see why it is inadvisable to use it in your trade-mark. The same thing might be said about other cities that are identified with certain industries. Family names are identified with some very well-known lines of merchandise. But that does not make them good trade- marks. The fact that they are well-known leads to constant attempts at infringement, and a family name is extremely dim- 292 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING cult to protect against others who have a right to use the same name. The courts will not prevent a man from using his own family name, and it is a source of constant expense and vexa- tion to attempt to maintain exclusive rights to the use of such a name as a trade-mark. And always bear in mind that a trade-mark is not a good trade-mark unless you can maintain an exclusive right to its use as a trade-mark. The right to exclude all others from its use is the very essence of a trade-mark. In marketing a new product, however, the use of the manu- facturer s name as a part of a trade-mark should be avoided. You cannot prevent other manufacturers from tying their names to their own products. If their names happened to be the same as yours you would have no advantage over them, as consumers would be unable to distinguish between them. Moreover, in most cases, other words can be found that will convey an idea of quality or of utility or some other characteristic of the article that will help sales. Educator is a better name for a shoe than Douglas or Hanan because it implies, in children's shoes, the training of children's feet in the way they should walk. Coined Words. Some of the most successful trade-marks and brand names have been coined words. Uneeda, O-Cedar, Sapolio, Pianola, Kodak, Nabisco and Socony belong to this class. The origin of some of these coined names is interesting. Nabisco is a word formed by combining the first letters of the words, "National Biscuit Company." In the same way Socony is formed of the first letters in the name of the Standard Oil Company of New York. The brand or trade-mark name should be short, easy to pro- nounce and not hard to remember. Long words are cumbersome, difficult to fix in the mind and take up too much space. If a name is difficult to pronounce people will hesitate to ask for it at the stores for fear they will betray their ignorance through its mispronunciation. It has been stated that the manufac- turers of Bon Ami, an extensively advertised kitchen cleanser, have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales because the women who would like to buy it did not know how to pronounce the name. HOW TRADE-MARKS HELP THE ADVERTISER 293 Words from foreign languages, unless they have become familiar through constant use in advertisements and in news- paper articles, should be avoided. Only a small proportion of our population can read or speak French, Italian, Spanish, or German. Therefore, why adopt words from those languages when 80 or 90 per cent, of your audience would not know what they mean? Select a Name That Will Be Original and Distinctive. Com- monplace names like Star, Diamond, Arrow and Shield have been worn threadbare through constant use during the past half century and therefore should not be adopted. Choose one that is simple and contains but one concept or idea. If it contains two or more it is apt to be confusing. Better by far one strong forceful point than several weak ones. When you have finally decided upon your trade-mark the next thing to do is to find out whether it has already been adopted by someone else. It not unusually happens that the trade-mark upon which you have expended much thought, and which you felt confident was a distinct departure from the conventional trade-mark, was designed and registered years ago. The govern- ment at Washington has a record of every trade-mark that has been registered. By consulting this record you can ascertain whether any trade-mark similar to yours has previously been registered. How to Proceed. The person who wishes to register a trade- mark makes application to the Patent Office according to required form. The application and the name and symbol are printed in the Patent Office Gazette, and if, at the end of a month, no one has entered an opposition the trade-mark is confirmed. If you value your trade-mark you should watch carefully the new applications that are published in the Gazette from month to month. Should anyone attempt to register an infringement on your trade-mark you will have a chance to stop it and save your- self endless trouble and expense later on. The Patent Office Gazette carries no advertisements and is sent to any address for $5 a year. Term of Registration. A trade-mark is considered by many manufacturers better than a patent which runs only seventeen 294 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING years and then becomes public property. Moreover, while a patent protects the article itself it affords no protection to the de- mand for that article. On the other hand, a trade-mark protects both and there is practically no limit to its life, and its value in- creases from year to year. The public is not specially interested in a patent but it is interested in a trade-mark because it is the means of identifying an article which has won its favor. The trade-mark protects and promotes the demand as well as the com- modity itself. The trade-marking of goods is therefore of prime importance to the manufacturer if they are to be exploited through advertising. Cost of Registration. The cost of registering a trade-mark in the United States, including the lawyer's fees, is $25, and the term, twenty years; in France, $25, and the period, ten years; in England, $35, and the term, fourteen years; in Germany, $40 to $45, and the period, ten years; in Cuba, $45, for fifteen years; and in Japan $75, for twenty years. In most of the countries represented it is possible to get a renewal of the registration period by the payment of the regular fee. If you intend to do an export business it is extremely important that you register your trade-mark in all countries in which you hope to establish a demand for your products. The necessity of doing this may be apparent when it is known that in South America it is possible for a native to register your trade-mark as his own, if you have not already registered it. You have no re- dress. The only thing you can do is to make an arrangement with the thief under which he will allow you to do business. In the United States the law protects the public by protecting the owner of the mark. The consumer has a right to depend upon the trade-mark in identifying the goods which won his favor by reason of their quality. Anyone who imitates a registered trade-mark can be prosecuted. The National Biscuit Company has brought action against dozens of manufacturers who repro- duced the Uneeda Biscuit package so closely that many people did not know they were being deceived. The object of these imi- tations was, of course, to profit from the demand created by the extensive advertising of the National Biscuit Company. If a firm adopts a trade-mark and fails to have it registered, HOW TRADE-MARKS HELP THE ADVERTISER 295 and another concern in another state adopts the same symbol or device, priority of use would determine its ownership. Under the court's decision the losing firm would be compelled to abandon the use of the trade-mark and devise another to take its place. This, of course, involves considerable expense. Manufacturers who have invested large amounts of money in advertising a brand name or trade-marked product are careful to avoid doing anything that will lessen the good will that the ad- vertising has created. For this reason they will not try to palm off on their dealers " seconds " as " firsts. " Instead, they remove the trade-mark or other identifying marks and sell the goods to a cheaper grade of stores. The government issues a pamphlet on the registration of trade-marks which can be had free on application If prospective advertisers will study the pamphlet they will obtain from it many helpful suggestions on the subject. When you have an article for which a demand can be created, and an appropriate trade- mark by which it can be identified, you have the materials for the foundation of a good business. What May Not Be Registered. The following are not proper subjects for trade-mark registration: 1. The flag, coat-of-arms, or other insignia of the United States, or any other municipality, or of any foreign country. 2. Trade-marks so closely resembling trade-marks already in use that the public is liable to be deceived by them. 3. Names of persons, firms, or corporations not written on or affixed to the goods in some distinctive manner. 4. Descriptive terms. 5. Geographical and descriptive terms, family names, insignia, etc., unless in use since February 21, 1895, under the act of 1905. 6. Portraits of living people without first obtaining their written consent. How the Dealer Is Benefited in Handling Trade -marked Merchandise. From the retailer's viewpoint the question as to whether to sell goods under his own or the manufacturer's trade- mark is important. Is it better to exploit someone else's name than your own? Why should you help build up a reputation 296 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING and demand for a branded article that is controlled by a big manufacturer? If you wish to carry the entire burden of advertising and do not want to avail yourself of any help the manufacturer can give you to promote your sales of his product, there is, of course, only one answer. But if, on the other hand, you desire to receive benefits to be derived from the extensive advertising campaigns carried on by national distributors who employ experts to prepare copy that will send people to your store to purchase their products, without a single cent of expense to you, then you will find that it pays to handle nationally advertised trade- marked goods. A merchant who owned two stores in different cities had for several years sold well-advertised and well-known trade-marked men's hats, clothes, shoes and underwear. The stores had been established a long time and were deservedly popular with the people hi the cities where they were located. There had been a question in his mind whether he would not be better off finan- cially had he sold, during the years he had been in business, goods bearing his own name and trade-mark. He had a good reputation and his customers could rely upon any statement made about the merchandise he handled. When he opened a third store he concluded to put the matter to the test by stocking it with identically the same kind of goods sold in the other stores, but bearing his own brand names instead of those of the manufacturers. He hired the best advertising manager he could find to write the advertisements of the new store, liberal space being taken in the local newspapers. At the end of sixteen months the merchant went to the manu- facturers and told them frankly that his policy had been a mis- taken one as business at the end of the third selling season had not been at all satisfactory. He ordered his next season's stock made up with the manufacturers' own labels attached, and when the goods were delivered he devoted his advertising to talks about their well-known brands. The adoption of the new policy had an immediate effect upon the business of the store. More people responded to the adver- tising and the volume of sales showed a marked improvement. HOW TRADE-MARKS HELP THE ADVERTISER 297 At the end of three seasons (eighteen months) the receipts were several times greater than they were at the beginning. The experience of this merchant shows conclusively that in his case, at least, advertised trade-marked goods were more profit- able for him to handle than those bearing his own brand names. Other retailers have had a similar experience. Questions 1. What is a trade-mark? 2. What four things does it do? 3. What is its primary function? 4. Of what may a trade-mark consist? Give examples of each. 6. What general principle should govern the selection of a trade-mark? 6. Why should descriptive words be avoided? 7. Why are geographical names objectionable? 8. Should proper names be used? Give the reasons. 9. What are the characteristics of a good trade-mark? 10. How do you register a trade-mark? 11. What does it cost and what is the period of registration? 12. If you are engaged in the export business why is it necessary to register your trade-mark in foreign countries? 13. How can infringement be prevented in the United States? 14. What service does the U. S. Patent Office Gazette render? 16. What are not proper subjects for registration? 16. Of what benefit is it to the dealer to handle trade-marked merchandise? 17. Prepare a list of trade-marks with which you are familiar. 18. Design a trade-mark for the Mayflower Brand of Ginger Ale. CHAPTER XXVII THE ECONOMICS OF ADVERTISING It is self-evident that no business will show a profit at the end of the year unless its receipts have exceeded its expenditures. The manufacturer, for instance, must get back what he has paid out before he can realize upon his investment. Hence the price at which he sells his products must not only include the cost of raw materials, their fabrication into the finished article, and the marketing, but also a reasonable profit. Advertising, as we have already seen, is a selling expense and hence is one of the items upon which the price to the purchaser is based. The answer to the old question, "Who pays for the advertising?" is, therefore, "The consumer." No matter how ingenious the arguments advanced by those who undertake to prove that the non-advertiser or someone else bears the burden, the fact remains that the consumer, and he alone, foots the bill. Admitting, then, that the price paid by the purchaser covers the cost of advertising, the next important question to be con- sidered is, "Does the consumer pay more for the merchandise than he would if no money were spent for advertising?" One of the chief arguments advanced in behalf of unadvertised pro- ducts is that the buyer gets as good, if not a better article at a lower price than when advertised merchandise is purchased. If advertising only benefited the manufacturer this would be a sound argument, but it so happens that advertising by increasing the demand reduces the cost of production, thus enabling the consumer to buy a better article at the same price, or as good an article at a lower price than is charged for unadvertised goods. Let us consider the evidence in proof of this statement. Advertising Standardizes Quality. Advertising standardizes the quality of manufactured products. L. D. H. Weld, of the Commercial Research Department of Swift & Company, Chicago, 298 THE ECONOMICS OF ADVERTISING 299 and formerly professor of Business Administration at Yale University, in discussing this subject in Printers' Ink, says; "The standardization of quality in itself is a benefit to con- sumers. The buyer of an advertised article knows what he is getting ; he can be sure that it is as nearly like his previous purchase of the same brand as it is humanly possible to make it. There may be and undoubtedly are unadvertised goods that are equal in quality to the advertised brands, but the chances are that the high standard of quality of such unadvertised articles has been attained in an effort to reach or to surpass the standard set by the advertised articles." In 1914 Fruiters' Ink conducted an inquiry to ascertain what effect advertising had upon the quality and price of merchandise. Of twenty-nine firms that submitted answers, five reported reduced prices, the quality remaining the same; sixteen reported prices the same, but quality improved or being improved, and eight firms reported prices and quality the same. Reduces the Cost of Marketing. The most valuable service advertising renders the manufacturer, next to increasing the volume of his sales, is in reducing the cost of selling his goods. This was clearly shown in the Printers' Ink article just mentioned. E. A. Mallory & Sons, hat manufacturers, stated that since starting to advertise in 1906 their selling cost had been reduced by 17 per cent, or at the rate of 7 cents a hat, which more than covered the amount paid for advertising. Hart, Schaffner & Marx wrote that the cost of selling had been cut in half the past fifteen years, a result largely brought about through advertising. The California Fruit Exchange in one year marketed 33,082 carloads of fruit which yielded $54,600,000, at an advertising cost of H cent a dozen. When the Oneida Community began to advertise in a modest way in 1904 its total sales were $500,000. At the end of twelve years the sales had been increased by the aid of advertising to $4,000,000 in the face of a nation-wide competition that amounted almost to a monopoly. In 1915 the selling expense was 3 per cent, lower than the average during the four previous years. 300 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING An officer of the Community is authority for the statement that "during this whole period of rapid expansion production cost rapidly declined, the result of increased turn-over due to efficient advertising coordinated with efficient trade salesmanship." A Pittsburgh preserving concern before it began to advertise had a marketing cost of 20 per cent. At the end of the first year's advertising, which involved an investment of $50,000, the selling expense had dropped to 16 per cent. Although the amount spent for advertising the second year was $100,000, or twice as much as the first year, the marketing cost fell to 12 per cent. Because of the saving thus effected and economies in- troduced in the plant the price of its products to the con- sumer was lowered while the quality was greatly improved. Advertising Reduces Production Costs. Advertising, by in- creasing the demand, speeds up the factory output. In order to keep pace with the sales more and more goods must be manu- factured. Most plants do not work to full capacity and need the stimulus of heavy orders to reach that point. Under such pressure production, with precisely the same equipment, has in numerous instances been increased from 30 to 50 per cent. The effect of such an increase when overhead expenses remain the same is to reduce materially the unit cost of production. Again, when the volume of sales is greatly increased the manu- facturer can buy his raw material in large quantities and at lower prices than he could when his sales were restricted. By taking advantage of favorable market conditions he can purchase them at a cost considerably below what his smaller competitors would have to pay. A large watch manufacturer in discussing the effect of advertis- ing upon the selling price of his goods said: "As a result of our advertising which has been carried on for over 40 years, we have been able to so increase our sales and our production capacity that to-day the price of some of our movements is $18.50 as compared to $67.50 about four years ago." The Genesee Pure Food Company for a number of years in- vested $500,000 annually in advertising Jell-O. If advertising in- creases the cost of the goods to the consumer then the price at which they are sold must be greater than it was before the advertising THE ECONOMICS OF ADVERTISING 301 started. Such, however, was not the fact in this case, as the price remained the same. Advertising Expenditure. The public has an exaggerated idea regarding the relative cost of advertising. To pay $6,000 or $8,000 for a single-page advertisement in one issue of a weekly or monthly magazine seems extravagant. You hear people say, " How can the advertiser ever hope to get his money back unless he charges more for his goods than they are really worth?" Those who take this view of the matter know very little about advertising. If they were aware that the payment of $6,000 gave the advertiser a chance to lay his business message before millions of readers, and that sales amounting to $100,000 and even $200,000 sometimes follow the appearance of an advertise- ment in the magazines, they might change their minds. Alan C. Reiley, when president of the Association of National Advertisers, in speaking about the results of an inquiry made by the association into the amounts paid for advertising by leading concerns, said: "The advertising of one of the leading paint manufacturers of the country averages 3K per cent, of his total sales. In other words, for every dollar's worth of paint he sells he spends 3K cents in advertis- ing. This is about equivalent to the price of a postage stamp and a cent's worth of paper for every dollar's worth of goods sold. "Of two of the biggest clothing manufacturers in the country one spends IK per cent, and the other 2 per cent. An equally prominent shoe manufacturer spends IK per cent. Of two of the most famous automobile builders one spends 2 per cent., and the other, 3 per cent. Figures in the office of the Association of National Advertisers show that the average department store's advertising does not cost more than 3 per cent, of its total business. "The fact is that the great majority of all nationally advertised articles those that are familiarly known in every home in the country and are famous for their quality and wide distribution belong in the 5 per cent, or under class. Even if the advertising represented a direct advance on what the buyer would otherwise have to pay, this would make little difference in the price of the goods. But it does not, be- cause advertising is the most efficient method of marketing ever de- veloped by business enterprise therefore its effect is to decrease and npt to increase the sum total of selling costs." 302 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING In an article that appeared in Printers' Ink, October 19, 1916, the writer stated that an investigation made that year showed that the average expenditure of fifty-one national adver- tisers was 5.2 per cent. While the advertising investment varies in different businesses you will notice from the foregoing that the maximum and the minimum percentages are not far apart. Advertising, as we have already seen, is generally employed to sell merchandise, although it has other uses. If this fact is constantly kept in mind it will help us better to understand the part it plays in busi- ness economics. It is an established fact that goods can be sold at far less expense through advertising than through salesmen. Manu- facturers have admitted time and again that if advertising did not materially cut down the cost of selling, the price of all com- modities would have to be raised to much more than it is at present. There should, therefore, be no doubt in your mind as to the truth of the contention that the tendency of advertising is to lower the cost of goods to the consumer, not to raise it. Advertising Stabilizes Demand. One of the difficult problems of the manufacturer is to forecast the volume of sales from one to three years ahead. If he accumulates too large a reserve stock of his product he loses the use of the capital represented for a longer period than he has expected, and, if pressed for money, may be compelled to sell his surplus at a sacrifice. On the other hand, if he does not make up enough goods to take care of any reasonably large demand that may develop during the selling season he will lose that much business. Moreover, unless he can estimate the probable volume of sales fairly accurately he cannot gauge the quantity of raw materials that should be pur- chased for future production. Prices are constantly fluctuating. If they happen to be high the manufacturer will buy as small a supply as possible, hoping, of course, that later lower prices will prevail and that he can then secure all the raw material he may need. The manufacturer who has been an advertiser for any length of time has little trouble in solving these problems because of the stabilizing influence advertising has upon demand. The THE ECONOMICS OF ADVERTISING 303 fluctuations in sales from season to season are rarely violent. He can tell within reasonable limits how much goods the market will absorb next year and the year after. His estimate will be based upon the sales records of several previous years. He knows about how much goods will be sold as the result of a certain expenditure for advertising. Because the public likes and buys his product he can absolutely bank upon the extent of its support. Therefore he makes up only enough stock to fill a definite number of orders that he knows will be received and leave a sufficient surplus to take care of any unexpected demand that may be developed. Effect Upon Competition. The advertiser who has become entrenched in public favor through well-planned advertising campaigns has little to fear from competition, providing, of course, he maintains the same quality in his product and adheres to the same business standards. When people have used an article for years in their homes and it has given genuine satisfaction they will go on buying it no matter how many others of a similar kind may be placed on the market by rival manufacturers, especially if their interest is stimulated now and then by advertising. A certain kind of loyalty is developed toward the product a loyalty that keeps the consumer so thoroughly sold that he cannot easily be induced to desert it for a newcomer. In order that his merchandise shall continue worthy of the place it holds, the manufacturer must be on the job every minute. He must keep his equipment up-to-date; must see that there is no letting down in quality of material or workmanship, and must carefully watch his market. If he falls down in any one of these particulars advertising won't save him from bankruptcy. If, on the other hand, he is alive to his opportunities and does not depend too much upon past reputation, he will, when supported by the kind of advertising that begets confidence, occupy an impregnable position from which he cannot easily be dislodged. Ivory Soap, Royal Baking Powder, Singer Sewing Machines and Gold Medal Flour have been advertised for more than two generations and have been used in many families during that entire period. There is little probability that any one of 304 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING these articles will lose its popularity through the competition of new products so long as its quality remains unchanged and its prestige is maintained through advertising. Questions 1. Who finally pays for the advertising? 2. Does it increase the cost of the goods to the consumer? 3. How does advertising standardize quality? 4. What effect does it have upon the cost of marketing? Give examples. 5. Show how advertising reduces the unit cost of production. 6. What is the average advertising investment made by department stores? 7. How does advertising stabilize demand? 8. What is its effect upon competition? CHAPTER XXVIII ON CORRECTING PROOFS That all printed matter when it appears in final form should be grammatically and typographically correct and without errors of any kind is self-evident. In advertisements accuracy is indispensable. A mistake in the listing of a price may cause the loss of several hundreds and perhaps thousands of dollars to the advertiser. A few years ago a New York department store sent to a morn- ing newspaper an advertisement announcing a special sale of women's cloaks, which had formerly been sold at $35, at $19. Through a compositor's uncorrected mistake the price appeared in the paper the next day as $9. As a result the store was beseiged by women who wanted to take advantage of the extra- ordinary bargain. With the appearance of the first day's shoppers the store managers discovered the error in the advertisement, but knowing that any statement they might make would be regarded with suspicion by some people, and that to refuse to sell the garment at the published price would injure the store's reputation, they directed the clerks to dispose of the cloaks at $9, although each one sold represented a loss of $10. In all printing offices proof-readers are employed to correct the mistakes made by the compositor in setting up the copy. After an article has been put into type in a newspaper office a galley proof is pulled which is sent to the proof-reader. A galley is a long, narrow tray made of brass and wood, which is used to hold the type that has been set hi column form. A proof is taken by pressing a strip of paper down upon the inked surface of the type either by means of a piece of padded hardwood called "a plane, " which is struck by a mallet, or by the pressure of the roller of a printing press. All printing-offices are equipped with a galley- proof press which consists of a heavy padded iron cylinder 20 305 306 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING resting upon the outer edges of a long narrow metal bed in which the galley and type are placed. After the type has been inked a strip of paper is placed upon its surface and the iron cylinder is rolled over it. When the paper is pulled from the type it bears an impression of it. Proofs of small advertisements are made in the same way. In the case of large advertisements such as newspaper pages, half pages and quarter pages, and magazine pages, the proofs are pulled from the type as it stands on the composing stone, which is a heavy stone with a perfectly flat surface, the plane and mallet being employed for the purpose. This is the quickest way of making the proof, but stone proofs, as they are called, are not always satisfactory, especially when the advertisements contain halftones or other illustrations, because they do not show up well. For this reason it is better to submit to the advertiser press proofs that show type, borders and cuts with great clearness. Press proofs are clear, perfect proofs made on a good quality of coated or enameled paper and are usually taken after the corrections and changes indicated on the stone proofs have been made. When a proof is received by the proof-reader he goes over it very carefully, marking on the type and the margin the corrections that are to be made. He compares the copy with the proof to see whether the compositor has omitted any words or phrases, or has misspelled words, or has set the matter in the wrong kind or size of type, etc. Frequently he finds mistakes in the copy that have eluded the watchful eye of the editor or of the advertiser. A first-class proof-reader is worth his weight in gold to any representative newspaper or magazine. He possesses an expert knowledge of the printing business, knows the names of City, State and National officials, is posted on politics, science, religion, commerce, law, and a dozen other subjects in fact, he is an encyclopedia, a dictionary, a city directory and a reference library all in one. After the proofs have been read and the corrections made a second proof is taken. It is this proof that is sent to the adver- tiser. The latter goes over it carefully for any mistakes that may have been overlooked by the proof-reader. Sometimes he ON CORRECTING PROOFS 307 finds it necessary to make changes in the advertisement itself. If there are no errors or changes he writes "O. K." on the proof and signs his name or initials. If there are any mistakes or changes he marks the proof "O. K. with corrections." The printer can then go ahead with the job. (MARKED P.ROOF) are One of the ^ Inland Prinjgr prints an omusing letter from Mr. T. B. Aldrich to Prof. E. S. Morse, ex- president of t/fe American Academy for tho Advancement of Science. ProfTMorse^it*should ^ be w stated, has a handwriting quite indescrib- able. yjMy dear Morse: It $# very pleasant for me to get a. letter from you<ptheilth<3day. PerhapsJ should found it pleasanter u I had been able to decipher ijf~I donT thinkl mastered anytlng beyond the date (which I knew), and the sty/feature (which I guessed at). * There's a singujfar and perpetual % charm in a letter of yours/ it never grows old; it never losesits novelty, f"5ne cansay to oneVself ever? morning /""""There's that letter of ^torse's; I haven't read It yet./- 1 think ril(sh^anotb.er(takat it to- day and maybe I shjvll be able, in rse of a few ye/rs, ttf make \{Jat he means by those Vff that like w's. and those ig tiiat ' t any (fy ebrov >*) Other are read^and forgotten, bu kpt_ forever unread, m/will last a reasonable ine) Admiringly yours. ( CORRECTED PROOF) THE INLAND PRINTER prints an amusing letter from Mr. T. B. Aldrich to Prof. E. S. Morse, ex- president of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. Prof. Morse, it should be stated, has a handwriting quite indescrib- able. "My dear Morse: It was very pleasant for me to get a letter from you the other day. Perhaps I should have found it pleasanter if I had been able to decipher it. I don't think I mastered anything beyond the date (which I knew), and the signature (which I guessed at). There's a singular and perpetual charm in a letter of yours; it never grows old; it never loses its novelty. One can say to one's self every morning: 'There's that letter of Morse's ; I haven't read it yet. I think I'll take another shy at it to* day and maybe I shall be able, in the course of a few years, to make out what he means by those t's that look like w's, and those 1's that haven't any eyebrows!' Other let- ters are read and thrown away and forgotten, but yours are kept for- ever unread. One of them will last a reasonable man a lifetime. Admiringly yours, T. B. Aldrich." Proof-readers' marks are divided into two classes: those marked in the body of the type to show the exact location of errors, and those written on the margins to show the nature of the cor- rections or changes that are to be made. Every mark made in the type must have a corresponding mark on the margin to catch the eye of the compositor. When a proof contains a large 308 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING number of errors, necessitating the use of many marks, it is well to draw lines from the marks in the type to those in the margin to avoid confusion. The proof-readers' marks are a great convenience and save a lot of time which otherwise would have to be devoted to writing out in detail the instructions for the compositor. It is important that the advertising man should know how to use these marks in correcting proofs. In order to reduce to a minimum the number of mistakes that may be made by the printer you should furnish him plainly written copy. If possible have it typewritten. Sometimes the compositors are obliged to work under a poor light, in which case they have trouble in making out what the advertising man has written. Handwriting is more difficult to read even when plainly written than typewritten copy. Cut and chop and re- write your copy to your heart's content before sending it to the printer, but when it is finally in his hands let it be as nearly right as you can possibly make it. It is the printer's business to follow copy. Hence if you make mistakes and they are repro- duced in type he cannot be held responsible for them. In most instances, however, when the printer discovers the errors he will correct them on the proof and place a question mark opposite them on the margin. If you approve of the corrections you simply cross out the question marks. All changes made in proofs by the advertiser that are not due to the printer's carelessness are known as author's corrections, and involve an extra charge to the advertiser, the amount depending upon the length of time involved in making them. If there are many alterations in the text or the arrangement, the expense involved is considerable. If the changes are not made until just before the newspaper or magazine goes to press the incidental delay they occasion may prevent the appearance of the advertisement in the next issue of the publication. If care is taken in making the changes some of the expense can be saved. For instance, if a word is to be eliminated, try if you can to add another word containing the same number of letters to the same line or to the line above or below, so as to avoid over-running long paragraphs. Unless this is done it may take ON CORRECTING PROOFS 309 the compositor half an hour to reset a long paragraph in order to insert or take out a single word. If the proof-reading has been well done by the printer you will find very few, if any, typographical errors hi the proof furnished you. The one thing you should be particular about is to see that all proper names are correctly spelled and that figures are correct. When you have any instructions to give the printer do not trust them to a messenger boy but write them out. The marks used by printers in correcting proofs are shown in the following pages (pp. 310-312). 310 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING PROOF MARKS f* j **&4(d tTr -i. Set all in capital letters O. C., 0*f* -1 Set in small capitals. Set i** capitals and small capitals. Set in bold-faced type. Set in italic. t - Set in bold-faced capitals. W.T Cafej, ^:jrv^. In all the foregoing examples, the Unes should appear under the words to be capitalized, itali- cized, etc. Bring the line to this point. Square up the Unes at this margin. Straighten the line or lines. f* cized, etc. 7\ Bring matter to this point. Carry over to where arrow points. Spell out matter hi this circle. (This mark is used frequently around abbreviations.) Period circled to prevent being mistaken for comma. Colon encircled to prevent being mistaken for semicolon. The dele mark, meaning to "take it out." Make a paragraph here. Don't let this be a new paragraph. Take out the loading. Reduce the spacing ON CORRECTING PROOFS 31 1 Set this a size smaller. Fix this broken letter. Isn't this from a wrong font? Take out the thing marked and close up. Put a space in here. Put a lead in here. Make it a part of body matter (more often used to indicate the running of two paragraphs together as one paragraph). Turn this type over; it is upside down. Transpose the position of the matter marked. Transpose the marked matter to the other point where the star occurs. Use Roman letter here instead of the kind you have. Correct the poor spacing at the points marked. Means reset some of the type so that the matter, through respacing, will run a little longer and thus make a better end to a paragraph. Means run the syllable, word, or line back to preceding line or page. Means end of manuscript or copy. Give this cut a half circle turn. Capital letters so marked are to be reset in lower- case letters. A marginal instruction to restore the words under which the dots appear. Means set or reset the words in the order indi- cated by the figures, the figures being placed in copy over the words in question. Means that the printer missed something and is referred back to copy. 312 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING >/% f Means "is this right?" or "is this arrangement satis- U^U. Iff * factory?" /y-^ ^ Another way of questioning correctness. If the ques- *% A ^ tioned item or the suggestion is correct, run a line % through the question mark, but don't erase it. V Insert apostrophe. A- vf Insert quotation marks. ^^ Join the letters in a logotype or close up the space /^ left between two words. ' (J Transpose the two letters or words marked. J/ Insert comma. Insert semicolon. Insert hyphen. Insert dash. Insert narrow or n dash. Insert interrogation mark. Insert exclamation mark. Raise or push matter up to here. J Lower matter to here. Indent line one quad of size of type used. L. Push down lead or space showing on proof. *\. . (?* Reset in lower-case letters. CHAPTER XXIX BOOKS ON ADVERTISING AND SALESMANSHIP The following books on advertising and salesmanship will be found helpful to both teacher and student. They do not include all that have been published on these subjects, and doubt- less some have been omitted that deserve a place among them, but, in any event, the books named have received the approval of representative advertising men. Some are text books used in teaching advertising; some are records of advertising experiences; some are books of reference and some deal with the problems of distribution. Students who intend to prepare themselves for the advertising business should begin as soon as possible the accumulation of worth-while books on advertising and allied topics. If all the different books on advertising that have been published good, bad and indifferent should be brought together in one place the number would not be large or impressive. Out of them it is possible to select a comparatively small number that will ade- quately cover the field. ADVERTISING Advertise! By E. Sampson. (D. C. Heath & Company, New York.) Ads & Sales. By Herbert N. Casson. (McClurg.) Advertising by Motion Pictures. By Ernest A. Dinch. (Standard Publishing Company.) Advertising Selling the Consumer. By John Lee Mahin. (Doubleday, Page & Company, New York.) Advertising as a Business Force. By Paul T. Cherrington. (Doubleday, Page & Company, New York.) Advertising: Its Principles, Practice & Technique. By Daniel Starch. (Scott, Foresman & Company, New York.) Advertising the Technical Product. By Clifford A. Sloan and James D. Mooney. (McGraw Hill Book Company, Inc., New York.) Advertising: Its Principles & Practice. By Harry Tipper, Harry L. 313 314 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Hollingworth, George Burton Hotchkiss and Frank Alvah Parsons. (The Ronald Press Company, New York.) Advertising & Selling. By H. L. Hollingworth. (D. Appleton & Company, New York.) Advertising. The Social and Economic Problem. By George French. (The Ronald Press Company, New York.) Advertiser's Hand Book. By A. M. Stryker. (Trade Journal Ad- vertiser, Chicago.) Advertiser's Handbook. By S. Roland Hall. (International Text Book Company, Scranton, Pa.) Advertising and Mental Laws. By H. F. Adams. (MacMillan Com- pany, New York.) Advertising as a Vocation. By Frederick J. Allen. (MacMillan Com- pany, New York.) Analytical Advertising. By W. A. Shryer. (Business Service Cor- poration, Detroit.) Art and Literature of Business. By Charles Austin Bates. Bank Advertising Plans. By T. D. MacGregor. (Bankers' Publishing Company.) Building Your Business by Mail. By W. G. Clifford. (Business Re- search Publicity Company, Chicago.) Business of Advertising. By Earnest Elmo Calkins. (D. Appleton & Company, New York.) Business Correspondence Library. (A. W. Shaw Company, Chicago.) Church Publicity. By Christian F. Reisner. (Methodist Book Concern, New York.) Elementary Laws of Advertising and How to Use Them. By Henry S. Bunting. (Novelty News Company, Chicago.) Effective House Organs. By Robert E. Ramsay. (D. Appleton & Company, New York.) Forty Years an Advertising Agent. By George P. Rowell. (Printers' Ink Publishing Company, New York.) Getting the Most Out of Business. By E. St. Elmo Lewis. (The Ronald Press Company, New York.) Good Will, Trade Marks and Unfair Trading. By E. S. Rogers. (A. W. Shaw Company, Chicago.) How to Advertise. By George French. (Doubleday, Page & Company, New York.) How to Advertise Printing. By Harry M. Bassford. (Oswald Publish- ing Company, New York.) How to Advertise a Retail Store. By A. E. Edgar. (Advertising World, Columbus, Ohio.) How to Write Letters that Win. (A. W. Shaw Company, Chicago.) Law of Advertising and Sales. 2 Volumes. By Clowry Chapman. (Published by the author.) BOOKS ON ADVERTISING AND SALESMANSHIP 315 Library of Sales and Advertising. 4 Volumes. By Editorial Staff of System. (A. W. Shaw Company, Chicago and New York.) Library of Advertising. 6 Volumes. By A. P. Johnson. (Cree Publish- ing Company, Chicago.) Making Advertisements. By Roy S. Durstine. (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.) Making Type Work. By Benjamin Sherbow. (Century Company, New York.) Making Letters Pay System. (Making It Pay Corporation, New York.) Newspaper Advertising. By G. H. E. Hawkins. (Advertising Pub- lishing Company, Chicago.) One Hundred Advertising Talks. By William C. Freeman. (Published by the author.) Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks. By W. H. Elfreth. (Baker Voorhis & Company, New York.) Posters. By Charles Matlock Price. (George W. Bricka, New York.) Publicity. An Encyclopedia of Advertising and Printing by N. C. Fowler, Jr. Principles and Practice of Advertising. By Gerald B. Wadsworth. (Gerald B. Wadsworth, New York.) Principles of Practical Publicity. By Truman A. DeWeese. (George W. Jacobs & Company.) Principles of Advertising Arrangement. By Frank A. Parsons. (Prang Educational Company, New York.) Productive Advertising. By Herbert W. Hess. (J. B. Lippincott Com- pany, Philadelphia.) Psychology of Advertising. By Walter Dill Scott. (Small Maynard & Company, Boston.) Publicity and Progress. By Herbert Heebner Smith. (George H. Doran Company, New York.) Specialty Advertising. By Henry S. Bunting. (Novelty News Com- pany, Chicago.) Sherbow's Type Charts. 4 Volumes. By Benjamin Sherbow. (Pub- lished by the author.) Success in Letter Writing. By Sherman Cody. Successful Retail Advertising. By J. A. MacDonald. (The Drygoods Reporter Company, Chicago.) The House Organ. How to Make it Produce Results. By George Frederick Wilson. (Washington Park Publishing Company, Milwaukee.) The New Business. By Harry Tipper. (Doubleday, Page & Company, New York.) Theory and Practice of Advertising. By G. W. Wagenseller. (Pub- lished by the author.) Typography of Advertisements that Pay. By Gilbert P. Farrar. (D. Appleton & Company, New York.) 316 ESSENTIALS OF ADVERTISING Typography of Advertising. By F. J. Trezise. (Inland Printer Com- pany, Chicago.) What an Advertiser Should Know. By Henry C. Taylor. (Browne & Ho well Company, Chicago.) Writing an Advertisement. By S. Roland Hall. (Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.) SALESMANSHIP Business Profits and Human Nature. By Fred C. Kelly. (G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.) Manual of Successful Storekeeping. By W. R. Hotchkin. (Doubleday, Page & Company, New York.) Modern Sales Management. By J. George Frederick. (D. Appleton & Company, New York.) Psychology of Salesmanship. By William W. Atkinson. (Elizabeth Towne & Company.) Psychology of Salesmanship. By George R. Eastman. (Service Publishing Company.) Retail Selling and Store Management. By Paul H. Nystrom. (D. Appleton & Company, New York.) Sales Promotion by Mail. By Burdock, Wallen, Eytinge, Adams and Others. (G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.) Selling Advertising Space. By Joseph E. Chasnoff . (The Ronald Press, New York.) Scientific Sales Management. By Charles Wilson Hoyt. (George B. Woolson & Company, New Haven, Conn.) Scientific Distribution. By Charles Frederick Higham. (Nesbit & Company, Ltd., London.) INDEX Advertising, ancient use of, 1 ancient specimens of, 2 an intensive form of salesman- ship, 6 books on, 313, 314, 315 classification of, 8 cost of (examples), 301 definition of, 1 direct by mail, 187-194 does it increase cost of mer- chandise to consumer?, 299 effects of, upon competition, 303 examples of successful adver- tising, 5, 6 foreign, defined, 254 how expressed, 1 how it has helped humanity, 4 local, defined, 8 magazine, 3, 144-155 mediums employed, 3 national, defined, 9 newspaper, 132-143 outdoor, 165-177 principal objects of, 6, 7 reduces cost of marketing, 299 reduces production cost, 300 stabilizes demand, 302 standardizes quality, 298-299 three essentials of good, 105 value of color in, 77 who pays for, 298 Advertising agent, his hardest task, 267 his relation to the client, 260 how he serves the advertiser, 261, 265 how paid, 265 qualifications of, 260 represents the advertiser, 266 Advertising agencies, amount of business handled by, 259 associations of, 268 organization of, 264 trade investigations made by, 262 value of recognition of, by the A. N. P. A., 260 Advertising campaigns, analyzing results of, 105 buying space for, 93, 94 classification of, 90 copy suggestions concerning, 95, 96 how planned, 90, 91 how to handle inquiries, 109-110 mediums employed, 102 Manly M. Gillam's experience in, 105 persistency in, a necessity, 106 selecting the mediums, 92, 93, 94, 101, 102 should they precede or follow distribution?, 98 size of appropriations, 113 use of coupons, 109 what some advertisers invest in, 100 when to advertise, 94 Advertising manager, duties of the, 249-257 how a card index helps the, 255 of a department store, 249 of a manufacturer, 250, 251 of a newspaper, 254-256 of a publication, 254 qualifications of, 253 Advertisement, the, advantage of rectangular space, 15 317 318 INDEX Advertisement, Brisbane's experi- ence in writing an, 8 construction of, 22 first in America, 2 first one printed, 2 four parts of, 23 layout of an, 13, 14 preparation for writing an, 8-12 size of, how determined, 14 the golden proportion, 15 Advertising salesman, by whom em- ployed, 277 best time for interviews, 284 his use of mailing cards, 191 how color helps him, 80 knowledge of copy writing help- ful to, 283 practical suggestions to, 279, 280 problems of, 277-278 qualifications of, 272-275 W. C. Freeman's experience, 275 what he sells, 272 Appropriation, size of, 113 Association of National Advertisers, 114 Balance, in advertisement construc- tion, 15 Booklets, cost of, 219 description of, 218 hints on preparing, 218 illustrations for, 222 selecting the paper for, 220 sizes of, 219 type arrangement of, 220 value of in advertising, 191 Borders, purposes they serve, 22, 69 ornamental, 71 sizes and styles of, 70 Broadsides, use of, 191 Bulletins, advantages of painted, 173 cost of painted, 172 painted, distribution of, 172 Bulletins, paper, 191 size of painted, 173 Card index, how it helps the adver- tising manager, 255 Catalogs, as silent salesmen, 209 best type faces for, 213 binding of, 214 built on a plan, 210 cover papers for, 212 cuts and illustrations for, 214, 216 distribution of, 215 export, preparation of, 215, 216 importance of, 208 should reflect character of house, 208 standard sizes of, 211 the introduction, 210, 211 three kinds of, 209 Circulations, Audit Bureau of, 279 analysis of magazine, 151 how determined, 279 Color, as an aid to salesmen, 80 Calkins on the use of, 79 different kinds of, 88 effectiveness of, 78, 79 effect upon women, 87 experience of mail order houses with, 78 helps the manufacturer, 87 processes employed in printing, 89 technical detail on, 87 the three fundamental colors, 87 uses of, 77, 80 Colored inserts, 78 Comparative prices, objections to, 34 Copy, adapted to audience, 108 characteristics of successful re- tail, 118, 119 directions for preparing, 31-34 educational, 28 INDEX 319 Copy, four kinds of, 27 good will, 28 human interest, 32 importance of truth in, 33 institutional, 28 letter writing, 195, 199, 201 news element in, 251 preparation of street car, 180- 182 relative value of large and small space, 114 selling, 27 story of Scott's Emulsion, 108 variety essential in, 106 why quote prices in, 32 Coupons. Use of in campaigns, 109 Direct advertising, advantages of, 187, 188 amount invested in, 187 confidential character of, 187 definition of, 187 economical value of, 188 mailing list, 189 mediums employed in, 188 results obtained from, 188, 189 should produce re-orders, 194 suggestions regarding, 193 value of follow-up, 192 Display, contrast in, 68 definition of, 68 elements of, 67 kinds of type used in, 55 value of white space, 68 Distribution, analysis of, 11 E Electrical displays, copy suggestions, 177 cost of, 176 locations for, 177 notable examples of, 174, 175 popularity of, 173 Electrical displays, slogan signs, 176 Wrigley's $90,000 display, 176 F Folders, advantages of, 222 results obtained from, 223 G Golden proportion, the, 15 Headlines, different kinds of, 25 news interest in, 26 sometimes omitted, 23 why used, 22, 23, 25 House organs, as advertising medi- ums, 228 by whom published, 226 classification of, 225 definition of, 225 number issued, 225 outside advertising in, 230 popular sizes, 226 purpose of, 226 results from use of, 228 Illustrations for booklets, 222 general use of, 36 good art work essential, 43, 44 half tones, 51 humorous, 44 line engravings, 52 making cuts for, 48, 53 Omega oil's experience with, 48 pretty girl pictures, 43 Rock of Gibraltar, 47 use of advertiser's portraits, 47 use of photography in making, 48 vignettes, 53 wash drawings, 52 why employed, 36, 37, 38 320 INDEX Layout, the, an advertiser's experi- ence with, 17 arrangement of, 17 how to prepare, 15, 16, 17 purposes of, 13 specimen of, 18 type and borders, 16 what it shows, 13 Letters, business getting, 195-207 enclosures in, 206 follow up, 203 form, how to prepare, 204 length of, 196, 198 postage on, 204, 205 reproduction processes, 195 Schulze's plan for, 199 signatures, 206 specimens of, 195, 203 suggestions about writing, 195, 199, 201 M Magazines, buying space in, 93, 94 circulation analysis of, 151 function of, 145 furnish a stable market, 146 help the dealer, 150 place in the home, 145 protect readers, 146 selection of for campaigns, 93 service departments of, 150 three classes of, 144 Magazine advertising, advantages of, 92, 145-149 life of, 151 physical advantages of, 149 reader confidence in, 146 results obtained from, 151 Mailing cards, description of, 191, 192 as aids to salesmen, 191 Mail order advertising, definition of, 188 mailing list, 189 Mail order advertising, mediums employed in, 188 principal object of, 192 users of, 189 Market, analysis of, 10 Mediums, lists of, 3 classes of, 3 selection of, 92 Merchandising service of news- papers, 257 of magazines, 150 Motion picture advertising, advan- tages of, 242, 243 campaigns, how handled, 246, 247 characteristics of, 245 construction of, 244 cost of, 248 examples of, 245 general appeal of, 241 sells goods in South America, 243 tracing results, 247 N National advertiser, problems of, 100-115 should help the dealer, 96 Newspapers, cost of, 132, 133 distribution of, 92 first American, 2 first English, 2 first printed, 2 how to determine worth of, 142, 143 Lawson's investment in, 141 preparing a list of, 93, 142 responsiveness of readers of, 142 Newspaper advertising, advantages of, 92, 132, 142 Douglas' tribute to, 138 flexibility of, 141 increases profits, 140 influence of on legislation, 134 Postum results from, 136 produces quick action, 133, 134, 136 INDEX 321 Newspaper advertising, promptness of reader response, 142 Red Cross' experience with, 141 timeliness of, 133 O Outdoor advertising, ancient ex- amples of, 165 three most popular forms of, 166 Outdoor signs, materials employed, 238 by whom used, 238 electrical, 176-177 Posters, advantages of, 169 by whom employed, 169 character of, 169 cost of posting, 171 cost of printing, 171 earliest users of, 166 mechanical details of, 170 popular with circuses, 166 Product, analysis of, 9 R Retail advertising, adapting copy to audience, 121 bringing people to the store, 116, 117, 118 card index helps in, 130 copy that pulls, 118, 119, 120 definition of, 116 interesting clerks in, 125 magazines in, 150 preparation for writing, 11, 12 size of territory, 116 what to avoid, 120, 124 window displays, 127 3 Sale, four elements of a, 276 closing a, 281-282 21 Salesmanship, definition of, 277 list of books on, 316 Special agent, duties of, 270 how paid, 269, 270 origin of, 269 represents newspapers, 269 represents the publisher, 271 Specialties, annual investment in, 233 as sales producers, 237 banks use of, 237 character of their appeal, 234 create good will, 235 how distributed, 238 list of, 236, 237, 239 National Association of Manu- facturers of, 233 psychology of, 234 should be useful, 234 sold by advertisers, 238 Street car advertising, advantages of, 179, 180 advertisers' experience with, 185 compels attention, 178 cost of, 183, 184 cost of car cards, 183 Dobb's tribute to, 185 making contracts for, 184 size of cards used in, 180 when to change cards, 183 Trade and class publications, agri- cultural press, 159 advantages of, 157 advertising revenue from, 156 appeal of religious papers, 162 buying power of farmers, 160, 161 selective character of, 156 when to use, 102 why they produce results, 157 Trade marks, benefit the dealer, 296 coined words in, 292 322 INDEX Trade marks, composition of, 287 Type, kinds used in advertising, 55 cost of registration, 294 leaded or solid, 69 definition of, 286 measurement of, 64 names to avoid, 291 point system of measurement, 64 pictorial, 290 sizes, how indicated, 63 registration of, 292 what it expresses, 62 registration of abroad, 294 words to square inch, 76 suggestions regarding, 292 symbol, 290 unregisterable, 295 Window displays, advantages of, uses of, 286, 287 127 well known, 288 electric light, 239 Truth in advertising, importance of, in retail advertising, 129 33, 34 mechanical devices, 239 how promoted by the A. A. C. Window envelopes, economy of, W., 35 205 Type, colors, 69 when to use, 205 THE tfNTVERSITY OF LOS ANGELES A 000 058 657 8