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ADWERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
A D V E R T IS IN G
SELLING THE CONSUMER
BY
JOHN LEE MAHIN
PUBLISHED BY
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
ITOR.
THE ASSOCIATED ADVERTISING CLUBS
OF THE WORLD
1914

Copyright, 1914, by
THE ASSOCIATED ADVERTISING CLUBS OF THE WORLD
All rights reserved, including that of
translation into foreign languages,
tncluding the Scandinavian
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE)
THE COMMERCIAL STATUS OF ADVERTISING 3
Business is becoming a world-dominating
science—Simplifies problem of production
and distribution—fathers products of
world and puts them in easy access to all
—Advertising creates conditions and hab-
its; produces demands by molding the
public mind—Incomes divide people into
groups—Biggest advertising successes,
articles of small retail value—Reaching
the right group the problem of space
buyers—Advertising must appeal to right
group—Finding the right group a funda-
mental problem—Manufacturer can cre-
ate buying groups by advertising—Adver-
tising makes possible small capital and
reduced selling cost—Group department
store advertising most productive—Adver-
tising not a material substance, but service
to a group.
2797} 4
vi CONTENTS-Continued
CHAPTER II
FAGE
How MARKETs BENEFIT BOTH CONSUMER AND
PRODUCER . . . . . . . . . . 16
The market based on the group—Pro-
fessional services enhanced by the group
—The group idea establishes banks—
Marketing a young man’s time—Price as
a marketing factor—Buyer not an expert
judge of intrinsic values—Disaster follows
price competition—Quality and service
competition beneficial—Salesman’s judg-
ment must be respected—Market control
a money-making occupation—Cash lubri-
cates the machinery of production and
distribution—Publicity will correct all
evils of market control—Consumers should
prefer goods bearing the producer's trade-
mark–Dangerous position of some manu-
facturers.
CHAPTER III
SALESMANSHIP Is SERVICE . . . . . . 28
Men succeed in the measure in which they can
induce others to accept their views—Sales-
manship entails permanent satisfaction
to the buyer and a profitable compen-
sation to seller—Advertising is organ-
ized salesmanship—Service dominant in
CONTENTS-Continued vii
PAGE
salesmanship—The successful salesman
sells merchandise plus merchandising ad-
vice and ideas—Advertising is service
salesmanship directed at a group.–Adver-
tising should create desires that benefit
the consumer—The responsibility of the
publisher to his subscribers—Censorship
of advertising a necessary service.
CHAPTER IV
ADVERTISING Is SELLING THE GROUP . . . 38
Men with ability to induce others to accept
their views, broaden their appeal to take in
a group—The group idea converts store-
keepers into merchants—Creates depart-
ment stores—Groups analyzed in detail—
One form composed of those who think
alike—Groups are essentially coöperative
organizations—Cities, fast trains, pub-
lications, are good examples—Luxuries,
conveniences, and education made avail-
able for all because of groups—Group
membership matter of volition—In reach-
ing groups advertising multiplies sales-
manship—All forms of advertising an
appeal to groups—Sensing the keynote
of group harmony brings success to
the salesman and writer of advertise-
ments.
viii CONTENTS-Continued
CHAPTER V
PAGE
THE TOOLS OF ADVERTISING . . . . . 48
Leave the detail to men whose special busi-
ness it is to work with type, art work,
engravings, printing, plates, etc.—Success-
ful illustrations must tell the story in less
space than could words—The idea must
usually be given the artist—Simple words
the best–Give the typesetting room
superintendent leeway in setting printed
matter—Building advertisements as much
of an art as building homes—How type is
used in printing newspapers and maga-
zines—The making of engravings and im-
portance of getting good ones—Making the
most of advertising space—Space buying
a job for a man of experience—How to get
good printing—The postage saving expert
a coming profession—Paper stocks and
printing inks.
CHAPTER VI
ADvTERTISING MEDIUMs . . . . . . . 59
The group spirit creates the advertising me-
dium—Some mediums have greater pres-
tige than others—How to analyze the value
of a medium—The service rendered by rep-
resentatives of mediums—One large group
CONTENTS-Continued ix
PAGE
compared with several smaller groups—
The different mediums used in advertising
—Newspapers the logical medium for lo-
cal stores and for satisfying immediate
needs—The importance as mediums of
fiction magazines, national weeklies, trade,
class, technical publications, and farm
papers—How to judge class publications.
CHAPTER VII
ADVERTISING MEDIUMs—CONTINUED . . . 68
Street-car advertising: its function, cost, and
how it is checked—The evolution of the
modern 24-sheet poster—Billposting ser-
vice as standardized in the United States—
Painted bulletins and their value com-
pared with walls. Electric signs, window
displays, store demonstrations, Sampling,
house-to-house canvassing—Form letters,
mailing cards, folders, printed matter used
to assist salesmen—Calendars and novel-
ties—Slides.
CHAPTER VIII
BUILDING AND TESTING AN ADVERTISEMENT. 78
What the copy writer should know—The
copy writer is an interpreter between ad-
vertiser and buying groups—Writing and
illustrating advertisements with a strong
X CONTENTS-Continued
- PAGE
group appeal a natural gift—Diagramming
the advertisement—Brevity not necessarily
good—Ten tests of an advertisement:
Is it institutional—is it natural—is it spe-
cific—is it timely—is it pertinent—is it
consistent—is it persistent—is it author-
itative—is it plausible—is it sincere?
CHAPTER IX
APPLICATION OF THE TEN TESTs . . . . 88
Application of the ten advertising tests made
to the retail advertisements of such prom-
inent institutions as John Wanamaker,
Philadelphia; Marshall Field & Co., Chi-
cago; B. Altman & Co., Rogers Peet
Co., New York; Filene Brothers, Boston;
Wm. Taylor & Sons, Cleveland—Comments
on national magazine advertising of East-
man Kodaks, Old Dutch Cleanser, Amer-
ican Telephone & Telegraph Co., Swift’s
Premium Hams, Hydraulic Pressed Brick,
National Lead, Quaker Oats, Ivory Soap,
Hart, Schaffner & Marx Clothes, Sears,
Roebuck & Co.—Application of ten tests
to White Rock Water electric sign.
CHAPTER X.
ADVERTISING AND SELLING THROUGH THE OR-
DINARY CHANNELS OF TRADE . . . . 107
CONTENTS-Continued xi
PAGE
The retailer and his function:The wholesaler
as an aid to the retailer—The exclusive
jobber plan—The jobber a distributor, not
a market creator—Selling the dealer direct
—The third middleman: agent, broker,
importer or exporter—Selling the consumer
direct through agents, representatives,
solicitors—Manufacturers who operate
chain stores—The mail-order house—The
middleman essential in almost all selling
Systems.
CHAPTER XI
RETAIL ADVERTISING—PREPARATION . . . 121
A stable labor market necessary to suc-
cessful retailing—Crime of contributory
idleness—The location within the locality
—Appreciation of mental and physical con-
ditions—Buying should be concentrated—
Comparative value of advertised and un-
advertised products—Exclusive agency—
National prestige and local reputation—
Analyze selling costs—Coöperate with
national advertising.
CHAPTER XII
RETAIL ADVERTISING—METHODS AND MEDIUMS 180
Attract favorable attention—Inside store
display essential—The chief improvement
xii CONTENTS-Continued
PAGE
in modern business is the change from a
personal to institutional business—Re-
tailer should be able to say no—The plan
more important than the medium—How
suburban retailers can cash in on the
manufacturers’ advertising—How the re-
tailer can remove doubts—Plan your work;
work your plan.
CHAPTER XIII
RETAIL ADVERTISING—MAKING GooD . . 139
Maintaining confidence increases the dealer’s
assets—Inviting the return of merchan-
dise increased profits—“Taking back”
goods the dealer did not sell—The power
of service—Price cutting benefits nobody
—Difference between intrinsic, real, and
commercial value—Will service become
too costly—Desire for luxury stimulates
industry—Service competition invites co-
operation—Advertising will bring needed
reforms—Stable conditions insure pros-
perity.
CHAPTER XIV
MAIL-ORDER ADVERTISING . . . . . . 151
Mail-order advertising logical and natural—
Over two billions worth of merchandise
CONTENTS-Continued xiii
PAGE
sold by mail, each year, in United States—
This only one fourteenth of whole business
—The wide-awake retailer need not fear
mail-order competition—The field that
the mail-order advertiser fills better than
any one else—Many nationally advertised
lines started in mail-order way—Choosing
the medium for mail-order advertising—
Advertising and follow up of mail-order
house of high quality—Must offset the
prestige and personal salesmanship of the
store on the ground—Every word must
be weighed in a mail-order advertisement—
Headings that changed inquiry costs from
$1.64 to 8 cents apiece—Getting the
names of possible buyers—Advertising to
focus attention of mail-order catalogues
already in circulation.
CHAPTER XV
NATIONAL ADVERTISING AND ExCLUSIVE DEAL-
ERS . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
A coöperative arrangement between high-
class manufacturers and high-class retailers
—The manufacturer contributes selling
helps, the retailer advertises locally and
pushes the sale–Drawing inquiries through
national advertising to refer to dealers—
How magazines are protecting dealers—
xiv CONTENTS-Continued
PAGE
Failure to handle advertised goods a
reflection on the dealer—The great variety
of selling helps furnished dealers by man-
ufacturers.
CHAPTER XVI
TRADEMARKS . . . . . . . . . . 170
Value to consumer—No valid reason for pur-
chase of untrademarked goods—Bargain
hunter assumes entire responsibility—
Sincere dealers in untrademarked goods
must come together with manufacturers
of trademarked products—Trademark
fixes responsibility and helps to stand-
ardize price, production and selling costs—
Backing up the trademark with adver-
tising. -
CHAPTER XVII
PRESTIGE-BUILDING ADVERTISING . . . . 178
The salesman’s part in establishing prestige
—Prestige not inherent, but the impression
conveyed—Constant reiteration driving
home the fact—Telling the prestige build-
ing story—Publicity without prestige; the
recoil—Advertising makes the goods live
up to the prestige gained—Building
prestige on a rise in price—The deciding
vote—A house of cards.
CONTENTS-Continued XV
CHAPTER XVIII
CoöPERATION BETwPEN SALESMEN AND AD-
VERTISING . . . . . . . . . 189
Salesmen, the closer; advertising the mis-
sionary—Creating the buying impulse—
Team work—Increased incomeforthesales-
man—Service to consumer—The stability
test of both advertising and salesmanship—
The salesman with a medieval mind—The
modern machinery of selling—Advertising
and selling should cost no more than selling
alone—Educating the retailer to coöperate
—Responsibility means coöperation.
CHAPTER XIX
PRICE MAINTENANCE. . . . . . . . 197
The business builder for the retailer—Makes
mail-order business possible—The field of
tremendous accomplishment—Getting the
“jump”—The supreme court and the
fixed price—Two effective ways of main-
taining price—Cut price plays havoc with
confidence—Plus service vs. cut price—
Persuasion vs. Coercion—Advertising, the
strongest ally of price maintenance.
CHAPTER XX
ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES . . . . . 206
Young men who want to get into the adver-
PAGE
xvi CONTENTS-Continued
PAGE
tising business must be cautioned that
advertising is a serious business, and that
a knowledge of it can be gained only by
hard work and close application—The
bigger opportunities in advertising are
its application to ordinary everyday busi-
ness life—The types of advertising men
include the publisher, the solicitor who must
sell, with his space, ways and means of
making it profitable, the advertising writer,
the space buyer and the printer, plate-
maker and typesetter who can become
real artists at their work—Big advertising
opportunities are open with the publishers
—Advertising courses in universities, and
things to be remembered in the quest of
advertising experience.
CHAPTER XXI
THE ADVERTISING MANAGER . . . . . 212
He should besynonymous with sales manager,
interpreting the sales policy both to the
salesmen and through printers’ ink—The
job is as big as the man who fills it—Four
epochs in every business career—The final
epoch commanding the coöperation of
men of big calibre—Business should be an
open book to the advertising manager—
The strong advertising manager must be
CONTENTS-Continued xvii
PAGE)
mature in development, and also to com-
mand coöperation and discriminate be-
tween the unessential things and the really
big things.
CHAPTER XXII
THE ADVERTISING SOLICITOR . . . . . 225
The first attempt at soliciting—Advertising
can harm as well as help-A solicitor must
sell service—Study the customer’s propo-
sition, his market, and show how you are
ready to serve him—Things to avoid in
talking with prospect—Soliciting, a serious
job—Building confidence—Know your me-
dium like a book—The value of definite
statements—“Plan your work and work
your plan”—Connect with a good house.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE ADVERTISING AGENCY . . . . . . 237
The business of soliciting, preparing, placing,
checking, and paying for all the advertising
space entails an infinite amount of detail.
To handle this work the agency was de-
veloped—The history of the agency from
the days of split commission and special
rates to the present-day agents of four
types—The agent who sells service to the
customer, the highest type—He gets his
xviii CONTENTS-Continued
PAGE
compensation as a retainer fee plus a
service charge for work actually handled—
The four definite functions of high-class
agency service are: 1, Counsel on me-
diums; 2, Purchase of space; 3, Copy
Building; 4, Sales Coöperation—The ad-
vertising agency should be a trustee of the
customer's money and advertiser should
have constant access to the books.
CHAPTER XXIV
ACCOUNTING . . . . . . . . . . 248
The Accounting System should provide a
ready basis for advertising deductions—
Proper distribution of overhead expense,
—How to change the advertising—The ex-
ecutive should be able to find out at a
minute’s notice anything he wants to know
—Keying mail-order advertisements—
Good accounting an asset in negotiating
loans or receiving favors from banks—The
relation of advertising to good-will—How
much should be spent in advertising—
Successful advertising defined.
APPENDIX . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
INTRODUCTION
Early in the spring of 1910, Dr. Willard R.
Hotchkiss asked me to take an evening class in
advertising at the School of Commerce which North-
western University had just established.
In a general way, I grouped the subject matter
under ten heads, one of which was covered each
week in a preliminary talk. This was supplemented
by an informal discussion—my answers to questions
put by the students.
The chapters which follow are based upon notes
made at these classroom talks, and from lectures
delivered before the Universities of Chicago, Wis-
consin, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, and Washing-
ton.
Advertising as a means of influencing human
beings through groups presents its most interesting
characteristics.
It is by comprehending the group spirit and
working in harmony with it that the greatest achieve-
ments in advertising have been made.
If this book shall serve truthfully and adequately
to introduce the reader to a profession which is
fascinating, constructive, and growing, it will have
fulfilled its purpose.
JoHN LEE MAHIN.
Chicago, Illinois,
February 26, 1914.
ADWERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
CHAPTER I
THE COMMERCIAL STATUS OF ADVERTISING
HIS is the age of advertising. Within the
T memory of older men the ambitious youth
was urged to enter the church or the army,
to study law or the sciences. Now business is gen-
erally recognized as a world-dominating science. It
is becoming more and more intricate and complex,
and constantly calls for a higher grade of intelligence.
In its elemental form, commerce is little more than
the hewing of wood and the drawing of water, and
trading in the simple things necessary to sustain a
low order of physical life. It is only when it comes
to grappling with our enormous wheat, corn, and
cotton crops and the products of our mines and fac-
tories that it begins to demand and give substantial
rewards for brain power which can organize equip-
ment, devise ways and means, and execute.
In its crude state war does not call forth our admi-
ration. When it means butchery, it is hideous. It
is only tolerable when it is the expression of the un-
divided will—the group spirit—of a nation. When
it is determined and reverent resistance to wrong, it
is grand. In war the master-mind is an incarnation
3
4 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
of the national group spirit and the expression of its
purpose. Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Washington,
and Grant understood the laws which hold human
beings together in groups.
They knew how to present their ideas to these
groups—that made them leaders. They got and
held the confidence of the nation and of the
* army. They shifted soldiers about as an
tº ºp expert chess-player moves his mimic war-
#, riors; they won and have held the admira-
*:::: * tion of mankind because their achievements
give them clear title to it.
So, too, with the master-minds of commerce.
The problems of production and distribution, the
elimination of waste and famine, the gathering of
the products of the world, and putting them where
they are accessible to all—these problems call for
brain power.
But to the mind that has creative ability, com-
merce, Satisfied with ordinary profit and passively
Commerce awaiting the dictum of the capricious taste
Supplies of mankind, still falls far short of the ideal.
º; Having gathered the products of industry,
ing Creates commerce changes their form and character,
Dema © º © cº e
fashions them into articles specially suited
for the higher needs of men and women. Then,
by arousing interest, creating desire, educating taste,
stimulating appetite, and developing new wants, ad-
vertising makes a stable market for them. -
The standard of living has been raised by this
COMMERCIAL STATUS OF ADVERTISING 5
process until it includes as necessities articles the
need of which was unknown to the grandparents of
the present generation.
In doing this, commerce has had the help of a
power which the trader did not possess. Its skill,
thought, resource, and judgment, virile energy, large-
ness of vision and equipment, when combined with
the creative force which accomplishes things, is called
advertising.
In giving orders to manufacturers for six months
or a year in advance, the merchant who does not
advertise makes a shrewd guess at what the public is
going to want. He deals with conditions as he finds
them.
Advertising creates conditions. It establishes
stable business conditions, and upon them attains
Adºni, its highest development. It can solve all
ing Holds sorts of commercial problems, because it
pºlic knows how to influence human minds in
* groups. It will produce active desire where
none existed, or at least only a latent variety. By
suggestion, advertising can create among people well-
defined habits which the alert commercial mind takes
advantage of in building and fostering a business.
There are people who think that the display of
words and pictures in newspapers is advertising.
Such individuals would probably call him a merchant
who mechanically hands a cake of soap to a customer.
But advertising is not merely spending money for
magazine, newspaper, street-car, and outdoor space.
6 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
It is the accomplishment of definite purposes—by
molding the minds of groups of people.
Two sharp distinctions must be made when we at-
tempt to decide whether or not an article may be
m, a profitably advertised. Because purchased
Decide in large quantities and then manufactured
.*.*. (i. e., so changed in form that the identity
*†. and knowledge of the source of supply of the
Profitably component parts is lost), raw materials can-
* not be advertisedasprofitably,at a large out-
lay, as can articles of Smallretail value Soldin packages
and capable of being used by almost every family.
Raw materials are usually bought by experts who
have explored the market carefully. All that adver-
tising can do here is to teach how the goods can be
utilized to the profit of the purchaser, thereby in-
creasing the demand; or, by constantly demonstrating
the superior quality of the merchandise, either get a
preference, at the same price, over competing goods,
or a slight increase in profit. In selling such goods,
the number of possible customers is known, and the
personality of a competent salesman is usually the
best form of advertising for them.
There are salesmen, however, and people who are
called salesmen. The man who directs a large busi-
ness in accordance with certain definite principles
should see to it that his customers get the benefit of
them. Some form of regular communication is
recommended, in the form of printed matter, between
the moving spirit of an organization and the cus-
COMMERCIAL STATUS OF ADVERTISING 7
tomer. The salesman should close sales; the mission-
ary work usually can be done best with printers’ ink.
It is in making known and selling articles of
everyday use to the average family—the small-
Incomes est of the groups—that modern methods
#: of advertising have been most successful.
into An able statistician claims that of the
** 20,689,000 families in the United States,
but 6.8 per cent. have incomes exceeding $3,000
a year.” This figure includes both the proceeds
of invested capital and the earnings of the entire
family. When we consider how many articles can
be bought only by families having an income of
$3,000, and that only 6.8 per cent. of the population
are possible purchasers, the problem of the advertiser
is to spend his appropriation so that it will reach as
nearly as possible only the class to which his goods
will appeal. In such case, a class magazine of na-
tional circulation might have been less waste circula-
tion than a local paper.
The statistician referred to claims that 27.8 per
cent. of the total number of American families live
Biggest 9” less than $400 a year; and that 46.3 per
Advertising cent. live on less than $600 a year.” It is
º: plain, therefore, that an article which sells as
.# freely to the family of small means as it does
Retail to the well-to-do is in less danger of being
* exploited in publications where there would
be waste. It may also explain why the biggest
* “Mahin Advertising Data Book,” 1913-14, p. 413.
8 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
advertising successes have been articles of small retail
value which are within reach of the masses. ..
Desire to own an automobile may be implanted in
the mind of a man whose annual income is less than
$400. But it is not probable that, as far as this in-
dividual is concerned, the advertising which created
that desire will be profitable for the advertiser. On
the other hand, advertising a rag-carpet loom brings
good returns in a publication read by people of Small
incomes, but might never get an inquiry from the
readers of such magazines as World’s Work, Harper’s,
The Century, and Scribner’s.
There are 22,141 publications” in the United States,
58,000 street cars, and millions of square feet of bill-
boards and dead walls. The man who can
Reaching e
the Right afford to advertise has plenty of opportu-
“gºº nities to discriminate. Much training for
%;" space buying is desirable, if Satisfactory re-
sults are to be had.
Too frequently advertising is viewed superficially.
Very few advertising men have gone deeper into
their own business than to note certain phenomena
and assert that history will repeat itself. An analy-
sis of conditions and the forces which have brought
them about is seldom attempted. Such men are gam-
blers in every sense of the word. They speak of ad-
vertising effort as “playing the game.”
Few publishers understand the value of the adver-
tising space they produce. Too many regard it as
*“Mahin Advertising Data Book,” 1913-14, p. 427.
COMMERCIAL STATUS OF ADVERTISING 9
merchandise to be sold to whomsoever comes at
whatever price the market will permit. Some will
make a fixed price and let the matter rest there.
A very few study out the service possibilities of the
space, and by systematic effort develop and maintain
an advertising constituency in such harmony with
the group creating and conserving characteristics
of publications that advertisements become of value
to the readers because they are adapted to their
tastes, requirements, and conditions.
Advertising does not consist merely in attracting
attention. It must get the attention of the right
Advertising kind of people in a way which will produce
Musi Air Sales for the article advertised. All possible
** knowledge of the human mind, its myste-
Buying rious and subtle manifestations, the influence
oup e tº
of affirmation, argument, color, suggestion,
or an appeal to the imagination and sentiments,
must enter into the deliberations of the man who
plans and executes an advertising campaign.
In spite of the prevalence of mistaken ideas about
advertising and its true functions, about $616,000,000
is spent for advertising each year. (“Selling Forces,”
Curtis Publishing Company, 1913, page 40.) Much
of it is intelligently spent. The men who have made
a success of advertising do not think it a matter
of luck; they know that its powers are subject to
certain laws. Illustration, words, and space, and
the cost of them, while weighed and considered, have
been subordinated to the main purpose of producing
10 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CUNSUMER.
a mental impression. The place of advertising in
modern business is secure. Our merchant princes
and captains of industry and distribution cannot get
along without it, because advertising is to the selling
of goods what modern machinery is to their manu-
facture. -
There is a fine distinction between the effect of
advertising on the final purchaser and upon the inter-
mediate handler of the product. The man
The Dealer e e
Not a who buys a hat to wear is not at all in the
* position of the man who buys it to sell
again. The latter is the dealer. Strange as it may
seem, the most common mistake manufacturers make
is that of regarding the dealer as a consumer.
The dealer buys a hat to make a profit in selling it
again. Two considerations appeal to him—price
and a quality for which he can establish a permanent
trade. Style is valuable to him only as it is valued
by the man who buys from him. Shape, color, and
trimmings are not in any sense a matter of the deal-
er’s individual taste—if his customers have definite
ideas on these subjects themselves.
The man who buys a hat to wear may think he is
buying it because he has to. The habit of wearing hats
. . is evidence of skilful advertising years ago.
Advertising *
c.” An independent man would wear a hood,
*...* or a scarf; or let his hair grow, and do with-
out a hat. But other men have decided
what he is to wear. He may exercise some selec-
tion as far as color, shape, and style are concerned;
COMMERCIAL STATUS OF ADVERTISING 11
but it is confined to what is placed before him. He
may buy a broad-brimmed, soft hat, because he ad-
mires a certain ex-president who wears one; he may
buy a hat to please a woman; or he may select one
which ministers to his own vanity. In any case,
his selection depends upon something which an-
other has forced on his mind, and it is with the
study, comprehension, and utilization of the things
which cause such impressions that the manufacturer
of hats should concern himself as soon as he has mas-
tered the mechanical problems of his factory.
Advertising gives a manufacturer power to pro-
duce trade for the thing he is best equipped to
make. It eliminates competition. It creates, forces,
persuades, builds. It makes things happen. It is so
many-sided that it deserves the attention of each de-
partment of every business organization. Advertis-
ing produces desire; gratified desire produces habit;
and habit produces business. .
It does more. It makes sales. The brainy sales-
man gets a larger field for usefulness and more pay
when he coöperates with advertising, and while
Advertising making more money for himself reduces the
iſ.” cost of selling which includes both personal
*ś” salesmanship and advertising.
Capital The man who advertises gets along on less
º: capital and saves on interest charges. That
sº is because a business which advertises is pro-
duced more by creating business conditions,
instead of by adapting its affairs entirely to them.
12 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
Collections can be closer, for advertising puts the pur-
chaser in the position of Seeking the goods.
Retailers find that advertising brings purchasers
to the store earlier in the day than they would
otherwise come. Rent, clerk hire, insurance, all
the fixed expenses of a business, must be met before
the profits are counted. A store which is rushed with
customers from eleven until five has but six hours of
business. Advertising bargains and special sales bring
customers two and sometimes threehours earlier, with-
out increasing the fixed expense for these hours.
Advertising has educational value also. It teaches
people, before they come to the store, what they want
to buy. Part of their shopping is done before they
leave home.
One salesman is able to wait on more customers,
thus lowering the selling cost per customer.
Many stores have acquired the confidence of large
groups of people in their newspaper announcements.
The taste of these regular customers is molded to a
considerable degree, and the buyers for the store can
get lower prices because they can place larger orders,
for they know that the advertising of the house will
create a demand for the large purchases they
Group
Department have made. tº
Store. The advertising manager of a large retail
Advertising
gº iſºft store, if he be shrewd, will separate his trade
Pº into several groups and influence each by
advertising. A certain number want high
class and exclusiveness; another class spends its sur-
COMMERCIAL STATUS OF ADVERTISING 13
plus cash for bargains, no matter what they are.
He finds a best method for reaching each group.
This plan makes it possible for him to counteract
the errors of a too sanguine buyer and to take ad-
vantage of a manufacturer's mistakes in judgment in
over-producing.
Advertising is not material substance. It is ser-
vice. The true advertiser and the advertising man
never forget that space is less important
*...*.* than service. Ideas are paramount. The
#tº: purpose of an advertisement should be clear
bºse, and definite. It must be kept in mind
º constantly during the planning and execu-
tion of the details by which it is to be
effected. Space, type, words, and pictures are merely
tools which the master workman uses in expressing
an idea. The finished work of an advertiser is not
a material substance which can be seen with eyes and
touched with hands, but a definite, positive impres-
sion in the minds of possible buyers which is reflected
in the voluntary purchase of the goods which the ad-
vertiser wishes to sell.
REFERENCES FOR CFIAPTER I
“Modern Advertising,” 1905 (D. Appleton & Com-
pany, New York), by Calkins and Halden, contains
much illuminating historical matter, and was up to
date in every particular when it was printed. The
advance in the advertising business within nine
years can be measured by reading it carefully.
14 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
“Advertising as a Business Force,” 1913 (Double-
day, Page & Company, Garden City, N. Y.), is an
up-to-the-minute review and compilation by Paul
Terry Cherington, instructor in commercial organiza-
tion in the Graduate School of Business Administra-
tion, Harvard University. It deserves careful study
because it shows how present-day advertising im-
presses a thoughtful onlooker. .
“The Science of Advertising,” 1910 (Duffield &
Company, New York), by Edwin Balmer, with the
counsel of Thomas Balmer, is a book of illuminating
analysis based on concrete experiences and estab-
lished principles. It is both informative and thought
stimulating.
“The Library of Advertising,” seven volumes,
1911 (Cree Publishing Company, Chicago), compiled
by A. P. Johnson, presents the views of sixty-four
men who have made good in the various phases of
advertising. As a whole, the books contain much
valuable information, and will give the student food
for thought for some time if he attempts to reconcile
conflicting opinions.
A well-equipped advertising library would contain
all the issues of Printers' Ink (weekly), Advertising
and Selling (monthly), the Mail Order Journal
(monthly), and Standard Advertising (monthly).
These publications must be read regularly, if one is
to keep up to date. They cover the field admirably.
Several publications put out by special interests
contain much that is interesting and valuable.
COMMERCIAL STATUS OF ADVERTISING 15
The statistics quoted in this chapter and elsewhere
in this book, unless otherwise noted, are from the
1913–1914 edition of the “Mahin Advertising Data
Book.”
CHAPTER II
HOW MARKETS BENEFIT BOTH CONSUMER AND PRO-
DUCER
GRAPHIC demonstration of the value of
markets is given any man who hunts big
game in the Canadian wilds. His whole labor
is required to transport a few miles a day himself
and the supplies he brings in with him. There are no
mills or factories where he can market his labor for
money with which he can secure transportation at
2 cents a mile on steam railroads, or 5 cents for as
many as eight miles on street cars, which are markets
where transportation is offered for sale. Nor are
there stores to supply clothing, nor are there hotels
which market shelter and food. He has his physical
strength and his brain in the woods, but he can
scarcely command sustenance with them. A day’s
labor commands a greater variety and abundance
of comforts and luxuries the nearer it is performed
to highly developed markets.
The Mar- * º
i.e., fººd. It is no uncommon experience for a man
º to find food products selling at the same
price in the section where they are pro-
duced as on South Water Street in Chicago. This
16
BENEFIT CONSUMER AND PRODUCER 17
is because South Water Street is a highly developed
and specialized market, and fruits and vegetables
flow to it as naturally as the magnetic needle points
to the North Pole.
A market is nothing more or less than a group of
purchasers regularly seeking the same type of goods.
Mere possession of merchandise does not create
a market. There must be a group of people of similar
tastes, habits, and purchasing power associated with
the accumulation and display of merchandise to make
the market a possibility.
The numerical strength of the group is also a most
important factor in the service that the market
renders to the individuals comprising it.
This argument can be developed safely in deter-
mining the value of professional services.
A lawyer, physician, or architect may have un-
surpassed ability, knowledge, and training, but with-
professionaout a group of people to appreciate and pay
Services, for his work, his capacity for service benefits
Enhance e *
by the neither himself nor any one else. He must
* find a market for what he can deliver—a
group of people who think alike to the extent
in which they appreciate and value his work and
possess the means to purchase it from him. The
larger the number in the group he serves the more
expert he becomes, and the more he can charge for
his services without contracting his own market to a
point where his full output in time and energy is not
entirely taken.
18 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
A bank is a market that sells the use of money.
It does not sell money itself, but merely the service
rendered by having it to use. It buys the
The Group 9 e
Tº use of other people's money by acting as
*...* custodian of it, or in some cases by paying
in addition thereto a smaller rent for the
money of its depositors than it charges its borrowers
for the same money.
The larger the groups of depositors and borrowers
the larger is the market, which the bank really is.
Again, we find depositors that think alike in possess-
ing confidence in the bank as a buyer of the use of
their money, and a group of borrowers who think
alike in preferring to rent the money they desire from
a particular bank.
The market for a young man’s service is larger
in direct proportion to the number of employers
who know he possesses the qualities they esteem
Marketing in an employee. His ability to profit by
... his market is the measure of his ability to
%; think accurately and by will power make
his thoughts control his actions. Even if
there are many other young men competing in his
market, unless the number greatly exceeds the
demand, and he concedes equality by joining a labor
union or admitting the buyer's estimate of his value
as being better than his own, he can command a
premium over others who apparently can perform
all the work he is capable of doing.
It is this quality in getting others to accept one's
BENEFIT CONSUMER AND PRODUCER 19
own estimate of value that is called Salesmanship.
It differentiates the highly successful from the or-
dinary and mediocre. It is the only power the in-
dividual has to develop any degree of influence
approaching to control in his own market.
When we view the manufacturer catering to an
established market we find that price exercises a
Prº great influence. Price is not a measure of
rvce as a . º tº tº © tº gº
Marketing intrinsic value, but it is a decisive factor
* in the buyer's mind who has the choice of
two products apparently of equal merit.
The wonderful economies in production due to the
development of the factory system has made price
an important factor in the control of markets, but
price cannot affect the buyer's mind to prefer one
article to another unless there is also the thought
of equal quality associated with it.
It is an old saying that a woman’s favors are
worth the price she puts on them, and we have too
many instances of most consumers being
The Buyer . ©
Notº, wholly ignorant of values based on cost of
jº, production to make price a determining
Intrinsic factor unless the thought of equal quality
Values . e tº e * tº
is associated with it.
No consumer buys on the basis of intrinsic value.
Sentiment, rather than logic, is the impulse in most
sales of articles to the consumer. It is right that
this should be so because satisfaction itself is a senti-
ment. The measure of value in all commercial trans-
actions is the satisfaction to the buyer.
20 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER,
If a woman wants an exact duplicate of the sewing
machine her mother used twenty-five years ago, she
will be much better satisfied with it than one em-
bodying all the latest improvements, unless these
changes have been told to her. No matter how
much better intrinsically the new machine is, the
daughter must be persuaded that her mother would
have preferred the modern machine to the original
if she could have secured it at that time.
The wise salesman says less about the mechanical
features as such and more about how much the new
machine would have saved her mother’s work if she
had possessed it in her day. This makes the present-
day purchase satisfactory and valuable to the buyer
because it is satisfactory.
The purchasing power of everybody’s dollar has
been enormously increased by manufacturers com-
Disaster peting with each. other on a price basis.
fji. But price competition without responsibil-
C £º...ity to the consumer on the maker’s part is
ompetition "...
disastrous to both.
Price competition as a factor to control the market
with full responsibility to the consumer will always
be self-respecting on the part of the manufacturer,
and will always be true service to the consumer.
But price competition where one manufacturer
lets another make his prices for him, and he meets
this condition by cheapening the quality, destroys
the manufacturer’s self-respect and positively in-
jures the consumer. He greatly increases the cost
BENEFIT CONSUMER AND PRODUCER. 21
of service to the consumer. This is always done
where merchandise is put out that does not come
up to a quality standard.
There are no business men who defend competition
based on price alone as being advantageous either to
consumer or producer. The whole idea of a market is
destroyed unless producer and consumer are benefited.
The competition on quality and on service enlarges
the scope of the market and benefits both consumer
... and producer. Competition on quality and
Quality e tº ge Q g
aſſis ºceservice are impossible without salesmanship.
ºf N o salesman is required to move goods on
a price basis, but expert salesmen are needed
to educate the consumer to an appreciation of quality,
and expert salesmen are equally necessary to develop
and maintain service.
It is the introduction of salesmanship into markets
that has greatly broadened their scope and has given
to those who employed it the greatest degree of in-
fluence. Hence it has almost become an axiom
that the man who can make sales in the market
is a much more important factor than the manufac-
turer who supplies the goods.
No salesman can be worthy of the name unless
there is a group of satisfied customers who will accept
The sales his judgment rather than their own.
man’s The organizing and maintaining of this
Judgment *
Must be group constitute the whole value of the
** salesman, and as such he has a much better
position in the market than the producer who either
22 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
must take any price offered or employ the services
of a salesman. The ideal condition for the producer
is to develop within himself the quality of getting
and holding a group of buyers to whom his name is
a guarantee of satisfaction.
The men who influence or control the market are
the men who individually profit most by contact
with it.
For instance, the Chicago Board of Trade and
the New York Stock Exchange are highly developed
Marka, markets for the employment of the public's
Cºntrol a savings. The men who manipulate are the
Money-
making real money-makers. They take toll from the
** farmer and the maker of securities. They
charge the buyer for the privilege of buying. Yet
these men unquestionably render a great service to
the general public.
A market without control will reflect caprice, fear,
and overconfidence at various times. These are all
factors that retard rather than develop real service
to producer and consumer.
Some years ago a prominent speculator on the
Chicago Board of Trade raised the price of wheat.
He had seen it being shipped out of the United States
when he was sure in a few months it would be needed
here to prevent a famine. His purchases arrested
exports. As it was, he caught wheat which had been
grown in Kansas later going East. Eventually it
was shipped back to Kansas to supply flour mills
operating in that State. Had he not taken control of
BENEFIT CONSUMER AND PRODUCER 23
the market, it would have been shipped abroad, and
all the unnecessary labor of transporting it back
again, to say nothing of the abnormally high prices
for flour that must have followed, would have pre-
vailed.
A ready market yielding cash to any farmer in-
creases his purchasing power. It makes his day’s
Cash work command more for him than if he
Iajºus had to trade off his produce to the con-
the
Machinery sumer who did not have cash, but only
"...ºf the product of his own unsupervised labor,
Distribution to pay for it.
Market control can injure as well as benefit, but
in this case the man holding power abuses the con-
fidence reposed in him, and must ultimately fail.
Control is better than chaos, and most leaders rec-
ognize that confidence of the group is necessary to
maintain their position.
A bad man anywhere—in the pulpit, on the bench,
in Congress, or in business—does harm, but markets
and the control of markets by men who may have
no other purpose than making money benefit the
public. Men who exercise power must be made to
accept responsibility for their acts, and publicity will
... insure this being done.
Publicity e dº
fyiii Cº. We fail to appreciate how dependent upon
£: each other are producers and consumers be-
#.º: cause ourmarkets are solarge. The processes
of distribution are so involved that consumer
and producer seldom come in personal contact.
24 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
There is no doubt that the middleman—the man
who influences and often controls the market—in
many cases takes more than his service is worth.
That is one of the reasons why I wrote this book, as I
am going to show how much of this can be remedied.
First, the producer should feel his responsibility
to the consumer, and he can never do this if he con-
siders nothing but price.
The Welch Grape Juice Company paid $10 per
ton for grapes in 1897, and $35 in 1914. They paid
this increase to get better grapes produced, so they
could make Welch’s Grape Juice realize the highest
possible standard of quality.
I know lands in Iowa that have multiplied in value
because farmers were shown how to cultivate cucum-
bers in a way that increased their value, for which the
H.J. Heinz Co.gladly paid the higher price because they
could give the consumer a better standard of quality.
At the Chicago Stock Yards Armour & Company
paid in 1914 nearly three times as much for live cattle
as they did twenty-five years before. The railroads
and the packers themselves operate on Smaller mar-
gins. The farmer got the increased price. Volume
explains the increased earnings in making
sº internal economies possible.
i. Good. The feeling of responsibility prompts a
earing the ſº º
Producer's producer to lend his name to his goods be-
º cause it protects the consumer. The loyal
groups of consumers created in this way con-
stitute the finest markets in the world, because
BENEFIT CONSUMER AND PRODUCER. 25
they are controlled by the producer who created
them.
Every manufacturer can measure what markets
cost him by subtracting what he receives for his
goods from the price the consumer pays for them.
The underwear manufacturer who gets $7 a dozen
for his suits pays $5 to the men who control the
market if the consumer pays $12 for them. It is
possible that without raising the price to the con-
sumer the manufacturer could exercise control in the
market himself by directing how the $5 should be
spent, and give increased benefits to consumer and
himself and also to the distributor who will coöperate
in a more economical plan of distribution.
When a manufacturer finds that he has no con-
trol in the market in which his goods are distributed,
The he is in a dangerous position, and he certainly
Pangerous. ought to look into what salesmanship and
Position of tº 9 ſº e
Some Man advertising could do for him as well as his
• * real customers—the consumers.
The consumer should and will through proper ad-
vertising welcome all efforts of producers to accept
responsibility for the quality of goods and the service
the consumer buys.
As I will show in later chapters, I do not advocate
any radical change in market conditions, but I do
know and am sure I will prove that a distributor
serves himself and all with whom he comes in contact
when he concentrates on distributing. And a manu-
facturer who fails to accept responsibility and to let
26 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
the consumer of goods know that he does accept
responsibility leaves an opening for usurpers to
manipulate market conditions to the detriment of
producer, distributor, and consumer.
There is no doubt that the consumer and producer
are greatly benefited by our system of markets. Yet
no student of economics can fail to see that parasites
exist in large numbers, and many methods are anti-
quated and much improvement could be made.
How Salesmanship and Advertising (which is Sell-
ing organized to influence Groups) will accomplish
these beneficial changes will be detailed in the follow-
ing chapters.
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER II
Louis D. Brandeis, arguing in 1901-1911 before
the Interstate Commerce Commission against an in-
crease in railroad rates, claimed the railroads could
increase profits by cutting out useless motions. His
book “Other People’s Money” (Frederick A. Stokes
Company, New York, 1914), is one of the most in-
teresting studies of leadership in the creation and
manipulation of groups in American business life
during the past twenty years. Few readers without
further investigation will accept at par all that Mr.
Brandeis says. Yet his advent into public life, and
the place he occupies, is worthy of attention by all
students of publicity. His optimism is refreshing.
He believes in the people, in their good judgment
when the facts are placed before them, and in their
BENEFIT CONSUMER AND PRODUCER. 27
capacity for proper action when the reasons are im-
pressed upon them. He expects new leaders to
appear on the scene and by an appeal to the group
spirit accomplish great things for the people as a
whole. He affirms that power to dominate the group
in America can be retained only as long as the in-
dividual members truly profit thereby.
Here is a characteristic summing up of his views
on the value of markets and the effect of publicity
upon them:
“Every great distributor of merchandise knows the
obstacles which he had to overcome before success was
attained; and the large sums that had to be invested
in opening and preparing a market. Individual
concerns have spent millions in wise publicity, and
have ultimately reaped immense profits when the
market was won. Cities must take their lessons
from these great distributors. Cities must be ready
to study the problem and to spend prudently for
proper publicity work.”
Van Antwerp’s “Stock Exchange from Within”
(Doubleday, Page & Co.) gives a complete explana-
tion as to the way the control of the Stock Exchange
market works toward stability and public advantage.
CHAPTER III
SALESMANSHIP IS SERVICE
O EVERY human being comes the opportu-
T nity and the responsibility for salesmanship.
None of us can achieve success without the
coöperation of others.
The successful parent does not say to his child,
“Never do that again!” with the added inference,
“because I say that you must not.” Instead, the
wise father tells his ideas and ideals to his child,
thereby getting intelligent and enthusiastic coöpera-
tion from him.
That man will be a failure surely who will not make
the effort necessary to get others to accept his views
Men Suc- about matters on which he needs their help.
ceed as None of us can be absolutely independent.
*:::/4" To be able to get others to accept your
Able to . tº &
†: ideas about something which benefits you
º (and fair play demands that you share this
£heir benefit with them) is the essence of sales-
Views e
manship.
Ability and ability to sell it = success. Salesman-
ship is the power of persuading others to accept you
at your own estimate, the estimate upon which you
28
SALESMANSHIP IS SERVICE 29
can continue to “make good.” This is as precise a
definition of salesmanship as I am able to frame. As
applied to merchandise, it needs only a change of
terms, not of essence.
Salesmanship is persuading your man to buy what
you have to sell at a price which means permanent
satisfaction to him and a profitable compensation for
you.
Advertising is organized salesmanship. As the
modern shoe factory has supplanted the cobbler,
. . so the use of words, pictures, type, printing
Advertising g 5 • sº
i.º.º. plates, paper, and printers’ ink have given
*:; to salesmanship an impetus, a Scope, and a
dominion which it could never have had
otherwise.
Any one who has the selling instinct and a reason-
able amount of experience can increase the value of
his own service and that of the goods he handles
by just the amount of time, thought, and energy
which he puts into selling them.
To many men the word “selling” means un-
necessary inflation of prices, an added tax upon the
The Moº consumer, and taking advantage of the
Successful ignorance of buyers. The trend of modern
sº sales development, however, is to give to
%. º the buyer more and more actual service.
the Most The only salesman who may feel safely
* entrenched is the one who makes sure that
everything he does counts in service to the con-
Sumer. By adapting his merchandise to the needs of
30 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
his trade, he can easily build for himself a substantial
following. If he will study their individuality, he
can influence the mental attitude of the prospective
purchasers with regard to the articles which make
up his employer’s stock. Unless he can do this, un-
less he can create for himself a clientele which will
come back to him again and again, his employer can-
not afford to keep him.
Obviously the state of mind of the purchaser is a
weighty factor in determining the value of the article
he buys. For example—the intrinsic worth of mil-
linery does not change at all from year to year; but
its value fluctuates constantly, because fashion,
which is the mental attitude of the buying group,
changes.
A certain salesman sells you a hat, a suit of clothes,
or a piece of furniture in such a way that it affords
you a great deal more satisfaction than
#'... would the same article bought from another
Salesman salesman. Some who pretend to be sales-
4ff.;; men lose sales because they do not know
#. how to present to the prospective purchaser
Noi End the merits of their wares. The intelligent
*...* salesman knows that we all buy things be-
cause the possession of them gives us a
definite kind of satisfaction; he knows, too, that lack-
ing a convinced state of mind with reference to the
article purchased there can be no satisfaction.
The salesman’s opportunity to give the customer
actual service becomes more apparent when we con-
SALESMANSHIP IS SERVICE 31
sider the selling of a kitchen range, a sewing machine,
or an automobile. Here he has a chance to demon-
strate to the prospective purchaser that the
The construction and method of operation of the
Service * g e tº
Thai Mer-range, sewing machine, or automobile will
*:::: * give him economical and adequate service.
tractive In the last analysis, the man who buys an
Than the ©
Gºd," automobile buys so many hours of pleasur-
able transportation, or so many miles of
dependable locomotion. It is certain that the sales-
man who acquaints the buyer with all those points
which enable him to use his automobile to the
best advantage increases its life and materially de-
creases the cost per hour or per mile of the service
he gets. -
The traveling salesman who calls on dealers eventu-
ally becomes a competent counsellor on merchandis-
Mºhan ing, financing, and trade-building. One sees
dise Plus, why a dealer might pay such a man more
Advice and &
jºi... for merchandise than he would pay else-
#; where, and still be better off both in the
chandise matter of aggregate sales and profits, and
* more permanent business.
The salesman has made himself indispensable who
knows he earns, in positive service to the buyer,
every cent he receives from his employer. He will
never be laid of. Every salesman who aspires to
be something more than a necessary link between
buyer and seller must realize that his salary and
expenses are included in every sale he makes, and
32 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
that he is either a burden or a benefit to the con-
SUIDO €T.
The clerk who renders the buyer definite service,
and has this clearly in mind has taken the first step
toward something better. Once the elements of his
own service to the buyer are clearly outlined, he is
fired with ambition to do just such work for more
buyers, more than he can wait upon personally. This
means that he soon needs assistants to whom he may
delegate a share of his duties.
To such men advertising appeals. They see its
relationship to modern business methods.
e e Advertising is systematized selling. Pro-
Advertising º ſº ©
is seriº spective purchasers are influenced in a whole-
sº sale group. They may not be aware that
rected at a they are being reached and influenced in
** a wholesale way and that the force which is
changing their mental attitude is accomplishing simi-
lar results with many others at the same time. In
fact, the chances are, if the advertising has been prop-
erly planned, that each individual will think he has
been singled out for special attention; or, better
still, that he has, without outside suggestion, made up
... his mind to do this certain thing.
*ś" The best salesman uses suggestion in his
Çregte work. He strives to leave with the pur-
Desires © tº º
Thai Bene-chaser the impression that the article has
cº , been bought voluntarily, rather than that
he has been persuaded to buy. He uses
advertising in the same way. He values his self-
SALESMANSHIP IS SERVICE 33
respect (the one complete satisfaction), and will
direct his powers only along lines which will benefit
the final purchaser.
This does not mean that salesmanship and adver-
tising cannot be, or have not been, used by men who
did not have the best interests of their fellowmen
at heart. But it does mean that the man who ana-
lyzes his work, who studies his opportunities, who
desires to attain for himself the best satisfactions,
and to keep his self-respect will use his ability to
sell, and the multiplying power which advertising
lends, for the good of all with whom he comes in
COntact.
Men who have studied newspaper and magazine
advertising for the past twenty-five years note with
..., great satisfaction the constantly increasing
Publishers tº ©
Fast number of publishers who realize that ad-
# vertising should serve rather than exploit
†† the subscriber. Advertising space was origi-
nally a by-product of the publishing busi-
ness. The publisher looked primarily to the sub-
scriber, and was concerned (1) with organizing a
group of people who would take regularly and pay
for his publication, (2) with collecting, writing, and
illustrating the reading matter to be used, and (3)
with the mechanical, financial, and executive prob-
lems incident to buying paper, putting the reading
matter into type, turning the presses, and distribut-
ing the publications produced thereon.
For many years advertising remained a mystery
34 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
to publishers. They knew there were people ready
to buy space. But most of them were convinced
The Days (since the reader knows that reading and
of Advertis-advertising matter are two separate things,
º; the publisher being responsible for the for-
*... mer, and the advertiser for the latter) that
Advertising • , , 9
Fast whenever the advertiser's name appeared
* beneath his copy, they (the publishers) had
no responsibility to the subscriber.
This condition was a loophole through which the
unscrupulous preyed upon and exploited the reader.
All sorts of fake medical, disastrous financial, and un-
reliable merchandising schemes were put upon themar-
ket, and paid—in dollars and cents—because their
authors possessed a shrewd knowledge of human na-
ture, and ability to write profitable advertising copy.
The general magazines are given credit for being
the first to “clean up.” But I know newspaper
publishers, in both large and small cities, who for
nearly half a century have refused to carry in their
advertising columns the announcement of any busi-
ness in which they would not be willing to engage.
Publishers and advertisers are recognizing that
the complete confidence of the subscriber is the one
sure foundation on which to build a success-
º ful magazine, newspaper, or class publication.
tising a Anything which weakens it reduces the pub-
*::::::" lisher's capital. The reader may not be
aware that his confidence has increased or
diminished. But it is certain that dependable, trust-
SALESMANSHIP IS SERVICE 35
worthy news, editorial and advertising announce-
ments, add to that confidence slowly but constantly,
and that unreliability cuts it down rapidly.
Of late even the announcements of businesses which
are thoroughly reliable are censored, to make certain
that they contain nothing which in any wise reflects
upon their competitors. Publishers take the stand
that the buyer's confidence in advertising as a whole
cannot be held if one advertiser is allowed to discredit
another.
This is a very encouraging development of the
service idea, a most satisfactory indication that dur-
ing the coming twenty-five years advertising is to
be a much more important factor in reducing the cost
of production and distribution, and in raising the
standard of merchandise and human service, than it
has been during the last quarter of a century.
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER III
A book that supplements this chapter admirably
is Walter D. Moody’s “Men Who Sell Things,” 1907
(A. C. McClurg & Company, Chicago). It is in-
spiring and informative, practical.
In “Influencing Men in Business,” 1911 (The
Ronald Press Company, New York), Professor Walter
Dill Scott, of Northwestern University, presents the
results of scientific tests which bear out the conclu-
sions reached by experienced and thoughtful sales-
men. Professor Scott has written several other books.
All of them deal with his methods of testing the laws
36 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
of mental action in his laboratory, and the results he
has observed. All are worth careful study.
Mr. A. F. Sheldon has written much and thought-
fully about salesmanship. He has made a sincere
effort to segregate the various elements which pro-
duce successful sales, and to explain the laws which
govern them. Practically all he has written is em-
bodied in a correspondence course (The Sheldon
School, Chicago), which one is required to take in
order to secure his text-books.
Mr. Sheldon claims every sale takes place in the
buyer's mind, and the processes through which his
mind passes and which the successful salesman
intelligently stimulates are (1) Attention, (2) In-
terest, (3) Desire, (4) Conviction. Conviction auto-
matically arouses the buying impulse to action,
forcing the lips to say the words and the hands to
open the purse strings and thus complete the sale.
Mr. Sheldon edits the Business Philosopher (Chicago),
a monthly magazine.
In a two-volume work, “Principles of Economics,”
1912 (The Macmillan Company, New York, F. W.
Taussig), Henry Lee, Professor of Economics in Har-
vard University, has defined the creative power of
salesmanship in the clearest and most satisfactory
manner (page 22, Vol. 1): “All those whose labors
satisfy wants—all those who bring about satisfac-
tion or utilities—are to be reckoned as taking part
in production, and are to be called productive la-
borers. . . . So long as a person who buys a
SALESMANSHIP IS SERVICE 37
thing or pays for a service really desires it, the labor
which yields him the satisfaction is productive.”
These two volumes, in clear and concise English,
are very easily read and will help you tremendously
in clarifying your own convictions. Professor Taus-
sig understands the group spirit, because he says
(page 30, Vol. 1): “It is strictly true that the workers
in a modern society combine in bringing about a
joint output; but the consciousness of coöperation
is lost.”
CHAPTER IV
ADVERTISING IS SELLING THE GROUP
RANTED that a salesman is one who can get
other people to accept his estimate of the
value of the article he offers for sale (his
valuation to include the value of the article itself
plus the value of his service to the customer), how
long do you think he will be content to appeal to
only one buyer at a time? Certainly the moment he
becomes aware of his ability he will want to accom-
plish results in a larger and broader way.
The distinction between a merchant and a store-
keeper depends entirely upon the degree of sales-
Salesman- manship possessed by the former. Theo-
ship Con- retically both handle goods for which there
sº... exists a buying demand, in a location which
M º is convenient for the purchaser. A store-
keeper becomes a merchant when he puts
personality into his work and gathers about him a
group of people who, consciously or unconsciously,
accept as valuable his endorsement or recommenda-
tion of what he offers them. Sometimes a certain
store draws trade long distances past shops where
equally desirable merchandise is to be had for prac-
38
ADVERTISING IS SELLING 39
tically the same or even less money. That is be-
cause the purchaser is definitely influenced by the
prestige of the merchant with whom he is accustomed
to deal.
A striking illustration of this fact was afforded me
one day in Detroit. I noticed that next door to a
Getting the cut-rate drug store was the drug section of
cº a large department store. In the latter I
Group approached a saleswoman who appeared to
! Is the & º
Dejºn, be of about average intelligence. I made
** a small purchase, and then asked her the
price of Mennen’s Talcum Powder.
“Eighteen cents.”
“What,” I ventured, “would you say if I should
tell you that I can buy a box next door for 12 cents?”
“That often happens. Our manager has told us to
tell people that we don’t know anything about the
goods that are sold next door. We guarantee our
Mennen’s to be the genuine article, and a lady told
me, a few days ago, that she wasn’t going to buy any
more of that cheap Mennen’s, for she had used some
on her baby and it had broken out with a rash,
and that hereafter she will buy goods where she
knows they are genuine.”
This is an extreme case. But it points out clearly
that a department store is fundamentally and essen-
tially the group of human beings whose confidence
that store has won and is able to hold.
We are all fortunate in being members of many
social groups. Membership in the family group is
40 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
economically of inestimable value, and procures for
us one of our most lasting satisfactions. As a rule
The Group we are not conscious that we belong to
f, Cº.: groups. We have never thought about it.
ſº, We are Democrats or Republicans, Protest-
Think ants or Catholics, we are literary or athletic,
Alike we go in for opera or the “movies,” but
quite without thinking of it as a group activity.
We enjoy being with and coöperating with those who
think as we do. But unless we take an active part in
the administration of their affairs, we benefit by mem-
bership in clubs, churches, and other groups chiefly
in that it relieves us of doing our thinking ourselves.
Some philosophers, Le Bon and Nietzsche, for
example, are of the opinion that human beings lose
in individuality by herding in groups. Nietzsche
believed that it is impossible for two or more
Groups as ſº
jºj human beings to agree, unless one of them
Pº dominates the thought of the others. Le Bon
outlines the process of influencing crowds as
affirmation, repetition, and contagion. Neither one
of these men sufficiently emphasizes the thought that
we may enter or leave a group as we please.
The man who does not interest himself in the affairs
which concern the welfare of the city in which he
doºr, 4., lives misses much of the pleasure of being
Really Co- a citizen. Nor can he give his city the
É. benefit of his ideas for its betterment until
* he can secure the coöperation of his fellow-
citizens. He cannot truly enjoy the fruits of coöpera-
ADVERTISING IS SELLING 41
tion unless he be a member of the coöperating or-
ganizations.
Every man should find in his own business enough
to absorb the bulk of his time and creative energy.
By regarding himself with relation to his own busi-
ness as the trustee of a group of coöperative buyers,
he can offer each member of the group better values
at less individual outlay than would be called for
should they buy individually.
A trip into the wilds illustrates my point admirably.
Practically all your strength and energy is expended
in transporting yourself and your belongings from
place to place; a little thought brings home the ad-
vantages of the coöperation which we practise (largely
unconsciously) in every phase of life.
A large city is a concrete example of what the
group idea, raised to the n” power, is worth. Our
... transportation facilities are natural evolu-
rºi. tions of the coöperative spirit. Twenty-
Publigº, hour trains between Chicago and New York
tions, Goo g tº
Examples are a fact because railroad officials know
#. that each day in the year a certain number
of men can be depended upon to practically
charter a special train for the trip. Each
passenger has the same physical comforts, luxuries,
and speed that a special train could give him—plus
a substantial saving on his ticket. Such trains are
the highest development, at present, of coöperative
service in steam transportation.
Magazines, newspapers, and class publications
42 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
offer the members of their groups definite savings.
A technical engineering journal gathers and gives
out to a large group of individuals who can make
effective use of it information which has been brought
together by many individuals at a cost which would
be prohibitive for any one member of the group.
Several farm papers keep scientific specialists at
work on experiments, the results of which have
largely increased the yield per acre and have de-
creased the cost of farming.
A daily newspaper delivers to one’s home, for one
cent, a complete canvass of the world by cable and
telegraph, plus the local field, which is
* covered by many capable men. No one
Lupuries, person, no matter how large his income,
º could afford to duplicate this information
*::::... individually for his own pleasure or use.
Available gº
for All . Magazines have fostered a general ap-
*::::::::: preciation of art and have increased the abil-
ity of artists by giving them a market for
their product. A similar statement might be made
with regard to the writing of books. The average
of culture and refinement has been materially raised,
and men have been developed to cater to those new
wants.
The pulling force of the group idea is that mem-
bership in any one of the many groups of which
our modern civilization is made up is, in practi-
cally all cases, purely a matter of volition. No
man need belong to the liquor-drinking or to the
ADVERTISING IS SELLING 43
tobacco-consuming group unless he wishes. He may
also withdraw from either group at will. Yet the
Member- business of fulfilling the desires of these
ship in two groups represents an annual expenditure
ºf of $1,800,000,000 and $850,000,000 respec-
*; tively. Another group makes it possible for
publishers to do a $190,000,000 business in
books and papers each year.
The coffee group drinks $300,000,000 annually.
The butter group buys $694,000,000 worth of butter,
which is more than twice the amount spent
*...for bread, which aggregates $300,000,000.
Tremendous te e
Proportions I mention the bread group as more likely
. º to be considered compulsory. Statistics
show that the total expenditure for what
are considered necessities is very small in comparison
with that which is paid for luxuries.
It is when the salesman realizes how small a part
his personal sales are of the total consumption of
I the products he sells that he begins to see
m Reach- tº it &
ing Groups what advertising may mean to him. No
#; matter how many assistants he may have,
Salesman nor how he may organize and systematize
ship Q
their work, to call personally on the number
of people whom he could persuade to prefer his
product to that offered by others would be impos-
sible. Realizing how little is needed to determine
a preference in the purchaser's mind, he calls on
advertising to help him develop a demand for the
article he has to sell.
44 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
The far-seeing salesman realizes that the best
way to go through a forest is to follow a blazed trail.
He knows that human beings have been grouped in
many different ways; he believes a group can be
formed for his product.
If the citizens of a small town call at the postoffice
every day for their mail, they have that much in com-
out, mon and constitute a group to which the
Street-car, salesman can best appeal from a location
Puštion near the postoffice. If there is a public
*† square in the centre of town, or any other
n Ap- * ſº
peal to a place at which people have the habit of
” congregating, the value of a sign there is
directly affected by the numerical strength of the
group and by the purchasing power of its individual
members.
A street car is essentially a coöperative unit con-
tributing five cents a traveler for transportation
which must otherwise cost many times that amount.
Lacking the group of customers, there would be no
street car. Therefore, the street-car card appeals
directly to the group spirit.
A newspaper or magazine is an impossibility unless
a well-organized group awaits with constant interest
the knowledge which it is accustomed to receive
through this particular channel.
An advertisement in a magazine or a newspaper
is effective in direct proportion to the degree to
which it senses and touches the group idea which
makes the publications possible.
ADVERTISING IS SELLING 45
It has been said that the success of the late Ira D.
Sankey was due to the fact that he took advantage
of a universal group characteristic, sensitive-
%....; ness to melody, and strengthened the appeal
Group by using in the wording of his hymns the
Harmony .* tº
#.” vernacular of the particular group to which
*::::::: Mr. Moody wished to present the Gospel
Salesman truths. The “Ninety and Nine” was specifi-
w; of cally directed at sheep-raisers. “Pull for the
Alſº Shore, Boys!” aimed to get and hold the at-
tention of the citizens of a fishing village.
In like manner the master salesman uses the trained
writer of advertising copy and that particular me-
dium which has acknowledged prestige with the
group to be reached, to sweep away the barrier which
ignorance, prejudice, and indifference have placed
between him and a larger market for his wares.
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER IV
For supplementary reading, “The Crowd” (The
Macmillan Company, New York), by Gustave Le
Bon, and “Crowds,” 1913 (Doubleday, Page & Com-
pany, Garden City, N. Y.), by Gerald Stanley Lee,
are delightfully interesting. Both deal with the
group spirit as exemplified in everyday life. Le
Bon says groups are dominated by affirmation,
repetition, and contagion.
H. L. Mencken’s “The Philosophy of Frederich
Nietzsche,” 1913 (Luce & Company, Boston), is a
digest of the great philosopher's views. Nietzsche
46 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
held that “Will to Power,” which is identical with
Schopenhauer’s “Will to Live,” is the first law of
Nature. Nietzsche championed individuality, and
contrasted it unfavorably with the herd idea which
he condemned as being the means whereby the un-
worthy are able to impose their will upon their
superiors. His views are interesting because un-
usual.
Maeterlink’s “The Life of the Bee,” 1912 (Dodd-
Mead Co., New York), is a model for every ad-
vertising writer. It treats a thoroughly technical
subject in a completely informing manner and in a
fascinating style. The power of the group spirit
expressed in orderly and systematic activity of ap-
parently unconsequential individuals to accomplish
really great tasks has never been more graphically
described.
Woodrow Wilson’s “History of the American
People” is a masterly presentation of how ideas
dominating the actions of many separate groups
of colonists have finally been blended into a
national spirit which, in its group-cementing char-
acter, makes the American nation what it is
to-day. (Harper & Bros., New York, 5 vols.,
1911.)
For keeping you alive to the necessity of individual
action if you are to dominate your group, for de-
veloping individuality which will coöperate with
and be benefited by association with others in the
group spirit, for making it possible for you to share
ADVERTISING IS SELLING 47
the benefits of coöperation, I recommend the essays
of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He is the fountainhead
of “ginger talks” and optimism, of plans for meet-
ing conditions as they are and making the best of
them.
CHAPTER V
THE TOOLS OF ADVERTISING
ANY books have been written on the tech-
nique of advertising as a trade, so complex
is it. They deal with type faces, sticks and
rules, lumbago and electric baths, copper and zinc
plates, acid baths, matrices, ink-rollers and presses,
paste-pots and Scissors, paint cans and brushes, wires
and batteries; for these are the tools of the type-
setter, the electrotyper, the artist, the engraver,
the stereotyper, the pressman, the writer and editor,
the sign painter, billposter, and electric-sign men.
But I shall not attempt to explain those trades,
either technically or mechanically. A man who
would master any one of them should study all the
literature available on the subject and serve a
reasonable period of apprenticeship.
As an advertiser, an advertising manager, an ad-
vertising solicitor, or as a writer of advertising copy,
he will do better to coöperate with men who specialize
in the various phases of advertising, instead of at-
tempting to oversee the details of work which must
be well done from a technical standpoint, if he is to
get the best results.
48
THE TOOLS OF ADVERTISING 49
A few thoughts are pertinent here, however, which
cannot be too frequently emphasized.
Illustrations are always desirable if they tell the
story in less space than words could do it, for they
Successful have a wider range of appeal and do not
Illustra- - *@tº - * * * *
tºº, need to be translated from one language
Tell the to another.
Story in s: tº ... : tº º
I... To give a commercial artist free rein in
Than Words the matter of illustration is a mistake. He
should be used primarily as an artisan, to put into
concrete form the ideas which the advertiser wishes
Ideas That to project upon the consciousness of the
#Pº, group. There are very few artists whose
the Buying gº e
Group Must knowledge of the habits of buying groups
Usually Be : - e
§..." is such that they can really contribute any-
the Artist thing to the idea which is to go into the
advertisement. Not many of them are good judges of
relative commercial values.
Where arbitrary spaces are to be filled with a com-
bination of illustration and text matter, it is quite
Mohanical essential that just the right proportion of
Limitations it, and no more, be allotted to the drawing.
7(S tº tº
Nº Be Fortunately for the advertising man (who
* is not an artist), the commercial artists can
be referred, for master work of this kind, to many of
the splendid frescoes of Raphael and Michael Angelo,
who filled in arbitrary spaces as if they had been
specially made for the pictures they placed therein.
A commercial artist who can get around and over
the obstacles which rise on every hand in reaching
50 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
the group is a rare one indeed and well worth the
almost fabulous sums which he can command for
his services.
Words, at best, are but symbols of ideas. Their
value depends entirely upon the stage of develop-
ment of the group spirit. Unless a large
Wºo group had been taught that an arbitrary
%; assemblage of certain letters of the alphabet
transmits from one mind to another the
idea which has previously been associated with this
word, communication through the printed page
would be impossible. For a foundation, then, we
must have the group spirit. And the idea associated
with any certain word must, as far as is possible, be
kept the same.
In advertising in the United States, it is always
best to use Anglo-Saxon words, because more people
Keep the understand them than those which are of
Words Latin, Greek, or other derivation. Writers
* of effective advertising copy never cultivate
what is called “style.” They use words only to
transmit an idea effectively, without diverting atten-
tion from the message itself. That is why pretty
pictures and high-flown phrases often defeat the
purposes of the advertiser.
Sujid Type, while wholly mechanical, permits
º of great variety of effects if skilfully handled.
Many advertising men make accurate lay-
outs, specifying the sizes and faces of type they wish
used. This can be done quite easily by remembering
THE TOOLS OF ADVERTISING 51
that all type is now made according to the point
system, i.e., seventy-two points to an inch. Twelve-
point type occupies exactly one-sixth of an inch.
Most newspaper columns are two and one-sixth
inches wide.*
In making layouts for advertising, the best plan
is to indicate roughly all words and phrases which
are to be displayed prominently, leaving to
Let the re e
Master the good judgment of a thoroughly skilful
º; and experienced superintendent of the type-
Details of setting room the selection of the best com-
positor for the particular work in hand. It
is manifestly wiser for the man who cannot get such
coöperation to make an accurate layout. This is
merely a matter of careful measurement and correct
arithmetic.
It is possible for a man versed in the legibility
of type faces to reset an advertisement which has
.,,... a crowded and confused look (and is there-
Building © tº
an Adve; fore repellent rather than attractive) in from
ſº, 10 to 25 per cent, less space, and still
*; a have the advertisement appear larger than
before. The architect who builds an apart-
ment on a twenty-foot city lot, when compared with
the old-time carpenter-contractor who “saved you
money by drawing the plans himself,” is an illustra-
tion of my point. When advertising space costs as
much as $112 an inch, the economy of employing the
* “Mahin Advertising Data Book” lists the most serviceable faces
of type and shows the number of capital and lower case letters which
can be put in a line two and one-sixth inches wide.
52 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
most skilful manipulator of type faces is at once
apparent.
Type faces stand very little wear. It is practicable
to print direct from them only on Small press runs.
Ho, Type None of the larger daily newspapers print
ºp§g direct from type. Their big perfecting
a News" presses require continuous rolls of paper
** and cylindrical printing plates, which are
made as follows: type set up the size of the page
is locked in a form; alternate sheets of tissue and
blotting paper, with paste between each, are spread
over it; and it is subjected to pressure under great
heat. This dries the paper impression, which is
called a matrix. The matrix is put in the bottom of a
semicircular mold, and type metal is poured over it.
In a few seconds the metal hardens, is taken out
of the mold, and clamped on the cylinders of the
printing presses, which turn out papers at the rate
of 20,000 or more per hour per press. The heat nec-
essary to make a matrix injures the type by ex-
panding it; so those who advertise in a large way
in many publications and want the best effects insist
on having electrotypes.
The printing of books and high-class magazines
and catalogues is quite different. Flat-bed presses
are used and the whole type page is usually
How Type
fºſsº, electrotyped. To make an electrotype, a
*... wax impression is taken of the page, which
1 agazvne ſº
may contain both type and illustration.
This wax impression is dusted with plumbago, and put
THE TOOLS OF ADVERTISING 53
in a bath. An electric battery deposits a small sheet
of copper on the face of it. A good electrotype re-
quires a bath of from four to six hours. This shell is
backed up with stereotyping metal and a printing
plate made of it. A poor electrotype generally has
an insufficient shell, which will not stand a long run,
and is easily damaged.
Drawings are changed into printing plates either
by the zinc etching or the half-tone process. Wood
1, engravings are practically obsolete. Half-
Making of tones and zinc etchings can be electrotyped,
” but with half-tones it is wiser to use the
original plate and duplicate the same. An electro-
type of a zinc etching is generally better than an
original zinc. An electrotype can be re-electrotyped
indefinitely, but each reproduction sacrifices some-
thing in printing quality. Men who are familiar with
this fact can easily pick out a cheap electrotype or
a reproduction from an electrotype. It shows up
in the finished result, and is one of those savings
which should not be countenanced.
Nothing will demonstrate to the average adver-
tiser the fact that the best engraving and plate-mak-
Chea ing house is none too good for his purpose,
Eliºus and that no money is saved by getting cheap
4... work so well as a trip through a well-con-
comomy - º
ducted shop, where he can see for himself
how many processes there are where the least lack
of knowledge, or of attention, would affect the
finished result.
54 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
Printing plates and types are used in advertising
in just two ways: (1) in space in newspapers, mag-
azines, or class publications, such as trade, agricul-
tural and technical papers, street-car cards, and
posters, and (2) in specially printed matter, such as
circulars, booklets, catalogues, and follow-up ma-
terial.
The blank space upon which printing is done may
well be called one of the tools of trade. In con-
e sidering how to get the best results, one must
Making the ſº tº
Most of remember the size of the space available,
ºw the quality of paper, and the general ap-
pearance of the advertisements which will
compete with it for attention, so that distinction may
be secured either by emphasis or contrast.
Space buying should be delegated to a man who has
had years of experience in that work. You can be
Space assured, when a publisher's rate-card shows
* a complicated list of discounts, that there is
#. ºf a minimum rate, and always a way by which
i.” the trained buyer, who knows how to present
*P* hisproposition, can getan approximation of it.
In buying space, plates, art work, or printing, three
things should be considered: (1) the cost of raw
materials which will produce the right quality; (2)
cost of supervision required to get the best results
with the materials and the machinery used; and
(3) the cost of expert help, getting the benefit of the
experience of experts who have made a life study
of that particular line of work. Their coöperation
THE TOOLS OF ADVERTISING 55
is valuable and cannot be assured by always buying
from the lowest bidder.
A printer who will coöperate with you in a sym-
pathetic and intelligent way, understanding the
Hoº to purpose of your printed matter, will save
;º: you many times the difference between
his higher price and that of the cheap printer
who seeks your patronage through competitive bids.
If you will frankly state to a competent and trust-
worthy printer the outside figure you can spend
for a specific piece of printed matter, he can save
you money in many ways.
For example, presses and paper of a certain size
work best together. The big item in printing is
the press work and paper. With rapidly moving
presses, unless the distribution of the ink and the
handling of wet sheets, after they are printed,
is carefully watched, the result will be unsatis-
factory.
Sometimes a catalogue just exceeds the postage
limit, and has to have an extra stamp on it. A printer
4. who is accustomed to working with the ad-
“Look e e
Before vertiser would have foreseen this, and would
º first have made a dummy, on specially se-
*...* lected paper, so that the full amount which
Uncle Sam will carry for a specified sum
will go into the book itself. The few cents needed
for a better quality of paper, which weighs less,
would mean a large saving.
If a postage expert should make a careful analysis
56 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
of the amount of money spent for postage during
the year by some of the large and some of the Small
The commercial houses, no doubt millions of
Postage- dollars’ worth of waste would be discovered.
* fº The postage expert is an unheard-of factor
Coming in business as yet, but the future holds out
Profession tº ©
splendid prospects for such a profession.
Much might be said about various qualities of paper
stockandprintinginks, and about therulesforcontrast-
Paper ing and combining colors. Whole books deal
Siºcºnd comprehensively with these subjects. Trade
Pº papers are continually publishing elaborate
treatises on paper stock and color printing.
Just in this wealth of information and argument
lies a danger for the advertiser. He may be led off
into the by-paths of advertising procedure, into
investigations and discussion which may be pleasur-
able and interesting, but which has little to do with
effective merchandising and distribution.
The general rule for the use of words applies also to
paper stock and colors: the consumer’s attention
must be gained, but without his being so
#: fully taken up with the manner of expression
sº º that the advertiser’s story is minimized or
fºr lost. This is the danger in using striking
Em#: effects. There is fierce competition for the
Itself advertiser's money, and in making any
º decision he should keep this test uppermost:
Is this the tool which will most adequately
interpret my thought?
THE TOOLS OF ADVERTISING 57.
Brains and common sense in seeking the reason for
Greatest the rule rather than following the letter of
Aiº, the law, might be listed among the tools
Tools Are, of advertising. They are as essential to
Brains and g gº º e
Cºmo. Satisfactory advertising service as they are
* to any other kind of service—no more
and no less.
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER V
The newest and most effective tools of advertising
are graphically and intelligently described in the
printing-trade papers: The American Printer (New
York), The Printing Art (Cambridge, Mass.), and
the Inland Printer (Chicago).
Theodore Low De Winne has published two books,
“Plain Printing Types,” 1900, and “Correct Com-
position,” 1901 (The Century Company, New York),
which should be in every advertising library.
A particularly delightful and inspiring book is
“Printing in Relation to Graphic Art,” 1903 (The
Imperial Press, Cleveland), by George French.
There are many technical books on the various
phases of plate-making and printing, most of which
are advertised in the trade papers.
Frank Alvah Parsons’ “Principles of Advertising
Arrangement,” 1912 (the Advertising Men’s League
of New York City), contains valuable information
for those interested in the different phases of adver-
tising display. The book is a series of ten lectures
which treat in a technical manner the most important
58 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER,
factors to be considered in building a successful
advertisement. Two chapters devoted to “The Use
and Abuse of Decoration and Ornament” are par-
ticularly worth while.
Harry M. Basford has written a valuable book,
“How to Estimate on Printing,” 1913 (Oswald
Publishing Company, New York). Good printers,
like good lawyers and good doctors, are willing to
tell their customers all they want to know. A reader
will have more respect for good printers and the work
they do after he reads Mr. Basford’s book.
The “Graphic Arts and Crafts Year Book”
(Graphic Arts Press, Hamilton, Ohio) contains the
latest examples of color and process printing of all
kinds on every variety of paper stock. Invaluable to
printers.
CHAPTER VI
ADVERTISING MEDIUMS
HE group spirit creates the advertising me-
dium. To think alike, people must contin-
ually receive through the same channel new
impressions of ideas which in themselves may be
old or new. Leaders of groups find that adver-
tising is the most competent means of getting their
ideas into the group consciousness.
Some mediums have greater prestige than others.
By “prestige,” I mean that standing which a man or
choosing an organization must have whose statements
the you accept with but little or no question.
Medium • * º ©
of Greatest Suppose that you are on the mailing list
* of a bond house, and are also a regular reader
of a morning paper, a subscriber to a monthly magazine
and an illustrated weekly of national circulation, a daily
patron of the street cars and an unintentional though
by nomeans uninfluenced observer of painted bulletins.
Suppose that the bond house sends you a circular,
and that precisely the offer it makes you appears in
A Case in your newspaper, your magazine, your illus-
** trated weekly, in street cars, and on bulletin
boards. Which will make the greatest impression?
59
60 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
If your purchases from the bond house have been
profitable, the chances are their circular would have
the most prestige. Had you been indifferently
served, or had you later found out, or thought
you had found out, that some other house would
have given you the same security and a better
rate of interest, or if you had never made an in-
vestment of that sort and knew nothing at all
about this bond house, save through the circular,
it would be the least effective of the mediums reach-
ing you.
But if you were in position to make an investment
when you get the circular, but had never heard of
the bond house, it is certain that the advertisement
in your favorite magazine or in your daily paper
would have given to the circular a prestige and in-
fluence which it could not possibly have had in any
other case.
Prestige, therefore, is either the cumulative result
of the best type of advertising, or it is a reinforce-
paying ment of a previously created confidence in
Spage a medium in the minds of the individual
Requires tº
Čársful members of the group which makes the
* medium possible.
Because of competition among men who own and
control advertising mediums, it is wise to analyze
and weigh carefully before buying space. So many
delicate factors have to be considered in determining
which is the best medium, or the best selection from
a number of mediums.
ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 61
The keen observer will also discover a disparity
between the intrinsic value of mediums and the
The aggressiveness and convincing power of
ſº the personal salesmanship which represents
Mººs them. For many years country newspapers
Ag* throughout the United States sold advertis-
Salesman-ing space to patent-medicine houses for less
” than cost. These publishers figured that to
get money for space they had to fill anyhow was like
finding it. Skilful salesmen placed these remedies
in drug stores and then made space contracts for
from one to three years with publishers. Increased
enlightenment on the part of the publisher has just
about put an end to this kind of business.
Many of the best and strongest mediums are rep-
resented by salesmen of the true service type, men
who will not sell the advertiser space unless
jº. they are sure that the nature of his business
º. and his plans for “cashing in” on his adver-
i..." tising expenditure will be acceptable to the
"ß" readers of the medium. In contrast to this
position we have that of a number of splen-
did advertising mediums which are undersold. The
publishers take the ground that it is undignified to
send out men to persuade the advertiser to use their
columns. With still other mediums the personal
salesmanship of the advertising representative is the
most interesting, aggressive, and valuable service
which the advertiser buys.
The first thing an advertiser has to do is to fix
62 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
clearly in his mind the characteristics of the partic-
ular group to which the story will most logically
appeal. In some cases this group may be
One Large g
Group numerically smaller than that reached by
s...; the advertising medium. Then it is indeed
§: wise for him to consider whether he will
* concentrate on one medium that has pres-
tige, even though he cannot expect his own buying
group to consist of more than a small portion of that
which creates the medium, or if he shall use several
units reaching groups smaller than that which he is
creating for himself.
This is the problem which retail stores in big cities
can never get away from. Shall the proprietor con-
centrate his appropriation on one publication, know-
ing that he could not possibly serve all of its readers
if they should come to his store? Or shall he scatter
his appropriation among several daily newspapers,
knowing that from each he can gather a certain
number of individuals most susceptible to his of
fers, just as with a magnet one can pick out from
a tray of ashes and iron fillings every particle of
metal?
If some one medium dominates the whole field, he
must decide whether he will make his business con-
form to the characteristics of the group which con-
stitutes the medium, or if he will make selections
from various groups and build up a following of his
OWI1.
The problem is intensified as soon as mail-order ad-
ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 63
vertising and national advertising are taken up. But
I shall defer consideration of these subjects until a
later chapter.
The mediums which are recognized as worthy of
every advertiser's consideration are listed as follows:
Newspapers, Magazines (popular, technical, trade,
and class), Street Cars, Posting, Painted Bulletins
and Walls, Electric Signs, Window Displays, Store
The Demonstrations, Sampling, House-to-House
Different Canvassing, Form Letters and Mailing Cards
Mediums e e g
tised in or Circulars sent to lists of names, Novelties,
* such as Calendars, Blotters, and the like.
What the newspaper gives us, no matter where
it is published, is news. By “news.” I mean a record
of things that happen to people. They in-
Group of
Advertisers terest us because we are human and they
Nº. might happen to us, too. The newspaper
#: is ephemeral. Its mission is ended when it
221772 * e dº
has been read; its life is over when the
succeeding issue is on the market. It is as hard
to find yesterday's newspaper as it is to remember
who was the last vice-president.
Two distinct classes of advertisers, differing radi-
cally in character, find the newspaper their best
, avenue to a market. First of these is the
The Daily e sº e
Nº retail store, which, in order to pay such
Ideal for y- ©
Advertising constant overhead. expenses as interest. On
the Local capital, rent, salaries, insurance, etc., must
Store tº tº tº
do a business every day. The daily paper is
the ideal medium for getting the public to come to
64 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
the store for a definite and specific purpose, a purpose
which, if the truth be told, the advertiser has put into
its mind.
The other class consists of those whose business
timeliness is the most conspicuous feature. The news-
paper is the best medium for satisfying oc-
; casional, temporary, and emergency business
M in needs. The want columns of a metropolitan
Satisfying newspaper show up human nature in its
Iº most unsettled state with relation to busi-
ness. It may seem paradoxical that the
best publication for the continuous upbuilding of a
strongly entrenched department store is also the
most competent medium for the man out of a job or
the employer who needs more help. In the “want
ads” the man who has old clothes to sell can most
speedily convert them into cash. There rooms are
rented and roomers find new quarters. To any one
who has never spent a couple of hours in reading
the “Want Section” of a Sunday newspaper, I rec-
ommend it. He will get more thrills out of it and
more things to think about, more sidelights on human
nature, than are to be had in the same time in any
other way.
In the “want” columns and in the daily announce-
ments of the department store the best appeal to the
group which constitutes a newspaper must always be
foremost—the timeliness of to-day’s presentation and
the necessity for immediate action. This is the
general practice of the most successful advertisers.
ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 65
Men who selladvertisingspacein magazines of which
fiction is the important feature will tell you that there
Fiction is a universal demand for such literature;
Magazines and that it is when you are relaxed and read-
Aiºn, ing a magazine that you are most ready to
* receive new ideas. It is no teworthy, also, that
a fiction magazine can be picked up at any time, now
or several months from now, with equal pleasure.
The advertiser whose goods can be sold all over
the United States is urged to use national magazines,
because, having a permanent story to tell, he reaches
the public at a time when it is most likely to grant
him consideration. Many advertisers have built up
a large business in this way.
Some successful magazines, particularly our na-
tional weeklies, combine the “pulling” points of mag-
azines and newspapers, i. e., (1) their fiction
Néºnal is of such Quality as to be worth keeping
"º for future reading, and (2) timely features
Combina- are dealt with more thoroughly than the
...; newspaper can treat them.
*:::::: Advertisers classify technical, trade, and
class publications as magazines, for the rea-
son that the groups to which they appeal are not
confined as to locality; they have subscribers in every
. . part of the United States. A number of
Technical, e & tº
#. technical magazines are really trade directo-
‘.... ries the last issue of which may justly be re-
garded as a complete and up-to-date manual
of a trade which may cover the entire United States,
66 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
with representatives in almost every city. The same
statement might be made concerning class papers,
although sectional lines are more clearly drawn in
this field.
Farm papers are usually listed under class publica-
tions. Some of them have a national scope but deal
with but one industry, such as horses, cattle,
Fº or poultry breeding. Others take up the
the Trage detail of soil, climate, and the general con-
Publication ... tº go o
of a ditions of the principal crop of the particular
§: belt or territory they cover. The latter are
really trade papers of over six million Ameri-
can farmers. Each one of them operates a farm large
enough to be properly regarded as a business unit, a
separate producing and merchandising establishment,
as well as a consuming unit, connected with many
different consuming groups.
In determining the value of these class publica-
tions, editorial prestige, the censorship of the adver-
tising pages, the circulation of the paper,
fºil, º, its prestige and subscription price, whether
P § or not the sale of subscriptions is stimulated
ublication
by offering premiums—and if so, what kind
of premiums?—all these are factors which the adver-
tiser who uses their space should consider seriously.
The “Mahin Advertising Data Book,” 1913–1914
(page 427), classifies the 22,141 United States publica-
tions, with their aggregate circulation of 164,463,040.
This list gives the advertiser ample opportunity,
and, as is always the case where opportunity is large,
ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 67
the responsibility for discrimination is increased
exceedingly. The classification follows:
NUMBER AVERAGE CIRCULATION
Daily . . . 2600 24,211,977
Sunday only . . 520 13,347,282
Semi and tri- . .
weekly . . 708 2,648,308
Weekly . . . 15,097 40,822,965
Monthly . . . 2491 63,280,535
All other . . . 725 20,151,793
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER VI
In “The Art of Newspaper Making,” 1895 (D.
Appleton & Company, New York), Charles A. Dana,
one of the greatest American journalists, has given us
his ideas aboutwriting copy for and publishingapaper.
“The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin,” 1902
(Houghton, Mifflin & Company, New York), gives
the reader a very good idea of the status of adver-
tising at that time. Franklin foresaw the tremendous
development of advertising mediums, and his pioneer
work in system may well be regarded as the founda-
tion of modern and scientific management.
“Astir,” by John Adams Thayer, 1913 (Small,
Maynard & Company, Boston), is a frank revelation
of the ways of magazine publishers, their ideals, and
their methods. If the book contained nothing more
than his correspondence with Mr. Frank A. Munsey,
who gave us the low-priced fiction magazine and has
so largely influenced the history of publishing in the
United States during the last twenty-five years—
it would be worth careful reading.
CHAPTER VII
ADVERTISING MEDIUMS (Continued)
N JANUARY, 1914, there were 58,000 street
cars in operation in the United States, each car-
rying advertising. The standard street-car card
is eleven inches high and twenty-one inches wide.
Many manufacturers and retailers favor this form of
advertising because it gives them a chance to repro-
duce their package in its original colors.
Street-car advertising is peculiarly adapted to con-
tinuous advertising, because the cars run every day
sº-ca, in the year. They follow the arteries of
Advertising trade. The number of cars run on any given
Analyzed 1. © º e
line is increased just as fast as the number
of patrons increases. More people means more cars,
and that means more publicity for car cards. And
the longer the haul, the more time the traveler has
for reading these cards.
Several different cards may be run by the same
manufacturer at the same time. Many advertisers
The use, use as many as six at once, with sixty words
º, on each. Some favor the poster idea; others
Šired aſ rely wholly upon text.
* The advertiser is given a list of the numbers
of the cars in which his cards are appearing; check-
68
ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 69
ers visit the barns to verify these lists. Cards are
changed once a month, usually. Street-car space
costs 40 cents a card per month per car for a full run,
and 45 cents for a half run.
Pasting sheets of printed paper on walls, the sides
of barns, and on specially prepared boards is probably
The Fore- the most elementary form of advertising.
j Time tables tacked up in railway stations,
#; notices pinned or pasted up in post-offices,
the bulletin boards on which most large
institutions make announcements—these were the
forerunners of modern billposting.
Circus and theatrical attractions, recognizing the
power of color with the public, and desiring to create
The * impression of bigness, kept increasing
Evolution the size of posters. In this way the 8-sheet,
fº. the 16-sheet, and 24-sheet posters of to-day
ſº, sº came about. In an early day it was possible
to print only one sheet, 28 x 42 inches, at
a time. It had to be sent through the press once
for each color; so the production of a 24-sheet poster
meant a great deal of detail work in design, me-
chanical execution, handling in the printing offices,
Billposting Sampling, shipping, and in finally placing it
Service as on the boards.
sº Billposting has been standardized in the
United United States. In about four thousand
States tº a dº
towns and cities there are regular plants
which maintain boards uniformly eight feet high, but
varying in width to accommodate one or many posters.
70 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER,
The 8-sheet poster is the unit of measurement. In
large cities property owners get high rents for the
ground on which the boards stand. Billposting
service is usually sold at a certain price per sheet per
month, ranging from 7 cents in smaller cities to 20
cents per sheet in New York and Chicago.
A billposter agrees to furnish a list of locations on
which posters have been placed, and to keep them in
good condition for thirty days. The advertiser fur-
nishes from 10 to 20 per cent. more paper than the
actual number of locations require. Since it is nec-
essary to renew paper every thirty days, a month
has become the basis on which it is sold.
Some advertisers post continuously, but change
the showing once a month; others post alternate
months; still others post one month in the spring
and one in the fall. Some use posting only when
they want to introduce a product.
A painted bulletin is usually twenty-five feet long
and eight feet high, made of galvanized iron, and
º sold on a twelve months’ contract at 40
# , cents per running foot per month, to include
one renewal a year. Rents for locations are
higher than for billboards, because the contract
runs for a longer period. In very many cities painted
boards dominate the most populous centres. Adver-
tisers who want to create an impression of per-
manence prefer paint.
The cheapest and most effective outdoor adver-
tising is on outside store walls, if locations are
ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 71
available. Successful advertisers usually go into a
city, buy a well-distributed wall showing, and sup-
plement it with painted bulletin locations wherever
walls are not to be had. Walls are painted once a
year. The minimum price is 5 cents per square foot.
At that rate, a 20 x 40 foot wall costs the advertiser
$40 for a twelve months’ showing, this to include the
cost of designing and painting.
An 8 x 25 foot painted bulletin, being a selected
location as a rule, is considered to have the same
pºliº, attention value as an 800-square-foot wall.
and Walls Forty cents a month per running foot, or
Compared
5 cents per square foot per year, on a board
eight feet high, means that a bulletin costs twelve
times as much per square foot as a wall. But the
200 square feet in a 25-foot bulletin is usually con-
sidered equivalent to 800 feet in a wall, if one takes
into consideration the better location, that the bul-
letin is painted twice a year, and that its smoother sur-
face makes finer pictorial work possible.
A 24-sheet poster, at 20 cents per sheet a month,
costs $5.60. It is generally compared with a 25-foot
The Com- bulletin, as they occupy about the same
parative space. At 40 cents per running foot, a
..}. º, bulletin costs $10 a month. A poster costs
4 & #" $5.60 per month, plus the cost of paper,
which will vary from 40 cents to $1 each,
plus the cost of expressage. The cost of paint and
paper is so nearly the same, therefore, that com-
petition is keen wherever they are handled by dif-
72 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
ferent interests. In a number of prominent cities,
notably Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Seattle, Port-
land, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, paint and
posting interests are identical. The tendency of
advertisers generally is to use paint for twelve
months’ showing and paper for all shorter periods.
Electric signs have become an important feature
of outdoor advertising in large cities. It is difficult
for some people to believe that a chewing-
gum manufacturer, for example, can afford
to pay $18,000 a year for an electric sign
showing the full length of Broadway from Twenty-
third to Forty-second Street, but that is less than
$50 a day, and it may safely be said that at least
200,000 people, each having money enough to buy
chewing-gum, see this sign every day.
This completes the list of mediums for which a
national service has been organized. It is possible for
an advertiser togetaccurateinformation aboutall these
mediums in one office, and also to contract therefor de-
pendable, easily verifiableservice, which willbebilled to
him monthly, and may be paid for with a single check.
There are other advertising mediums which are quite
generally handled in the advertiser’s organization.
Window displays can be purchased from houses
which make a specialty of preparing them. But
it is always wisest for the advertiser to have
his own men put them up. A vast amount
of lithographed material sent out to dealers
is wasted. They store it, temporarily of course,
Electric
Sigms
Window
Displays
ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 73
under the counter; and very often it gets no further.
Sometimes it is never unpacked or brought up from
the basement. Window display costs anywhere
from 25 cents to several dollars per window. The
advertiser should be very sure of results before he
undertakes this form of advertising.
Food manufacturers frequently use store demon-
strations to introduce a product. The demonstrators
sº, should be capable saleswomen who can take
Demonstra- enough orders and make enough direct sales
tions to pay their way largely. Some retailers
object to demonstrations, declaring that they divert
attention from the regular stock. The average gro-
cery store serves less than one hundred families;
in fact, the average is only a little more than sixty.
Unless the demonstrator does pay her way in actual
sales, the publicity is very expensive.
Sampling is also favored by food manufacturers.
A crew of men, Supervised by a dependable super-
intendent, gives samples direct to house-
wives, or hands out coupons redeemable
at a grocery store either in full or part payment for
a package of the goods being advertised. The manu-
facturer allows the grocer full credit, in lieu of cash
for goods, for all coupons redeemed before a cer-
tain date.
Sampling
Honº, House-to-house canvassing is an extension
house of the demonstration idea. The canvasser
Canvassing frequently makes direct sales to the house-
wife and turns them over to her grocer. Sometimes
74 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
the canvasser goes out with the grocer's order boy,
gives a talk about the goods at each stop, and makes
direct sales.
Form letters, mailing cards, and folders have
played a considerable rôle in advertising, and are
Form still used by many advertisers. They are
Pºtºs, expensive when one considers the number
Mailing
Cards, of people reached, because Uncle Sam does
” not make a discriminating rate in favor of
printed matter of this kind, as he does for news-
papers, magazines, and periodicals which travel as
second-class matter. Very often advertisers go to
a dealer, sell him a bill of goods, and get the names
of his customers and prospectives. The manufac-
turer believes he can demonstrate to the customer
the merits of his goods more quickly and accurately
than the dealer can. He also believes that the
literature he sends to these customers influences
and reinforces the dealer’s attitude toward his prod-
uct.
Mailing cards are sent out in advance of salesmen
calling on the trade. They also announce changes in
price. A number of wholesale jobbing
“ºff” houses get all orders from dealers through
º: the mail. Such houses get out a catalogue
tised to at least once a month. Many jobbers an-
sº ticipate the calls of their salesmen by work-
ing the trade by mail, hoping to get a
small initial order, or a request for a salesman to
call. Others send out printed matter, to keep up the
ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 75
dealer’s interest during the interval between the
salesman's visits.
The use of calendars and novelties is quite a
different but very popular form of advertising.
cºal. Theoretically, the value of the calendar,
€710.07'S º wº
and or pocketbook, or knife, or blotter, with
* the advertiser's name on it is that because
it is a useful article, it will keep the advertiser's name
constantly before the user. The truth of the matter
is that few men could tell you the name which is on
the blotter which they have been using every day
for a week.
The best novelty salesmen do not use the “Keep
your name before the public” plea, for they know
that the advertiser can get this service else-
Selling
Id. tied where for much less money. The plan most
'gº used is to ask a banker, for instance, how
he would like to have fifty men who had
never been in his bank, all of them desirable patrons,
come in to see him and accept a favor from him,
at a cost not to exceed 25 cents each. The first
time it is presented, this proposition is very tempting.
The salesman shows him a reproduction of a beautiful
picture, explains that he will have it made up in
a handsome calendar, and has the banker copy a
form letter which has been successful in other places;
it invites the recipient to stop at the bank some day,
when he is going by, and get a calendar, which has
been set aside for him. The salesman cautions the
banker to write the man’s name on the envelope
76 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
before he comes in, so that he will be sure to think he
is getting something which has been especially re-
served for him. One cannot say this is not successful
advertising; and for certain lines of business it seems
the cheapest and quickest approach.
Novelty salesmen who want to build a permanent
clientele are most concerned about how their cus-
adº, tomers use these novelties. Suppose that,
Yalue to having given a clerk a strong sales talk
* in which he emphasizes the chance to de-
velop selling ability by making every effort to sell
the article which the salesman has just sold the
proprietor, the salesman hands the clerk a pencil
and tells him to use it writing out orders. Every
time he uses it, that pencil reminds the clerk of
that sales talk. To merely hand out the pencil, as
if the salesman himself considered it of but little
value, would be sheer waste. Calendars and
novelties should remind the recipient of a force-
ful sales talk; when they do, they have a senti-
mental value quite apart from and beyond their
actual cost.
Slides for motion-picture houses are worth while
for local merchants who have the exclusive sale of a
Moving- nationally advertised brand of goods for their
picture own city or a restricted community. At-
Slides tempts have been made to organize the mo-
tion-picture business, so that slides might be sold on a
national service basis; but very little headway has
been made.
ADVERTISING MEDIUMS 77
REFERENCES ON CEIAPTER VII
There is plenty of literature about advertising
mediums. Publishers and space-owners are contin-
ually putting out books that deal with one or an-
other phase of the subject. Much of this material
might be classed as special pleading. Too much of it
extols one class of mediums and condemns all others.
Especially noteworthy is “Selling Forces,” 1913, by
the Curtis Publishing Company. It covers a broad
field and is a comprehensive and authoritative treat-
ise on the whole subject of advertising.
Henry S. Bunting has written several books on
novelty advertising. All of them are worth reading.
“Specialty Advertising,” 1913 (the Novelty News
Company, Chicago), is his latest and best. It defines
clearly the principles which underlie all successful
advertising.
For practical suggestions and methods, see “Poster
Advertising,” 1910, by G. H. E. Hawkins, Chicago,
also “Newspaper Advertising,” 1914, by the same
author.
CHAPTER VIII
BUILDING AND TESTING AN ADVERTISEMENT
OPY is the term by which advertising men
designate everything the advertiser puts into
the space he buys. It is built, rather than
written or designed.
A copy writer should have an accurate, compre-
hensive statement of the characteristics of the group
What the to whom the copy is to appeal. He should
99py know what the wares advertised will do,
Writer
Should and what they cannot be expected to do,
*” in the hands of the consumer. He should
have before him an analysis of all competitors’ ad-
vertising, so that he may not reinforce their work by
using points which they have preempted. He should
know what kind of salesmanship, written and per-
sonal, is to be used in connection with the copy. He
usually has the responsibility of preparing anticipa-
tory and follow-up literature to be used in connection
with advertisements to appear in standard mediums.
In order to do this most effectively, he ought to be
thoroughly saturated with the sales policy of the
house for which he is writing.
A copy writer should regard himself as an inter-
78
BUILDING AND TESTING 79
preter between the man who has something to sell
and the people who can use it. Many points which
the manufacturerfinds interesting, in produc-
§ ing his wares, would only confuse the buyer
Interpreter and distract his attention. The purchaser
Between . tº º e & e &
Ajºser is primarily interested in the satisfaction
jº. he derives from his purchase. His point of
2ng oup º tº tº g
view differs radically from that of the retail
clerk, or the dealer, or the salesman who represents
the manufacturer in distributing his goods through
the established channels of trade.
Unless the copy writer and the commercial artist
can almost intuitively grasp the group spirit, and
emphasize in words and pictures those points of the
-- ... article being advertised which will appeal
Writing and tº " & e e
illusiºn, most strongly to the individuals which com-
º, pose the group, their technical ability will
ments with e g
a Strong count for very little. I am convinced that
ºf ºr the number of persons who can write or
N #;" illustrate advertising copy is comparatively
small. They must have a natural bent or
gift for it, somewhat akin to the reporter’s “nose
for news.” It is certain, however, that experience
and the following of generally accepted standards
will develop, intensify, and make more practical a
natural gift for writing and illustrating copy.
The novel and spectacular can generally be
found within the advertiser’s organization or in the
wares produced. The copy writer who gives the
impression that he has created the novel or sen-
80 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
sational features of the advertising, defeats its pur-
pose.
When the size of an advertisement and what is to
be said in it have been determined, the best plan
w is for the copy writer to make a diagram,
Diagram- © -
jº enclosing the exact amount of space to be
*...* used; then indicate that portion which will
be reserved for illustration; locate with
heavy lines, or letter in, the large display words, in
order to get the proper emphasis and balance for the
principal points; and finally fill in the intervening
spaces with the text matter.
It is a great mistake to believe that, because people
remember very little of what they see, an advertise-
Brevity ment should consist of very few words. We
N.” remember Dickens' characters because he
*...* restated their peculiarities again and again,
until they were unforgettable. A good story
writer grips the reader's attention in the first para-
graph and carries it through column after column
of interesting matter, all the time burning into his
consciousness the points which are to be emphasized.
Display advertisements serve two purposes: (1)
they impress the casual reader, and (2) they put the
Advertise- buying impulse into the mind of the possible
ments Must customer. Both kinds must be considered
*...* in making a layout. An advertisement
P; to needs to be a good one, even if it is to have
* no more attention than that casually given
to a poster. Small type should be saved for clinching
BUILDING AND TESTING 81
the buying impulse, for if the reader takes time to
read the small type, it means that his curiosity has
been aroused by the display features.
The ten tests which follow were formulated for
checking up work in our organization. But they will
Ten Tests be of use to the copy writer, to the retailer
of an Ad- who has an advertising manager, to the
Oertisement
manufacturer, to the sales manager, and
to the salesman.
(1) Is your advertisement institutional 2 Does it
appeal most strongly to the group spirit of the people
to whom it is directed? To answer this question one
must have complete data as to the tastes, incomes,
ideals, purposes, and habits of life of the group
which is to be influenced. It also calls for the in-
telligent scrutiny of the reading pages of those
publications which have the largest circulation in
that group.
An institution is composed of individuals who have
many thoughts in common. The circulation of a
successful publication is institutional. The group
which reads a single publication, day after day, will
unconsciously be influenced by and then accept its
institutional viewpoint. A well-managed business
house develops an established order of doing things.
This makes it institutional in character.
The best copy reflects the institutional quality
of the business which it is promoting, and takes
cognizance, in its appeal, of the institutional traits
of the readers.
82 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER,
(2) Is your copy matural 2 An advertisement should
carry over to the reader the individuality of the
advertiser. Some publicity fails because the author
of it is under the strain of being unnatural. His copy
is forced, and does not ring true. A good advertise-
ment is a mental photograph of the policy and princi-
ples of the advertiser. The copy writer must be able
to interpret the advertiser’s personality, and so to
express his ideas in print that they are instantly
recognized as a sincere message from him. The copy
writer who can make his copy carry over to the reader
that intangible something which pervades every suc-
cessful commercial organization is a success.
(3) Is it specific 2 Unless it possess individuality,
an advertisement helps competitors as much as it does
the institution which is paying for it. To find out
whether or not an advertisement is specific, substi-
tute the name of a competitor. If the advertisement
is just as effective, it lacks individuality. A specific
advertisement meets conditions squarely as they are,
not as they ought to be. It gives a definite reason
for wishing the prospective customer's immediate
attention, and justifies its existence from the view-
point of the advertiser.
It should so concentrate attention on the article
advertised that the reader will be completely ab-
sorbed in and unconsciously obtain a clear idea of the
story itself, rather than be impressed merely by the
manner in which it has been told. If the cleverness
of wording or a too challenging illustration divert the
BUILDING AND TESTING 83
reader's attention from the article itself, the adver-
tisement is a failure.
(4) Is it timely 3 Timely advertising inspires the
belief that the advertiser is wide awake. From the
general trend of events, successful general advertisers
forecast conditions for the various seasons of the
year, and make plans months ahead. The retailer
should do likewise. It gets much more satisfactory
results than will a patchwork campaign constructed
from day to day in a hit-or-miss fashion.
Should the advertiser wish to take advantage of
some unusual event, it is very easy to substitute a
piece of timely copy which will be in harmony both
with what has preceded and with what is to follow.
In conducting an editorial or a feature campaign,
a newspaper is almost sure to create and crystallize
a sentiment upon which an advertiser can “cash in ’’
by adapting his copy to the timeliness of the reading
pages. Timeliness is offering the public what it wants
just when it ought to want it most.
(5) Is it pertiment 2 An advertisement should be
written with due regard to the viewpoint of the pur-
chaser. “How is it made P” does not interest him so
much as “What will it do for me 2'' It is often well
to humor pretended motives, or subtly to suggest the
real ones. Many a piano is bought for another pur-
pose than to develop the musical talent of a family.
The purchase actually marks its social advancement
from the breadwinning state to the possession of a
recognized luxury.
84 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
Suggestion, the most potent element of personal
salesmanship, is utilized no less effectively on the
printed page. A father who believes that the pos-
session of a diamond would foster in his daughter a
love of display and extravagance will not buy her
one; but he might be won over by the suggestion
that in no other way could he make so concrete and
permanent an expression of the sentiment he enter-
tains for her. It is often a devious mental route
which leads to the pursestrings of the public.
(6) Is it consistent # A consistent advertisement
must survive all the previously outlined tests; and
it must do more. It must be a perfect link in the chain
of the advertiser’s selling policy. Consistency calls
for coöperation from the advertiser’s salespeople.
He cannot get this unless he instructs them fully
about the purpose of his advertising and the part
each is expected to perform in “cashing in?’ on it.
Consistency covers the relationship of the component
parts of a campaign to the proposition as a whole.
Methods that bring success to one institution are
ridiculously useless for another. To exploit a bank
in the extravagant superlatives of a circus publicity
man would be absurd, and disastrous. On the other
hand, some advertisers, fearing to appear undignified
or sensational, actually say nothing that is interest-
ing in their announcements.
(7) Is it persistent 9 A single advertisement can-
not be said to possess the quality of persistency, but
it can form a part of and bear out a plan to which
BUILDING AND TESTING 85
a business has adhered strictly for years. A trade-
mark indicates that each advertisement containing
it is one of a series, or that the use of advertising
space is the established policy of the house. In no
other way can a merchant win confidence or establish
so thorough a credit with the public as by advertising
prudently and persistently. Confidence is a plant of
slow growth, and persistency is its Sun, rain, and
fertilizer. A persistent advertising campaign cover-
ing a period of three years in legitimate publications
will seldom fail to produce a “good-will” asset worth
at least as much as the amount of money spent for
space during that time.
(8) Is it authoritative 2 The leaders of the masses
have one distinguishing characteristic in common—
they are confident in affirmation. The advertiser
must at all times and under all conditions maintain
an authoritative tone. No one believes a man whose
advertisements show that he does not believe in
himself. Without the reader’s confidence, advertis-
ing is wasting money.
Yet too wanton an exhibition of self-confidence is
dangerous. The public will side with a man who
demonstrates his leadership, but it cannot be bull-
dozed. The results of advertising are dependent
upon the voluntary action of free people; threats,
scares, or pessimistic utterances never make friends
or customers. Optimism is a confidence-inspiring
tonic. The optimist who is tempered by self-control
is the successful advertiser.
86 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
(9) Is it plausible 2 The word “plausible” has
been in bad company. Its exact meaning is “to tell
a story so that it is most acceptable to the reader.”
All advertising should serve the reader. Therefore
the truth should be plausibly told if in that way the
reader can most easily grasp it.
It is not enough that an advertisement tell the
truth. The reader must believe before it can bring
results. Good advertising copy is 100 per cent.
salesmanship, not 125 per cent., which the wise buyer
discounts at once, nor 75 per cent., the weak refuge
of negatively honest men who endeavor to conceal
their own shortcomings by decrying others. One
hundred per cent. salesmanship is the ability to state
in an interesting and convincing (hence plausible)
manner all the desirable features of an article.
(10) Is it sincere 2 The best advertisement in-
fluences the reader to buy, honestly feeling that he
or she has acted on his or her own judgment. Sin-
cerity is indicated by the use of simple sentences and
terse, frank statements. Clearness of expression,
fidelity in illustration, and accuracy in description
are the natural reflections of a sincere state of mind.
Sincerity cannot be feigned; it must actually exist.
Where it does exist, the matter of expression will take
care of itself.
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER VIII
Some years ago a host of correspondence schools
were offering to teach young men and women how to
BUILDING AND TESTING 87
write advertisements. One of thespecial inducements
was the promise of a large salary. The opportu-
nities for such salaries do exist. But no corre-
spondence course fits a man for earning one. He
must also have experience. So far as I have had ex-
perience with them, these schools are worth while.
One of the best things a student gets there is the
habit of regular, systematic study. Any correspon-
dence course on any subject will do this.
The text-books of the International Correspondence
Schools, Scranton, Pa., are particularly accurate and
complete, and cover a wide range of technical detail.
“Practical Publicity,” 1906 (the Matthews-
Northrup Works, Buffalo), by Truman A. DeWeese,
is a “work for the advertiser, and is intended to be
helpful to every man who has anything to sell and
who is ambitious to enlarge the market for his prod-
uct,” to put it in the author’s own words. The book
is adequate and unusually readable.
CHAPTER IX
APPLICATION OF THE TEN TESTS
N ORDER to suggest a method of the applica-
tion of the principles outlined in the previous
chapters, and particularly the ten tests given in
the previous chapter, I am showing herewith char-
acteristic advertisements of John Wanamaker of
Philadelphia, Marshall Field & Company of Chicago,
Filene's of Boston, William Taylor & Son of Cleve-
land, B. Altman & Company, Saks & Company, and
Rogers Peet Company of New York City. I have
chosen purposely specimens of advertising of houses
whose advertising is generally considered to be the
best in the retail field. :
In each one of these advertisements, which are
reproduced from the daily papers, the test of institu-
tionalism is justified by the tone of each advertise-
ment taken as a whole.
* . . e. Each one of the stores represented has,
Institution- g - gº
alism as after years of patient and continuous adver-
£º tising, built up a constituency that has
paper Ad- characteristics individual, distinctive, and
wertisements responsive to a form of announcement that
has stood the test of time, and which suggests con-
fidence because of familiarity.
88

15. Aſfittatt & (Jn.
have prepared for to-morrow (Thursday)
An Interesting Sale of
Women's Summer Blouses
in attractive styles and such desirable lingerie
fabrics as batiste, organdie and voile,
at the exceptional prices of
$1.90, $2.25, $3.75, $4.65 & $6.75
In the regular stock of the Women's Blouse
Department will be found Sports Blouses
of imported silk Jersey, in all the desirable
shades. These Bloisses are particularly desir-
able for golf, tennis, motor and general sports
or travel wear.
fº. Alfutätt & (Ju.
The Corset Department
has ready for selection a large and compre-
hensive assortment of Summer Corsets,
made of the thin materials indispensable for
warm-weather wear. Among them are
Corsets of openwork material, plain and
figured batiste and all-over embroidery; also
of extremely fight-weight tricot and tricotine.
These Corsets are shown in the regular stock
at prices ranging from º $1.00 to 15.00
Summer Bragsieres and Soutier-gorges,
made of net (with shields), cambric, all-over
embroidery, silk tricotine, etc., are shown in
the regular stock of the Corset Department
variously priced tº * > at 50c. to $8.50
FURS, RUGS AND DRAPERIES
ŠTORED IN VAULTS ON THE PREMISES
(Telephone 7000 Murray Hill)
Jºſiſ; Aprimr, 34th alth 35th Éirrrts, 3 (rin ºra.
Today and Tomorrow -
the last two days for
Men's High & Low Shoes
at these reductions
Button, lace and Blucher styles, in patent coltskin,
gun metal skin, black and brown vici kid, and
tan Russia calf. And every pair made on a new last,
especially designed for us, that these Shoes may
conform to current footwear modes and yet be
readily distinguishable from the average.
$5 High and Low Shoes at $3.85
$4 High and Low Shoes at $2.95
Men’s Duster Sale
In our Motor Apparel Dept.—today
$7.00 Dusters at $4.78
Mohnii and natural linen dusters of very service-
able quality, in single and double breasted toodels.
$12.00 Dusters at $7.50
Imported pongees in gray and tan and .mohatre in medium
: id: ; either single or double breasted models.
Very special for today and tomorrow—Men's
$1.50 Negligee Shirts
pleated and plain
at 95c
No half-way merit about these values—they are simply
cat. Made of Madras, percale, crepe and mercerized
#s, in a splendid assortment of designs and colors
Extraordinary sale today and tomorrow of
Men's $6.00 Blanket
and Terry Bath Robes
at $2.85
New—not resurrected patterns—but new, snappy
merchandise, marked at a special price for a one-
day drive. A splendid assortment of designs.
Şākā8:Guittpattu
Broadway at 34th Street
TO THE
Jºdº RATION OF
WOAfEN'S CLUBSF
7 his $ tore extends
places at
those
MARSHAILFIELDá)COMPANY
the dasposal et the
eacds of vidtors the ºtte
vict ºf this crganisatiºn tº
its
Aretae say tº referry ºestrºyºf rººr fiascº Pºrs. A
er breparºse_ſ^s .# 3ty RE: tºgtºº is tº gº
pkr 'afr SroRAGE YA Ulfs vasre ºf esseef frvs.
Tºrr §: B C RRAG, •ispºsas Prºvers ºn awaars O-6. Braxca to ºf sº wrºt
star cºe ºf a et laf tes. $ºrºra gº
ta $ºrwººt
33-6seh Prºpertad Motºra!
Women's Summer Dresses, Hundreds, in
a Special Sale at $10.00
Our new Wabash Avenue Salesroo
In for
Women's Street Dresses (from $5.00
to $25.00) has bec
wee
sands of the women of Chicago have
visited it, drawn here by the excep-
tional merchandise being displayed.
fear "...º.º. Re All-Silk Ponges
gesaral takırmases tº giadly We destrº spote at 65c a Yard.
- into, wºrrº y and complete- A is bric Ancva for its
sº §§ !y of all the recariants re- durabibty, ºpi *rs she
whex. Afterºsat is asy crewºº- ra aſ a tº 1 a ! ing qualities acd fºr cral
$ºrts ºf tº bºss - a ta e s ºf and Black Dress Goºds usefulness. It is arrcrtail
tºss the $&zte R : ctions To acceroplish ble ſ veling dress-
ºf ºs sº *: aed restſal º tºl. X's have ºr futuber 31, ºut.-usta. At ºt.
thirokº Arloff ºu. and final re du c \le nº on for traveling, raea's skirts
*3, Chº asºl wºrit- svtry one. for out in a wear, also
$ng Rººm. tº a Mi best cº- jirias ked row at
the Atxsanº-34twº Bºreau and
** Postal $tabæs an effuriaé.
ruałęces tº
tº is
portunity of the esture sea-
pº
a Price wbicb abould sell
y
****
Federing
T}resses of crud for
finest valust we have evºr shown.
tº Dresses ºf sºft
wwari sae et &e best seedeis
we have ever had. ºn sºta,
&as
:::::::::- 3: *::::::: º thus quantity quickl
ORIENTAL RUGS-
At Prices Hard to Parallel at Any Time
*1f. 24-2: *a-- * § º * **, * *— it
rººts tºº
f ſº crºps drew, trººmdar. grº,
N resisa, cºts, and try weijs dreases ºrtº èmèr
estrº. is a t teste. Plah. use strºs asdron a des, six reas
Coºgašafta As4 whitº. and ºar ºtºatá wrº. Matº-
The
Ribbon Sale is at its
4
rº- Hºw w w su j vu wy
that the prices we quote an
tagni are to individual that
, is fitt eut
Fine piece
have been radically reduced for June Wedding
I buyers.
Attractively displayed in our newly located
Chuna Sectica *, *ts ºsses tº a 3-ash ºssºm.
All destrable pieces are uncluded 5 on small
Olive Dishes to a piece of Dresden or Scts of
Service Plates.
Trºfit forwºº 3.4 g g of Afrºxx （ºrrs cost.
*istºs ºf 3. cº, grº 23, g33.co ro g too od.
CUT GLASS—LOW PRICED
Specials • Giſts for June Bridca
ſº
g
§
*J-39
oilve Dishes, 6 lectes la diarietar, wtº cr with-
out basales. 55c sach-
5ugar and Crºar, Sets, cut bardles. 31.73 set
12-isch Vases, cut with diaricod point in centrf
of €aisy (see tilustratics). $3.30 saca.
Laraps. bachts biſh. (lobe & irches
erºs, bead tringe, cottiete with a c. p. baſs, $3.00-
tºga traied.
a cſ China from our regular tea.
e wants of the future
anticipated this week, as the o
portunity will probably
never be presented again.
Furniture for cwery part .
* of the home is represented.
rºse rºle
gły ºw-ox kokung at it troºn the
other viewpornt that the Rugs are remarkably fine at the prices e de-
the very expression of a room can changed
by shifiring the position of the Rug We especially commend the fellowing
Assºult-rºxy Bºkeºfºtºss - rich. ºt terrºe - has ry, dºes?
º," "" " - *:::::::::: *** wºrº Ragº. 3 in tºy 3 tº... aſſº
ix. 39 is $33.9%. tº... $2.39 te łłł &
2 fl & ba- ºr 3 ſº, $1339 tº $3.
àº.º.º.º.º.º.º.
rººt *
—-r-
Fine China Wedding Gifts ſº.
At Reduced Prices, ...: º: ſº
$1.00 to S25.00. ared ºf: A Mºse brº
A Rare Cºlor:tica of
350 Japanese
Water Colors
has been increased every
'* to iotacabrºaded.Tansu, unt as a dars 4. At 33°,
brºceded satiº. 3 trºpºd ſaflata.
3×x. 33¢. 3&t,
Pºiº Taitºts. Checked as 3 warp
tºnnºi º a ſtats w tº Ptabs *aas
Melrºs. ſassy and estix edge. be
a barge variety of ratiºns, Ms.
$º, and ºbe
lºbbos tº twº
airº desira*. Ge talry and bow
karº Fahrrae, tº white, peak, sed
Has been by far be most successful of an our previous events. The present stock u we behava the
bargest and most complete collection in Ribbons aver placed on sale anywhere. The in
- As rapidly as our present Baes are depleted they
supplemented from an imrpense reserve—thus leaving the entire a th cl
g ca ºn as barge variety as at any time since the sale began
Mgh
Height
rnense assortment
gº
still compksts and intact wi tº ºt
t blue. 3) tech plain ºats
º :::::::::::::::::
thºs, eºs *
3 and $3 bºob tress4ad
and sata strº-ed tº fists ºwhºts.
plan said tº ºve.
**tes. Nº. i. 1, 2, 3, 3, 9.
::sº-º-ºkºlº, 19
At 25¢ Yard. 31 tº extra
tºne fy eatre aed plaïa tai-
Weis Rubbee is white, runk sed
ANNOUNCING
An exhatrion of
HI&H GRADE FoorweAR
whicº, we can safety say, Aas never been
equated.
Cºr ºnferred Sections for Women’s cºnd
rate the terrest, triost corvplets, cºnd most
elegent Womasn's and Children's Shoe Section
£n ºrtstºncs.
Incºded cre many new tiers that wº
be extensively eopted. The ex-
*::::::::: tº cºrr, Alºfrican ºvº conſtratrº the week.
Tº is prºbably The paºlic is cordicºy travtted.
was fative ºwthſ efºreier
ty cºs kada; 3 tºº ºrga
artists that has ºver
tº thicago et victºry
<º::::::::::
& Jºiº sº
jº.: Graduation Gifts White Novelty Crepe
tº: :: *** Arts as: for Bora and Giris. Woile, Yard, 35c.
*::::: y * *...*- d tº at wººl A not be r great White
be as treasured as the guts Goods valus — ccrrect in
These made de lytºgraphs as that cert, tº tra of a te any style, Yetight and falsh is
*.*.º.º. Celers other tº ºf a lºſſe ºzº ty Crepe Voue,
*** 1-ºctºr 3. f #: with desirable chtexed tſ.
isplays on 9xxx J w at rººte
cº-º: Firs of the tº a sh Avºnºit for asking sheer waists
tºurs is signed by cº-e artial and Bedding. A fund of rag- We anticipate
bºtan stay Yes are geaucas at any Entend a great deal et deserved
cºrºazy śvited tº wºrst chea exprediture ls a this
Tha Prºtes are 36t. ºf $3, for
$1.23. 31.39, $1.73 and $2.3%.
&
Rasd-Cºleted Jayasase Phºtº-
£nºs aſ 33t-
only Seven Days More of the
Clearance of
COWAN FURNITURE
The opportunity for securing gº
rade Furniture at unprecedente
rawing to *-close.
should
ieces of this ºff:
rices is rapidly
style,
Swiss,
o: watch Cºates
*:::::::" ºr Flags for Flag Day
6 Woo! Bunting,
fast colºrs, ºr red stripex,
with beary canvas Stadlag,
48 stars, at
$s
Jane Specials.
Maids' Aprons,
}{alda" Arrons, red a d
ºf: º' Gººd
scabaped to broki-
ruſle, bib and strapt,
*s re-
The Newest Ideas in
Smart Blouses
At $3 Öº-two tla.
made wits pºsited tront and back.
cellar fºals bed with robre tie; the other, sº crºps
chbnt, tº white and Bash, with collar, west and
& B. Ji ? tº b and
white exabroºdºred
ºrgandy.
t!erves and rel] &alian
*and reabºlisz
At 1333-ſtºre -
made with tºº maine liſh waltºreeſ st
cºlºred bottºsa, loat ultsvee, treaf and ratts at reque.
•º esca ºf tº eanº. ºf
petsied scºat and thern Maeves.
Linens for Wedding Gifts.
are appredated as med, an any gift &e
of her
sºrt
cxisnaive and the values
tºº
We suggest bat a few of the many articles te
ct frotº-
sºle
lºſsºirº NAPKI) ºx $rººfered. Mexicº Estre+4.
Jºi e s a & Exmºre ºf stºl and hºrt tºrs raagtag
3. *** *****
tºta
Estºn, 43's $24.5% tº cºntrº.
tº teakh tºmbº furt tºrº, handsºme de-
&red. *::::::::::::: alºn. Hº tº is $163 tº. 34 e-
$ti º ºx ºf rºck Eabrektarº and Mº-
rºsºr 4*** | * brass ºwn tasting
Prºdal wºes, dea-. §249, trººm ºf cote try to esca
ſº tºo. º.º. $13 bo. Cºverv ten tºwaber ºrºrs
rººt. Ha :*:::: º
A rpedal lx ºf Mačius I alch ...; anº *
Xºrºrºlºred £zatsy Pietas, lºcº, Lºry vºtea-
tº 3.88 sack. Mead: £re tº ºrtº $ºsé Ples.
Special Sale of Bed Spreads
lmpertad Canterbury Crs tonne Bed
Spreads .*. edges and Bolster Cov.
to ty
patterns *g. blue and yellow combunations
ul!












i
Better telephone Oxford 1 and have your Furs put in Safe Cold Storage at once
2-y
*T*. : º
* wº Wºº /* J. - * A \ {i.
/* Hº ..º.
* w 6. *- ſº
sº
~\
& S s
§ - Yºº
| W/Sº,
§ rººm ºf
º º º al & §3.
C
-tzaxł A.
- --- º
What are your summer plant—beach, moun- Business hours 8
tains, or a cool piazza with a turn on the links or £;
a run in the car for the cooler hours?
they are, this storo stands ready as usual with the
right cloſhes at the right price.
29 ALL ABOARD FOR SUMMER 29
ours 8:30
{...".
uring Juno and
5opternber.
Closed all day every
Saturday during !";
and August; 8130 to
other days.
Whatever
In this progressive specialty store, Summer is
a separate season, not a “tag-on” to Spring. Our
stocks show it. Scan these columns of store
news.in vain for even a mention of anything that
is not entirely summery
Saving Money Is Pleasant, Even on
Class Dāy and Commencement Dresses
Tomorrow one can come into the women's dress shop and buy a charming
lingerie frock for a Class Day campus, a white net Commencement dress, or a silk
: for a Class Day spréad for much less than such dresses usually cost, even
Plenty of Summer dresses f
for the demands that Jºe make.
$15 for $25 Lingerie Dresses
Tbe first embroidery-bordered voile dresses
we have seen with the very long now tunic.
Sashes of more
$15 for $25 Nct Commencement
resses
These are the rezult of come very clever
designing. The skirt is a soccession of Councea.
each shorter than the one above; tho waist
has deep "berggro" frills; bash is paſſeta-
broche.
&ººlºº.
trºene'e-3b1th
wedding gouras to street ſtocks are ready, too.
Figured Crepe and Velvet Ribbon
Made This Unusual Dress at $15
Only costlic, dresses, we believe, have
eltown this bordering of long tunic and wide
girdle with black, velvet ribbon. Mosaic
silk-and-cotton thin crept in rose, greco,
blue or black. Usually $22.60.
$18,50 for $25 Cropa de Chine
“Quaker” Dresses
dress tº cotable for tho new pointed’
This
"Quaker" collar of white organdie and the
long box-plaited tunic below the hips. Cool
blues, greens, browns, blocka and whltes.
reºr,
Women’s $40 New Silk Suits, $25
The model is the very one we have been selling in moire at $40. These
sults ord of faille, in black, navy, blue, light blue and taupe. The fullness of the
coat is held in with big silk c
$25 New Blue Cloth Suits at 815
One is the most su ul plain-tailored
model wo have had at $25. It is of sersc, with
button-trimmed coat and tunic s -
9ther is very similar to what the Fall suits will
lt is of scrge and gºth long Rus-
g Q-
*
stan tank and Paquin coa
crººre-ºrifth
s. Long tunic skirt-
$15 Cool Linen-Suits for $10
One has kimodo decwo coat and long
“fishtail" tunic. Another has Mcdic! collar,
lined with white pique, and three-tier skirt.
WHITE SERGE SUITS are ready at $15
to $40.
Flººr)
Satin Hats Are Gleaming
in the Millinery Shop
... White satin or blush-roto satin hats, decked with little
wings or wound around with a soft pink bird-breast.
., PANAMAS were never more irreristible. Here are big
and little ones, eashed or winged, all as cool as they look.
KNOX sailors, horse-hair lace hats and soft crepo hats
are other tokens of Summer in the Millinery Shop.
You can pick up a charming Summer hat hero for sur-
prisingly little, $5 and $7.50.
true-stro Peen
—l
ee e 32
The “Eleanor Wilson” Cape
has come to the Women's Coat Shop. It is made in the same
way as the one chosen by the daughter of the President for
her trousseau. Black satin, tined with black and white stripe
silk, tied with long ends that pass arºund the raist.
Capes Have Come
to Stay
Hero are dress capes and sport
capcs, and caped that can go anywhere:
in fatin, duvetyne, checks, eponge or
Serge.
At 8:10.75 are tweeds, scrges and
checks, with big cape sleevte; and looed
honcy- eponge capes with short
belted front-
At $15 are wonderfully good
duvetyme capes with Roman stripe
moire waistcoats. Inverness capo coats
with sleeves are $18.50.
Scrgo conts with removable capes
aro 319.75,
º
§
º º
Sºś
& §:
§§
§
oriº-Etfº rLevry
Crest Brand Underwear
will not shrink, ſits without fulness, and is cut to stay up on
the shoulder where it belongs.
Women's Crest Brand Union Sults are 500 and more.
Wouncin's Crest Brand Vcats are 25c and moto.
(ruras’s-Thbrd Fleev)
June Sale of Aprons
59c for $1 Apron Sets
?ereale, gingbara and chambra
...tº: eſbow ... . in
79c for $1.25 Dress Aprons
Pitted perealo dress aproar festering to waistline behind: º:
*. º at waist; i.º.º. colored trabroidery piping. Sixts
tº
81 for New Reversible Dress Aprons
ther alde Ho front, giving doubl :
Hººgºº,” “Jesus,
cas be worn with ci
bdi- Misde on accorate p8
$1.39 for $1.75 New Crepe Apron Sets
A Füepe idoa. Dairty crepe fºie Vallace. New staped cock
and pud derra, Geeded elses 84 to
cº-fºlsº Lº
torrºrsº i. with esp to match.
Renovn Cleansing
“tºo-rest ©ear stag ears
***teur Gieve clearistog Cºrries
Specials for This Week
?". at 3 &ll&resn’s brº
y $$..tº , is $3), fºsys
* * >{<e ruits shºrt urºssrº,
1 ſteru ally 11 ºdy
{Wiktºre-5 trust rivery
Girls’
Muslin Dresses
Flowered muslin tunic
dresses ed with fish-
eye lace for girls of 0 to
14 nre only $2
Dotted muslin "tyer”
dresses with low sashes,
button from neck to hem.
0 to 14 years. $3,
Growing girls of 13 to
17 years for whom wre
aro going to much pains
y tºvo
Inuglin sash dresses and
6trips muslin divided.
tunic .05.
Five-Dollar Tub Skirts
Piques, rutines, khakis, linens, crepes and burlaps—coat
#: º skirts, “upron" skirts, Russian skirts and belted
skirts.
Tºro : in the Skirt Shop deserve a mention. One
is of ſipe cordaline, with tailored hip-ſlounce. The other is a
Cossack linen with long "apron” tunic. Each is 855.
Other Tub Skirts are 82 to $18.50.
cºllmers-ºxºa rºor)
Summer Sale of Negligees
Just the cool, comfortable ents that are indispensable
when summer rolls around. We have prepared three different
inds, one in crepe, one in voile, and one in crepe do chine.
$1.50 for $2 Flotcored Crepe Kimonos
tº iſºtº Hetes are cutaway; peck and elsuvas
$1.95 for $2.95 Figured Voile Negligees
enºś feel otherwise tº thers. Deep
$5 for 38.95 Crinkled Crepe de Chine.
an Hit º: Lºose, wrappy snd slºpla, with the plated
gºttenºre-ºkºl intº
º













;Cºsveland. Friday, June 13. 1914
5fore Fours
& 36 a s to 5 Jo p. m.
Xastern Time
Many jaunty styles Prices
an ressonable as the bats are
mart and becoming.
bgck, º&c to $1.38 each.
* and pique, $1.xt to $1.16
Ǻr
wbits crushable felta $1.38 tº
$3.53 each Wilt black ; *:::
groagrald hands: one style *
paneet-leather band and bow
tº to the Roºne
faelars. 3ajhor ºbspes atoons:
them and otych colors as citron.
range. rose and white
Hemp and Iteeret sailor hats,
$3 tº try $7.50 each. With bºnds
abd bows or bands and srmall
feather fancles in black. white
g
*altº taffetan riſk stitched
Girls’ hafs noto
25c and 50c
Untrimmed Wide brimmed
hats that need but a knitted
band or scarf to make then
complete for wear.
chlºt in red and green.
White pean at traids with chlo
flat grº of red, green, burnt-tolo;
or black tos with kiscret fat-
1ngs is navy-r-toe, brove or red.
rºanut braid in brown. red or
black witb wbitt facings
*Awal flººr
8II, R GUOVES SPECIAL,
A maker's close-out of two
qualities of elbow-length
while ailk gloves turned evar
to you beginning today
Mºe a pair. 6&c quality Dogbºe
tipped angers
&e a timir (1 quality Milane
Wºry elastie.
tº ºre sº.
Phrst ſheep
RAND...BA08 $1.68
A special lot of leather
band.bags will be placed
on sale Saturday morning
prievd $1.85 instead of $2.50
Colors and black. Firrt fºrce
RABEMENT-8TORE
Girts cea is $1 $$ 33 gºal ºf et
§ties 3 to it wears Plain navy
lue, browd gray or red, abd
błurt-apd-white therbs. Only
thirty-five It, the lot
1joyt was b-suita $1 &lted twº
to 7 years Plalo tolers stºd
light and dark stripes
i\oys' bloutca, 4% Głres 5 to
$4 yrard Plain colore it listri or
Qark stripet.
Iyoys' rongpºrt, tº each, er
tour for $1. Sizes 3 to 8 years
odak films and platry de-
Jſ Ál
veloped and printed by ex-
perts. Propapt delivery
Wm. Taylo
rº
These $2 waists
above the average
Many attractive stylen and
s' number of new once added
today.
Welles, battates and organdy
havns with smart ºntebee.
Third fleet
sºsmºſºms
POR THE BEAUBI
A delughtful collection of
bathtng-caps, hats and other
beacb accessorira are dis-
played in the toilet-goods
section. The assortment's
very complete now, though
it won't be advisable to wait
long before selecting what
you're going to need.
Taro rabber caps. 36 tº Wi.
Variety of celors and abspes.
some with rotabluation of colors.
*:::::::::::: tape, ºc to
Rtibberized silk capa, ii to $3.
Men's diving taps. Soe.
I}athjpg-garters. 13c and fºe
rubber eashes in did treat
cokyrs ºl
Bathing-ruit bagº, fºe, ºe, tºo
and $1. Fºrst these
RIBB.ons now 100
Odds-and-ends of many
styles Qualities op to 35c,
onderpriced beginning todny
Piaſtin, fancy stripce, triotra.
brocades and fºwered ribbona-
$n a good variety ct colors and
des!
Ribbon ºttable for bair-bºrº,
to #10 ery tricitonga, gtrülrs and
saahes. ºf gº
WOMEN'S STOOKING3
Close-out lots
thread silk, blarh, white and
sovº colors—ºt a pair instead
of tºe
&lk. Its le black, three pain fºr
$i Instead of f^: a Falr Mediuto.
wett.ht deep garter lops high-
spiictd bosis, ices add soles
Jºrge tºege
WOMEN'S UNION.8UTr3
50¢ for 650 quality A
new lot placed on sale today
purch use of fight-
tºpºrtin
weight tow fifts slrºvelets and
ſº tº
3ues 34, Jº abd 38.
$ºrwººd ſheer
DRE88. LINEN LE8S
Beginning today, natural.
celor lunen at 35, a yard in
stead of 65, in added to the
June sale.
!!º a good, firm quality ho a
proper wright tor dresses, sults.
cosis stró axirth 43-lbeb sidth
Jºrst free
WHTTE WALRUS CREPE
An addition to the Juno
sale beginning today 50c a
yard for a 75c quality
Medium welgul and 38 inched
wºrldt. Arri fleer
Close-out lots of ready-to-
wear garments for women
Remainders of spring mer-
chandiss are marked at radiº
cal undorfirlocs in order to
eflect a quick disposal—pro-
vidung very profitable oppor-
tunities to women selection:
suſtable apparsi for wucation
days,
cloth units-
$11 ft (sr $33 tuitº
§ 13 and $12.40 (or ºtº $3 tº
$33 for $32, to $40 sutta
Chué4ab cioth skirta, blesk
styd a tear as vy-blºssº-
21.7b and $10 tastaad of turbo
"And $16. Some nodets in “tººde
Auss to erºs as sº inches.
Navy-blue toohair skirts. 95
instead of $7 so.
tºodel in bands up to 14 tot
black thoſrº e stria, ºf 3.96 for
values up is $1t $3.
Navy-blue and black verzº,
thdria. WA Instead et It
baſe, 38 Tº instead of $43 tº
and $23-chlºdy ctecks sºd ists.
túfes
Travellug-tosts $19.90 taetesd
of 56 to İst-
}. wrotºn’t eosiº, º.º.
3ahead of $34—sines up to to
Biath, crºpos coats for large
worpsp. ºil, *** of $37 º-
ge ºf.
Shºvlar reductions well be
found on gerºgate a misses'
rises. &reaſ ſleev
r Son & Co.
Buy your wº
trunk now end
rove a fourth
Men: $20 for a blue serge suit.
with an extra pair of trousers
The ºut's an always desirable addition to a man's ward.
*b* and the extra pau of trouser, makes the ideal outing
quit for summer wear
The extra trouters are washable trousers of palm Boºth
choth, white with hatritta stripes
***bienable retrome cuts for rouag tellows and more staple
ºfºr
thodels for older tona.
Art a de A
See Sport Page for additional news from this section
Keeping up the variety in
boys' suits at $8.50 and $10
Size-gaps filled from $10 and $12 ranks, giving complete
**ortments and unusual returns for your money.
Norfolk snits in colors and cloths for everyday scrvice
or dress-up wear.
7 to 17-roar sizes.
Jerved fleer
Doesn't hot weather make
your boys' needs apparent?
Summer essentials for that
boy of yours-items grouped
for your easy notation.
Waab-inits 8pecially priced
$1.45 tº $385 each Sikes 2% to
Jºyssrs.
Crash Norfolk golts, ºi,73 each.
8ites 3 to 13 years
Dustºrm ºl tº to $5 each, 81zes
6 to 18 years.
Wasb-knºckerbockere sor to
1 a pair Blues 7 to 15 years.
l{otaper, {{x
Błºes 3% to 7 years.
Cottoo blouxes and shirts too
to $3 each Gires 6 to 15 years
Ike! blow-suſta $1 to ºf each-
Sises 3 to 14 years.
8tra" bats $1 to it each.
8?ik bats $1 rach.
Washable bate
&ntº
& to ºl
$rrerº ſteer
Boys' and Girls'
tennis and play-
oxfords
Comfortable shoes for va.
cation days are ready for the
ldred
turnis stees
tax was ºth
Otack—wtted 11% to £ 3: a
pu
White-eizes 11% to 3 and sº
we & $1 & a pair
Play-oiſerds
tilatt, calf of scioked borº.
year º eit solée wide lots.
$i 73. A pair-tºre $45 to it
$2 a pejr-1}rta l'º' to 3
$3.33 a pair-slots 3% to 6
altery
PINE WARH.GOOD8
Black and whate striped
volta are added to the Juno
sale boginning today Tho
prominence aſ striped wouled
this season makiug the un-
dcrprices of thore than or
dinary interrst.
3rd, 33.6
unity Three
st why a o
\tº s y
differvºut stripei 40-
lºth wº
13the a yary ife quality fre
! ºrb ºf ºth *** fiver
JULY PATTERN 8
Butterick fashions for July
are on sale in tomplete size-
ranges "of patterns.
Also The Dellnesucr for July
at lºw a copy first ſteer
A sale
of Turkish
towels begins
Startung today and ten,
tinuing thro' the week.cod
tºxtra-heavy, blagebed, red of
blue ends, 20 a 38-rvºular tºe
toweł st
Ruire special—all-wbtte, 3 is tº,
regularly $4 a dometh-ſº a dozen
Two lots. Manry ends, very ste-
gºal at 34t tech
Shop-coſted
ſºor-valute by to Tºt.
tic-faney rºde, regularly 66e.
nº-law, borders, regolarly
99e-hºrnstitched soda regu.
lºy ºilº. "...ſº
Vacation time's
kodak time
Got the tuost out of sum.
tner days and ways.
Look up the two now ko-
daks odded to the Eastman
fatally
Kedak Jr No. 1-singlo I
37. with dosbie lags :* ety's
Kodak Jr No 1 A-clasts
$3, double lean ill togle logs
No 1 takes pictures : tº 1 xv.
No. takes pictures swºrtwº
First ſleep
Kodak supplics
Films, plates and filro-
packs—sizes to ſit any kodaic
©t tº tº erºl-
Fillma are in rig. eight, tet, and
twelve ºn fºurºa
Fletes a sires train rº, a 3%
to $ 1 Inrhea
lm packs a twelve on-
$ºuret, slits lº 1 : * to $ 1 7
latben First fleet
Now for the
new linoleum
you want
An excursion into special
lowered prices with plenty-
for everybody and your
choice of a big variety of new
patterus.
Truported lalaid
Tiling, parquetry and wood ef.
ferts
.." a square yard-rºgulsrīy
$4 i3 a aquare yard-regularly
$ 40
Włe a squaso hard-regularly
£1.30.
priated
Best quality, hard enamel 6n-
inh-hat dwood and tite patterns
lo large et d artiall designa
$ºr a squars yard-rrrularly
466 a patuare rard-regularty
{&c resºrtà flear
About new outdoor
sleeping cots
Built for solid tomfort.
Strong i r on collapsible.
frames, coll springs and
..bend and foot rests. The
price us $6.50
We're alaa proteared tº furnisºr
sº- tº Gl *... bºd of
8|1-thirty Euclid Avenue
k-ºr-zrºy
Öur hands have been full
these last weeks!
Once again our customary
business optimism has been
justified
In spite of foreboding in
Some quarters as to the trend
of business, we believed that
more men and boys than ever
would want substantial, styl-
ish clothing at fair prices.
We provided a most lib-
eral stock, liberal even for
us; and that means more va-
riety, more ample range of
sizes than most clothiers
eVel' SaW.
The month just closed,
with its predecessors, has
fully justified our optimism
—our business has shown a
very healthy and satisfac-
tory increase,
So we enter June with new
enthusiasm, with renewed
confidence that in these days
of much exaggeration, sub-
stantial quality, generous va.
riety, fair prices and “your
money back if you want it,”
are more appreciated than
ever,
Everything men and boys
Wear.
Rogers PEET CoMFANY,
Three Broadway Stores
al
13th St.
at
$4th St.
at
Warren St.

tier, owa, s.v.a.as
PUBLIC 'LEDGER—PHILADF), PHIA, -
wanAMAKEu'a
Moxpº toºkING, JEgº B, 1913.
tº Arłaki AKRºt}
IF. A. STORE HAVE DIFFERENT AND
BAET"FER-STOCKS ITS GROWTH IS CERTAIN
WANAMAKEirº
Weather Today:
fºr.
No Skyrocketing Sales
This is jugt a plain, larger overyday
* opportunitiºn
*
Store, with advantag
tºotº
fox, our customers no . arisº (in)
without any fusging and make-beliove, all
tho markets, being open to our alor;
buyerā. &
Wo do not give orders to tako tho
quality out of the goods to onnblo up to
roduce priced, but, consider tho nimblo
sixpenco bottor than tho alow shilling
ballowing in holding up qualitico. and
; full measuro' oven at smaller
of the larger anlon.
If all purchasers had a
| Knowledgeablo Idea |
of values, they would boon conno to know
that the 5tendy dog-trot stores arc
regularly 6cling at the low right prices
without my necessity of pumping oxygun
into their systemſ.
[ºfigard]
... Bulletins-from the
y *
Women's Fashion Salons
Scores of new linen and ratine sults are to-48.78
to $$$. Twenty styles, more or less, includinr the rºw
Salamander Russian blaute suits: , bowl caps sults,
carics from Jeanne Leuvin sulus ; and very coarse licens
in old slºt. * - -
white earra eaſts at ºf?.50 to 990 arrive—kºta of
foreſtles, especially blºuse costs
º More liban dreases at $3 to $38, ºblje and.colored,
$º.
for mercing and aftermoe
More flowerd silk truts dresses at $9.76—a
naker’s ºutclearins; blue, lavruder, taurs and gray.
. . .Alsº we have plenty of totton **S*, tº
ºº::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: *
- & tº hºst ºnes's grºwtrº
lº ourselves better oſt by réason
$tº 8, 1934
. Samples of Neckwear
—Hand Embroidered
Qete e rear this rºastarterst set-tº wa sarºles et als
* tº rº, wette, retists, sets es- sº the delair title
...Aft: tissu, play 49th ex-intertant pºrt tº a wrºsa’s
gºt e qayº.
*::::: st! has 4 sºretiered la the és's ties" fººd tº,
;: * sampts, the Press are grºup \ºverwº-
te
Ös systs! tables in the Nettwear $ºttira.
ipºsºs &tº tweigelº
This Summer's cotton fabrics for
blouscs and drcssca
More than usually pretty this eason abd vºry pop-
ular for afternoon and dance frckxs as well as bkºrs.
Alſº,” “ ” and truny are aven less than
BIA and testen roarra, ºestly la stripes, tº a ru
Eastleh ratiºs trºpe, witus and a few telete, $º a
wettºm orºps, 34 ºthes sºle. ºr a ystä.
tº autºad esta, as wet éssinae. 43 tº tºss wVis. Hºw a rard.
tel, est?ea vetº. 4 latbed sºle, tº a yard.
Yisrevºred batists, $144t as its a rerd,
crvms, sº lºss wºe. uwe a'rard.
tºvt. ººse tºº sº
Wonderful Frocks
for Little Girls'
(Special)
rd.
yarº.
§a andred white dresses for girl of two to
six years itute a grºup thla raorming, Iloth
raterials minºr, selected tº , ºr re-
kable at the low, ºrites—44 to
tºtyles are simple and more thaborati-sll haws the
$ºw º: : ..." º:
ribbºn, & trº Are tisw lºcºs stićh a fºchinx
Hitle “tirred skirt,” a grown-up º:
Rººf charºtagły to roaſtrer year.
* , K, ºn ard $1.69 there are cºvere) tyka to eboºd
frcts, and others coat uo to $3. - - g
twºré rises, cºstý’
Madeira Lunch Setà
New as June Roses
abºº do it, º: svary º:
separately taxed-º, $8.60 and $6 a sº..
Madaird broch napkins with one corerritaininºv band.
embroidered four or five patterns, 14.76 a doan.
Now in the Yearly Towrcl Sale
ſº tººed ºscists ºf tºwels ºrith bºrders led
eads—saurº at 90s ºrb.
geºl, alsº. Meathed huhabeth.*.*.*, *t, at
****
*-º-º-º:::::::::Asºº
A dat=1; reºsti tº shºts, tºtatº sad alſº rete age, with setar
.*** ºlºš Fººls
§§ 4šº shawłº, Ize-strºre-sed.****
tºſs ºr ºssº, mºsºsº
T-Squarc Club
ibit
***** wrºn in the gaſ.
larii, ca” the #.
Flººr; Afariet. g
- ??? is da exhibition
ef ºrchitecturuſ <3r
-chiefly tror! is, the
/rer the
Federation of frt, the ſºlº
41stricas dºddery in
Rorie, the Society of
Braux dirt, afrchitect,
ead varies, Univer.
wines, and the ºxhibi-
tion it, ase ºf great
general iatrrest: " '
Čantiſt, of #atig
&tubg. a ſhru'3mportation
ot
$ülit.&timulićr £iliſ[ſicry
in ſºlatſ, aub Qºlījite
(Caser OArsed fºr the Fºur TAu ºf sºciety
$3tºtliittſbf anb ºriginal flichtlf
&tarting at $15
(§stead Fiese, CAtarust)
Radical Changes in:
Silk Sports Coats
th 8witzerland has made them and Paris has approved
wari,
sº We haº Just º a shipment and.until Fall
Xu m. s
1 b
in Aintrica. & t
: Qts style, at 8tº, tº ºf brushed tight-ww.ſgºwº ºth relier
arish, is ºut "sº re. Raruſºvº. Tº “
taare, rºm ºl Hwa, rt=}. rºsnºld, ºlts sº &
######"...arº, sº -e-, -a,
tº º geº ºf ºstrºy &#y we
*::: tº a §: #: 5. *
e t *f pºrts,
tº ºmited lº g º tellar tº: tº sº,
£º
Low-Priced Dress Lengths
. . of Summer Silks.
s that wwe º the fºº ºakº,
ºf the saras. -
frvº º tely fºr very tagsk recre. All ºre ºf tº rº
riºtº, both ::::::::::::" inpºrted wuver, and all are 3, tº
*arry tº sists
Watkev's rºala aſks
* mazałer &bts w
Prºs gºe - tººks
Crºp-se ºrarietae
Prºte are ºre tºº, ºtt, Ji and ºt.f3 a yard.
{west Alsºs º-4 sºap ºversy
--—-if a
IRST time at $3.85 for those crepo
de chine kimonog * * *
We kave ble tº runs as wensºrts as hºw
befºre, *: tºve (sa, therete at: .esºs tº Pretty
HAA in 3 rººk* tists ared a dºt. tlsº -
- **}:seaxt tº tºese ºrº-3;xed rºttes' -
frºttºrs, lavas-ºst, ptº er Neº, sità as slastia tºtal arºd
*sū, ji. tº-e ājīsīar s’ *
Clocks—a Safe Choice
for Wedding Gifts
As
º
Crystal tºl tººks tº gº
flººs-sº
tº tº gº tºrre are
-º-º: *:::::::::: Jºº.
Glove Special
8500 Pair of Women's Fabric Gloves
at 35c to 85c
. Desirable from avery point, these sºoves are of the
fabriea most fathlonable º *ěº, º
At #44 a psis-3-ºlasp thanels fatal tials thread; wºlts
pºsgue and wºlfe with haarretsbrºerr tº blash ºr *** *****
**le. Alºe E-tºp sº glºss tº blº ºr wºe, drºla Barwº
tip.
Aſ dºg Mr. exºds unk tº ºath łłłet ºf
beeg Aºi. ºfºrº. ::::: º st gra *:::::it:
Al tº a i.º. º.º.º.
At rºt a pair-lang Mpaness stn with Nºrſe relat tethri
*** * ***. -
ºº::5 º “* * * eluh
restrasting Meth ºr whº wºkie ºssbreitary,
*lºsty et sless. And all the elſk gºewee are dºble ſtarº
tºpped twº tistiar sºrrlaa. tºº &ºis,
Fresh New Rugs for Porch
and Buſſalow
gurt flººr rugs,
y ºf res' rigº.
the lar, a * [Ms ºssºr ºf
º : tºru tº asks rear selesue sity -
Algurian Fiber itnº
and ful, tº *
tr; fl. 34.Tº
7.tx16's fl. §§º
Algarias.
*s
ush, ſtrºn
3rd rº, tile
grº
**** f. §7 is
ūkº tº. Jºlts tº fle tº.44
a fºrrº. ººse, is sººn
The Blankets Qur Boys
Are. Using in Mexico
Blendard, U.S. Array, blinksts are on aalo
In this
Głote—also standard U. S. Navy blankets as used to
board Uncle .
$3ta's battlechirº.
Cºupºn please note: *
The Army blankºts, are wroven of finest Ameritan
wool and corne in tho.clive drab color of the Array—
“tºo slast, cow at a. l
avºr. wro tºº ºrºg
º, • wool in
. 5. N
datural gray $5 cº -
These are the ortrplus of the raiſls that thake
blankets for the United Butch fighting forces on land
and ºt
dark
it “…at *.*.*.*.*...* - 4 -H - ? * -º- is
e ****
acd gray-Wºº each.
“Dan Beard” Boy Scout Blanket
offidally adopted by the Boy Seout organtastles of the
Usited 8tstes, is sºld in this 8tore crly In *::::::::::
$."...º.º.º.º.
tottoº wºrp. runº gº ºiºsº
d
&
This Fine Furniture Is
$9 Easy to Buy!
-ºreºforº a tº th in
tº: The fursed oak buffet is ſº inches
loºttºnes deep, with long
draw.rssºtho tºests, sy
thirably coastroeted, and the r
terr marººdºon' such an excellent
... ºr arºe is trus of the china clost to match.
lºsi, long, with four shºres, oawºrked
of the side table, 18 Irches long, with two
drawar, $15,
trs is a good chetes of tedividual missiou places
New York, raw these
suits, and said she cºuldn't flad
in this city, so ahs bought otº
In this group *:::::::: mahogany buffets, 84 taches
wide, *:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::A;
tkows and cas out rainfor,
tº; :*:::ſº
Sarring table to match, $16,
China tºoset to match, 83 taches wide, 60 adhes
high. ET. & ſºrº tº
A Vital Question About
China Sets is-
Włº sºap pieces are tºrreſ
...Tº ºr the pºke the more rººt º ºg
way w w usagu º
In this 8tore bºthing tº regarded as, ºr called a
**t," unless it is complate for twelve people. This bolós
true no chatter how lºw the pries tasy be.
Anºthir Important feature is that every one of
sets has bread, and batter plates instead of individ
butter chipa, which even in ºn Austrian china set at $18
.#jº:-
tº sºrt tº a sea at 3 $º
ſº triº etes ºn tº º bºrds* ſº,
At , •plete Austriaa this a sets a rºsh $owdºw ées-
erratºa."
Asix-oareas shisa set ºf tet pºets ta e rest terãº
wks.
reid sº Asºsº,
At $1.46–Tºe. flavºlated set ºf 18?
*** #:- est et ºf Bºtsa, aſ plºts sits tell elee
tºº
...tºº lavas..... wrº-e. --~~
"Aiº-v. M-- r + wine. - . “wº-we-
At £33-Thee. Havºssi arts ºf tº pºstes, ba rºl, bºrºr
ésterºtists.
At 08-Thee. Hartººd sets ºf tº plaser, tº a betrº dº
, Tºsyal set ºf tº fºrest, bºrºur dºtrailed ºf
ties. '
Ál 1:43.0—J
Raº trerº tº twº twº twº sº tºº.
At sº?
Thea ſlavilesi
º
t $3 — Women's and
young worsen'ſ H §
coats, in tºotch talstaras,
stripe' coatſiºs and two-
tone thºs, rººfs
ast tºod tº
Sults &
At $0.80–87 sults, plaln
and fancy taikored, made
tº...t.
º skteswº
º d tests. All i.
with pºsti de eygrº; agºns
Jºi.
and yout a streat wºr,
risty of trafe
4. :*: !!!...: bºw syster shad
plain an re
*f; of a § grade, tr. At *:::::::::::
tº sty of desirºcºl.
, and ycºlºg
with tunic urt
for worn an of k.kgrºw
tº erºtº.
re
wronath’e
At #7 ... hººd $8.73-
Women's ºl' young wom-
sn's Balmarkan coats, of
creatºrſ in a, wit.
risty of styled.
- At 17.50 end ºtb–Alsº
At 85–16 sin sults of 186 hapdºorin silk traus
aſk molre and alſk in, Irmade in recirº,
tn a variety, cf. to tº 43 and
brºken al art ºf plea, ºf
, at $7.50-Navy bles radle his *sºutstures
black tillcred scrºw ºralt
te at a linºi througho
with tºau de cygoe; attºs ºf a
and 181 women's lºcºs
*Iran º to §§, retts of
gºat, wl." *ś.
ºf $ºt toºt ung violintn's capº
sº º and ; flºº tlah
tnotor cºats ang 'tapº, coating.
**
tº. In tsa);
** º
eflwith
extrem g
checks... with detachablele,
cºllart and wºrlºº.
ºº::
trººts of
tººleſtºrk, cłó reae, torn color|ost. t
Now for Great Savings in Women’s and Girls’ Summer
Clothing in the Store on the Subway Floor
Women's'and young women's Summer
ports assombled for a great day's busines, and priced low
clothing of , all enough to insurg
nomsonable to the
Al $10—About t; At $2.15–60 ass sample
and pavy bºxie. dresses for girls 8, 10, 12
cºcºngr, ºrgv, crºpe tºoths and it. years; trude of
and lin, rºcit of thºrn|}'rench liners, volles, crºpe
... ited with de cloth and trenga; mostly
eae aed two of a.kiad.
$5–73 dretºrs of
batlatº, akirtz trude
w a r ºrnbrokery,
toº
tº
dancing frºcks
and lºngurie dressent somu
ad in flewared chlfſon, ki
:::::::: stitch!ng ºffects. -
dreases for
a g tº: made of whºſta em-
ldered.orrºdia,
acdºt u ni e overt\irts' walts
with utive ºatss ºf:
curbined with twº
. Dress.cs
At 30–50 ev.s al
*...*. yºng g
º
ven&f. is ºn-a- ºft
At $3.75–8sw w x i t e dresses of tº: t
- . h var?cus ºol.
\} wer, an’s
* slaid;
ºf cºars
At 18.7t-º-Walis, restos-
youngº,
it. All garments, in the latest styles and
minute.
TAt .184 – 186 firls’
dressés, sties ſº to 14 years;
tnade, cf check Rºd' stript
pr tald burns
and line cas; in large wa-
risty of styles and colºrs.
“At &é.39-40 drºes of
white woºle'made with lipin-
clan tuate sº
jº waist
tlilehtº organdle
Nearly 3000 Fresh
and Pretty Summer
Waists, ſºc
to
At see - dalaty little
walate of batists ha the
§".º. º.º.
ero-Atside atth. Hºw necks and
tastaſung,th.frcot.
Tºº-Linguna waists,
low necks ſautº-
whila
ºf colºrt
and atmbroiderica.
pcar trutt.cºys. -
†: ºnesian twish,.”
akirts, roads cf *::
- w!
**:::::. : ks, f tº: #. *
skirta, ºrian tº *.*
ºut: w; pleated heel collar,
A twill *:::
# Bérº,
ot, black and .*-ºſ.
Russkº ºver.
blºssº. In
“
- **u. ilhwał tºº, \lt
coats, lcºa wº ****** with y'al's
chººl, #: ºº:: crºsod's ºf phos (whales
* It - --
—-rrºr”.
-r-ry
tº:
wº: rººm. tº
t














94 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
It does not require a very broad knowledge of
human nature for one to decide, after reading each
one of these advertisements, the general character-
istics of the typical person that trades at each one
of the stores. Even the institutional characteristics
of the cities themselves are reflected in the manner
of approach.
For instance, New England’s thrifty and educa-
tional character is suggested in the Filene's adver-
tly tisement in the words, “Saving Money is
Character. Pleasant even on Class Day and Commence-
fº,in ment Dresses.” “630 Euclid Avenue” in
in Ad- William Taylor & Son’s advertisement is a
”subtle reminder of the beautiful street which
has made Cleveland famous all over the world.
Where else but in Philadelphia would you expect
the importations of Camille of Paris and “Radical
Changes in Silk Sports Coats” to be in close juxta-
position with “Low Price Dress Lengths?”
What is more characteristic of the Chicago spirit
than the statement in the Marshall Field Company
advertisement that the “New Wabash Avenue Sales-
room for Women’s Street Dresses has been open but
one week. Yet during that time thousands of women
Good of Chicago have visited this addition.”
Examples The formal, conventional announcement
#: of B. Altman & Company is characteristic of
# Fifth Avenue, New York. The announce-
"" ment of Saks & Company and Rogers Peet
Company breathe the spirit of the “great white
APPLICATION OF THE TEN TESTS 95
5 3
way.” All of these advertisements are institutional
in reflecting the spirit of the city in which they are
located, the group spirit of the particular classes to
which the store appeals, the institutional spirit of
the store itself, and its attitude toward that portion
of the public which it sells.
These ten tests blend into each other, and the fact
that each one of these announcements is in harmony
with the policy of the store justifies test No. 2–
“Is it natural?”
Most advertisements that represent good con-
structive work fail of their complete mission in being
Specific equally valuable for competitors by simply
rº, changing the name of the advertiser. Each
one of these advertisements on the contrary
fulfil test No. 3—“Is it specific?” All of them give
description and prices, with the exception of Rogers
Peet Company, which, however, places due emphasis
on the one thing in the advertisement which could
not be said of any other concern, and that is “Three
Broadway Stores.”
Test No. 4—“Is it timely?”—applies with special
force to every one of the announcements. The
student of advertising can well afford to study each
one carefully in order to determine what great value
is placed on timeliness by those conspicuously suc-
cessful advertisers.
The same is true of test No. 5—“Is it pertinent?”
Everybody knows that each one of the houses whose
advertisements we have reproduced is in business
96 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
to make money, but in everyone of its announcements
the particular thought that is most prominently
priman brought out is service to the consumer.
from the Particularly noticeable in every announce-
Buyer's g tº
point of ment is the subtle reference to the senti-
** ments which are the mainspring of action
and control the expenditure of money more often than
reason or logic.
To fairly apply test No. 6—“Is it consistent?”—to
each one of these advertisements, it would be neces-
sary to visit the stores and see how the sales-
What tº
Coºtes peoplebackup the advertisement, to note how
*:::: deliveries are made, to test out the spirit of
the store in the matter of adjusting com-
plaints, to check up carefully how the merchandise it-
self makes good on what has been claimed for it.
In every one of these announcements consistency
is shown in illustrations, typography, and diction,
and there can be little doubt that in institutions so
well managed, where every detail is so thoroughly
thought out in advance for the best interest of the
consumer, the space given to each department bears
its consistent relation to the business as a whole.
In applying test No. 7—“Is it persistent?”—we
are confronted with the difficulty that no one adver-
tisement can justify this test.
However, persistency is suggested in each
One of these announcements in the trademark signa-
ture or heading which is individual and characteristic
of the house.
Persistency
APPLICATION OF THE TEN TESTS 97
Persistency unconsciously is impressed on the
reader's mind every time he sees an announcement of
a house following any that he has read before.
My readers will agree with me, I am sure, that
test No. 8—“Is it authoritative?”—and test No. 9
—“Is it plausible?”—are fulfilled without question
in each one of these announcements.
The same is true of test No. 10—“Is it sincere?”
All of these houses have a reputation all over the
United States for being sound in their merchandising
methods and scrupulously careful in making claims
that are absolutely backed up by the merchandise.
One of the paradoxes in advertising is the fact
that the store of B. Altman & Company, at Thirty-
sº, fourth Street and Fifth Avenue, New York,
º bears no sign whatever. Yet everybody
Illusiased knows it is Altman's store.
** B. Altman, who is no longer living in the
flesh, dominates the policy of this house in the funda-
mental principles of sound merchandising which he
established during a busy and thoroughly useful life.
The advertising of the house of B. Altman & Com-
pany will deserve careful study from those who
believe as I do, that advertising in its true mission is
an expression of the salesmanship which best serves
the buyer.
Altman’s advertising has been criticised as too
dignified and lacking in many of the essentials which
are supposed to be characteristic of the most suc-
cessful advertising copy. Yet for the particular
98 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
Altman group it can well be questioned whether there
is any other form of announcement better suited to
the purchaser.
From magazine advertisements I have selected a
number for reproduction and comment in the appli-
The Ten cation of the tests, but regret very much
Teſts;4p– that it is utterly impossible to cover the
plied to * e &
Magazine field in anything like the thorough manner
*9 that I would wish to do.
I have refrained from reproducing or commenting
on any advertisements with which I have had any-
thing to do in the production or handling.
ºANIEOKNOWºOUIETEAM:
R %.4%grasp ºu salvo car, or ºr
- S㺠W21A/KEf'rms arear LºadzR or rise £iaz.
ROBT.H.INGtkSOklºkº Drpºs:67:00（ANDESLÄNEW YORK,
The first Ingersoll watch advertisement, 1898
(Actual size)
Mr. William H. Ingersoll, of Robert Ingersoll &
Brothers, has favored me with a copy of the first
How a advertisement which his house put out in
New Watch 1893; also with a full page in the Saturday
#º: Evening Post on November 2, 1912, which
#: in his judgment represents the best adver-
tisement that they ever published.
The history of the Ingersoll Watch is particularly
interesting because a new field was opened up and
thoroughly occupied.







APPLICATION OF THE TEN TESTS 99
No one who is in position to speak authoritatively
claims that the sale of the Ingersoll watches in any
way has interfered with those of a higher price.
Many own and use an Ingersoll watch for hunting,
fishing, and other purposes where they do not care to
risk the loss or misuse of a piece of higher priced
mechanism.
In the first advertisement of the Ingersoll watches
there was much to be desired. Applying thetentests to
the full page all of them will be found to be justified.
Each one of these ten tests can be applied with
satisfaction to the magazine advertisements of the
following concerns:
In the Eastman Kodak Company announcement,
the broad, universal, constant appeal of the kodak
The score is beautifully expressed, but coupled with it is
9f $º an immediate sales-impelling suggestion that
In Eastman e tº a ſe e
Kodak must produce definite, positive business.
* Almosteverybody is constantly confronted
with the necessity of deciding what to give in the way
of a wedding present, and this assistance on the part
of the Eastman Kodak Company in helping one make
up his mind is service indeed.
In the Old Dutch Cleanser announcement the sales
talk of specialty men calling on the retail trade, house-
keeping to-house canvassers, and store demonstrators
the Pºmºnd is all revived by the prominent reproduction
Active for
Old Dutch of package.
* At the same time the reference to definite,
Specific information on the package means the in-
100 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
creased use of Old Dutch Cleanser in homes where
at the present time it may be bought and used for
only one purpose.
The American Telephone and Telegraph Company
advertisementis specially good for its obvious purpose.
Advertising It stands to reason that competition in
%; telephone systems is not service to the ulti-
mate buyer if rates are reasonable and the
scope of service is continually increased. As long as
the American Telephone and Telegraph Company
indicates in its announcements that it desires to give
service to the public, the people generally are more
likely to feel that it is sincere in that purpose than
if it said nothing about it or maintained a dignified
silence on the subject.
The general effect of the Swift magazine adver-
tisement is particularly good, though as a rule I am
Focusin, afraid of white letters on black background
Pºn when used other than in a brief heading
Prºmium where the letters are large. Legibility is
* always sacrificed to some degree at least.
The information in this advertisement is valuable
to the housewives, and the specific point is bound to
influence the buyer to more particularly specify
Swift's Premium Ham than to simply say she wants
The subtle some good ham.
Hºndling of The Hydraulic Press Brick advertisement
Hydraulic gº * * * * * te º
fºck deals with a ticklish subject in a very frank,
* straightforward manner. The expression of
confidence on the part of the Hydraulic Press Brick
The Watch that made the Dollar Famous
(e)
Model
Gentlemens
| &lpse"
$150
&
Z Watches
Thirty million Americans have bought and timed their
lives by the Ingersoll watch. More than half of all the
watches now made in this country are Ingersolls,
14,000 every day,
By sheer force of utility the Ingersoll has overcome the incredu-
lity that naturally attaches to low price and has been adopted
into every nook and corner of American life.
Side by aide with such men as Thomas Edison and Glenn Curtiss,
the street urchin, the business man, the clerk, the school-child
and the laborer mark time with the Ingersoll, All find it auth-
cient for practical needs.
People now pride themselves on buying satisfactory watch service
at the lowest coat. To wear an Ingersoll has become a badge of
thrin - - ------------
There in an Ingersoll for every one. The four models shown on
thin page take care of the needs of men and boys who want
amall, thin watches. The "Midget" at $2.00 is being adopted by
our nation of women and in the most satisfactory of all watches
for girls and little boys.
Ingersoll watches are solu in every town and hamlet by over
60,000 dealers. Booklet free.
Rob H. inseroll & Brazi Ahland blas, New York
ſtoday's
--~~~
initiatiºn-in
Small
Th in
Model
Janior"
$900












OF all the gifts that fit the
wedding day,+ none so
timely as the one that provides
the means for telling the picture
story of that day,+
A Kodak
If it isn't an Eastman, it isn't a Kodak.
EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY.,
Catalogue ſº a yºur dealer's, ROCHESTER, N. Y., The Kodak City.
ºr by mail.


ºf
ºs º-
Old Dutch

N a metropolitan power-house
there must be generators large
enough to furnish millions of
lights and provide electrical cur-
rent for thousands of cars and
factories
Each monster machine with
the power of tens of thousands
of horses is energized by an
unobtrusive little dynamo,
which is technically known as
an “exciter.”
This exciter by its electric im-
pulse through all the coils of the
The Energizer
of Business
generator brings the whole mech-
anism into life and activity.
A similar service is performed
for the great agencies of business
and industry by the telephones
of the Bell System. They carry
the currents of communication
everywhere to energize our
intricate social and business
mechanism.
United for universal service,
Bell Telephones give maximum
efficiency to the big generators of
production and commerce.
AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY
AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES
One Policy
One System
Universal Service


It is not necessary to parboil
Swift's Premium Ham
before broiling or
frying, for it is
sugar cure and
smoked over
hardwood fires.
Each process is º
º
that gives exactly º
the right flavor º
-
T
carried to a point * …,
- -
-
mer
"Swift's Premium" Ham
SWill& Company

see your architect now
That step insures, your greatest
satisfaction in the home you build
this Spring. Ask him about
Hy-tex Brick
the facing-material which gives the utmost of beauty,
permanence, fire-safety and comfort in all extremes of
weather. And gives them to you at the greatest econ-
omy in the long run.
The booklets mentioned below tell you of the superiority of Hy-tex
and its adaptability to all styles and sizes of homes.
“Genuine Economy in Horne Building”—a handsome, 64-page book
illustrated in colors explains these savings in detail. Sent for ten cents.
“Suggestions for Small Hy-tex Homes’’ is a booklet of helpful
plans for homes of moderate cost. Sent for four cents. Write for
these booklets today
HYDRAUILIC-PRESS BRICK COMPANY
Dept. L-1 St. Louis, Missouri.
Branch Offices: Baltimore, Md.; Chicago, Ill.: Cleveland, O.; Davenport,
la.: Indianapolis, Ind.; Kansas Clty Mo.; Minneapolis, Minn.; New York
City: Onaha, Neb.; Philadelphia. Pa.; Toledo. O. : Washington, D. C
, & 6 y º gº










;
sº
". . . . Tº lil;
ãº. Nº
Unexpected ! \
“Why, John, you said it was an oſa' house
“And so it is. But the painter has been at work. That’s
the difference.”
A house is only as old as it looks. A house painted in colors
tastefully selected and with paint mixed of
Dutch Boy White Lead
and Dutch Boy linseed oil looks new, and long retains that look
of freshness. Such paint wears long and smoothly, without
cracking and scaling. Consult your painter as John did his.
Make your house new. No other improvement so satisfactory
can be made for the same money.
| , ,
Write for our Paint Adviser No. 153— a group of helps, Free
NATIONAL LE
N “w York Boston
lºuffalo Chicago
(John T. Lewis & Iłros, Co.. Philadelphia)
Cincinnati Cic veland
San Francisco St. Louis
(National Lead & Oil Co., Pittsburgb)



10%. More for Your Money
Quaker oats is now put up also in a 25-cent size nonry three
times as large as the 10-cent size. By savins in packing it offers
you 10 per cent more for your money
Scº-how lºng it last-
That Quaker
Oats Aroma
The very aroma of Quaker Oats tells its exquisite flavor. You
know before you taste it that there's choiceness in this dish.
Only the big grains yield that aroma.
And, without the
Quaker process, it could never be kept intact.
That's why Quaker Oats is distinctive.
We get that flavor and we preserve it.
We discard all the
grams which lack it, so the flavor is never diluted.
If you enjoy it, you can always get it by simply saying
* Quaker."
And without any extra price
Quaker Oats
Rolled from the Largest Grains
we set but ºn pound- or Quaker
oal-from a bushel, because of this
--alon ºut tha-ar-the-lu-'ou-
lake. The others are good enough for
hur-, but not for boys and girls.
wº-started to do that 25 years ago,
and the ſame of thºſlavor-pread. Now
a hundred nations send here to get
Quaker oat. And millions of children
ºvery cºme enjoy it every morning.
maker oats, as an energy food.
exº-anything else you know. It
abound- in the element-needed for
brain- and nervº- it is known a-
"th-oo-º-o-º-
ºut, without that -- which
makes it inviung, ſew children would
eat hall enough
hat's why we supply that flavor.
and why you ought to set it. And
to get it is always easy Quaker -
sold in hall a million stor-
serve Quaker oat-in large di-he-
small -erving- are not -ufficient to
show in full ºt-win-producing power.
10c and 25c per'Package
Except in far West and South
The large 25-cent package rives ten per cent more for the money
The Quaker Oats Gompany

“No More Darning for You, Mother—
This Holeproof Six Months’ Guarantee Settles That”
ADAM, why does your family wear stock-
M ings and socks that need darning every
week 2 Here is hosiery that doesn't need
Harning—socks and stockings for men, women, children
and },
Six pairs of Holeproof will wear haſ a year with-
out holes or tears. That is guaranteed. If any of
the six pairs /ai/ in that time we will replace them
with new hose free. Tell your family about them.
They don't want you to darn for them. And none
of them likes the discomfort of darned hose.
For 14 Years
For 14 years hundredſ of thousand of people have
worn no other hosiery than Holeproof.
More than 1,000,000 people ask for Holeprool
today in thousands of stores in the United States.
º is sending for thousands of boxes. And
we are operating a factory in Canada.
Afºxf//Qsº
--- º tº and up to us pair-ul nº-ºººº tº
and up for - pair-ul -omen- and children- + -i-
- or tour -- - -n- - - - -
month- -
-o-º-º-º-tor three t-ºr-ot men-ºu-toº------
--------------------------------------
---------------------- --------
-
Pure Worth
We go to extremes to get the finest materials.
We use the world's highest-priced cotton yarns. We
could buy yarns in this country for less than half
what we pay.
ut we use yarn of an extra-ſong fibre which means
pliability, light weight, softness and strength.
No other yarn permits better style. And we
produce Holeproofs in all the smartest shades
Sold Everywhere
in-renume Holºur-ar-old in your town we'll -nd the deal-
name-on request, or -hip direct where there's no dealer near, chan-
prepaid on receipt of remittance we make Holeproot- or men and
women in cotton-or-lik. -
we have the heavier weight-ºut winter. You will never have any
more tarning to do once your people learn the reason-oſ Holepºº widº-
spread popularity write for the re-bºok that tell-all about lººp-
--all the family---how they are made.
Hol-EPRoof Hostery company, Milwaukee, Wi-con-in
-------------------------
----------------
ſ -
For long wear, fit and style, these are the un-
J7.º: silk clove-prºduced Made in all length-, -i-
.5i/Cºcºş and color-
write for the º boo- º: all about
them ------- or the name of the --------
FOR WOMEN yºu ºn Them

Yºº
--
sº
---------
- T is the little personal touches about a home that count. The artistic hanging of a drapery, the
harmonious grouping of furniture, the sunny freshness of a newly washed curtain, the glowing
-- cleanness of ornaments and bric-a-brac-such things as these help make home homelike and show
ºr not merely industry on the part of the housekeeper but a knack of properly caring for fine things.
Reduced to its simplest form, this knack of keeping silver, china, linens, laces, upholstery, etc., at their best is nothing
more than a knowledge of the possibilities of Ivory Sonp.
Of course, special hints, sometimes are helpful, such as the directions below for rehanging alace
door panel. But the one thing necessary is to realize how many things ordinarily never
attempted with soap may be accomplished to entire satisfaction with the mild, pure Ivory.
Booklet of Unusual Ivory Soap Recipes Free
To suggest some of these unusual uses we have compiled a booklet of about 100 recipes
recei from various sources. ese recipes will found exceedingly interesting and
exceptionally helpful. You may have a copy by asking for "Unusual Uses of Ivory Soap."
Address. The Procter & Gamble Co. Department 16, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Tow-h-Lac-door Panel-Fºr--a-h-the-la-in-the-door. Then-h the lace in the usual way in-rood
-ud-of von Soap and luke-arm water. Run----|- then-arch. Slip in rod- while panel is well place in
no-non-door, pull lar-tº-aht and --d-. Thi-pre-ent--hºnkins and m---the-p-n-loo-like new.
tº 99% PURE
º ººº-º-º: -
* -
-
º º
º
sº ſº
º
º
º
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º - - - -
º You are going to See SOInne Interesting things
º - in our clothes for spring
º
º OR 525 and upward, you can buy clothes made from imported fabrics
º which formerly cost you considerably more. We are combining better
fabrics with our fine tailoring at no increase in price.
The finest imported weaves which have heretofore been used for the cost-
liest custom tailoring are available to us under the new tariff law. Stripes,
plaids, black and whites, and gray and whites are some of the principal effects.
Decorations are mostly in silk.
Style features of the new season are simple, yet striking. In young men's
clothes, they follow the shape of the figure; no padding; wider lapels and
collars; shorter coats, smaller sleeves, narrow shoulders, softer draping. Men's
styles, while more conservative, tend in the same direction.
In our Style Book for spring, you will see all the new styles portrayed in a
series of artistic and interesting pictures; you can ascertain where, in your city or
town, our clothes may be seen and bought.
The style Book will be ready about March ºt. The illustration above, a drawing by Edward
Penfield, will be shown in colors on the cover of the book. If you desire a copy, end your name.
Hart Schaffner & Marx
Good Clothes Makers
Chicago New York
31, Lord street º, Brewer Street, Golden square-w
Huddersfield, England Foreign Offices Lºndon, England
-
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|
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Jº Jº.
a Heatinº
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|. lºſſ sº
| Tº | IIIL | | |Jin ſ |
Till You Read. This ºl
Illululullinulimultipululullûlumnillmullºulumn milliſill
W Ai
Hot Water, Steam, Warm Air
You will be amazed at the high quality heating plants we supply for the
deal direct with us, that it means greatest value, greatest satisfaction, and
strongest guarantee of perfect service. You take no risk whatever. Should
years from the date of purchase we agree to return the money paid us and
transportation charges both ways. There is
We have put the quality into our & ºz ºr ºx º ºxº cº-
heating plants to back up our two-year & Sears, Roebuck and Co., Chicago.
bºt. But,
& © ºlºs
Book:
milmſlimſimil
rock bottom prices we ask. Our new free book will convince you that it pays to
your heating plant fail in any way to give perfect satisfaction any time within two
No Stronger Guarantee Than Ours!
Please mail me your Heating Plant Book No. 73rd
guarantee. I have checked the system that interests me most. It is
- s understood that this places me under no obligation to you.
Mail Coupon Now Hot [] st Warm
- - ---
Get our book if only as a guide to the 3. Water
Air
right quality and the right price. Please :
mail coupon, checking the system of heating * Name
that interests you most. Address f
SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO., # Address -
Chicago - Jº City- State -
tº es sº sº, sº sº
Tº new Baby Book
is ready. It contains \º
merchandise of a quality \
that makes it easy for us to guarantee
absolute satisfaction in every way. It
quotes prices that make the services
of this store doub/y attractive to our
customers.
If you have received copies of our
previous Baby Books you will need no
urging to write for º new edition.
Baby Book,"
you will be
pleasantly sur-
rised with the
pring and
Summer edi-
tion which we
want to send
you free and
… " º postpaid.
Please ask for Baby Book No. 66W86.
(Mailed in a plain envelope.)
ſº º - -
º ſº Sº -
"Y" º
Baby Merchandise Dept
Sears, Roebuck and Co
Chicago sº
























































"NATIONAL"
Money-Saving
Fall Style Book
Thi-i- important
--nd y for
the "National."
style Book-
don't put it on. It
oners many bar-
rains like these:
------------
-- women - -
- - - ---
-- - - ----- ---
Al-o a full line of Underwear, Ho-lory, Scarf-Weil-, Glove-Leather Groº-
3ºtºwº
“NATIONAL” Tailored Suits
Mººg s 1 Oes to sG5 semºgri-
* NATIONAL". Tailor-Made suita are shown in a -ºut-º-o-o-º-
containing tashion platºfºllºhºnº rºle- ºthin Suit Booklet - not a
part of the rerular." NATIONAL" 8tyle Book. So plea-anote rarefully:
--Sp-cua-suit Boºklet -----------ºut only ---------for-
The "NATIONAL.” Policy —
w-prºpa-pe-t-t- and expre-are on all our good- to any part of the
--------
rvery "National" rarment has the "national" guarantee rar
attached-thi-----ar-that you may return -ny-arment new-au-ta-tory
wro-and---ill r-ſued your aoner and pay expre-charge-tou-way.
National cloak & Suit Co.
296 W. 24th St., New York City
A
| MAll This coupon Now!
rease-ºd me, ºre, my coºr at the "national.” Fall style tººk
_laire-
ar-yºu-interested ºn seein-tº-n-Tauer-Made sults ºr Faur and
do non-ºn-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-ºnational." Mºnº
savin-style rºok, the special rºlet a "National." M*-to-Mºº-sur-
T-----it-
at the same time ---in-end you -mp.ºr-oil-ºukul - Fall Mater--
--------------------------------------
c-
-
---
--> --ara-ºr -it-
rear - ºne ºrº- ºr -r-e-
- º
Our low prices are the result
of modern methods of manu-
facture, enormous output and
direct from factory selling.
Our guarantee, "Your money
back at any time if you are nºt
perfectly satisfied," and our
reputation for fair and square
dealing make you sure of the
quality of Economy Engines.
The following prices enable
ou to buy a large and a small
ºconomy engine for less than
the price of one ordinary
engine.
1,4-H. P., $29.95: 2-H.P.,
$39.95:4-H.P., $72.95:6-H.P.,
$102.95: 8-H. P., $149.65; 10.
H. P., $219.50.
Turn to the gasoline engine
pages of our new big General
Catalog, see our complete line
of sizes for every purpose.
If you haven't our new big
General Catalog, just write
“Gasoline Engines" on a
postal card and also request
our free Catalog No. 73F71
VERY Economy Gasoline
Engine is required to pull
more than its rated horse
power before it leaves our factory.
Every part of the Economy fits
perfectly, which means less fric-
tion, less wear and greater econ-
omy of fuel. Duplicate parts are
absolutely interchangeable.
The Economy is the simplest
engine on the market. It has
fewer parts, is easier to operate
and is guaranteed to give as
good service for as many years
as any other make, regardless
of price.
If you need a gasoline engine,
you will purchase an Economy
if you investigate thoroughly, be-
cause you cannot find its equal at
anywhere near the price we ask.
Sears, Roebuck and Co., Chicago
&lºº T - ===Tº
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JEWELERS
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ERHAPS you are “ loafing on yourself” without realizing it.
The man who “dreams’” about a higher position is a “self-loafer.’’
It is an absolute fact that the most difficult problem of the
greatest employers in the world is to secure men for big positions.
Marshall Field, one of the greatest merchants in the world, publicly
claimed that his greatest difficulty was to secure trained men capable of
filling positions paying $25,000 a year.
It is all
the matter of training,
not dreaming
TiNTERNATIONALCORRESPONDENCEschools
--ox 84.1 scit ANTon, PA.
Explain, without any obligation on my part, how
We can give you proved records of
can nuality for the º before which I mark -
thousands of men who have climbed
from the dreamer's class to the director's
class through the training of the
International Correspondence Schools.
We will show you how to do it.
Whether you live in the flood-wrecked
city of Nome, Alaska - in a sun-baked
adobe cabin of Arizona—or in the great
commercial centers, the I. C. S. will show
you how to improve your position and
increase your salary.
All we ask you to do is to sign and
mail the I. C. S. coupon as directed.
This places you under no obligation. It
simply brings to you FREE information
how to secure the training that has made
the success of thousands of men who
thought they were “down and out.”
Mark and mail the coupon today
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-- nu- ~~~~d ill-
Salesmanship
Electrical Engineer
Elec. Lighting Supt.
- ------
tºlectric Wirennan
Telephono Expert
Architect
----1-line:Contractor
are hitectural draft-man
structural Enrin-er
Mechanical draft-man
iterrigeration Engineer
Civil Engineer
Surveyor
Mine superintendent
Metal Mining
Locomotive Fireman-Enr.
StationaryEngineer
T-ul-Manufacturin-
Gaº Engine-
Civil Servico
Railway Mall clerk
bookkeeping
fºllºr
Trinning
show Card Writing
Letterin--sira rainular
Advertising:
Commercial illu-tratin-
Industrial Designing
commercial Law
Automobile Hunnin-
Teacher
lºnglian branches
Good English for Every one
Agriculture
Poultry rarming
Plumbing - 8 team Fitting
sheet metal worker
Navigation
Lanruare-
chemi- u-rman
Nanu-
Present Employer
street and No-



































APPLICATION UF THE TEN TESTS 101
Company in putting it up to the architect is bound to
impress the architect 1, orably. The service idea in
offering genuine information in the booklets is a very
subtle and commendable appeal to the good-will of
the house builders.
In the National Lead advertisement a most effec-
tive appeal to sentiment has been made. The
Appeal to N ational Lead Company is fortunate in
jº’sºnii having a deep-seated prejudice in the
sº minds of painters generally throughout the
Lead country in favor of lead and oil as against
99"P", mixed paints. To maintain this sentiment
and create an impression of being willing to give
valuable advice when requested is good business
judgment, and the results are unquestionably shown
in the sales of the National Lead Company
The Quaker Oats advertisement deserves special
commendation. The economy of the 25-cent size
is prominently brought out, but there is no
%;"sacrifice to the appetizing suggestion of good
*:::: *"oats well cooked. In the fine type in the
Small paragraphs strong points that have
been prominently displayed in previous advertise-
ments are reiterated, and the cumulative effect,
which is one of the most valuable assets of all ad-
vertising campaigns, is given additional impetus
thereby.
The Holeproof Hosiery announcement is unusually
effective in the use of the illustration. The fact that
holeproof hosiery is made for men and women, with
102 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
especial emphasis on women, is brought out with two
female figures in connection with that of one figure
of the man.
The Ivory Soap advertisement is interesting in
having so much space given to the illustration.
The problem of marketing a 5-cent soap is to con-
tinually create the atmosphere of quality to counter-
How Ivory act the impression created by low price.
Soap Creº The Procter & Gamble Company has un-
#.%;"doubtedly shown great wisdom in the care
Iiºn given to illustrations. In this particular
advertisement illustration and text are both
strengthened by being used together rather than by
giving all the space to one feature alone. The title
of the booklet itself suggests greater service to people
who are already using Ivory Soap, but might not
be conscious that they could use it for other purposes
than that for which they bought it.
The Hart, Schaffner & Marx advertisement is an
interesting departure from the style which was
original with this house, and has been main-
New Style . . tº e gº
of Art Work tained many years in showing ideal figures
§: of young men in natural positions with
& Marr clothes that showed wrinkles and creases
Advertising
as they would appear when worn by a well-
behaved human being.
The mail-order idea of giving more information to
people who specially ask for it is the keynote of this
particular advertisement. The effect of a fine style-
book sent out to all who ask for it is far reaching.
APPLICATION OF THE TEN TESTS 103
Inquiries coming from high-class prospects handed
to the traveling salesmen, and properly used by them
The Mail in talking to local dealers, are bound to
order Ideg largely increase the dealers’ own efforts to
tin General tº e ©
Publicity make use of the advertising helps which
* Hart, Schaffner & Marx sell their agents. I
use the word “sell” because this house sensibly takes
the ground that advertising material which is given
away free is valued accordingly. A fair price to
partially cover the cost of production is the best
assurance that the dealer will make the most effective
use of it.
In the mail-order line, I have reproduced three
Sears, Roebuck & Company announcements (which
Comments indicate the wide scope covered by this
ºf most successful mail-order institution) and
"...one of the advertisements of the National
Cloak & Suit Company.
The latter makes the most of the word “National”
and also of its New York City location, which with a
large group of buyers stands for that intangible some-
thing called style.
The Sears-Roebuck announcements are charac-
teristic in the fact that the successful mail-order
house seeks more than anything else to get the
catalogue, which is the real salesman, into the hands
of the people who have been induced to express a
desire to possess it.
I have reproduced only one outdoor advertise-
ment, and that is the White Rock electric sign, which
104 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
Mr. O. J. Gude told me was the best thing that had
ever been done in that line.
Applying While it may seem hard to apply the ten
}...". tests to an electric sign, a bulletin, or a
Outdoor poster, I recommend making the attempt for
* reasons previously given.
Taking this electric sign, the White Rock for in-
stance, the first test—“Is it institutional?”—is jus-
tified by the fact that this advertisement
ºff: #º was placed on Long Acre Square, the night
* centre of New York City, the place to which
Measures come the largest number of free spenders
#. %* from all over the United States.
White Rock as a trademark has been as-
sociated with sales talks and educational advertising
all over the United States. Its reproduction here
reiterates, reaffirms, and reinforces all that has been
said about it. The night life of New York City is
an institution in itself, and the White Rock sign, with
its brilliant light, is in full harmony with this insti-
tutional spirit.
The advertisement is natural (test No. 2). The
big words “White Rock” and the suggestion of
moving water are double embodiments of this
idea.
This electric sign is specific (test No. 3) because the
White Rock trademark in its peculiar, distinctive
form is accurately reproduced.
It is certainly timely (test No. 4), for when two
hundred thousand or more people are out on the
APPLICATION OF THE TEN TESTS 105
street in a money-spending mental attitude, it is a
good time to remind them that White Rock is a good
thing to spend money on.
It is pertinent (test No. 5), because White Rock
appeals to the men who imbibe spirits in suggesting
a high-ball, and also to the people who want to drink
something else that does not seem cheap or puritani-
cal.
It is a consistent (test No. 6) announcement, in
every way reflecting the spirit of the water itself,
and the consuming group to which it belongs.
The suggestion of persistency (test No 7), of
authority (test No. 8), of plausibility (test No. 9),
and sincerity (test No. 10) are all contained in large-
ness, dominance, and location of the sign taken as a
whole.
The sincerity of an institution that would spend
so much money to tell the story in the way that it is
done in this electric sign cannot be open to ques-
tion. The story is certainly plausibly told, because
the association of the phrase with the clock makes
the broadness of the suggestion of “all time” more
acceptable than if the clock itself were not dis-
played. -
Authority is suggested in the bold, aggressiv
manner in which the sign itself stands out as against
all other placards claiming attention, and persistency
is suggested in the accurate reproduction of the trade-
mark itself.
There can be no question that the orderly and sys-
106 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
tematic application of these ten tests to any piece of
The Tem printed matter, or any announcement of
Tests Apply any kind, displayed in newspapers, maga-
&##. zines, or outdoors, would result in more care
of... being given to the work, and more thought
Advertising © tº
along the line of serving the final buyer, and
hence, bound to benefit the advertiser’s business as a
whole.
CHAPTER X
ADVERTISING AND SELLING THROUGH THE ORDINARY
CHANNELS OF TRADE
ROADLY speaking, there are five recognized
routes by which merchandise travels from the
man who makes it to the consumer.
Perhaps the most important are: from manufac-
turer to wholesaler or jobber, from the wholesaler to
the retailer, and from him to the consumer.
The place of the retailer in the distributive chain
is universally conceded. Mail-order successes prove
that many kinds of goods can be marketed
The * tº *
Retailer— by mail; but the retailer will always handle
#. the bulk of the supply of the American
Merchan- family.
** His stock is complete, if he be progressive
and easy of access. Merchandise can be seen be-
fore it is purchased. Very often the credit which
the retailer can extend is a real service, which brings
him a goodly share of the business of his trade terri-
tory.
The position of the wholesaler may not be so
clearly defined. At first glance it might seem that
the toll he exacts would better be taken from the sell-
107
108 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
ing price and his service dispensed with. It would
not pay, generally. He has a function, and is in-
- dispensable in most cases. He keeps a finger
The § - $
Functions on the pulse of local conditions. The manu-
wi.* facturer can afford to sell him at less than
the price to the retailer, for the service he
renders could not be duplicated by the manufacturer
for the differential he allows the jobber. {
The wholesaler buys in much larger quantities than
the ordinary retailer does. He relieves the manu-
facturer of all work and detail in connection with
credits and selling small orders and collecting small
accounts. He pays for what he buys and assumes
entire responsibility for his own sales. He is par-
ticularly indispensable to the manufacturer of an
article of comparatively small consumption. The
volume of sales to each retailer is so small that it
would be foolish for the manufacturer to do business
with individual retailers, either direct or through
salesmen. -
The wholesaler is of great value to the retailer
who is doing business on a small amount of capital.
His stock is large. Retailers in his territory.
Wiśniºr can draw upon it and get the goods at once;
º, º; so that it is not necessary that they cumber
their small space with large quantities of
each of the lines they handle. He is safe in granting
credit, because he is on the ground and knows the
retailer’s financial status.
Some manufacturers selling privately branded
ADVERTISING AND SELLING I09
goods in staple lines of steady consumption give the
exclusive sale of same to one jobber in a territory.
* This gets more coöperation from the jobber,
jor if he has the right kind of a contract,
he is building for himself as well as for the
manufacturer. The exclusive jobber plan has been
successful, especially when supported by general ad-
vertising. Specialties of small consumption have
never been marketed advantageously through ex-
clusive jobbers; this method is feasible only when
it is possible to divert an established demand to
an advertised, trademarked brand. It will not create
a market for a novelty. It would not do for an un-
branded article.
Most manufacturers sell to all reputable jobbers.
They cannot expect them to put any special effort
pº, into selling their goods, because the jobber
Advertiser specializes on distributing, and is not
Must Cre- * * * *
... ii., equipped for creative selling. It is, there-
#º. fore, the business of the manufacturer to
. Is a create his own market—by advertising to
” the consumer, by interesting the dealer with
specialty work, and by trade journal publicity.
Some manufacturers will put up goods under
jobbers’ private brands. But it militates against the
manufacturer who wants to sell his own brands, and
the one who sells bulk goods. It is, nevertheless,
legitimate competition.
Many manufacturers sell direct to the retailer.
It is hardly amiss to include in this classification the
110 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
manufacturers who maintain an extensive selling
force to solicit the dealer direct. The orders which
Selling the the specialty salesmen get are filled through
Retailer the wholesaler, who takes over the accounts.
” He can fill the orders more promptly, he
is better equipped for looking after repeats, and he
assumes the retailers’ accounts. These functions
make his service worth while to the consumer, re-
tailer, and manufacturer.
Almost all manufacturers of national products
employing the wholesaler do some specialty work on
retailers at their own expense.
The manufacturer who sells through an exclusive
dealer eliminates the wholesaler.
Selling direct to all dealers can scarcely be said to
lower the price to the consumer, or lower his own
selling cost, or even to increase the retailers’ profit.
The manufacturer must take care of more detail
in his office, must increase his traveling sales ex-
penses in most cases, and must assume responsibility
for retailers’ accounts, which means more bad debts.
He may sell to retailers direct or through salesmen,
and pocket the wholesaler’s commission; but if he is
after volume and big business, I doubt if he would
save money by doing without a wholesaler.
na. The advantage of direct selling is that it
for Selling gives the manufacturer a more intimate
'rect knowledge of selling conditions, a closer grip
On his own business. It gives him the master's share,
and the power to extend substantial coöperation, if
ADVERTISING AND SELLING 111
his product is good and his organization able to jus-
tify the sales expense by keeping up the steady sales
incident to such expenditure.
Some manufacturers sell to both retailers and
wholesalers. But if they sell a retailer in the logical
trade territory of a wholesaler to whom they have
also sold, there will surely be friction. To sell the re-
tailer at less than the wholesaler’s regular price to
him is not in accordance with the ethics of the trade.
Large retail stores that go direct to a manufacturer
and demand wholesale prices are another problem,
if the latter is committed to the general policy of
selling to wholesalers.
The third channel is through a third middleman,
the manufacturer's agent, broker, importer, or exporter,
..., as the case may be. He buys from the
The Thºrd
Middleman manufacturer and sells to the wholesaler,
º who sells to the retailer, and the retailer
Importer, sells to the consumer.
" * The functions of the importer and exporter
are fundamental. He gets goods from foreign coun-
tries and ships domestic products to markets where
they can be sold. Only the largest and most com-
plete wholesale or retail establishments are able, in
their own organization, to take care of the particular
service of the specialist importer or exporter. He sells
to the wholesaler. He is seldom equipped for going
direct to the retailer or the consumer. His margin
of profit is small; volume is vital to his existence.
Small sales do not interest him.
112 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
“Merchandise broker,” and “manufacturer's
agent,” are practically synonymous terms. The
merchandise broker differs from the importer
* or exporter mainly in that his work is intra-
*:::::::: national instead of inter-national. He is
the manufacturer’s exclusive representative
for a certain field. In this field he represents from
two or three to fifty different non-conflicting pro-
ducers. His margin of profit is smaller than that
accorded the wholesaler; he is after volume. He
makes it possible for the manufacturer more nearly
to approximate a unit system of distribution.
The manufacturer's broker carries on most of the
negotiations with wholesalers. All difficulties are
referred to him for adjustment. He may have much
to do with framing the general policy for his territory.
He comes nearer than any other member of the dis-
tributive family (save the representative on salary
from headquarters) to representing the manufacturer
direct.
The broker seldom goes straight to the retailer.
His commission will not permit it. He must go to
The Broker the wholesaler, where each order means big
Sells the business. If he does any work at all on re-
Wholesaler . . tº a º © º
tailers, it is for the purpose of influencing
demand upon the wholesaler. Progressive firms
which employ a broker and want to get the maximum
volume of sales allow him to engage a specified num-
ber of specialty men; or they send specialty men to
work for a time under the direction of the broker.
ADVERTISING AND SELLING 113
These men call on retailers and stimulate demand
upon the wholesalers by whatever arguments of merit,
advertising, profit, or special coöperation seem best.
House-to-house canvassing of consumers, Sam-
pling, and store demonstration are means by which
the manufacturer coöperates with the broker. The
size of the manufacturer’s organization, the amount
of capital he has, and the universality of the appeal
of his product must determine whether or not he will
use brokers and the amount of coöperation he shall
give them. º
The fourth route is from the manufacturer to the
consumer, with no intermediaries save the manu-
Selling the facturer's own representatives on salary or
Consumer commission. This classification includes
Direct (1) the mail-order house, and (1a) the manu-
facturer selling by mail, and (2) the manufacturer
operating his own retail stores or selling direct
through agents or salesmen.
Mail-order houses are of two sorts. The primary
purpose of one is to sell goods of its own manufacture,
the business of the other is to sell goods by mail.
In the first class is the manufacturing house
specializing upon a few articles; in the second, firms
that maintain extensive manufacturing establish-
ments, and also buy from other manufacturers ma-
terials to complete their very extensive lines.
There is the manufacturer, either of specialties or
of articles of such a nature that it seems best to reach
the consumer through a direct representative, who
114 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
receives from the manufacturer either a salary or a
commission. The automobile maker who maintains
agents or branches in different cities for the purpose
of selling his output direct to users is an example.
But if he allows his cars to be sold by an independent
local sales company, he must be accounted as using
the second trade channel—manufacturer to retailer.
The sale of advertised specialties has developed a
type of manufacturer’s representative who is not
at all like the ordinary merchandise broker, who
goes to the wholesaler with a sample, quotes him a
price, and wires his principal the wholesaler’s offer.
The manufacturer’s representative selling advertised
specialties must be a creative salesman in every sense
of the word. He must understand how to conserve
the value of the trademark. He truly represents the
manufacturer in serving the customer and does not
compete on a price basis.
Small specialties are often established by solicitors
sent out from the manufacturer’s office. Firms
Introducing having only a small capital, and unable at
Cº. the outset to advertise and sell in a big
by way, often use solicitors, for a time only,
” as a means of making the goods known
and as a preliminary to selling through retailers.
Specialties which are limited in appeal cannot be
sold successfully by any other means. If the mar-
gin on them is small, the Solicitor handles them as one
of a number of articles which he is prepared to present
to the consumer.
ADVERTISING AND SELLING 115
The manufacturer who operates retail stores is also
a direct-to-the-consumer seller. In his advertising
The Man, he often lays particular stress upon the state-
ſº. ment that he has eliminated the middleman’s
erates Riail profit and can, therefore, make the consumer
** a better price.
It may be he can, but I doubt it. He has taken
upon his own shoulders the burden of maintain-
ing a more complex organization and of handling
many men on the road. In other words, he cannot
eliminate selling expenses by going direct to the con-
sumer. He may minimize it, by perfection of sales
equipment and the institution of economics in the
supervision and conduct of his business.
Unless he is a wonderful organizer and a handler
of men, he may find at the end of the year that his
net profits are less, and that the public has fared
no better. That does not mean to say that direct-
to-consumer selling is not economical; but that the
highest type of business ability is necessary if the
manufacturer is to make a success of it.
Chain stores are not examples of manufacturer-to-
consumer selling; they are organized retailing.
In the fifth case, the mail-order house, instead of
going direct to the manufacturer, buys from his sales
r), agent. This means the mail-order depart-
Mail-order ments of large businesses whose chief con-
House tº * tº * º
cern may be either wholesaling or retailing,
but which maintain mail-order sections. It also
covers the buying of goods by a mail-order house
116 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
from an importer or exporter or a merchandise broker
instead of from the manufacturer direct.
The conditions which control the production of
an article, the amount of capital to be used for pro-
motion purposes, the utility and value of the article
itself, the distance which separates it from its mar-
ket—all those things must be considered in choosing
a selling method.
Almost all selling systems call for a middleman.
Importer, broker, wholesaler, or retailer, whichever
he may be, he is a helpful factor in distribu-
The e ſº g & tº
Middlemantion and has justified his existence. To
º market merchandise costs a certain amount
All Selling of money, varying in accordance with the
* character of the merchandise and the ability
and the amount of work that the selling organization
will put into a campaign. A manufacturer who de-
cides not to employ middlemen does so because he
has developed—or is convinced that he can de-
velop—within his own organization the distributing
ability which is the primary function of the middle-
man. Whether or not he can do this on a less outlay
than it would take for middlemen is a matter which
he must determine for himself by trial.
The manufacturer must be a creative salesman,
or surround himself with men who are, or his busi-
ness will come to nothing. The middleman must
be a producer—serving the consumer—or be elimi-
nated.
Nothing that I have said in this chapter should be
ADVERTISING AND SELLING 117
construed as endorsing the idea that all merchandise
going from producer to consumer, through all the five
routes I have outlined, are the correct ones for the
merchandise to follow. In many instances I believe
radical changes in distribution should be made. There
are manufacturers who sell to the jobber, through a
sales agent; the jobber then sells to the retailer; the
retailer then sells to the consumer. There are many
articles handled this way which could be shipped in
original packages direct from the manufacturer to the
consumer, even if the sale were handled through two
or three middlemen, and every party to the transac-
tion be materially benefited and especially the con-
SUIIIle I’.
The route of this distribution should be adapted
to the character of the merchandise. The functions
., of the middleman should be clearly under-
The Mid- tº
dieman's stood by himself, and he should not attempt
§h. to do things that other people could do
Clearly better, more economically, and with greater
Defined . . . . o
satisfaction to the consumer.
There is need for radical adjustment all along the
line, but the particular point that I have endeavored
to drive home in this chapter is that it is possible
for the manufacturer to reach the consumer, using
all of the established routes of distribution, and the
consumer hold the manufacturer responsible for
the quality of the goods that he makes, and the manu-
facturer be benefited by the sense of responsibility
which he feels toward the consuming public.
118 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
I recognize that many distributors are going to
fight this change the same as the old hand compositor
fought the introduction of the linotype machine.
Yet, from my own experience, I know that linotype
operators make from two to three times as much a
week as they did in the very best conditions under
the old system of hand composition. The same is true
regarding many distributors—they have learned their
business by blindly following customs as they found
them. They have not analyzed and thought things
out, and realized that there were better ways of doing
business.
Many manufacturers blindly accept the idea that
the middleman who pays them for their goods is their
customer. Goods in the market are a menace
The
Midijnan to the man who has made them—goods are
é.... never sold until they are in the hands of the
consumer—the final buyer, the man who
does not want or intend to sell them again.
Many distributors are recognizing the new order
of things, and confining themselves to banking and
purely distributive functions. They are not at-
tempting specialty salesmanship when they can
secure the coöperation of the manufacturer’s men on
this point, get more expert assistance, and make more
money than they could by having a larger margin
of profit and taking the responsibility on their own
shoulders of doing necessary specialty work educating
of the trade.
All along the line the distributive system is loaded
ADVERTISING AND SELLING 119
with heavy labor costs—usually the lowest priced
labor is the most expensive for the purpose for which
it is employed.
Advertising can, in every line of distribution, be
used to a greater degree to reduce the cost of distri-
. . bution, and at the same time to increase the
Advertising e
cºſ. compensation of the necessary personal labor
#. required to maintain the various distributive
enefit
channels.
One prominent retailer, who is generally reported
to figure his cost of handling merchandise to the
consumer from his source of supply at 30 per cent. On
the gross price, told me that over half of his expense
was labor, and including clerk hire, management,
delivery men, janitors, etc. He took pleasure in
telling me that his advertising expense was less than
1 per cent. On his total business. I told him that I
thought he was overtaxing the consumer with an
expense of 15 per cent. in labor and only 1 per cent.
in the form of informative advertising, which could
unquestionably reduce the cost of salesmanship,
when it had the intelligent coöperation of clerks
trained to thoroughly coöperate with the selling cam-
paigns, of which advertising should be a more impor-
tant part than at present.
This same condition runs through the jobbing
business. Many men unpack and handle goods and
pack them up again, which, if standardized, and the
consumer educated to want them in exactly the form
in which they left the manufacturer, could be shipped
120 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
direct from manufacturer to consumer, but bought
intelligently in a retail store from well-displayed
samples.
There is tremendous opportunity for improvement
along these lines, and I predict that the next ten
years will see changes that might be characterized
as revolutionary. I still affirm that the regular
established channels of trade will be maintained
fundamentally along the same lines as they now
exist.
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER X
There are trade papers which deal with the prob-
lems outlined in this chapter, many of them. Some
are of unquestioned leadership, with offices in all
important trade centres.
Particularly noteworthy are the Dry Goods Econ-
omist and Iron Age (both published in New York),
which are edited by men of great power and national
influence.
There are five (monthly) publications for under-
takers and eight for miners. The grocer, the general
merchant, and the allied trades are served by sixty-
eight publications. And so on down the list, from
automobiles to watchmaking. Each one of these
trades has its own literature, to say nothing of house
organs and catalogues which display the highest type
of advertising skill.
CHAPTER XI
RETAIL ADVERTISING—PREPARATION
N CONSIDERING retail advertising, one must
not forget that many merchants have gone into
business without any carefully laid plans in an-
ticipation of what they were to do. Many men have
inherited the business—others have started in as
clerks, and gradually worked up.
In the agricultural districts are retired farmers
who came into the towns to educate their children,
and many of them engaged in the grocery business
or dealt in agricultural implements.
The numerous failures reported throughout the
country tell a graphic story of unpreparedness, lack of
expert knowledge of the business itself, and especially
of the characteristics of the consuming public.
Perhaps at this point I may be justified in digress-
ing a little and expounding one of my pet theories
A sºn, in reference to the United States Gov-
Labor ernment, making as far as possible a con-
Nºjo stant demand for labor. In 1896, when
; Secretary Bryan was urging the free coinage
etailing e © e
of silver, I wrote an article which was pub-
lished in the Chicago Record, on the free coinage of
labor. It will be found in Appendix No. 1.
121
122 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER,
I have never been able to become very enthusiastic
over the idea of the Government going into business
government except on such natural monopolies as the
Should Post Office Department and Government
Operate * gº sº
Natural savings banks, where, especially in the lat-
**ter case, the people could have protection
and absolute security, and in times of panic would
not hoard their money to the serious detriment of
business.
The American people are too prosperous as a whole
and too kind hearted to permit any human being
to suffer for the want of food and shelter or raiment.
If labor is not performed in exchange for these three
fundamental needs of human nature, then society
as a whole must bear the burden. Organized charity
will provide for anybody who absolutely suffers for
the lack of food, clothing, or housing. But society,
as a whole, should have the benefit of the labor that
every human being can perform.
It is a little short of a crime to have idle men at any
time, especially when they really want to work. This
The condition is an indictment of the business
§. ability of the American people to so manage
tory their own economic affairs as to provide for
* their bestinterests. Ihave often thought that
if the United States Army would enlist men for a
six months’ period, put them to work at road build-
ing, pay them handsomely for it—this would be the
surest method of establishing a minimum wage for
labor throughout the country, and at the same time
RETAIL ADVERTISING—PREPARATION 123
would ensure the general public as a whole getting
the benefit of all work from people who were willing
to work. Unless the Government does this, it means
that retailers must always carefully consider the labor
conditions in any section in which they wish to do
business. Industries in which men are liable to be
out of work for long periods of time make the re-
tailing in such sections very precarious. The mer-
chant cannot forecast, as he should, his purchases,
and at times he is absolutely forced to take on serious
credit risks.
Other things being equal, the retailer should prefer
a location in a city where the industries are largely
advertised. Manufacturers who use advertising to
create a permanent, steady market are least affected
by industrial changes. Employees are benefited by
this policy, as in times of general depression they are
not laid off.
Once having determined on the location, if such
is within the option of the retailer, the next thing
The to do is for him to decide the particular street
Locºon upon which he will locate his store.
º Here again we see the value of the group
spirit: this accounts for the fact that so
many square feet on the corner of State and Madison
streets in Chicago are worth many times more rent
than identically the same amount of space one mile
therefrom.
The fact that a large group of people have formed
a habit of passing a particular corner, or along a par-
124 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
ticular block, every day, is the reason why a location
at that point is worth more to the retailer than the
same amount of space a short distance away.
The retailer, after securing his location, should
then consider the characteristics of his group as a
Apprecia whole, and also those of the many smaller
ºf , groups of which the community is composed.
Mental and tº ſº &
Physical He should study their tastes, their preju-
* dices, the influences that are at work to
maintain or change their mental attitude and their
method of living. The retailer should select his
clerks carefully from the viewpoint of their fitness to
harmonize with the tastes of the majority of his
customers. Much could be said about fitting up
his store so that everything would be convenient of
access. Ample opportunity in the way of showcases,
counters, and shelves should be given, after being
carefully thought out, for the display of desirable
merchandise. Mute salesmanship of this character
costs little money but brings substantial results.
The retail merchant should buy reliable, depend-
able goods. It is always better to concentrate his
Buying purchases to as Small a number of sources of
shºe supply as possible in order to make his busi-
‘.... ness worthy of being sought by the best
houses, and in this way insuring the largest
amount of attention. Where the quality of mer-
chandise or the general policy of the houses from
which the dealer can buy his supplies, is the same,
then he should, in justice to himself, give the pref-
RETAIL ADVERTISING—PREPARATION 125
erence to the salesman who studies his needs and
who is best equipped to counsel and confer with him
on how best to merchandise the goods that the dealer
buys from him. There are many dealers who owe
much of their success to the counsel and advice and
careful study of their business on the part of salesmen
who regarded their line of work as an opportunity
for service, and who valued the dealer’s confidence
in their judgment as a sacred trust.
After a dealer knows the purchasing capacity of
his possible customers, he should endeavor at all times
to bring them up to an appreciation of a little better
standard than they naturally would ask for. In this
way he secures the leadership which is necessary for
him to build up his business, and to secure and hold
the trade of people who like to feel that they are
appreciative of quality and that goods have been
brought to their attention because of that fact.
The retailer should always put in advertised goods
when they are of equal merit with the unadvertised
lines. If he can buy other goods for less
; money, which in his judgment are equally
ºf 4dver, good as the advertised line, then he should
tised and te - gº tº
Ünadier determine how valuable to him is the adver-
p., tising on the higher priced line. If he can
figure that this advertising will save him
clerk hire, rent, and other expense, then the advertis-
ing justifies itself. As a rule, however, the advertised
lines are generally meritorious, and the cost of adver-
tising is not borne by the consumer. In this case the
126 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
dealer has no excuse to do anything else but handle
the lines that are advertised.
Careful discrimination should be exercised by the
retailer in taking on exclusive lines of goods. There
Exclusive are many manufacturers who use this
49*) method of marketing their goods, because
they know the thought of having something that
one’s immediate competitor does not possess ap-
peals to retailers generally. Often retailers make a
mistake in listening to this argument, for there are
articles of great national sale which are open to any
distributor who will buy them, that unquestionably
give the greatest satisfaction to the final consumer
because of the advertising which has been done in
advance, and which is continued after the purchase
has been made and the buyer's satisfaction ensured
in every possible way.
Retailers often make the mistake of trying to
substitute an article on which they have exclusive
National local sale against one that has a broad
H. national sale. As I have tried to show in
#: other chapters in this book, a manufacturer
who can get control of the market and re-
duces the price to entrench himself therein unques-
tionably gives the greatest possible service to the
final buyer. I do not know any of these manufac-
turers who have reduced their prices who want the
retailer to handle goods without a satisfactory profit.
In fact, so far as I know, all of these agitations that
are being waged, which advocate legislation in Con-
RETAIL ADVERTISING—PREPARATION 127
gress in favor of permitting manufacturers to insist
on retailers maintaining their prices, are done by the
manufacturer. He wants the retailer to make
money, and he does not want to reduce the retailer’s
profit. He knows that if he can get the largest pos-
sible volume of distribution, he can, in the economy
of manufacture, reduce prices and entrench himself
against competition in his own field. He knows that
price-cutting on the part of the retailer reduces the
volume of total sales, and that the retailer cannot
render the consumer the best service unless he is
sure of regularity of demand.
Retailers often make a mistake in spreading their
expense of doing business over all the articles they
Analyze sell. For instance, it certainly costs a re-
Selling tailer more in rent and labor and overhead
* to serve a glass of soda at 5 cents a glass
than to hand out a package of chewing gum, the
demand for which has been created and developed
by large national advertising.
The retailer fools himself if he thinks that the
washing of the glasses, the labor in dispensing the
soda, and the amount of time taken up by people
standing at the soda fountain is anything like the
same degree of expense to him as the transaction in-
volved in handing out the chewing gum. All he
needs to do is to figure how many sales a clerk could
make to people who came in and asked for chewing
gum, provided they came in all day in somewhat
similar manner to which the patrons of an elevated
128 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
railroad go through the gates and drop their tickets
into the ticket-dropper receptacle. The elevated rail-
roads—alargeinstitution—furnisha.good deal of trans-
portation for 5 cents as well as covering the labor of
people who sell tickets and receive them at the gates.
This analogy applied to advertised goods explains
why many merchants are so successful who take hold
and coöperate with the national advertisers in the
distribution of these goods by pushing them.
The retailer can use every advertising medium that
I have described in this book. Many of them he can
afford to use directly. He could get the benefit of all
of them indirectly by cashing in on the manufac-
turer’s advertising on goods that he distributes
exclusively in his own section, or by coöper-
cº ating with the big, heavy, national adver-
£º, tising campaigns on goods that are not
confined to any particular store, and by
doing this, he will get more than his ordinary share
of the business which the manufacturer is creating.
The dealer should do no advertising until he is ready
with the goods to back up all that he promises in
his advertising.
REFERENCES ON CHIAPTER XI
Mr. Harlow N. Higinbotham, formerly a partner of
Marshall Field & Company of Chicago and president
of the Chicago World’s Fair, has written a valuable
book entitled, “The Making of a Merchant,” pub-
lished by Forbes & Company, Chicago, 1911.
RETAIL ADVERTISING—PREPARATION 129
Advertising has developed greatly as a service
factor since Mr. Higinbotham was active in business.
He recommends unadvertised lines as giving the
dealer a greater profit. To-day he would find that
the manufacturer's advertising on many lines saves
the dealer clerk hire, rent, and brings him business.
He recommends retailers to teach their clerks to
be decisive in dealing with customers, and aptly
says: “When the decision is put up to the customer
he will invariably name the brand most widely ad-
vertised, because it is the first that comes to his
mind.”
CHAPTER XII
IRETAIL ADVERTISING—METHODS AND MEDIUMS
HERE is no argument needed to convince any
one that if people come to a store, make their
selections, and allow the proprietor to deliver
goods through an organized delivery method, that
they can secure more for their money than if they
make purchases from peddlers.
The first purpose of advertising on the part of the
retailer should be to bring people into his store.
The people who pass the store every day are in-
fluenced better by the store window than any other
medium that could be used. Goods should not
only be attractively displayed but should be marked
with prices. In this way the effect of the adver-
tising in the store window can be accurately checked
up. -
The same clear-cut fundamentals govern the suc-
cess of a department store and a fruit-stand. Each
exists, primarily, because of a group. Each has been
established in a locality to which common interests
and needs draw a group of people constantly.
In polishing his apples, arranging the grapes and
cherries in Small packages, and putting in his spare
180
METHODS AND MEDIUMS 131
time making up attractive assortments, the fruit-
seller shows the same elemental appreciation of the
au, advertising value of display which is revealed
Favorable in the department store’s handsome win-
Attention
dows, neat shelves and counters, and care-
fully trained clerks who impress all comers with the
fact that “it is a pleasure to show goods.”
The price ticket on a basket of grapes is at once
an appeal to the bargain-hunting instinct of the
suburbanite and constantly a confidence-compelling
affirmation by the proprietor that the goods are worth
the price asked, and that he is willing for any one to
know it.
This same fruit vendor has found out that he can
depend upon a certain class of discriminating trade
if he sells well-advertised goods in the original un-
broken package. Many a small store proprietor
would do well to follow his example and display them
in his windows.
A retailer in Chicago recently moved his store
and paid $15,000 more a year for rent for identically
the same space he had before. In the new location he
had six show windows, as he took a corner, where
before he only had two. It is a question whether the
class of people or the number which pass the new
store were any different than in the other. The
$15,000 additional rent was more than justified by
the four additional store windows. These windows
were constantly changed with goods attractively
displayed.
132 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
After the store windows have been used to bring
people into the store, it goes without saying that
Inside goods should be attractively displayed in-
§. side the store, not only to interest people,
#. but to stimulate their desire to purchase.
This mute salesmanship, employing the
power of suggestion, often makes more sales than
a clerk can do by trying to talk people into buying.
The very best medium that a retailer can use to
bring people into his store that do not regularly pass
by his location, is the newspapers. A retailer who
knows how to use a local newspaper and get a prompt
response is very fortunate indeed.
As I have said before, it isn’t necessary to adver-
tise bargains all the time. It is wise for the retailer
to regularly and systematically impress upon the
readers of the newspapers the fact that he sells de-
pendable goods, and he stands back of everything
offered in his store.
In only one way has modern business improved
upon the method of the late Mr. A. T. Stewart,
who used to stand at the front door of the
The Chief s º -
#...? store, greet his regular customers by name,
** and occasionally slip into a package a tape-
Modern J.
Business is line, a spool of thread, or some other useful
#.9% little article, for good measure. The im-
From a Per- º
sonal to In-provement is the change from a personal to
stitutional • * & e
Bj an institutional business, the result of em-
phasizing the fact that the business is being
conducted according to such sound merchandising
METHODS AND MEDIUMS 133
principles that the constant personal presence of the
owner is not essential to perfect service. The one-
price system and the “money-back if goods are re-
turned within a reasonable time” have gained the
confidence of the public. This thought should be
continuously reiterated in the retailer’s newspaper
announcementS. .
One of the best ways in which a retailer can use
his local newspaper is fully described in another
chapter headed “National Advertising and Exclusive
Dealers.”
Where the retailer has exclusive sales of a nation-
ally advertised specialty, it doubles the value of his
own newspaper advertising by connecting his store
with the national magazine advertising of the manu-
facturer.
There are many advertising mediums which the
retailer should absolutely refuse to use. I refer par-
The ticularly to those that are of a semi-benev-
Retailer olent or semi-charitable character.
Should Be © tº ſº
Able to The retailer should make an advertising
** appropriation of from 3 to 5 per cent. of his
total sales and then spend it as if it was the money
of somebody else that had been entrusted to him to
accomplish the best that could be done with it. The
retailer who looks at his advertising appropriation
in this way will not use the various schemes that are
continually being put up to him.
There are men who go around the country enlisting
the retailers to advertise in their own local newspa-
134 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
pers on schemes that make the solicitors enormous
profits. This, however, is being relegated to the past
because of increased appreciation of the value of good
advertising methods on the part of the retailer and
the newspaper publishers.
The retailer should not buy calendars or novelties
or devices of any kind unless he knows in advance
exactly how he is going to distribute them. -
The very best way to distribute anything of this
kind is to have people come into his store and get
The them. He should have a distributing plan
Plan Moré in the form of newspaper or mail adver-
Im. nt . . . e e
fan the tising to accomplish this before he buys.
** If a retailer feels that he must contribute
something to a local church Organization, or a lodge,
or some other semi-benevolent enterprise that ap-
proaches him for an advertisement in a program,
he ought to, in some way, find a method by which
he could contribute the equivalent of this money in
the form of merchandise which people would have to
come to the store to see or to derive any benefit there-
from. It would take several books to record all of
the clever ideas that have been worked out along this
line. There are trade-papers and special advertising
papers that are continually recording these things,
and it is not the function of a book like this one to go
any further into detail.
The dealer should, at all times, have his store in
such an attractive condition that it is profitable for
him to have people visit it.
METHODS AND MEDIUMS 135
I have previously pointed out that the big depart-
ment store is in the best position to use local news-
papers. Fortunate indeed is the retailer in a town
that has a good local newspaper, circulating entirely
in his trade territory.
An entirely different problem is presented to the
neighborhood retailer in a large city or to the sub-
urban dealer who has no local newspapers whose
trade territory corresponds with his own.
These suburban storekeepers, especially grocers
and druggists, are just now discovering that if they
nº display wares which are being widely ad-
; vertised in newspapers and magazines that
ð... g., circulate in their neighborhood, they can
#... cash in on this advertising identically as
anufac- . tº
turers' if it was their own.
* A number of newspaper publishers realize
how important it is that these retailers who cannot
afford to advertise themselves know how to benefit
by the manufacturers’ general advertising.
No department store proprietor would even think
of advertising a special line of goods, unless his clerks
were properly educated and specially coached how to
coöperate with the advertising when the people
came in to see the goods. All retail stores can use
the manufacturers’ newspaper and general adver-
tising, without paying for it, by merely coöperating
with it. The retailer who knows what is good in
newspaper and magazine advertising, who knows
the circulation of the general mediums in his ter-
136 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
ritory, can realize on the manufacturers' advertising
just as completely as if he was paying for it himself.
If he is in doubt as to the amount that is spent by
the house that sells him, he can get accurate infor-
mation by applying direct to the publisher,
How the e ‘º gº tº
fºil, or to any large advertising organization that
"..."coöperates with national advertisers in pre-
- paring and placing copy.
Some retailers have been imposed upon by adver-
tising promises that have never been realized, and
have erroneously assumed that all advertising is
alike, and that one manufacturer’s publicity is no
more valuable than another's. No part of the re-
tailer’s education is more important than that he
have an accurate knowledge of advertising mediums,
both national and local. This will enable him to dis-
criminate between the manufacturers who use adver-
tising to serve the consumer, and reduce the cost of
distribution, and those who try to bluff him by making
him think that the advertising is being done on a
larger Scale than is really the case.
The better grade magazines, newspapers, and class
publications are exercising close censorship over the
manufacturer who does business along questionable
lines. Many publishers will not accept copy unless
they know that the advertising is sincere, straight-
forward, and done with the idea of benefiting both
the consumer and the distributor. Just as any
banker will give an opinion of any worthy investment,
so any advertising house of standing will verify the
METHODS AND MEDIUMS 137
claims of the reputable advertiser. Dealers certainly
should not give their coöperation where this is lacking.
In closing let me reiterate that a dealer should sit
down at least once a year and map out for himself a
Plan Your definite, tangible, complete campaign. He
fºr." should know exactly how much his appropria-
"...” tionis,and heshould spenditas if it was some-
body’s money that had been entrusted him to
get the very best results from. He should be regular
and systematic, and he should use all of the means
that are placed at his disposal. He can have all of the
exhilaration of the chemist who works in his labora-
tories, the satisfaction of the mathematician that
solves problems, the zest of the hunter, and the calm
satisfaction of the man who makes plans and sees
them materialize.
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER XII
Very manybooks have been written about retail ad-
vertising. Correspondence school courses are largely
concerned with writing advertisements for retailers.
A number of houses furnish a syndicate service in
the form of ready-made advertisements selling one
dealer in a locality.
In almost every city of 10,000 population or more
there are one or more advertising agencies or adver-
tising service bureaus which make a specialty of
writing copy for retailers. Practically every paper
covering retail trades has a department devoted to
retail advertising.
138 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
The live daily newspapers, in metropolitan and
provincial cities, are the best primers for the man
who wants to study the best, latest, and broadest
aspects of retail advertising.
Mr. George M. Reynolds, president of the Con-
tinental and Commercial National Bank of Chicago,
states that when a boy in a small Iowa town he sub-
scribed for the great newspapers of our large cities,
in order to keep constantly in touch with the outside
world.
CHAPTER XIII
RETAIL ADVERTISING-MAKING GOOD
T AN exhibit of farm vehicles, once, I heard
A a barker point out clearly the institutionalism
of banking and merchandising, and the labor-
saving value of trustworthy methods of doing business,
in his reply to a couple of farmers who were chaffing
him about his sales talk for the buggies he was dem-
onstrating. They told him he was the most in-
teresting liar that they had ever heard. He turned
on them and quickly said: “You are honest farmers,
but you have a peculiar way of showing your honesty
when you do business with each other. You trust
your bankers with your money without question.
You let your wife and children trade with your local
merchants and it never bothers you at all, because
you know they will be given a square deal. But I
notice that when one of you wants to buy a horse or
a calf or anything else from another farmer, this is
never delegated to anybody. You always do the
work yourself. You are honest, you certainly are,
and you show it in the way you trust each other.”
The particular point in this story is the fact that
the dealer is expected to be honest and trustworthy
189
140 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
as a matter of course, and there can be no doubt
that his influence, prestige, and permanent position
in the field in which he is doing business are in direct
relation to the size of the group that has this kind of
confidence in him.
I have outlined in chapters XI and XII that the
retailer should be prepared, and that he should use
Maintain advertising mediums to accomplish a spe-
Co ºl. cific purpose. But after all this has been
i. done, there remains an additional respon-
theº sibility which in my judgment is worthy of
a separate chapter. And that is the idea of
making good on every advertisement that the dealer
puts out.
The retailer who gets the most out of advertising
is one who regards every advertisement in the same
light that he does a note that he gives to his bank
or to a house that supplies him with merchandise.
He has invited the public to his store and put himself
in the same position of a host who is giving a dinner
party. If people come to the party and nobody
knows about their coming, and there is a hurrying
and Scurrying about to put extra plates on the table
and apologies for the lack of preparation, the guest
naturally feels that he was not really desired after
all.
It is of the utmost importance that the advertiser
back up his advertising with the same sincerity that
he expresses in his announcement. Clerks must be
trained to appreciate that the word of the store has
MAKING GOOD 141
been given, and that any failure to make good on their
part is a very serious offence.
One of the most successful heads of a big depart-
ment store that I know believes that he cannot pos-
Inviting the sibly cash in on his advertising unless he
Return of maintains the confidence of every one who
Mercham- te e
3:..." comes into his store to an extreme degree.
*::::: As an instance, he told me one day, when I
- called on him, that the man who had just
left his office was the manager of his shoe depart-
ment, and he showed me with great satisfaction a
report that his manager had just left with him. He
explained that three months before he had called
on this department manager and told him that the
percentage of returned shoes was too small. The
subordinate mentioned that he had expected commen-
dation instead of criticism for this, and insisted that
wherever there had been the least reason he had
permitted shoes to be returned and the money re-
funded or other shoes sent out in place of them.
“You certainly don’t want to let a girl come in
here and get a pair of fine dancing shoes, wear them
all night, and come in the next morning and change
them for everyday shoes,” the department manager
protested. -
“That is exactly what I do want. Those girls have
fathers and mothers who undoubtedly do not approve
of what the girls do, but they will feel kindlier to-
ward us when they find that we are indulgent with
their children. Try it three months and see.”
142 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
The report showed an increased volume in sales in
the shoe department that the head of the store figured
was due to no other reason than greater liberality in
the matter of returns.
On another occasion, I called with a salesman rep-
resenting a large paint house on a prominent store.
“Taking The keen eye of this salesman picked out a
dºn, Small can of paint that was lying on the
Dealer Did floor and asked the manager if he handled
** this particular brand. The manager laughed
and said: “No, but a woman came in here this
morning and said she had bought this can from us
and didn’t want to use it, and so, of course, we took
it back without argument.”
This was certainly an extreme case, where a de-
partment manager allowed the customer to say that
she had bought an article that he had never had in
the store and gave her the money which she claimed
to have paid for it. It illustrates, however, the idea
that the state of mind of the customertoward the store
is of the utmost importance and cannot be trifled with
without detriment to the group spirit, which is really,
after all, the essential character of the store.
Service to the customer should be the beginning,
The Power the expression, and the “follow-up” of every
of Service advertisement.
Attractive window, counter, and floordisplays, which
remind and inform passers-by, are true service factors.
They economize the time of the consumer and dealer.
Courteous, prompt, and intelligent attention of
MAKING GOOD 143
salesmen who know their stock, and having constantly
in mind the satisfaction of the customer, is the only
good-will asset which will bring trade from a long dis-
tance and hold it in spite of price competition.
Retailers who sell service have no mail-order com-
petition, and they do not advertise the mail-order
business even by discussion.
When we can be sure of price maintenance on ma-
tionally advertised goods, we shall have reliable mer-
, chandise at lower prices than ever before,
dº, because of economy in wholesale production,
; unimpeded movement to the consumer, with
minimum cost of salesmanship on the part
of distributor and dealer. The retailer who adver-
tises bargains is not giving his customer a square
deal if he sells an advertised product of merit at
a price less than the legitimate cost to distribute
the same. The retailer is not giving the consumer,
who is his customer, the service or the protection to
which he or she is entitled when he cuts prices on
advertised goods with the sole idea of making a profit
out of selling other goods on which the margin of
profit is abnormally high.
I recognize that the statement that the retailer
should maintain in all cases the prices that the manu-
facturer puts on the goods to be sold to the consumer
will be open to question. I want, however, to make
myself perfectly clear. There are, especially in the
drug field, lines of goods on which the profit is marked
abnormally high for the retailer. On the theory that
144 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER,
all business should benefit the consumer, we cannot
exploit him by asking him to pay more than the
service is actually worth. Many of the cut-rate drug
stores are performing a legitimate function, but they
are giving the people a wrong impression regarding
cut prices. The fact of the matter is that the retail
margin scheduled by the manufacturer was too high
in the first place, and most manufacturers do not ex-
pect these margins to be maintained.
There can be no question, however, that on nation-
ally advertised goods of genuine merit where the
price for distribution has been scientifically fixed,
the retailer will do best to coöperate along these lines.
He cannot be true to his customers if he creates theim-
pression that he is selling all goods on the same nar-
row margin that he does advertised goods of real merit
when he cuts the retail price on them. On the other
hand, he cannot command the coöperation and sup-
port from the manufacturer in developing a larger
volume of business when he interferes with his scien-
tifically developed plans to benefit the consumer.
This brings up a question that might as well be
discussed here as anywhere, and that is whether the
price that is charged for many goods is
pº worthy of the service the buyer receives.
Between For instance, there are many conscientious
Intrimsic, tº º gº
Real, and people who believe that any business in
°ºliquors, tobacco, and luxuries generally is
an economic waste and a burden to the
public. There are others who believe that the sale
MAKING GOOD 145
of patent medicines is detrimental to the interest
of the people as a whole. There are others who do
not believe that investments should be advertised
at all in themselves, but that advertising in connec-
tion with investments should refer wholly to the
integrity and the ability of the banking house or in-
vestment institution that sells the securities.
We must recognize that intrinsic value, real value,
and commercial value are entirely different things.
I would define intrinsic value as that quality in
articles which scientific expert buyers would deter-
mine by tests. Alcohol used in the arts might be
intrinsically more valuable coming from one distillery
than another. Yet in the minds of many people,
alcohol has practically no real value.
Real value is something that without question
contributes to the benefit of the human race as a
whole. There is no question that pure water pos-
sesses real value. There might be some discussion
as to the intrinsic and commercial value of pure
water. These differences of opinion would depend
wholly on the relation of other things connected with
it.
Commercial value is that quality in an article that
creates satisfaction. Satisfaction is the test of every
purchase. When the consumer is satisfied with his
purchase we may safely say that the article that he
bought possesses commercial value, and necessarily
that is the basis on which we must discuss the ques-
tion of value in its relation to advertising.
146 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
The point has been made that the department
store and its very attractive advertising has raised
the standard of living to such a point that
S., many people want luxuries and justify the
hº possession of them on the theory that they
are actual necessities. It has been pointed
out that the most valuable work for the community
as a whole has been done by people who endured
privation rather than by those surrounded with
luxuries which take time to enjoy as well as require
heavy expense to maintain. I have never been able
to see how advertising could in any way be respon-
sible for creating a condition that would be injurious
to the people in any degree. Perhaps I should qualify
that by saying that truthful advertising could not in-
jure the people in any possible way.
Fortunately, the movement for truthful advertis-
ing has been brought about by advertising men them-
selves who realized that advertising’s greatest value
would be demonstrated and developed by having it
always dependable.
The insiders in advertising have asked that the
law take cognizance of the benefit of truthful adver-
tising and discipline those who do not follow the lines
of their best interests.
From intimate observation of a number of captains
of industry I have made up my mind that they get
little more in exchange for their arduous efforts than
shelter, clothing, and a very modest amount of food.
These men work under self-imposed privations be-
MAKING GOOD 147
cause they can accomplish the big work they are
doing better by following such methods.
Booker T. Washington is authority for the state-
ment that until the negro is aroused to the desire to
The possess things that are generally conceded
P; jºr to be luxuries, he cannot be stimulated to
sºft, scientific and fruitful methods of industry. I
** am sure that the cultivation of domesticity—
the beautifying of the home, making it a more com-
fortable place to live in, the possession of works of art,
and the consequent care in preserving and caring for
them—has its reflex upon the community as a whole.
Personally I am not afraid of the extension of the
service idea on the part of our big department stores,
where it is true that the cost of concerts, lectures,
rest rooms, and long-range deliveries must be covered
in the price that people pay for merchandise. There
are many compensations resulting from this method,
but the best protection of its abuse lies in the fact
that large national advertisers are competing with
each other to give to the consumer or final buyer the
greatest possible service for the amount of money
he spends.
This force is at work apparently at the present
time in competition with the big department stores,
, though there are signs that some of the
Service
Conjon larger and better managed department
C ſº stores are seeing that there is a basis for
oëperation e tº *
coöperation with the large national adver-
tiser. If the department store refuses to distribute
148 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
the large national advertisers’ products because there
isn’t sufficient margin to pay for all of this service,
these goods will be distributed by smaller stores
located closer to the consumer. This is competition
along service lines that cannot help but benefit every-
body that is engaged in it. .
Advertising can—and I predict will during the
next ten years—accomplish many reforms. It is
. . going to show that the buying from peddlers
Advertising . *
ń ś is an unnecessary tax upon the people as a
i.ſº. whole; that the time of these canvassers
could be better spent in more productive
labor for the community.
Advertising is going to prove that food products
handled in a sanitary way will not only eliminate
the waste due to sickness, the result of unsanitary
conditions, but that the possibility of doing things
in a broad, large way will increase the market, and
wherever markets are increased the proceeds of a
day’s labor always buys more.
Advertising is the most dependable force which we
have to-day to overcome the ups and downs of labor
conditions.
It is very seldom that the large national institution
that markets its goods through advertising channels
lays off men.
As a rule, the well-managed business is continually
adding to its force of operatives and is doing business
along steady, stable, permanent lines. -
The large national advertiser necessarily has to be
MAKING GOOD 149
a student of general conditions, and he prices his goods
to the consumer on the basis that will take care of
the fluctuations of raw material. There is
Stable e - &
Coºn, no argument that stable conditions are better
rº, for industrious people than any other kind.
- We need only go back a few centuries and
realize in what a low state agriculture was when the
castles along the Rhine and the shores of the Mediter-
ranean were inhabited by warriors who protected the
tillers of the soil from pirates, but at a price which gave
avery slight return indeed to the farmerhimself. This
should be contrasted with the continued prosperity of
the six million American farmers of to-day. This is an
unanswerable argument in favor of stable conditions.
There is no force at work in America doing more to
establish and maintain stable conditions than adver-
tising.
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER XIII
Particularly recommended is “How to Run a
Store at a Profit” (the System Publishing Company,
Chicago), from which the following suggestions for
the retailer have been culled:
1. Fixed price articles carried as an accommodation
ought to at least take care of themselves.
2. Newspaper advertising appropriation should be
from 3 to 5 per cent.
3. Carry the right amount of stock and no more.
4. Watch your overhead expense. Overhead is
frequently figured incorrectly or charged incorrectly.
150 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
5. Know at all times what percentage of your
profit is actually net.
6. Have your goods so arranged and displayed that
the minimum amount of time is necessary for laying
them before the customer.
7. Keep a record of the percentage of the selling
price lost by mark-downs.
8. Look out for negative expenses. They are:
poor displays, dingy stores, insufficient light, heat,
or ventilation, ice on sidewalks, discourteous or in-
attentive clerks, etc.
9. In buyingforget that you ownthestoreandregard
yourself as the purchasing agent for your community.
I also call attention to the “Retail Merchant’s
Ten Commandments,” which were published in the
Monthly Bulletin of the National Association of
Credit Men, 41 Park Row, New York City:
1. Confine purchases to as few houses as possible.
2. Do not overbuy.
3. Take all discounts and pay all bills when due.
4. Have some books, especially an accurate ex-
pense account, a daily sales record, a book showing
purchases, with cost and when due.
5. Carry enough insurance.
6. Make accurate reports to the commercial agen-
cies and answer all letters.
7. Keep a clean, well-arranged store.
8. Do as much cash business as possible.
9. Do not make unjust claims.
10. Live within your means.
CHAPTER XIV
MAIL-ORDER ADVERTISING
the consumer in the distribution of worthy
merchandise through the natural channels of
trade.
Some people think that the mail-order business is
an illogical and unnatural business, because it elimi-
nates the jobber, the traveling salesman, and the
retailer. It is not. It is the direct result of intel-
ligent and adequate advertising. No one can fully
grasp the power of national advertising and mer-
chandising through the natural channels of trade
Toº Mail until he clearly comprehends the possibilities
order * and the limitations of the mail-order busi-
71.6 SS O
A DVERTISING is most competent when it serves
United IlêSS.
... .º. Two great mail-order establishments in
$2,094,000-
000 per Chicago are credited with a combined annual
* business of $113,000,000 for 1913.”
The total mail-order business of the United States
has been estimated to be $2,094,000,000, or about
$22.76 per individual. During 1912 the Ameri-
*Quoted from December Boston Traveler-Herald.
iThese figures were given me by Mr. C. C. Parlin, who has been mak-
ing an extensive research, recently, for the Curtis Publishing Company.
151
152 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
can family spent $785,000,000 for men's clothing,
$600,000,000 for women’s clothing, and $1,125,000,000
for children’s clothing. The total, $2,510,000,000,
is a little more than $27 per capita for the 91,972,266
people of the United States according to the census
of 1910.
There are 20,689,000 families in the United States.
Their income is about $27,000,000,000. With twenty-
planſ, of seven billions coming in and only two bil-
Room for lions going out in mail-order business, there
º is a chance for our 790,886 retailers and
Pegler the 42,293 wholesalers who look after their
Business ©
needs to do an excellent business.
There are 2,164 towns of 2,500 people or more in
the United States, having a total population of
41,140,847. More than 42,000,000 people live on
our 6,361,502 farms. This leaves about 8,000,000 in
villages of less than 2,500. Our 42,517 rural mail
Mail-order routes serve 16,199,000 people. These ſig-
jures suffice to prove that there is a natural
*::::::*and strictly legitimate place for mail-order
usiness, and it is bound to increase in vol-
ume each year.
A large wholesale jobbing house has recently been
estimating the cost of doing business with three
classes of merchants, i. e., those located in towns of
(1) less than 2,500 population, (2) between 2,500 and
25,000, and (3) 25,000 and up. They found out that
it does not pay to send a traveling salesman with a
full line of samples to a town whose population is
MAIL–ORDER ADVERTISING 153
less than 2,500; and that unless the merchant him-
self goes to the market often, he cannot meet mail-
order competition, for his merchandise will not
satisfy the wants which the newspapers and maga-
zines have aroused by the story of what is newest
and best in the large cities.
For many years I have been asking my dealer
friends this question, “Does a live, wide-awake local
merchant who comes to market at least
#:... twice a year fear mail-order competition?”
*:::::: I have still to find an instance in which a
Fºr ºf good merchant was not able to meet and
ãº. overcome it. Mail-order business depends
on the inadequacy or incompetency of local
merchants or serves a class of people so widely scat-
tered and having wants and desires so occasional
that it would not pay the local merchant to consider
them.
This, it seems to me, is the rightful field of mail-
order business, and retailers and mail-order houses
Tº are recognizing it. It includes courses of
Field That instruction by correspondence, awarding
Mail-order ©
j. premiums for the sale of soaps, perfumes,
hairman teas, and coffees to one's neighbors, buying
Any One diamonds and household furniture on the
* installment plan, and all kinds of farm
utensils, building materials, bicycles, buggies, pianos,
piano players, and the like. Dealers in poultry and
poultry supplies, and subscription agents have been
especially successful with mail-order methods. The
154 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
purchasers are so widely scattered and the lines so
seasonable that it does not pay the retailer to stock
them.
Quite a number of nationally advertised lines of
merchandise were started in a mail-order way. When
a group of influential consumers had been
wº, developed, the agency for the line was given
4;a to a local retailer, who coöperated with the
Started in a national advertising. This plan has been
Mºjº most economical and successful in introduc-
ing such articles as card-index cabinets,
sectional bookcases, guaranteed hosiery, tailors-to-
the-trade supplies, washing machines, safety razors,
typewriters, and cameras.
Each mail-order house builds its own consumer
group. The sum total of these small groups con-
stitutes one great group which buys by mail. There
are a number of publications of national circulation
whose subscription lists are the result of sending
circulars through the mails. There are some which
are called “mail-order papers.” -
Those who subscribe by mail are not likely to buy
by mail. In Augusta, Me., a city of 13,000, two
choosing publishing houses send out, each day of the
the Medium year, an average of more than a carload of
wº mail-order matter. To look through the
* advertising columns of these publications,
to answer the advertisements, and to study the follow-
up material would be a liberal education in mail-
order methods.
MAIL–ORDER, ADVERTISING I55
No mail-order business that I know of selling
direct from its advertisements has been successful.
Almost without exception mail-order advertising
aims to locate possible buyers. Whether or not a
mail-order business will pay depends upon the con-
tents of the catalogues, printed literature, and sales
letters sent out. Many of the money-making mail-
order businesses of the past twenty years have been
based on plausible but insincere appeals. But the
government took a hand and put most of these fakes
out of business. g
Mail-order houses which make good on their
promises merit the confidence their customers have
sal, in them. Their catalogues are informative,
º; models of logical and emotional appeal, and
#j,” could profitably be studied by every mer-
§ chant and clerk who handles similar lines.
Mail-order Houses which put out large catalogues reckon
* each page as worth several thousand of
dollars in Sales power; and each department is
charged with the cost of the space it occupies in the
catalogues. Therefore a high premium is placed upon
ability to write accurate, informative, sales-compelling
descriptions of the items illustrated therein.
Catalogues are not sent out indiscriminately. The
utmost care is taken to prepare the mind of the
recipient for the catalogue and to invest it with value
in his or her eyes. Customers who have not ordered
for some time are cut off the mailing-list.
Each letter or inquiry is completely and cheerfully
156 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
answered; each complaint is given courteous and
careful attention. The confidence of the buyer is
stimulated and courted in every possible
Creating *
C., way, even to sending goods out on approval.
The Cºn- This is not really the risk it appears, be-
stant Aim &
Øf the cause the postal laws of the United States
Mºr are very strictly enforced. Our Government
deals promptly with the man who buys
merchandise by mail and does not pay for it. Express
companies allow buyers to inspect goods sent out
by a mail-order house on approval, to be returned to
them if unsatisfactory.
It is interesting to note (as proof that the mail-
order business does not encroach upon the territory
supplied by the ordinary channels of trade) that large
retail stores in big cities have found it impossible to
build successful mail-order departments with the
talent which is useful and valuable in serving the
consumer over the counter.
There is something fascinating about being able to
write a piece of copy that will produce directmail-order
arºº, replies within a certain cost. The prepa-
Copy Must ration of mail-order literature, the answer-
º: ing of letters, and the handling of the goods
#geºgé, themselves must be delegated to persons who
isplays, &
and Pºr: realize that they must more than offset the
*:::::: prestige-producing and confidence-building
§ º: effect of a well-located store, attractive coun-
ter and window displays, and capable sales-
men. The copy writer must understand the value
MAIL–ORDER ADVERTISING 157
of these factors, and replace them in the printed
words in the catalogues and in the letters which he
writes.
The building of an advertisement which shall at-
tract new customers for a mail-order house is as
severe a test as a copy writer can be put to. Unless
he gets enough direct responses from the right class
of people to make the merchandising effort as a whole
profitable, his work is wasted. He must know how
to tell an interesting and plausible story; he must
also have the faculty of putting into that story an
appeal to the buying impulse which will bring a re-
sponse large enough to prove constantly that his work
is being well done. He must keep in mind all the
follow-up material which is to be used upon these in-
quiries, so that he will not attract the merely curious;
for confidence, once won, must not be trifled with.
The trained writer of mail-order advertisements
knows that a single word may effect seriously the
Every Worgnumber of inquiries received. The head-
Must Be line, “Increase Your Salary,” brought twice
Carefully ge tº º © tº
Wºn as many inquiries, in the same publica-
###. tion, as “Increase Your Income,” the rest
Advertise- of the advertisement being exactly the
” same.
A considerable portion of the want columns of
daily newspapers and also of the advertising space
of mail-order papers is devoted to “Agents Wanted”
advertisements. The consumer unquestionably pays
more for the article that is peddled from house to
158 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
house than for equivalent values to be had of any
reputable retailer.
It is safe to assume, however, that as long as human
nature is as it is, the satisfaction of having one's
trade sought after and the pleasure of listening to a
forceful sales talk will make it profitable to peddle
sewing machines, subscription books, enlarged por-
traits, and many household articles. Almost all such
agents are secured by mail.
Manufacturers whose product is to be sold by can-
vassers put out ingenious advertising and follow-up
The Chang matter. The word “Rider,” in front of the
mºstereotyped but none the less dependable
dº...words “Agents Wanted,” brought the Mead
º: Cycle Company 630 answers from a single
Mediocre insertion of an inch advertisement in the
* Youth's Companion. Something about the
headline, “Rider Agents Wanted,” gave the old story
a new significance, and many people wrote in who
decided, when the agency plan was explained to them,
to buy the bicycle but not to canvass for sales.
Six pieces of copy, with different headlines, but all
telling the same story, published on different pages
good of the same publication, brought answers
Mºgº costing from 8 cents to $1.54 per inquiry.
Should Be A good piece of mail-order copy can carry
** an expenditure of from $50,000 to $200,000
before it wears out. A business which sells a course
of instruction pays as high as $1.00 per inquiry,
and makes good money on each of seven follow-
MAIL–ORDER ADVERTISING 159
up letters which are sent out within the next eighteen
months.
I have indicated that the best foundation for a
mail-order business is the list of names resulting from
g dragnet advertisements in mediums of gen-
ºil. º eral circulation.
º: Businesses have also been built up by cir-
cularizing lists of names. Several houses
make a specialty of listing dealers according to sec-
tions, ratings, and the kind of merchandise handled,
and guarantee the names to be live and that the
addresses are correct. There is also a business in
selling names that are taken from answers to mail-
order advertisements. At clipping bureaus one can
buy lists of the names of persons who are accustomed
to travel, those who are reported ill of certain dis-
eases, those who contemplate building, and other in-
formation which is gathered from the newspapers.
Seldom are mail-order advertisements used for
any other purpose than to get new names of possible
customers. Some houses have used large space in
order to get a certain prestige. But in mail-order
work the custom is to use no more space than is
necessary to locate a possible buyer. Prestige-
Mail-order building and confidence-developing work
Advertising must be done by the catalogue and follow-
ſº., up literature.
on the For many years a certain large seed house
* that sends out more than 500,000 catalogues
during December and January has used large space
160 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
in big circulations in March, apparently to get new
inquiries for the catalogues. But in reality it is to
centre attention upon the catalogues already placed
in these 500,000 homes, and to stimulate immediate
purchases therefrom.
Much of the “Agents Wanted” misleading mail-
order advertising has been barred out by the better
class of national publications. It will be refused by
large daily newspapers as soon as their publishers
realize that the confidence of the reader is an asset
which should not be trifled with by advertisers who
do not make good in every way.
Many men who have been successful in planning
and writing mail-order copy have found a larger and
more profitable market for their ability in connection
with the established channels of trade.
For many lines of business, then, mail-order
methods of acquiring and selling the customer are
most economical, and for the introduction of a prod-
uct often afford a quicker, more satisfactory, and
more profitable national distribution than could be
secured in any other way. -
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER XIV
A live and readable monthly, The Mail Order
Journal (Chicago), contains all the news about mail-
order advertising and much valuable information
about general advertising.
In 1900 the Sawyer Publishing Company, Water-
ville, Me., issued an interesting book, “Secrets of the
MAIL–ORDER ADVERTISING 161
Mail Order Trade.” Though much of its data is
now obsolete, it is well worth reading as an historical
document.
A complete series of the catalogues of any big
mail-order house shows up very vividly the develop-
ment of mail-order methods and ideas.
To answer the advertisements and read the follow-
up literature sent out by a successful mail-order house
is one way of making sure that one’s information is
up to date.
CHAPTER XV
NATIONAL ADVERTISING AND EXCLUSIVE DEALERS
NE of the fallacies which an advertising man
O must combat constantly is the statement
that if a little advertising is good, more of it
should be a great deal better. Advertising is like
food—it should be taken, not as an end in itself,
but as a means to an end. Three meals a day three
hundred and sixty-five days in the year is more
economical and more valuable than alternate fasting
and feasting. Too little starves and weakens; too
much is a burden and does not allow the organization
to function properly.
In the preceding chapter I indicated that adver-
tising will start a business. It will also maintain a
business. The weakness or strength of mail-order
advertising is at once evident in the business itself,
for advertising is its very foundation. We see quite
a different use of advertising when we consider the
manufacturer selling to the exclusive dealer. Here
advertising is the factor which amalgamates the work
of two distinct and strongly entrenched forms of busi-
ness. On the one hand is the retail merchant who
values his personal reputation and standing in the
162
EXCLUSIVE DEALERS 163
community in which he lives; on the other the
manufacturer who is proud of the quality of the
merchandise he makes and appreciates keenly his
responsibility to the consumer.
The manufacturer does not care to have the
identity of his goods lost in the average jobber's
stock; the retailer does not want to put his
An Ar- * e * * * & ſº
rangement creative ability back of merchandise which
#: can be supplied to his trade territory by any
‘...; of his competitors.
... The manufacturer approaches the merchant
*;" and explains that he wants the same high
quality of service in placing his goods in the
consumer's hands that he himself puts into their
design and making. He knows that the retailer can
take care of certain elements of a complete service to
the consumer better and more economically than he
can. He must convince the retailer that he can
maintain a high quality and make it possible for him
(the retailer) to serve his community with the best
The Manu- at the least cost to the consumer.
facturers Coöperation of such sort cannot be effected
Must Com- tº -
i. ſſ unless the manufacturer brings to the mer-
º chant all the selling helps which are produced
Help: he in a national way most economically, and
º, unless the retailer puts forth the best effort
Push,the of which he and his organization are capable
“ and takes advantage of the national selling
helps that are given him.
The manufacturer can afford space in national
164 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
mediums which, as they circulate in the retailer’s
territory, are the most valuable form of local advertis-
ing. The manufacturer's national advertising doubles
the value of the dealer’s local publicity when the
dealer mentions in his local newspapers the nation-
ally advertised lines he carries exclusively.
It is evident that a manufacturer can employ ex-
pert illustrators and the best copy writers, and supply
the dealer with a complete retail advertising service,
plates or matrices ready for use in local newspapers,
at a cost which would be prohibitive to the dealer.
Booklets, window displays, and sales ideas are fur-
nished him at the minimum expense. The local dealer
can draw upon the manufacturer for the best adver-
tising and merchandising talent.
Unfortunately the exclusive dealer plan has been
abused. Therefore many retailers hesitate to back
an exclusive line with their own prestige
ſºft, and hard work. They are right in this stand,
Fail to Give for some manufacturers have used national
Proper tº gº gº
Selling advertising as a bluff, pure and simple, to
###. load dealers with their goods, and then fail
to give them the right kind of advertising
help. This condition is particularly to be regretted,
because it takes so little money to cover the United
States in national mediums and so much can be done
if the manufacturer acts in good faith and advertises
to arouse the interest of the consumer.
There are a number of national appropriations
aggregating less than $100,000 a year which include
EXCLUSIVE DEALERS 165
the use of national mediums and collateral advertis-
ing helps for the dealer.
This is only one dollar per thousand popu-
*...lation, but it makes a wonderful showing in
Advertising 5
by Pealers carefully selected publications of general
to Connect . {º} {}
Up in circulation. Dealers whose trade territory
Áº:9 comprises 25,000 people find it profitable to
spend from $25 to $50 annually onlocal news-
papers, to connect up with this national advertising
as it is the most influential kind of local advertising
in their trade territory.
If the national advertiser furnishes definite sale
suggestions, the dealer will often spend more. As
most dealers are committed to a certain amount of
local advertising in any case, and since the exclusive
sale of a high-class product is a trade-builder and is as
profitable as anything they handle, it can be said truth-
fully that local advertising which coöperates with
national advertising more than doubles its own value.
It is possible (it is being done every day) for
national manufacturers to word advertisements in
Drawing mediums of general circulation so that they
'#; will bring direct mail replies. These letters
Wºj are the dealer’s best weapon of defence
*:::::::: against mail-order competition. They also
to Local locate people who may be trading with his
* competitors, and give him an excuse for
paying them particular attention, so that he can get
them into his store and demonstrate the superiority
of his service as a whole.
166 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
Luckily there are scattered throughout the United
States dealers who are as good judges of national
advertising campaigns as they are of merchandise.
And the manufacturer who makes superior goods
and supplements this work with a national adver-
tising campaign which reflects the sincerity and
honesty that goes into his merchandise will get the
coöperation of intelligent dealers the minute his sales-
men show them his nationaland local advertising plans.
Selling goods to one dealer in a community appeals
particularly to the manufacturer of high-grade mer-
Selling to chandise. There are 559,000 families in the
6. Dai, United States having incomes of $6,000 a
###, year or more. Their trade is worth while.
Particularly º e &
to Manu- The progressive dealer makes a bid for it
#. by having the exclusive sale of high-grade,
*... nationally advertised goods which give him
chandise wº *
prestige and hold the trade of the wealthier
families whose community pride makes them buy
goods at home if the local dealer can give them the
best quality.
The exclusive dealer plan has been tried out by
manufacturers of automobiles, pianos, fine silverware,
paints, furniture, kitchen cabinets, stoves, candies,
and shoes. Even in a small town one can pick out,
by noting window displays and the contents of the
shelves, the dealer who caters to the high-class maga-
zine reading group of the community.
The better magazines now refuse to carry the
advertising of a manufacturer who seeks the coöpera-
EXCLUSIVE DEALERS 167
tion of local dealers, unless his national campaign is
adequate and accurate, safe and conservative. This
m.a. censorship is winning the confidence of better
Magazines class dealers throughout the country, and
tº: gives manufacturers who have not yet taken
Pealer by up national advertising assurance of success
Censoring
is when they do.
4;w The only basis for successful exclusive
Mºjº dealer distribution is coöperation between a
high-class manufacturer and a high-class
retailer, each doing to the best of his ability that
which he is best fitted to perform.
Advertising, which is the cementing factor of this
relationship, often gets results much greater than the
financial outlay would seem to warrant. It appears
to develop power in the same way a lever does.
It brings out the latent force of both manufacturer
and retailer as nothing else can.
Certainly the retailer who has a choice between
a fine line of goods from a manufacturer who does
The no general advertising and one equally good
4. backed by a broad and skilfully executed
anufac- © º tº *
turer Gets plan of general advertising will not hesitate.
º: But the man who makes a superior product
*P* and supplements his service to the consumer
by national advertising and sales-building coöpera-
tion with dealers cannot afford to identify himself
with a second-rate dealer, or to give the sale of his
line to one who will not coöperate with him earnestly,
vigorously, and honestly.
168 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
It is noteworthy that people who read general mag-
azines and do not find the goods advertised at any
e local dealer’s are inclined to consider it a re-
** flection upon the dealer rather than upon
48Vertised the manufacturer.
Goods a º ©
Raftection Producers who advertise nationally should
#: remain unrepresented in a community rather
than allow an incompetent or unsympathetic
local representative to weaken their prestige and lower
the standard of service which they have established.
A coöperative arrangement is impossible if either
manufacturer or retailer is doing business on a price
basis. Unless service to the consumer, which is
nothing less than permanent satisfaction, is the goal
of both manufacturer and dealer, this form of mer-
chandising must fail.
It is not altogether necessary that the manufac-
turer use national mediums. For certain territories
. . he may use publications which cover them
Advertising .
... ." in a broad general way. For several years a
1:... certain manufacturer selling almost exclu-
sively to dealers located within the State of
Iowa has used three agricultural papers which cover
Iowa. Daily papers published at wholesale markets
are as competent as national magazines to reach in-
fluential consumers and get the coöperation of local
dealers within the territory which they cover.
There are manufacturers who do no general adver-
tising, but furnish the dealer with electrotypes, book-
lets, mailing cards, form letters, posters, hangers, win-
EXCLUSIVE DEALERS I69
dow displays, motion-picture slides, premiums, and
novelties. A tailor-to-the-trade establishment which
Advertising had built up a large business in this way
Service spent about $100,000 for devices of this kind
*; and put on a campaign in five national
.."; magazines, including a double-spread in the
of Different Saturday Evening Post, without increasing
* their total annual advertising expenditure.
Mailing cards and form letters were largely replaced
by national magazine publicity because it sells both
consumer and dealer. The net result was more con-
sumer effect for the same money than they had ever
had, and therefore more dealer coöperation.
REFERENCES ON CEIAPTER XV
The campaigns of national advertisers who dis-
tribute through exclusive dealers are the best material
for the student. Manufacturers who use this method
of distribution and dealers who coöperate with them
will undoubtedly furnish information in detail to all
who are entitled to it.
Each campaign is individual and distinct, and has
solved its various problems in its own way.
To copy the campaign of another would defeat
your purpose. *
The creators of new ideas and new ways of dressing
up the old story make very good money.
CHAPTER XVI
TRADEMARKS
E WANT to consider, first, what the trade-
W V mark is worth to the consumer.
I can think of no real reason why the con-
Sumer should prefer goods which do not bear a trade-
mark. He sometimes has a notion that they cost
less than goods of equal merit which are sold under a
trademark. But that wrong notion has been bred by
a certain wasteful kind of advertising effort which
aimed to develop a bargain-seeking class of buyers.
Merchandise without a trademark lacks backing.
People who buy cheap things, or because they are
so-called bargains, are surely wasting their substance.
The purchaser of a bargain assumes all responsibility
as to the quality of the merchandise. So many of
us are willing to do this because we do not realize
how little our judgment of value is worth.
Most of us are qualified to judge of the value of
only the few lines of merchandise with which we have
What I, had much experience. The highest salaried.
Our men in large mercantile establishments are
Amateur e
judgment the buyers, but not until they have had
” years of selling experience are they en-
trusted with the responsibility of selecting from the
I70
TRADEMARKS 171
mass of mixed qualities that which is worthy. Much
of the talk about the high cost of living is fathered
by the flimsy, useless bargain which pleases for the
moment but does not contribute at all to the comfort
and satisfaction of the home. But the present-day
consumer is beginning to demand utility in mer-
chandise.
Some retailers who will not handle goods bearing
the manufacturer's trademark are sincere in this
. . stand. They feel the responsibility of giving
*ś" to the merchandise they sell the authority
Mºjº of their own endorsement. This seems to
and Dealer me one of the most encouraging features
*::::::::º of modern business. It means that when
the best retailers and the best manufac-
turers are both animated by a high sense of re-
sponsibility to the consumer, a degree of intimate
coöperation will be possible which the merchandising
world has not yet known. And the consumer will
benefit thereby.
It has not yet occurred to most of us that a trade-
mark adds to the value of merchandise in our eyes.
Persons who have declared that such was not the
case have in the next breath admitted that the piano
which they own would not be so valuable, even if
they knew it to be the very same instrument, were the
gold leaf which reproduces the trademark removed
therefrom.
The trademark fixes responsibility. The manu-
facturer knows he must make good on the standard
172 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
which he has established for his product, and the
consumer actually enjoys more and derives a greater
satisfaction from an article the fine points of which
he has been educated to appreciate, an article from
which he has been taught to extract the larges
amount of usefulness. -
Trademarked goods, intelligently advertised, yield
the manufacturer a larger return for his labor, and
cº, cost the consumer less money. -
Profit to The maker of a competitive line of merchan-
*::::" dise must base his selling price on the cost of
Cost to manufacture and distribution. This price
Consumer . wº
is unstable. Its fluctuations depend upon
the aggressiveness or lack of intelligence of his com-
petitors. Under such circumstances, he cannot in-
stitute or maintain the economies which are possible
when he can count on a stable price, no matter what
his competitors may or may not do.
Given a profit of 25 per cent. on the selling price,
grocers are glad to push goods sold under a well-
advertised trademark. On unadvertised lines they
demand from 33% to 100 per cent. The difference
represents the cost of advertising to the manufac-
turer and leaves him an additional profit besides.
Yet the article costs the consumer no more. Why?
Because of the elimination of waste in gathering the
raw materials, in the processes of manufacture, and
in the distribution of the finished product.
The advantages to the manufacturer of putting a
trademark on his goods are so obvious that I can
TRADEMARKS 173
think of no reason for his failing to do so except that
he wishes to escape responsibility for them. By put-
ting them out under a trade name he recognizes the
principle that his own individuality is the basis upon
which he must build the largest possible influence
with his fellowmen.
Advertising a trademark and marketing goods un-
der it give them stability. Stability means economy.
It is not a physical or material quality, but
The gº © © ©
Trailmark a state of mind which is the result of Satis-
sº#, faction. e
I have said that the trademark on mer-
chandise invests it with added value in the purchas-
er’s mind; because we associate trademarks with the
creation and maintenance of quality standards.
But the worth of the trademark to the manufac-
turer lies in the fact that it serves as an anchor for all
creative sales work which he has put out in behalf
of that product. A trademark is the tangible thing
that enables the manufacturer to tie to each piece of
merchandise that he makes or handles the prestige
and confidence which his ability and integrity have
won for him in the buyer's mind.
Mr. Edward S. Rogers, a prominent trademark
lawyer of Chicago, states that the right to a trademark
Do Not does not depend upon invention, discovery,
#.º; or registration; but upon priority of adop-
Under a tion and use upon goods, and upon contin-
* uous occupation of the market with goods
bearing this mark.
174 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
This statement is interesting in that it implies an
obligation on the part of the owner of a trademark
to be aggressive in salesmanship, to dominate the
market. He dare not assume that his trademark
Once established he can rest on his oars. If he pushes
his product constantly, he may be able, later on, to
reduce the price to the consumer. The resultant in-
crease in volume would at least maintain the same
net returns, if it did not actually increase his profits.
The Ford Motor Company is a notable instance.
The manufacturer who does not advertise cannot
take business from the one who does. He may get
Backing some business, temporarily, by price-cutting
T º the •] to distributors who will, for a larger margin,
7°(ld.67770.7°/C •e de e
with attempt to deliver to him business that has
* been created by the producer who advertises.
But manufacturers and dealers who do this can never
succeed, save in the sense that piracy and highway
robbery succeed. When business reaches a state where
one man can acquire the property of another with-
out adequate compensation, and keep it, commerce
will have sunk to a low level. Fortunately proof
is abundant that the merchant or manufacturer who
possesses a franchise in the form of the good-will
of the general public is stronger than any of the
powers of pillage or thievery.
Dealers and consumers have been educated to be-
lieve that a lower price is a confession of inferiority,
and that the cost of the trademark (apparently paid
by the consumer) is so little that its elimination by
TRADEMARKS 175
the non-advertising manufacturer gives him no prac-
tical advantage in the market. The consumer is not
benefited by the extra sales cost or the inferior quality
of unadvertised lines.
If, however, a man takes up a line of business which
has been established by a manufacturer using a trade-
mark, and competes with him intelligently,
sº the by advertising and straightforward sales
º; work, the competition is a distinct benefit
the Benefit to the original manufacturer, the dealer, and
#: the consumer.
marked The manufacturer who lets his competi-
Product de ge tº
tors make his prices loses his sense of respon-
sibility to his customers, and puts a premium on
mediocrity, Slovenliness, and carelessness.
Legally the trademark must indicate with cer-
tainty the commercial origin of the article to which it
is affixed. Thedevice or symbol has novalue
apart from the business itself. The courts
have ruled that a trademark cannot be sep-
arated, for a price, from the business of which it is the
visible sign.
It is not necessary to register a trademark, but it
is always advisable.
In many foreign countries registration of the trade
name gives the right of ownership to the one making
the first registry. In the United States it is merely
presumptive evidence. Title to the business and the
right to use the trademark depend entirely upon pri-
ority of use.
The Legal
Aspect
176 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
The law of unfair competition has been the most
valuable protection that users of trade names have
had. It says that no one has the right to represent
his goods to be the goods of another.
The best trademark is an arbitrary or coined word
which has no descriptive quality in connection with
the goods to be sold thereunder. It should be of such
character that it can mean one thing and nothing else,
both legally and practically. It is quite easy to in-
vent a word which is easily pronounced but does not
appear in the dictionary with a meaning which be-
longs altogether to the goods on which it is placed.
It is wiser not to advertise anything like “Michigan”
celery, or “Minnesota.” flour, as these are generic,
descriptive terms and could be adopted by any one
who wants to enter the same field.
Before deciding upon a trademark it is best to get
expert legal assistance. There are many names in
which no exclusive right can be secured because they
are descriptive, or are otherwise legally objectionable,
or cannot be protected because they have been pre-
empted.
Several large advertising campaigns have been
held up, after they have been launched, because it was
discovered that some obscure manufacturer doing a
small local business had prior right to the use of the
name which had been selected for a trademark.
One of the most valuable elements of the service of
a national advertising organization is its ability to
devise effective trademarks. Years of experience
TRADEMARKS 177
with trademarks have taught them where the shoals
are which threaten the manufacturer who contem-
plates adopting a trade name and marketing his wares
under it.
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER XVI
For additional reading on trademarks, I refer the
student to the following treatises:
“Sebastian on Trade Marks,” “Paul on Trade
Marks,” “Hopkins on Trade Marks,” and “Nins’
Unfair Business Competition.”
“Good Will, Trade Marks, and Unfair Trading,”
by Edward S. Rogers (A. W. Shaw Company, 1914,
Chicago), is a most interesting and exhaustive pres-
entation of the whole subject. .
“Trademarks and Their Advertising,” 1913, by
Charles G. Phillips, president of the Dry Goods Econ-
omist, 231 West Thirty-ninth Street, New York
City, is a two-thousand word monograph crystallizing
the experience and convictions of one of our foremost
trade-paper publishers. Mr. Phillips will send a copy
to any reader of this book who requests it.
CHAPTER XVII
PRESTIGE-BUILDING ADVERTISING
XPERT salesmen agree that their work must
be authoritative, i. e., it must lead the buyer
to accept their judgment as to what he had
better buy, instead of following his own bent. A
The capable salesman knows more about the
Sglesman's goods he sells than any buyer can possibly
Part ºn
Establishing know. Of course he must also be able to
* produce in the buyer that mental attitude
which will afford him the greatest possible utility and
satisfaction in his purchase.
I have said before that the salesman who wishes
to establish his position as an authority on his par-
ticular line must not let his aim be too apparent, lest
the buyer resent it. His prestige must be an out-
growth of the buyer's satisfaction with the goods
which he is accustomed to purchase on his recom-
mendations. The most satisfactory customers are
those who think they buy, not those who know they
have been sold.
Prestige is that quality which causes others to
accept one’s statements without question. It is the
crystallization of earnest, faithful work on the part of
178
PRESTIGE–BUILDING ADVERTISING 179
the producer of the goods in realizing the best quality
for a given purpose and then impressing upon the
Prestige mind of the purchaser all the possibilities of
lº 77. usefulness which the merchandise will possess
jºj for him when it passes into his hands.
%... Advertising builds prestige for the manu-
facturer and good-will for all his products.
Prestige is not inherent in an article, but is what
people say about it, and to whom they say it.
The prestige of the political leader is gained by
confidently affirming and by continually emphasizing
to the group which looks to him as its leader
Constant tº & a tº
R. that he possesses certain qualities. He may
Fº have them in common with many other per-
sons, but the group does not realize that,
because he is advertised, and the others are not.
Politicians know very well that what is said about
them and the manner of saying it measurably affect
the amount of influence they have with their camp
followers. Both praise and condemnation may add
to prestige; but no man can be laughed at and hold
a loyal following.
We are respected as much for the enemies we make
as for our friends. No one who needs the support of
prestige the public dare neglect the manner in which
Pººl, º the story of his achievements, his move-
the Manner ments, his opinions, and his ideas on certain
#ſº subjects is to be told to those whose appro-
Four Story bation he would win.
In many instances public service corporations
180 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
that are giving real service are unpopular because
their officials have overlooked the fact that prestige
can be gained by telling a story scientifically, i. e.,
an interesting and informative story which will, at the
same time, create that apparently intangible but none
the less real factor which is called “favorable public
opinion.”
So often we have misunderstood the motives of
public men who were discharging their duties faith-
tº fully. We have regarded their refusal to
º;ſ talk about their work as proof that they were
dishonest. Such a situation has usually been
due to their misconception of what is true publicity.
Many who were severely criticised while they lived
have a high place in history, because the publicity
given them by the historian has accomplished after
death what a well-trained advertising man could have
done when it would have been worth while.
Those who knew intimately and came into per-
sonal contact with Mr. Taft while he was President
A pointed of the United States were sure of his sin-
* cerity and his keen appreciation of his re-
sponsibilities. -
Mr. Taft is not our President now because he did
not understand that it is not so much what one does
as it is what is said about what one does that adds to or
takes from prestige.
Some day some writer of history will find, perhaps
in Mr. Taft’s personal correspondence, or in the
private papers of men who were close to him, proof
PRESTIGE-BUILDING ADVERTISING 181
that he possessed qualities that would have gained
abundant prestige for him during his term of office had
we all been told about them in a simple, straight-
forward, understandable way. Such a prestige might
have been produced, I believe, that Mr. Roosevelt
would not have risked opposing him.
By neglecting to control the manner in which the
story of his work was told, Mr. Taft deprived himself
of the prestige to which his work judged alone gave
him clear title.
Much of the present-day prestige of the dis-
tinguished men of the past they owe to the men
who recounted the tale of their deeds. Many
*. of the master artists of all time have lived
*; }* and died poverty-stricken, because no con-
Mºsier temporaneous historian interpreted their
###, work so that their fellowmen could under-
stand and appreciate it. Nor would most of
us value these masterpieces to-day did not art dealers
and collectors, by one means or another, constantly
keep up our interest in them and direct our attention
to points of excellence which must otherwise have es-
caped us altogether.
The man who is to profit by whatever prestige may
The legitimately attach to his achievements needs
Prestige. Some one to tell his story for him. Unless
§, indeed he chance to be one of those few for-
ºw tunate men who are able both to do and to
get the rest of us to appreciate what they do.
It might be remarked in passing that the man or
182 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
woman who knows how to teach the many to value
his or her talent often gets a larger share of honor
and glory than the public thinks is due. It is just
at this point that most of us fail to reason accurately.
Doctor Cook had ample publicity; but it won no
prestige for him, because he gave us something which
pººl, fell far short of what his publicity had led
wblicity ©
Without us to expect of him. Each year new names
* and faces appear above the horizon which
separates the “unheard of' from those who have
“arrived’—and disappear; because they could not
“make good” on their publicity, or sustain the prestige
which it would have created for them. There can be
no permanent prestige unless the story fits the facts.
Many will contend that there are more far-seeing
statesmen than Theodore Roosevelt, that there are
Masters of actresses whose work is truer than Sarah
Prestige. Bernhardt’s has been, that Mary Garden
” cannot sing; but the fact is that large
groups of people believe in each of them, and evidence
that belief by continuing to give them their support.
That is proof absolute that they “make good” on
their publicity.
It is only when the publicity has overstated or has
been more liberally interpreted than it should have
been that a sense of disappointment has resulted in
connection with any one of those geniuses who
possess so bountifully the knack of telling the story
of what they do in just the way which insures them
maximum public appreciation. -
PRESTIGE–BUILDING ADVERTISING 183
The reflex of using a trademark is to create a sense
of responsibility which forces the manufacturer to
maintain a high quality standard. The
he * ę tº º
Penai, same thing is true of publicity. The manu-
º: facturer who advertises that his goods will
represent a certain well-defined standard has
practically discounted his note of hand with the pub-
lic. He has to make good.
Sometimes a manufacturer takes up general ad-
vertising because he thinks he will make more money
Advertising that way, and for that reason only. As soon
Makes the as he realizes that the advertising has com-
Goods Live . C. !-- 1 - 3--> e
#... mitted him to maintaininga certain standard
*...; with the public, he bestirs himself to im-
prove his inside organization. Better mer-
chandise is the result. The consumer gets the benefit.
Other manufacturers have decided, after investi-
gating the power of general publicity, to improve the
quality of their merchandise before undertaking a
general campaign.
I know a man who considered the pros and cons
a long while before he made up his mind to advertise.
He knew that if he started it, he would have to keep
up the quality, no matter what the raw materials
cost. And he was afraid he might not be able to
increase the price to cover such a rise. That man is
a national advertiser now. He found out that the
confidence of the public (which advertising gets for
him) is the best means of adjusting prices to the
market conditions of raw materials.
184 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
Some years ago another manufacturer had to face
a decided rise in the price of his raw material. His
salesmen gave him to understand they could
Where a tº
fºr not sell goods at the price necessary to cover
P# this advance if the quality was not to be
changed. He was tempted to use an inferior
raw material, or to cancel his advertising for the
year.
Instead, he went to the consumer and the dealer
and explained that in order to keep up his quality
he was obliged to increase the price. By inference he
created the impression that competitors who did not
do likewise must be using a poorer quality of raw
material. This publicity strengthened the bonds
of confidence between his brand and dealers and con-
Sumers; he increased his advertising appropriation,
and the net result was the best year he ever had.
In planning a campaign, the advertiser should re-
. . member that it can build for him, if he co-
Advertising e ſº * dº gº &
#. i. operates with it, a prestige which will give
Pºw him the balance of power when buyers
hesitate, because everything else is equal.
Certainly an advertiser who shows by his man-
ner of conducting his business that he values the
quality of its prestige, more readily gets the co-
operation of publishers who believe that admis-
sion to their columns bestows upon the advertiser
the prestige which the publication has with its
readers.
An advertiser who wins first the confidence and
PRESTIGE-BUILDING ADVERTISING 185
support of the leaders of the group to which he wishes
to sell is wise. He is realizing on their prestige, which,
it will readily be admitted, is a force quite separate
Building from the inherent value of the merchandise
Prestige on he offers or the salesmanship he uses in pre-
Prestige & e
Senting it. ---
Advertising mediums confer prestige upon the ad-
vertiser who uses them in exact proportion to the
reader's confidence in the advertisement pages as a
whole.
The advertising of one firm has more prestige than
that of another for exactly the same reason.
Prestige rests upon confidence, and confidence is
publicity, the foundation of which is satisfaction.
The creation of prestige should be the aim of every
advertiser. It means conservation of power and
elimination of waste.
There is a certain kind of salesmanship which finds
a market among those who positively enjoy possess-
* ing things which their less fortunate neigh-
Prestige Is ſº
Substantial bors have not the means to buy. Dealers in
—º|al antiques, small exclusive shops that are Sup-
Snobbish- posed to be patronized only by the socially
" elect, freak restaurants and summer and
winter resorts often get business by an appeal to Snob-
bishness.
This might be mistaken for prestige-building. It
is not. Fashions, fads, and fancies come and go con-
stantly. The man who elects to make a living by
catering to them leads a precarious existence.
*
186 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
Of course there are many people who need not con-
sider the cost of gratifying a desire. They are willing
rº, to pay for the pleasure of dealing with per-
Price of sons of refinement and culture. They are
Confidence ...:11: e
willing to pay for knowing they are not
going to be thrown in contact with objectionable
persons. They are willing to pay for their confidence
in the merchandise they buy, although they may not
be conscious that they are paying so much for mer-
chandise and so much for confidence.
The practice of institutions which have been es-
tablished by the use of prestige-building salesman-
ship and advertising is to reduce their prices to a
point where no customer need pay more than he
would elsewhere for the same service. Then the pres-
tige of the business, which undoubtedly is an element
of the purchaser’s satisfaction, is service plus.
No business is safe which charges more, simply be-
cause its customers will pay more. Prestige is busi-
ness life insurance.
#. The patrons of certain dealers in musical
instruments, jewelry, and art objects, and of
certain tailoring and dressmaking establishments in-
sist they get full value for every dollar they spend,
Quite apart from the question of the prestige of the
house from which they are buying. Competitors
have their groups of customers who are equally sure
that they get full value in the merchandise of stores
which sell lower-priced lines.
When does a customer pay for prestige and when
PRESTIGE–BUILDING ADVERTISING 187
does he get it as an additional satisfaction? It is the
old story, “How can you tell the difference between
a mushroom and a toadstool?”
A business is decidedly in danger when customers
who have unlimited means leave it for competitors
whose prices are lower.
A waiting-list would seem to be the only positive
insurance which a business that depends altogether
upon prestige may have.
4." The dividing line between the house which
‘.4 Hair charges for prestige and the house which
Perhaps . ſº { }
Divides gives full value in service cannot be deter-
* #. mined by consulting the customers of either
or both houses, for there will be radical dif-
ferences of opinion.
When a lawyer has more possible clientsthan he can
take care of, when a physician’s reception-room is
crowded with people waiting their turn, when motorcars
have to be ordered several months in advance, it maybe
assumed that the high price is justified by the service.
But that business is doomed whose customers,
having ample means to pay the highest prices, go else-
where believing they are getting the same value for less
money. And the management usually wakes up too
late to reëstablish the business on a soundservicebasis.
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER XVII
Lord Rosebery’s “Napoleon, the Last Phase,”
1900 (Harper & Brothers, New York), detailing
Napoleon’s life after he reached St. Helena.
188 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
“The Greatness and Decline of Rome,” 1907–1909
(W. Heinemann, London), by Guglielmo Ferrero.
William Hickling Prescott’s “The Conquest of Mex-
ico,” 1909 (E. P. Dutton & Company, New York).
These books are as fascinating as modern fiction:
they tell of men who believed in and attempted to
create prestige for themselves. They trace clearly
the effect of ideas dominating the group consciousness
in the history of nations. They show how real leaders
of men have always striven to sway the minds and
especially the emotions of the people whose confidence
gave them their power. They show clearly the diffi-
culty of the historian in separating fiction and fact,
because leaders of people have always been more con-
cerned as to how the story of what they were doing
was told the people than in the story itself.
CHAPTER XVIII
COöPERATION BETWEEN SALESMEN AND ADVERTIS-
ING—SALESMAN, THE CLOSER—ADVERTISING,
THE MISSIONARY
of salesmanship when the salesman perceives
its power to implant the buying impulse in the
minds of prospective customers. Then he can devote
to closing sales the time and energy he had been put-
ting into stimulating them. A worth-while sales-
man's time is valuable, and should not be frittered
away on work that could be done by advertising.
A salesman should be a closer, not a missionary.
Advertising serves the salesman by putting the
dealer in the most favorable mental attitude before
Creating he calls. The dealer soon discovers that
the Buying advertising serves him, too, by continually
Impulse tº e & e
creating in his customers the impulse to buy.
It follows that advertising cannot be completely
competent unless it has the salesman’s confident co-
operation.
The most successful salesman uses advertising in
selling goods, just as the factory superintendent uses
modern machinery in manufacturing goods.
It may seem strange, therefore, that it should ever
Aº becomes a significant element
189
190 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
be difficult to get a salesman to coöperate with the
advertising of the institution which he represents.
Team Salesmen really sell ideas. The sale takes
** place in the buyer's mind when he lets the
salesman’s idea supplant his own. -
Salesmen are human beings and must themselves
be sold on new ideas to replace the old ones. So for
the past ten years my work has been largely selling
to salesmen who were already doing a good business
the idea of coöperation with advertising.
First, it is necessary to convince the salesman that
by coöperating with the advertising he can so largely
increase his sales that his net personal in-
ſº come will be larger, although computed on a
sº. smaller percentage of direct return to him on
` the amount of his sales.
Advertising is right only when it serves the con-
Sumer. Personal salesmanship can be permanent
Service only when it survives the same test. No
cº- manufacturing institution or retail store
—the can advertise and pay its salesmen the same
sº rate per dollar of actual sales without in-
, Both creasing the burden to the consumer. If the
Advertising e e e o
jsij salesman is putting in full time and con-
*P centrating on his work, it is comparatively
easy to convince him that more competent tools
mean larger aggregate sales. He cannot make ad-
vertising count for him until he understands what it
really is, and what are the purposes of the campaign
of which his work is a part.
SALESMEN AND ADVERTISING 191
The salesman who scorns the assistance of adver-
tising, if he is to be consistent, should refuse to use
The the mails, the telegraph, and the telephone.
Salesman Because the cost of these three agencies,
with a g e g o
Medieval which multiply so many times the possible
* number of buyers within his territory, must
be charged to the selling appropriation.
There are 92,919 commercial travelersin the United
States, and 611,139 retail salesmen. Most of these
Reducing 704,058 men and women are distributing
the Selling merchandise to the consumer more economi-
* cally than he could be served by any other
means. There are also 317,811 agents and peddlers.
It may safely be said that no agent or peddler de-
livers goods to the consumer at less than double the
price he has paid for them. No advertised line that
I know of, sold through a local dealer, bears anything
like such a selling cost. -
Utilizing The commercial traveler and the retail
tiºn salesman must decide whether they will be
**śl peddlers and do practically all the work of
of Selling * iº &
selling, or whether they will be salesmen in
the true sense of the word, coöperating with all those
forces which mean volume of business and are most
Advertising economical and serviceable to the consumer.
and selling I have often said that the first manufac-
*: }, turer of a competitiveline who advertises can
Salesman- market his product by means of advertising
** and the best type of salesmanship, pay his
salesmen better salariesthan his competitors can afford
192 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
to pay their men, and keep his total appropriation
for advertising and salesmanship within the figure
which previously had been sufficient for personal
salesmanship only.
This statement has been proved to be true for
many lines, notably ready-made clothing. The
clothing manufacturer did not advertise to the con-
sumer at all twenty years ago. The best houses
pay their salesmen 3 to 4 per cent. on their total
sales. The advertising appropriation is generally less
than this. It would not pay a salesman who handles
a well-advertised line at 3 per cent. to exchange
it for an unadvertised line at 10 per cent. With
advertising, his volume of sales goes up immediately,
and the conditions of work are more pleasant.
Salesmen for a certain manufacturer which adver-
tises nationally to the consumer but distributes
The through the local dealer stop at the best
jº. hotels wherever they go, carry a packer
Bigger whose salary and expenses must come out
* of their sales, and arrange in advance for
customers within a radius of eighty miles to call on
them on specific days, allotting two hours a day to
each customer. They get these customers together
in the evening for a conference and general coöpera-
tive discussion of trade-building plans in which all
are interested. Under the old régime, the salesmen
had to pack and unpack their sample trunks, and
could not cover nearly so large a territory, Result:
their total sales were much less.
SALESMEN AND ADVERTISING I93
A commercial traveler who understands thoroughly
that his salary and expenses must come out of the
goods he sells will take advantage of every force
which will help him get the same result at less cost
to the dealer and consequently to the consumer. He
knows (at least he can know if he investigates) that in-
telligent advertising does work that he must otherwise
perform—and does it at less cost. A retail salesman
ought to beglad topush advertised lines,forby so doing
he is rendering the consumer the largest amount of ser-
vice, and making himself more nearly indispensable.
There are to-day a number of large mercantile
establishments which must adopt another method
of dealing with their salesmen, or—have no
Adºlina chance at all twenty years from now. Un-
Insurance less they soon perceive that scientific adver-
Against ... :
jºjo tising Saves money, young merchants who do
are going to crowd them out.
There are wholesale grocers who permit their sales-
men to quote cut prices on staples, and then measure
their value to the house by the amount of
Whº. merchandise they have sold on which exor-
Şalºmº bitant profits have been made. This prac-
Cooperate . . e is tº a º ſº
with the tice fosters a merchandising condition which
º; is just about as bad as it could be. The retail
§i. grocer ought to respect the wholesaler’s
sº, salesman; he ought to realize that this man
#. #: can be an immense help to him in building
Clº l,637
a business. The grocer should be sold on
coöperation, and taught how to explain to his trade
194 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
that his service is worth the difference between the
cost and the retail price of his wares. The handling
of advertised staples by retailers fosters such a rela-
tion; but the salesman or jobber who confuses the
retailer and destroys his conception of values is a
force that pulls in the opposite direction and is de-
moralizing.
The commercial traveler who represents an adver-
tised line and the retail salesman who talks to the
a 1.g., consumer across the counter have a chance
Salesman's to study the buyer at close range and to
prºhi, adapt their merchandise to his desires and
6.º: needs. Of the two the commercial traveler
should have the broader outlook. He should
be able to talk not only to the merchant but to his
clerks, from their own standpoint, which is that of the
man who purchases goods to sell again. He must
also convince them from the standpoint of the con-
SUIDO €T.
In Chapter IV. I have outlined the advantages to
the individual of being a member of various groups.
There is also this: that the leaders of the various
groups to which you belong, by reason of the obliga-
tions of their office, relieve you of various duties, and
much planning and Organizing.
Just here I want to point out that the man who co-
operates is constantly educating within himself the
highest type of individuality. We all know the man
who, as a youngster, went into a large business house
and did willingly and cheerfully everything he was
SALESMEN AND ADVERTISING 195
asked to do; until it became a matter of habit to give
him the first opportunity to handle whatever new re-
sponsibilities arose as the business grew. This type
of man rises to the head of an institution as inevita-
bly as cream comes to the top of milk. His ability
to assume and make good on the varied tasks en-
trusted to him gives him a broad grasp of the business
as a whole and develops individual competency and
the sense of power which is the product of responsi-
bility.
The word responsible really means “ability to
respond,” which is about as true a definition of “co-
Respons operation” as could be framed. The per-
bility–Co- son who cultivates the ability to respond is
operatuon constantly exercising those qualities which
characterize the best type of manhood. I would
qualify this statement only thus far—that such a
man must test what he does by this one query:
“Does the business I am engaged in and the work
I am doing in connection with it give the con-
sumer the best service which he or she can possibly
obtain?” -
Advertising flourishes where coöperation is under-
stood and practised. A baseball team will have
better catchers, more wonderful pitchers, more re-
markable basemen and fielders if each member of the
team positively desires each one of his fellow players
to perform brilliantly, to excel.
The reflex upon the man who practises coöperation
makes him a better man; it enlarges his individual
196 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER,
powers. It instils in the minds of his associates the
idea of reciprocity, thus assuring him of their support
yo, A., when he needs it. Coöperation reduces the
to ##. cost of production. By elevating the stand-
T. º. ard set for all—because that standard con-
º' stantly embodies the best thought of each
How Much individual member of the organization—co-
** operation improves the quality of the joint
product of all the members of that organization.
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER XVIII
The idea which underlies scientific management is
intelligent and confident coöperation. Salesmen will
enjoy Frederick Winslow Taylor’s “Principles of
Scientific Management,” 1911 (Harper & Brothers,
New York City), and Harrington Emerson’s “The
Twelve Principles of Efficiency,” 1912 (the Engineer-
ing Magazine, New York City).
CHAPTER XIX
PRICE MAINTENANCE
E CAN best approach a consideration of
price maintenance by reviewing the fol-
lowing points:
(1) The one-price system builds business for the
retailer. It serves the buyer best, by saving time
which he must otherwise spend in bargaining. It
conserves the selling energy of the salesmen who must
concentrate on demonstrating the specific value to the
consumer of the goods offered for sale.
(2) Mail-order business is possible only because
prices can be fired and vast editions of catalogues
printed and extensively circulated. Consider the
confusion, loss of time, and congestion which would
be inevitable were any time devoted to writing letters
to ask for prices or to haggle over charges!
(3) The exclusive dealer, or the agent of the manu-
facturer, likes the one-price plan because it insures
him a profit. In fact, this price argument is the basis
of the abuse of the exclusive dealer idea. Many
manufacturers put in time selling the dealer which
could be spent more profitably upon the consumer.
Many retailers load up with exclusive lines; whereas
I97
198 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
a keener appreciation of the value of service in the dis-
tribution of staples would have been more valuable
to the consumer, and, therefore, more profitable to
the dealer. -
Producing a staple and advertising and distrib-
uting it through every possible channel is the big-
The gest thing a manufacturer can do. It calls
Field ºf for more kinds of ability than any other
Tremendous , . * e
Accºmplish kind of commercial effort. It is no task for
* the quitter, the faint-hearted, or the “piker.”
The results it gets are princely in scope and splendor.
Given an article of merit and a fair price (which
means a margin of profit for all who assist in getting
Getting the maximum distribution for it), an ade-
***P"quate national advertising campaign will so
entrench one manufacturer's position that a competi-
torwho makes equally worthy merchandisemust spend
many times as much for advertising in order even
to divide the field with him.
Price cutting by retailers must be fought on the
theory that the manufacturer who creates and con-
trols the market for his own goods can best serve
the consumer.
Retailers who make leaders of advertised goods
by cutting the price will eventually substitute to the
detriment of both manufacturer and consumer.
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court of the United
States has been ruling against the manufacturer who
wants to put a fixed reselling price on his merchan-
dise. Some lawyers believe that the fact that a man
PRICE MAINTENANCE 199
can control the use of his name and can prevent others
from selling goods which purport to be his will even-
The Su- tually find legal expression in a decision
prºjöºrt which will give owners of trademarks the
rº. right to determine the price the consumer
shall pay for goods bearing that trade name.
Present rulings proceed upon the assumption that the
man who buys and pays for an article owns it ab-
solutely and can give it away or sell it for any price
he sees fit to place upon it.
There are two ways of handling price-cutting on
staple, trademarked products which all manufactur-
Two way, ers agree are reasonable:
of Main- (1) Moral suasion. I could cite many in-
taining e
Priogºth stances where a salesman has induced a
* dealer to give up price-cutting on his prod-
uct. Each dealer promises to quit if the others will.
Dealers are in business for the money there is in it.
If price-cutting does not bring trade which buys
other goods at a profit, the dealer soon throws out
the article he has been cutting and substitutes a com-
petitive article. The manufacturer who created and
developed the market loses; and the consumer loses.
(2) By refusing to sell to price-cutters. It is illegal
Selecting to agree not to sell, but a manufacturer may
*..., refuse to sell to a distributor without giving
Salesman
Able to any reason.
Stop e *
Price- The advantages of price maintenance are so
*9 universally conceded and the evils of price-
cutting so generally condemned that salesmen should
200 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
be selected with direct regard to their ability to put
a stop to the latter in the territory which is assigned
them.
When dealers are fully conscious of the power of
a trade-building advertising campaign to locate new
buyers for advertised staples they will not be so prone
to cut on them.
A salesman who comes to the dealer with sugges-
tions, plans, and methods for increasing his business
by coöperating with the manufacturer’s advertising
plans (which means new business for both manufac-
turer and dealer) can easily convince him of the folly
of diverting an established demand, for a little time,
by price-cutting.
For each buyer who knows the value of a piece of
merchandise and would be tempted by a cut price
there are twenty prospectives who have been almost
convinced by the advertising and need only the
dealer’s invitation to buy and assurance of quality
to close the sale at a profit.
Cutting the price to these prospectives may
“queer” the sale altogether by suggesting inferior
capº, quality. What little is gained by enlarging
7°W.C62
to One the market among those who are already
dº convinced of the value of the article is more
º than offset by the loss of confidence among
* those not yet sold and the certain curtail-
ment of distribution by dealers who will put under
the counter goods that are sold at cut prices elsewhere,
and only supply them upon positive demand.
PRICE MAINTENANCE 201
Retail merchants’ associations know what the
effects of price-cutting are. Sometimes retail grocers
have met department store price-cutting at the
instigation of the secretary of their local organiza-
tion, who keeps them informed of exactly what is
being done. The department store has to make a
profit, and will stop cutting when there is nothing to
be gained by it.
It is commonly believed that the grocery section
of a department store is only a bait to get trade into
Plus the store. It is noteworthy, in this con-
S. nection, that to reach the grocery section
cº, one must usually pass through other de-
wt Price
partments where profitable goods are at-
tractively displayed. Many successful retail grocers
meet the situation squarely by selling customers on
the value of their service, and by convincing them
that a reasonable profit on dependable merchandise
is just.
Some years ago there was considerable talk about
the manufacturer advertising to the consumer, there-
by creating a consumer demand which would force
the retailer to handle his goods. In many instances
this policy has apparently worked. Wherever such
is the case, there exists an opportunity for a com-
peting product of equal merit to supplant the present
leader, if the manufacturer will work out a scientific
plan of advertising to the consumer, sell to the logical
distributors, and give each link of the distributive
chain a reasonable profit.
202 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
To one dealer who can be coerced by advertising
which creates a consumer demand there are twenty
pº, who can be convinced that in the “almost
vs. persuaded” consumer there is a chance for
” manufacturer and dealer to coöperate and
build business for each other.
The salesman who calls on the dealer can say truth-
fully that he is not interested in the sales the dealer
is forced to make through advertising. His house is
bound ultimately to get the business of the consumer
who will seek the store that keeps advertised goods
and refuse to trade at the store which does not. This
salesman can say that he is not sent out to get the
business that is the result of advertising demand, but
to get new business by showing the dealer how to
make sales which have been started and partially de-
veloped by advertising.
The dealer who understands the power of adver-
tising will not be a price-cutter. He will be a con-
servationist, not a pirate; and will push his busi-
ness on service lines; for service brings him the
good-will and fixed buying habits of satisfied cus-
tomerS.
No advertising and selling campaign of national
Scope can be considered complete or likely perma-
nently to entrench the product advertised as the
leading staple of its class unless the price of the ar-
ticle to the consumer has been fixed justly.
Merchandise of universal distribution should be
priced low, for two reasons:
PRICE MAINTENANCE 203
(1) Because the patronage of the masses cannot
be expected unless they get maximum value for their
money.
(2) While cost does not measure the value of goods
to people who have money enough to gratify their
desires, a low price does enlarge the market of any
product by bringing it within the reach of the largest
number of people. It also fortifies the manufacturer
against future competition. Persistent advertising
supplemented by shrewd, competent salesmanship
will hold a market once preempted.
Why? Because good advertising is the cheapest
Confidence salesmanship; because the skilful advertiser
.." can pay the highest salaries for the best
fº salesmen, and still keep his total selling
cost under that of his competitors.
Goods marketed through all channels of distribu-
tion use advertising in the largest way, to benefit
Advertising the consumer, the advertiser, and all in-
sº termediaries in the plan of distribution.
Ai. Goods become staples and the cost of moving
P; ºr them is diminished to the least figure. They
actually pay best every one who touches
them. They are sold at a low price, to get the wid-
est market; but bear a sufficient margin to pay all
those whose services are needed to give them the
adequate distribution. This is the ideal condition.
The lower the price to the ultimate consumer, the
less trouble the manufacturer will have with price-
cutting, the wider will be his market, and the more
204 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
likely he will be to establish himself permanently in
it. He must remember, though, that the laborer is
worthy of his hire, that stable conditions must be
fostered, and that price maintenance is the mother
and father of stability.
It cannot be out of place to close this chapter with
the statement that a manufacturer who trademarks
an article of merit and plans a comprehensive mer-
chandising and selling campaign, the objective point
of which is the confidence and convenience of the con-
Sumer, creates a staple in every sense of the word.
A well-advertised product towers above its com-
petitors in the public mind, though it may be no more
deserving. It has achieved distinction and acquired
the consumer’s preference. Its maker can count on
a certain known demand. This insures better qual-
ity for the consumer. All this because he and she,
the consumers, put their trust in the manufacturer’s
trademark. Price maintenance is the manufacturer’s
duty to protect the business he has created.
REFERENCES ON CHIAPTER XIX
“Price Maintenance,” 1912 (the Commerce Pub-
lishing Company, Philadelphia), by Thomas A.
Fernley, is the most complete exposition of the idea
that has reached me. It contains many specific ideas
for trade betterment. But the author betrays a
peculiar lack of appreciation of the power of adver-
tising to do away with many of the evils for which he
suggests other remedies.
PRICE MAINTENANCE 205
In “Concentration and Control,” 1912 (the Mac-
millan Company, New York City), Charles R. Van
Hise, president of the University of Wisconsin, dis-
cusses at considerable length the debasing effects of
price competition as compared with the splendid
results which the other two kinds of competition—
namely, quality and service competition—get for us.
On price maintenance, see also: “Price-maintenance
Encourages Individual Enterprise,” Collier’s Weekly,
July 19, 1913, by Louis D. Brandeis; “Cut-throat
Prices,” Harper’s Weekly, November 15, 1913, by
Louis D. Brandeis; “Competition and Coöperation,”
The Fra, December, 1913, by Dr. Charles P. Stein-
metz.
CHAPTER XX
ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES
HE word “opportunity” suggests a human
being at once. Imagination is the key of
opportunity. To man only is it given the
power first to project a mental picture of a possibility,
and then to transform it into an actuality.
Progress is thought that has found expression in
physical labor. Work without thought will always
be menial and have to pay a heavy tribute to super-
vision. Thought which does not find concrete form
in creation makes man a mere dreamer.
The line between success and failure is so thin
that a man has to keep two thoughts constantly
in mind. One is to know what he can do better
than other people. The other is to know how to
impress people that are in the market for the kind
of ability he possesses that he can and will deliver
without friction with other people who are selling their
services to the same buyers. He must know what
he knows and know how to coöperate in rendering
service.
First, let me emphasize the fact that there is nothing
mysterious or strange about the business activities
which are covered by the word “advertising.”
206
ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES 207
Young men who want to study advertising often
come to me for advice. A little questioning makes it
Advertising plain that they think advertising is a marion-
a Serious ette show sort of thing, operated in some
* strange fashion by wires and hands not seen,
and speaking a lingo all its own, a magic formula for
making money rapidly—something which can be ac-
quired in much the same way that we learn the multi-
plication table.
The big field of advertising is its application to
ordinary everyday business. The business of pro-
ducing, marketing, and using advertising space does
require various kinds of talent and experience. But
the big opportunity in advertising lies outside what
is commonly known as the advertising business—
for the next ten years. The key to success for the
gyoung man whose sole capital is brains and energy
is the application of the principles of advertising to
ordinary everyday business.
There are several distinct types of advertising
ITQ62Il.
1. The publisher or plant-owner is the man who
produces advertising space. It happens that he is
rarely the best judge of its value to the advertiser;
The for he is primarily an organizer and execu-
* tive. The best publisher is the man who
knows best how to get and hold subscribers. The
men who own street railway advertising and bill-
posting privileges, painted bulletins and wall space,
and electric signs, are concerned largely with leases
208 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
and with details incident to building and maintaining
a plant.
2. The advertising solicitor who represents the
publisher and plant-owner must possess marked sales
rº, ability. The advertising solicitor of twenty
Advertising years ago did not at all resemble the man
* who does this work to-day. Business men
no longer need to be persuaded to advertise. Adver-
tising is not on trial now. Each advertising medium
has won its own place in economical merchandising.
Contract-getters are constantly being replaced by
men who know the characteristics of the groups of
people reached by the mediums they represent, and
who can advise how best to use the space they sell.
The ideal representative advises against the use of
his medium when he knows that the advertiser’s
story is best suited to another. He seeks for cus-
tomers those whose business can best be advanced
by using his medium. He is after permanent busi-
ness, and that predicates the possession of satisfied,
loyal customer groups.
3. The advertising writer’s work is to find out the
Salient points of the merchandise he is expected to
The sell, and its points of contact with the people
Advertising whose confidence in the medium makes them
&ſ accessible to him. The mere writing is simple,
once the preliminary study has been completed.
The illustrator differs from the writer only that he
uses pictures instead of words. Both of them know
well that in the interpretation of the advertiser's
ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES 209
message to the group which can most be benefited by
it lies the highest expression of the art.
4. The buyer of advertising space must be an
analyst and a statistician. A goodly measure of ex-
perience and common sense added to this,
The * * * *
Buyer of and ability to read human nature, Soon put
* him in the foreground of the advertising
field.
5. Printers, plate-makers, and typesetters advance
Printers beyond the limits of trade lines in direct
pij, ratio to their ability to comprehend and in-
ºterpret the advertiser's message.
ypesetters
Broadly speaking, one of the best open-
ings for the young man who wants to take up
advertising is with the publisher. Each one of
nº our 22,141 daily, weekly, monthly, and mis-
4dvertising cellaneous publications has a permanent
Opportunity * e
inth the place for the man who can increase its
* revenue and eliminate waste in the distri-
bution of the fruits of intelligently directed labor.
To do this he has only to insist that the advertising
columns of the paper must be as informative and
interesting as the news columns.
Many publishers have added to their personal in-
comes and made their publications more useful to
the readers, and therefore more valuable to the ad-
vertisers, by writing copy for them.
It would pay each one of the 790,886 retail dealers
of America to study advertising, the laws which
govern it, and its methods; and then apply them.
210 ADVERTISDNG—SELLING THE CONSUMER,
The manufacturer who advertises serves the con-
Sumer by keeping in touch with him in gathering
data for advertising, and by teaching him how to
make the best use of what he buys. Every merchant,
every salesman behind the counter, every commercial
traveler, every sales manager, should know what is
right and what is wrong in advertising. Those who
neglect so to equip themselves must not complain
when they are supplanted by those who have done so.
It is noteworthy that universities are now offering
courses in journalism and advertising, and that there
Advertising * several correspondence courses in adver-
Courses in tising that are well worth the time and money
* they demand. The only warning I should
voice with reference to the study of advertising applies
with equal force to all theoretical knowledge. A fact
is a theory that has been demonstrated.
All learning is valuable in so far as it trains to
think and teaches the principles which control the
everyday events of life.
The spirit, not the letter, is the thing. To imitate
is servile.
Many an advertising failure is the result of follow-
ing precedent blindly, of applying the letter of the
law instead of its intent, the slavish imitation of the
mannerisms and style of the successful. It is the
frank, spontaneous expression, allowing the style to
take care of itself, which has the appeal.
The quiet, unobtrusive service methods of the
present-day salesmanship, as contrasted with the
ADWERTISING OPPORTUNITIES 211
boisterousness and occasional sharp practice of its
forerunner of a quarter of a century ago, is paralleled
by the differences between the advertising man of
that period and the writer of copy, the illustrator,
and the solicitor of to-day, who rely upon a simple,
straightforward story to the consumer. An expres-
sion which diverts his attention from the main issue
—the service he is to receive—is wasteful.
The opportunity in advertising is the opportunity
which exists in all merchandising and selling—to
eliminate waste, and to install and maintain simple,
direct methods which conserve the buyer's time by
giving him, with the least effort on his part, a com-
plete understanding of the usefulness he is to have in
his purchase.
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER XX
“How to Get a Position and How to Keep It,”
1908 (Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York), by
S. Roland Hall, will help the beginner market his
ability.
“The Message to Garcia,” by Elbert Hubbard,
must always remain a classic in revealing the kind of
man who grasps and makes the most of the oppor-
tunities that are in every one’s path. Mr. Hubbard’s
brochure, “Get Out or Get in Line,” is typical of his
Sound business philosophy which he expounds every
month in the Fra and Philistine in a style which can
be profitably studied by every advertising writer.
CHAPTER XXI
THE ADVERTISING MANAGER
HE average young man who considers the
advertising business as an opportunity for
his own future usually thinks that the posi-
tion of advertising manager is the most desirable one.
Many men think of the advertising manager as
sitting in his office and receiving calls from men who
have all kinds of space to sell, also from photographers,
printers, engravers, artists, dealers in novelties. True,
there are many men who bear the title of advertising
manager but whose duties go no further than acting
as a buffer for the man higher up. And to a certain
limit this is worthy work. Many of those men have
Keen discrimination and judgment in knowing which
of the many things that come to their attention every
day to take up to the sales manager or head of the
house. The position of advertising manager is one
not strictly defined in its scope nor standardized.
Many men having the title have absolute authority;
others have the authority only to investigate and
make recommendations; still others are no more than
clerks to whom detail work is delegated for checking
up.
212
| THE ADVERTISING MANAGER 313
The advertising manager in the full sense of the
word should be synonymous with sales manager.
... He should be the man who interprets the
Advertising º *
Manage.” sales policy of the business, both to the per-
s: , sonal salesmen and to those who are reached
with Sales through the medium of printers’ ink. The
Manager experience that I have had in the advertising
business through more than twenty-five years leads
me to say that the advertising manager's job is just
about as big as the man who occupies it. Mr. H. M.
Swetland, president of the Class Journal Publishing
Company, once said to me that he couldn’t make a
bigger trade paper than the editor that he could get
to run it. The same is true of the position of adver-
tising manger. The job is as big as the man who
fills it.
Instance after instance could be cited of large busi-
ness institutions where the men who now direct and
control their policies started as advertising managers.
Many other instances could be given where men as
advertising managers secured their first broad insight
into business and grasped the possibilities of the
market in its relationship to the group of people that
sustain and make the market possible better than
the men for whom they were working. As a result
they advanced to the highest executive positions
in other concerns where those in charge were big
enough to appreciate creative ability and grasp of
selling opportunities.
It may be truthfully said that a young man, in
214 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
developing his business career, passes through four
distinct epochs. First, in the days when he is earning
The Four enough money to pay for his clothes and
Epochs board and have something besides, without
Bºis, being dependent in any way upon his parents,
* comes the consciousness that he can support
himself. This is a delightful sensation to any young
man and is always to be fondly remembered. It is
one of the best foundations upon which an executive
builds his career, to be able to say that at a certain age
he performed a certain duty for a certain sum and he
earned what he got without any pull, preference, or any
other consideration than the actual value rendered
the house upon whose payroll his name appeared.
In the second epoch the young man has advanced
to such a position of responsibility that he can be
Second entrusted with work without supervision.
Epoch- He realizes that he is trusted and must act
Working º tº & – º – tº sº *
Without upon his own initiative and on his own judg-
*ment. In this second epoch a man realizes
that honesty, dependability, and the power to accept
responsibility bring him cash dividends in addition
to the amount of physical and mental labor that he
can put into his task. This is the position occupied
by many salesmen out on the road. Unfortunately,
for themselves and for the houses they represent,
they feel that they have reached the limit of develop-
ment. This thought in their minds is a handicap
both to themselves and to the houses which employ
their services.
THE ADVERTISING MANAGER 215
The third epoch in a successful man’s career might
be termed the executive epoch. He realizes that if
pººl, given assistants to whom he could delegate
elegating & g e tº º
to Šub- duties for handling under his supervision he
%; could accomplish more for himself and for
Number his house. The man who does reach this
Three º
stage is on the sure road to advancement,
because there is always somebody ahead of him who is
doing work that he can well afford to delegate to take
up other work that will insure his own advancement.
The institution which makes every man feel that
there is work to be done whose execution is worth
more money than he is now getting, and in order to
handle this higher grade of work he should delegate
all possible duties to men getting less than he is, is
bound to develop a growing, successful, united, pro-
gressive institution.
The fourth epoch is where a man is able to com-
mand the coöperation of men more expert than
cºng himself. As the head of a department he
ing Co- greatly increases his power by winning the
.#º, confidence of other heads who are coördinate
1.ºth with him. As the chief executive of any big
poch e
business, the man who can get the most
help from his lawyer, his banker, and all the experts
associated with the other houses from whom his
house buys and to whom it sells, is worth more than
if he is particularly prolific in original ideas himself.
True executive ability is getting things done by
others most competent to do them.
216 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
The advertising manager should delegate as much
work as possible on the theory that by working with
Good experts he will get work done on the most
#"º expert and economical basis. His judg-
More Im- §
portant ment of where and how things should be
Hºw done is worth more to the house than his
Pºlº skill in personally doing things himself. In
this way he is bound to put himself in a position
where he can grow with the house.
Fortunate, indeed, is the young man who can get
the position of advertising manager in a house whose
head is dominated by the ambition to be a controlling
factor in the market. Such a man is ready and will-
ing to take on more responsibilities himself, and will
freely delegate the work he is doing to men who will
take it off his hands.
It is often necessary for a young man in a subor-
dinate position to take work away from the executive
by main force, but if he is a dominating factor in
his market he will like these methods rather than
resent them on the part of the advertising manager.
Such an advertising manager, fortified with a simple
system of accounting by which he can show at all
times that he is taking care of the responsibilities
entrusted to him, is bound to advance more rapidly
in a large business than a man of similar ability oc-
cupying any other position that I know of, unless it is
the general sales manager himself. A.
An advertising manager should keep in touch with
general literature of all kinds. He should constantly
THE ADVERTISING MANAGER 217
watch the development of new ideas. He should take
his work very seriously, and develop the broadest pos-
sible culture, and at the same time keep in close touch
with all of the men who have practical experience in
details of the business with which he is connected.
It is the same principle that inspires the head of
the largest business to use the best banker, the best
physician, the best architect, the best engineer, the
best lawyer, the best expert in every line; and it is
the man who entrenches himself in modern business
in this way that makes his position practically im-
pregnable.
The advertising manager in every institution should
be the peer of everybody else in it. To fully perform
The his function he should, as I have said before,
g; supervise the sales. He should be pres-
an Open ent in every conference where the policy of
*:::::: the house is under discussion. Advertising
Manager can be utilized in so many different direc-
tions that there is no question coming before any in-
stitution in which the effect of advertising should
not be carefully considered.
An advertising manager, to fully grasp his respon-
sibility, should be one who has passed through the
The Strong three preliminary epochs of experience and
Advertising is in the fourth epoch. He should be able
# to merit and hold the confidence, and secure
Maſure ºn the intelligent coöperation of the head of
Development e
the business. He should be able to com-
mand the confidence and coöperation of the factory
218 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
superintendent, of all the salesmen on the road,
whether they report directly to him or to another man
who has coördinate authority in the sales with himself.
He should be able to employ and secure the best re-
sults from his personal contact with expert printers,
advertising writers, publishers, and organized adver-
tising institutions that are equipped to give service.
It has been well said that a bad workman quarrels
with his tools, and nothing more clearly demonstrates
the mediocrity of the advertising manager
aft, a than the statement that he cannot get good
94% service from people with whom he comes
Operation . tº * tº gº tº º
in contact. The ability in the advertising
manager himself to inspire men with whom he does
business to do their best is one of his greatest assets,
and the quality in him that will make his efforts
count for the most.
Advertising in itself is too complex, too broad in
scope, too infinite in detail for any one man to master
... it all. The men who accomplish the most
Knowing . e - ſº tº ſº
Where is in the position of advertising manager are
£º. those who know where the best work can
*:::::/ be done and how to secure it for the institu-
tion with which they are connected. No
advertising manager can get all of the assistance that
he needs by sitting in his office and waiting for good
things to be brought to him.
There are often cases of men who are able to per-
form valuable service, but have not yet learned how
to sell it in a market where it would be most ap-
THE ADVERTISING MANAGER 219
preciated. No man ought to be more conscious of
this than the advertising manager himself, and he
should be most alert to leave his office on a search to
find out where the best service that he can use can
be secured and developed.
If a young man were to accept the position of ad-
vertising manager in a concern that had never done
agº, º any advertising, I would advise him to pro-
Advertising ceed about as follows:
##. As is usually the case, he would probably
º,*# be expected to write copy. The best thing for
him to do—and he shouldn’t undertake the
job at all unless able to write plain, sensible, ordi-
nary, everyday, one syllable English—would be to
get Saturated with the ideas by which the best sales-
men of the house produce permanent business. By
permanent business, I mean sales to those customers
that give evidence of being satisfied with their deal-
ings with the house through repeat orders and con-
stantly increasing volume of business on the basis
of annual sales.
The advertising manager when saturated with the
qualities of service in which his house excels will
gºing embody his knowledge into the copy and
sº letters he writes, intensify the hold that the
Information house has on its present group of customers,
* and intelligently devise ways and means by
which the customer group can be enlarged. Then he
should select a printer in whose honesty and integrity
he has complete confidence. He should not accept
220 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
favors of any kind from this printer. If he goes to
lunch with him he should make it a rule either to
Ge: a Good pay for his own lunch or alternate in pay-
Printer ing for lunches.
The temptation to accept little favors from people
who are selling is very great, but the advertising man-
ager, who places himself on a basis where he cannot
be influenced in any way, or who insists in the name
of his own house in reciprocity on matters of this
kind, has gone a long way toward insuring his own
standard and the securing of the best service from
those with whom he deals.
The good printer is a man who knows how to
manage his own business successfully, who doesn’t
The good estimate on a hit or miss basis, who has an
fº organized, systematic scale of prices, and
who figures things fairly and honestly. Such
a man is more likely to have time to confer with the
young advertising manager, and, being a good busi-
ness man himself, is more likely to discuss selling prob-
lems along sound, fundamental business lines.
Many instances that I know of could be cited
where young advertising managers owe much of their
development to having given their confidence to self-
respecting, successful printers who had a regular
scale of charges for their work, and who, therefore,
did their business on a sound, economic, but profitable
basis. -
Everything said of the printer is true of engraver,
paper house, and all others who come in to sell
THE ADVERTISING MANAGER 221
the advertising manager supplies. The advertising
manager should never forget for an instant that he is
gain, a trustee of interests that have been placed
Competent in his hands, and that he owes it to himself
*...* to maintain his self-respectbyhandlingevery
§eller ºf dollar in a manner which will produce the
Supplies sº
largest possible return for the house who
delegates this responsibility to him.
Many young men do not seem to realize that a high
standard of responsibility has its reflex in the develop-
ment of their own character. It also attracts to
them a class of men who can afford to be discriminat-
ing in the customers that they select.
A man who buys on a service basis is bound to be
cultivated by men who sell on that basis, and there
Tº can be no question that intimate, confident
Necessity coöperation between men who buy and sell
cº, on the fundamental principle of giving the
#., best possible service to the concern for which
uyer an tº e º 'º tº te
Siller of advertising is being developed is bound to
* place advertising itself on the highest pos-
sible plane.
Much could be said about the observance of or-
derly, systematic habits, in relationship to one’s own
personal life as well as his associates in the busi-
IleSS.
An advertising manager makes a mistake to allow
any man in a responsible position inside his own
organization to remain in an indifferent and especially
in an antagonistic attitude toward him.
222 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER,
The function of advertising is to create good-will,
and an advertising manager can hardly expect to or-
€ ganize and systematize the protection of
Advertising good-will for his house as a whole unless he
* can himself master the art of creating good-
Command will inside his own organization.
Good-will tº e ©
in His The general manager of a large institution
* told me once that his advertising manager,
if he never wrote any copy, nor did anything
else except to promote harmony and good fellowship
between the many heads of departments, would more
than earn the very large salary that he was being
paid.
Another thing I would advise every young adver-
tising manager to shoulder would be every bit of
Shoulder Re-responsibility he could find floating around
*P*9 the institution in which he is employed.
What a young man wants to do as quickly as he
can is to create the impression that if there is work
to be done he can do it, and then he should sys-
tematize his own work so that not over 50 per
cent. of his time would be occupied in doing the
actual details. A good executive can unquestionably
so organize his work that he can be free at least half
his time, to give audience to all the people who call
upon him, and to go out himself in search of new
ideas.
I believe an advertising manager should accord an
audience to every man who calls on him, at least
once. If the salesman at that time does not demon-
THE ADVERTISING MANAGER 223
strate that he has something of value for the house
which employs the advertising manager, he is not
Give One entitled to second interview.
Aji. An advertising manager wastes his time
*:::::: when he tells callers about his own achieve-
ments and what he intends to do, unless he
does it deliberately, with the idea of stimulating more
valuable suggestions or confidences from the people to
whom he is talking.
The best way to get the whole story of any man
who is calling on an advertising manager is to let
Be a Good the caller do all the talking; and few men
* have a story that will take them more than
fifteen minutes to tell. A man who has posted him-
self sufficiently on the business of the house, who
takes more time than that to tell his story, ought to
be listened to with respectful attention, and encour-
aged to go out and get more helpful ideas on which
specific suggestions of usefulness could be based.
Nothing proclaims the business ability of an adver-
tising manager more than his willingness to accept
ideas and suggestions, and to freely accord Credit to
whoever brings such to him.
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER XXI
“The Job, the Man, the Boss,” by Blackford and
Newcomb (published by Doubleday, Page & Co.,
New York), is a valuable book for an advertis-
ing man to read. It will help him determine the
character of the men who call upon him, and it
224 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER,
will put him in position to advise and counsel with
the executives.
“Thoughts on Business,” by Waldo Pondray War-
ren (published by Forbes & Company, Chicago),
are suggestive and stimulating to guide one's own
thinking. It is well to remember that thoughts
must be put into action constantly in order to pre-
vent the thinker becoming a dreamer.
“How to Write a Business Letter,” by Chas. R.
Wiers (published by the author, 631 W. Delavan
Avenue, Buffalo, New York), is the most thoughtful
and practical treatise on this subject that I have
seen. Anybody who writes will be benefited by
reading Mr. Wiers’ book.
CHAPTER XXII
THE ADVIERTISING SOLICITOR
HE actual work of selling gives me the greatest
pleasure of anything that I can do in a busi-
ness way.
I have said many times that I do not think I am
a salesman by nature.
It was wholly a bread and butter proposition that
started me out to sell space on an Iowa newspaper
which my father edited for over fifty years, and on
which I secured whatever education I received after
one year in a small academy succeeding my gradu-
ation at high school. -
The first attempt that I made to sell space in our
newspaper was both gruesome and ludicrous. I
A rº, tried to persuade a man in the tombstone
*; business to have a clearing sale, because from
reading the Chicago daily papers I assumed
it was along those lines only that retail merchants could
advertise. Three months later when I called on the
tombstone man he told me, with considerable anger,
that I had done him a great injury.
I asked him if nobody had read his advertisement,
and he answered:
225
226 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
“I think everybody must have read it.”
He then went on and said that he had lost ten good
jobs which had been promised him by farmers if their
harvest was good, because his competitor had told
them he was going out of business, and the farmers
would not have believed it unless they had read the
clearing-sale advertisement.
I have said many times that all I know about ad-
vertising is what I gained in actual sales experience,
from which I deducted fundamental working prin-
ciples. I am perfectly willing to concede that adver-
tising can harm the advertiser as much as it can help
Advertising him. Advertising, in itself, is a good deal
G. H. like food. Taken in proper proportion three
(IS #.º times a day a man lives in better condi-
tion and does better work than if he al-
ternately gorges or starves himself. He should not
attempt to get along on too little or digest too much.
Advertising, to be successful, will always require
fine adjustment and careful judgment based on act-
ual knowledge of conditions.
In Chapter XXI I have indicated that an ad-
vertising manager who desires to give his customers
the largest possible service for their money can well
afford to cultivate the coöperation and confidence
of printers, engravers, or dealers in advertising sup-
plies who are creative salesmen in a true sense of the
word.
This fact gives to the advertising solicitor his
greatest opportunity. He ought to know accurately
THE ADVERTISING SOLICITOR 227
the merits of the medium he represents. He ought to
know what the medium he is selling will do under
A sº, certain definite conditions. This is a part
|Must Give of his regular equipment.
* His success depends upon his ability to see
that the person or institution which buys from him
gets the largest possible service in results.
No retail merchant ever came in to buy space in
the daily paper for which I first solicited adver-
tising. The traveling patent medicine man, the
advance agent of the circus, the man who came
to the city to rent a storeroom and conduct a fire
sale, always called on us and bought space with an
apparent intention of appearing liberal and free-
handed in their expenditures.
Some of the most valuablelessons that I ever learned
was in assisting the retail merchant in writing copy
for him. When I came to Chicago, in 1891, very
few business men were willing to admit that any-
body except themselves could write their advertise-
ments.
Nothing has marked the progress of advertising
more than the change of sentiment of heads of large
Writing the business houses and even of advertising man-
Advºse agers themselves on the question of who
tment Once © cº
the dealers' should write the advertisements.
** Ability to put into clear-cut, understand-
able English the sales-impelling thoughts of a
masterful, creative salesman is possessed by few men.
The physical appearance of these men is no indication
228 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
of their ability. They are not always impressive or
personally magnetic, but they have the quality of
The Power putting words and phrases on paper, or of
ºft.” putting ideas into the form of pictures which
4;w influence thousands at a time to do what the
personal salesman can get only one at a
time to do after a talk lasting from twenty minutes
to two hours in each individual case. -
The advertising solicitor's opportunity lies in un,
derstanding the service possibilities of the advertis-
zº, ing accounts he is soliciting. He must be
Solicitor resourceful in ideas, and he must be able
Must Un- e - tº
.#. to impress people whose business he seeks
Prospeg's with the thought that his medium and his
Proposition . © © e
ideas in connection with the use of the
medium can give the largest possible service to the
advertiser.
The service idea in advertising salesmanship is
very marked to-day. It will be more so in the
future.
The old idea of salesmanship that it is clever for a
man to catch the buyer unawares and to “put some-
rº, wº, thing over” on him is being rapidly relegated
Order of to the discard. Nothing emphasizes this
Soliciting thought more clearly than to remember the
men who were prominent in advertising salesmanship
twenty years ago, and compare them in personality
and methods with the men who are preeminent to-
day.
Often have I said that I was trained in the school
THE ADVERTISING SOLICITOR 229
of salesmanship which taught that the best salesman
had the most turndowns because he made the most
calls.
There is no question that the lost sale is the greatest
opportunity in advertising work to-day.
overcoming The salesman who sells advertising space
*S* or advertising material must himself master
the art of overcoming as many of his own lost sales
as possible.
The fact that men refuse to make sales when they
could is one of the most effective means of winning
the confidence of the buyer and insuring a hearing
as against competitors whenever the buyer is again
in the market.
This is itself a form of advertising which the ad-
vertising solicitor can most profitably cultivate. One
of the surest ways to convince another per-
Turning e ë wº
f;..." son of your sincerity is to refuse to make
º: money when the chance presents itself to
Road to YOU!.
Hº, When the buyer is convinced that you only
want his money when you can give him the
largest possible service for it, you emancipate your-
self as an advertising Solicitor from making many
fruitless calls. You put yourself in the position
where buyers will look upon your call upon them as
an honor, and when they learn you are in the recep-
tion-room, or are telephoning for an appointment,
they will feel that you have something to tell them
that they cannot afford to miss.
230 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
Along these lines an advertising solicitor can
build up personal prestige and loyal customers
pººl, which overcome, to the largest possible ex-
wºldºng e {º
Personal tent, the handicap that a human being has a
* body that can only be one place at one time,
and is able scarcely to stand up under more than ten
hours’ strenuous labor each day. -
If I were asked to advise a young man who wanted
to become an advertising solicitor, I would urge him
to get a connection with a well-established, well-man-
aged newspaper, magazine, printing, or engraving
house. Select as an employer one that has a repu-
tation of making good upon every responsibility, and
pay no attention to what the salary is the first year.
The next step would be to make up a list of pro-
spective advertisers, selecting people who are logically
a..., situated, because of their position in the
Solicit market, to deliver a larger service to the
” group of people that your advertising me-
diums serve better than any other.
Learn everything about your own medium; and
the best way to do this would be to simply go out
and make calls. When a man asks for information,
jot down his question in a memorandum book. When
you go back to the office have this answered by the
man who knows most about it, and the next time the
same question is asked you can answer it clearly,
succinctly, and definitely.
You will be surprised to find how in a little time
you will be able to have ready at your tongue’s end
THE ADVERTISING SOLICITOR 231
clean-cut, definite, convincing answers for practically
every question that a buyer will ask.
Always present the merits of what you have to sell
from the viewpoint of how it will assist the prospec-
tive advertiser in what he is trying to accomplish
in his own market.
Avoid discussions of technical detail.
Never discuss competitors. This is the safe path
Things to for young solicitors to follow, and is usually
4” followed by old-timers who are in position
to discuss competitors intelligently and accurately.
Their time is too valuable to do otherwise. •
The best-informed salesmen that I know, if they
discuss competitors at all, generally get the buyer to
state in his judgment what is the most favorable thing
regarding the competitor; then, conceding this, they
proceed to show how their own house is even better
equipped along this same line.
The advertising solicitor should take his job se-
riously. He should be serious in his approach and
Soliciting in his discussion of business matters with the
i.” buyer. He should never joke about his own
sº business or talk flippantly about it. He can-
not command the respect of other people
unless he treats his own business respectfully. Con-
fidence and respect are so interwoven and synony-
mous that it is difficult to separate them. Confidence
is the only basis on which the permanent business
building sales are made.
By this I do not mean that a man shouldn’t joke
232 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
or laugh and have a good time, but I do mean that
his stories should be clean, and his jokes should be
about things outside of his own business, and not
in any way reflect on the honor or the integrity or the
ability of the people associated with him or of the
house that he represents.
An advertising solicitor should know more about
the use of the medium that he represents than the
The man he is soliciting. He should make the
Solºšor man to whom he is talking believe this,
Must Know & – e
-Bluffing and the best way to do it is to be so strongly
** equipped with knowledge, facts, and figures
of how his medium has been used that he can discuss
the subject accurately and intelligently.
The advertising solicitor should be very definite
in his statements. He should not deal in generalities.
He shouldn’t tell a partial story. If he gives a defi-
nite transaction in detail, he should tell both the
good and the bad, and endeavor to show how any
bad features could have been avoided by forethought.
One of the best rules for an advertising solicitor
to follow is the old one “Plan your work and work
plan you,” plan.” The advertising solicitor should
gº.j avoid antagonizing the buyer, and for that
"...” reason he shouldn't discuss outside subjects
with him on which he would have a justifi-
able difference of opinion.
Under no circumstances should an advertising solici-
tor or a salesman allow criticisms to be made of
the house he represents. This is the most serious re-
THE ADVERTISING SOLICITOR 233
flection that can be made on his own judgment. If
a man is a good salesman he does not have to connect
himself with a poor house.
The best houses in the world are ready, open, and
eager to hire more salesmen of the right sort.
The salesman who allows a buyer to say that he is
all right but that his house is wrong is committing
business suicide. If the house is wrong he should
quit it—if it is right he should defend it and absolutely
discountenance unfavorable criticism.
There is no work in which a man has a more
pleasant opportunity to exercise the best there is in
sailing him than in the sale of advertising space for
Spºº a large institution. He is working with
or Big g te ſº & e
Pºlishers 13-inch guns, but he is doing things in a
*** constructive way to help mankind rather
than to destroy people.
The opportunity for big men as advertising solicitors
is much greater to-day than the supply, but the
amount of training that is necessary to develop
men for those positions is greater or fully as great
as is necessary to fill large places in law, medicine,
architecture, or engineering.
It is the old story that it takes more time to lay
the foundation for a twenty-story building than it
The Hunt does for a two-story cottage.
for Young men want to be willing to work and
*** learn while they are developing. The train-
ing of the judgment is an essential factor in making
one ready to fill the large positions that are open.
234 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
Fortunately, judgment is something that can be
trained—judgment is experience, intensified by clear,
analytical thought. Judgment gives men courage to
try things over and over again that they figure out
in their own minds are fundamentally sound, with the
conviction that all obstacles will be ultimately over-
COIſle.
The two largest publishing interests in the United
States are conducted by men who are conspicuous
for periodically going out on what they call “A man
hunt.” The large positions in their organizations
have been recruited from all over the United States.
Men in small places (who have fulfilled respon-
sibilities in a well-rounded way) are sought for to fill
the larger positions. A well-rounded character, the
ability to see below the surface, the courage to con-
tinue no matter how many rebuffs one receives, the
confidence that sound business principles will ulti-
mately prevail, a rigid adherence to what one is
convinced is sound basically, tempered by courtesy,
kindness, and forbearance, is bound to win in the
long run.
The advertising solicitor has more things to meet
that will prevent him from being successful than in
any other line of business with which I am familiar.
Mastering all these difficulties, he gains the satis-
faction of achievement and accomplishment which
maintains his own self-respect. This, after all, is
the ultimate goal in life that is well worth striving
for.
THE ADVERTISING SOLICITOR 235
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER XXII
Every chapter in this book and all of the references
thereto are supplementary reading that I can heartily
commend to every man who aspires to be an adver-
tising solicitor.
The daily papers, the monthly magazines, and es-
pecially the trade papers, in any line to which an ad-
vertising solicitor is giving special attention, should
be carefully read for new ideas or revivals of old ones
and the extent to which they are taken up by one
Or many groups.
The editorials of Arthur Brisbane in the Hearst
papers should be carefully read, for three reasons:
(1) he understands the group spirit and knows how
to hold the continuous attention of a very large por-
tion of the reading public; (2) his remarkable ability
of keeping in close touch with the development of
scientific and philosophic thought, and (3) his mas-
terly style of interpreting technical subjects in plain,
simple language that any one can understand.
It is my firm conviction that an advertising solicitor
ought to be continually reading the works of men
who have given long thought to specialized subjects
and put their ideas on paper; such works are Ruskin’s
“Unto This Last”; George Horace Lorimer’s “Old
Gorgon Graham: More Letters from a Self-made
Merchant to His Son” (Doubleday, Page & Co.,
Garden City, N. Y., 1904); Otto Weiniger’s “Sex
and Character” (G. P. Putnam & Sons, N. Y., 1906);
236 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER,
Crewson’s “Tales of the Road” (Grossett & Dunlap,
New York), and H. G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds”
(Harper Bros. & Company, New York, 1909).
All these books stimulate thought and suggest new
ways of approaching the solution of fundamental
problems.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE ADVERTISING AGENCY
ENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S mother-in-law ob-
jected to him before he married her daughter
because the business in which he was engaged
was overdone—he was publishing a newspaper, and
there were already six in America! Now there are
22,141—2,600 dailies, 15,097 weeklies, 2,491 month-
lies, and 1,953 of various other kinds. Practically
all of them carry advertising.
The business of soliciting, preparing, placing,
checking, and paying for all the advertising space
involves an infinite amount of detail and a wide range
of talent.
Nearly all retail stores buy space direct from the
publisher, who may be represented by one or more
advertising solicitors. It all depends upon the
size of the field. In large establishments the ad-
vertising manager may write the copy. The owner
of the store may attempt it. He may use copy
writers proffered him by the publisher. Or he may
employ a “free lance” copy writer, who will, of
course, have a number of other customers.
Amail-order house generally buys space through an
237
238 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
agency. It either has its own copy men, or uses those
allotted to it by the agency.
Foreign advertising is the local publisher’s term
for out-of-the-city advertising. The national or
“foreign” advertiser usually places his business
through an agency. These agencies furnish a service
which varies greatly in scope and character. The
successful advertiser must supplement in his own
organization the service he needs but does not get
from the agency.
To understand the present status of the adver-
tising agency, read George P. Rowell’s “Forty Years
The Early * Advertising Agent,” which tells of the
Days of the early days when an agency was merely an
* office with a list of publishers' rate cards,
files for papers, and a shipping department. The
agent sold space at publishers’ rates, forwarded the
copy to the publisher, collected from the advertiser,
and remitted to the publisher the proceeds less his
commission. It was a valuable service then. News-
paper circulation and values were hard to get at. It
was a service for publisher and advertiser.
In time, however, competition arrived. Publishers
increased their commissions, and their rates had to
go up accordingly. As publishers did not limit the
number of representatives they might have, the num-
ber of agents increased rapidly, and their competition
gave rise to many bad practices.
Commissions were split. The agent, sometimes
honestly and sometimes not, adjusted his service to
THE ADVERTISING AGENCY 239
the compensation, accepting a lump sum for a list of
publications, but making as much as possible out of
pºp, the publisher by short payments, refusing to
of Split allow for alleged incorrect insertions and
commisſions short measurements, and by payment in
... type, printers' rollers, and other kinds of
merchandise instead of cash. This was
“playing the game.”
Then came the era of the agent who took business
at a certain percentage over net, and “agents’ net
rates” were commonly interpreted as the publisher's
rate card less his regular agent’s commission. The
customer was billed at this rate plus 10 to 15 per
cent. previously agreed upon. And the agent felt he
was justified in keeping anything else he could get
from the publisher.
This system irritated the publisher, who still had
his troubles with short measurements, incorrect in-
sertions not allowed for, and various other expensive
and harassing deductions which left him no time to
consider how he could best serve the advertiser. It
kept him quite busy making sure he would get the
money his orders indicated was owing him.
Then came the race of agents who, realizing the
value of the publisher’s good-will and coöperation,
The Lowest specialized on some certain class of adver-
#jº" tising, and got inside special rates from the
*...* publication most logically suited to carry it.
This made it possible for him to underbid
competitors when they were called in against him;
240 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER,
and to make a very long profit when he had no com-
petition. This practice further demoralized the ad-
vertising business. There was so much juggling of
rates that strong publications employed special rep-
resentatives, who should see to it that advertisers
were informed of their circulation, prestige, and other
good points, and to see that their papers appeared on
competitive lists.
The special agency idea was abused by a number
of men who bought outright all the space in a group
of papers, and then increased the rates. Or, because
they had a few strong papers on their list, would in-
duce theadvertiser or his agent to takeon the whole list
by making apparent but not actual price concessions.
The fact that the advertising agency has survived
all these schemes and questionable practices is a sin-
cere tribute to the inherent power of advertising to
make good, even when the odds are against it. It
is also a tribute to the integrity and constructive
ability of the men engaged in the business to-day.
In spite of the fact that at times both agent and pub-
lisher have been doing business with the advertiser on
a basis which almost invited an unfair deal, they have
established their position—because they have made
good with their customers.
9 *...* Much might be said about the history
Ajºie, and development of the advertising agency,
*::::..but we can take time only to consider the
Four Types y
four definitetypes which are now in existence.
In this count Iam not includingavariation now practi-
THE ADVERTISING AGENCY 241
\
cally extinct—the man who merely clears business
at a small advance on the net cost. He cannot make
good any more, for most publishers either refuse him
any recognition, or else give the service agent a so
much lower flat rate that he cannot deliver.
There is the agency which sells copy service, but
does no placing. It may be one man, or a group.
The Agency The charge is usually a fixed amount, weekly
Tiji or monthly. They handle none of the details
§ of buying or contracting space. Their meth-
ods are open and straightforward, and the
copy is usually satisfactory and well worth what it
costs. Their customers know exactly what they get
and what they pay for.
Type 2 is the agency which solicits and places busi-
ness at publishers’ rates, writes copy, and gives a
certain amount of merchandising counsel.
"###"Most of the men who are doing business on
Plºes this basis are honest, capable, and successful.
Business & ©
at But I think this system does not pay them,
P * neither does it pay the publishers nor their
customers. The customer does not always
know how much he is paying for agency service and
how much for space. A weak publisher may secretly
increase his commission to the agent, and because
the advertiser is doing business at publishers’ rates
he would not be informed of the change. The agent
himself often has a wrong conception of his proper
relation to the customer and the publisher. He is
apt to think it is the publisher’s commission that
242 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
gives him his status—when he should know that it
is the advertiser’s money that is paying for both space
and service.
Type 3 is the agency which tells its customer it will
charge him 10 to 15 per cent. above net; and then
asks the publisher for protection by allowing a com-
mission.
The agent who charges publishers’ rates is a pub-
lisher’s representative, and must look to him for
Agents of protection. Such a man must cast his vote
Types 2 with the publisher in case of conflict. Most
&: publishers recognize that the advertiser is
Rºº., entitled to a square deal, and they implant
the this thought in the minds of the agents who
* do business at publishers' rates. This is the
only assurance the advertiser has of being well served
by such an agency.
On the other hand, the agent who offers to charge
a certain percentage above net, as guarantee that he
will not allow himself to be influenced by any in-
creased commissions offered him by the publisher,
and then asks the publisher for larger commissions
(not lower rates) for protection, is carrying water on
both shoulders and cannot represent anybody—not
even himself—for any length of time.
This type of agent is in hot water continually. If
he is doing business at publishers’ rates, he can keep
for himself any rebates, discounts, or free space
(publishers do not generally offer these things to
advertisers direct). If he is charging 10 to 15 per
THE ADVERTISING AGENCY 243
cent. above net, and at the same time asking the
publisher for favors for himself, neither he nor any
The pººl, one else knows whether he is really entitled
ºf the to free space, special discounts, cash ad-
Agency
§. vances, bonuses on volume of space used
ſº within a certain time, short time rates which
sent the the customer may have paid to the agent
* but the agent has not paid to the publisher,
and other profitable perquisites which an appreciative
publisher is glad to allow a producer.
This kind of business must go as surely as the 5 per
cent. “placer” has gone. I believe the publishers’
rate agent is to be with us for many years, perhaps
permanently, because he is apt to specialize on a cer-
tain classes of mediums, and to be a truly important
business-getter for the publisher. If he is an honest
and able man, and he usually is, his service is well
worth what the advertiser pays for it, for it is the
advertiser's money that pays for both space and
service.
Type 4 of agency is my ideal. A number of suc-
cessful organizations have realized its main features
The Highest in everyday practice; so that I can safely
Type of say the type is well defined. It is an out-
sº. growth of the organization idea. It proves
§:à* that coöperation and specialization develop
a higher standard of service than can be
attained by an individual, and that the advertiser
will get more for his money if he grasps its methods
and adjusts his own organization to it.
244 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
Such an agency sells service, and nothing else.
It should have no ownership interest in space or
supplies it buys for its customers, nor any stock
or financial interest in the business of its cus-
tomerS.
Its compensation should be a retainer fee, for ad-
vice and counsel and the relinquishment of any con-
The Best flicting interests, plus a percentage on the
System of amount of detail work handled or a specified
Agency g
Compensa- amount per day for the actual work of its
* various members. By far the most satis-
factory system is a minimum monthly fee which is
credited againsta minimum 15 percent. Service charge
to be added to the net amount of all purchases and
deliveries of space and supplies.
This organization has four definite functions. It
can, if properly equipped and intelligently managed,
The Four do each of these better and more economi-
Definite cally than the advertiser can. They are:
º 1. Counsel of Mediums. The organization
4;" which undertakes to advise for or against
of the any advertising medium should have had
**constant successful experience in the use of
all kinds of advertising mediums. A fully equipped
agency organization should make money for small
advertisers who use only one medium; as well as for
larger businesses which use several in combination.
Its experience should cover newspapers, magazines,
trade papers, mail-order mediums, all class publica-
tions, street cars, electric signs, painted bulletins and
THE ADVERTISING AGENCY 245
walls, and all sorts of printed or lithographed matter,
follow-up material, and novelties.
2. The buying power of an organization is kept un-
impaired by refusing to accept anything from pub-
lishers or space producers for itself. I believe that
the ideal organization must refuse to sell its service,
under any circumstances, to publishers or space pro-
ducers, or to any one else from whom it may buy for
its customers.
The number of advertising mediums which have a
fixed rate is small, though all the best ones do. A
complicated rate card is a challenge to the trained
space-buyer. Many mediums offer a net flat rate
to large agency organizations, for the reason that they
are wholesalers. Their customers are rebated the
difference, of course. Where there is an opportunity
for trading or dickering, it is certainly advisable to
employ a man who knows how to do it. It is quite
generally conceded that the space-buyer for a large
agency organization holds a very responsible position.
The agency buys outright, and pays for space at
once, in cash, which is an important factor in buying.
The buying department of such an organization
has nothing to consider save the actual value of the
service offered; it is, therefore, in better position
to get a low price and collateral coöperation than the
agency which asks the publisher for a commission and
protection.
3. Copy service. No matter how carefully mediums
have been selected, or how economically space has
246 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
been bought, it is without value to the advertiser
until it is filled with copy which will get the desired
result. The copy staff of a successful organization
must represent the picked men of a nation, working
together harmoniously in confident coöperation with
the advertiser’s organization. -
Sometimes, after the analysis has been finished
and the selling points agreed upon in conference
with the advertiser, one man writes all the copy;
sometimes several men work on a national campaign
where there are several groups of consumers and trade
literature and selling helps to be taken care of.
4. Sales coöperation, the most recent development
of agency service, has been misunderstood in many
places. It does not mean sales direction, nor the
displacement of salesmen. Sales coöperation means
getting more service from the publisher and space-
producer, because you can convince him that the
best way to entrench his own business is by giving
the advertiser more for his money. It also means
making the advertiser’s salesmen more valuable to
himself and to his principal.
The very best salesmen make many calls which are
non-productive. Anything which increases their per-
centage and volume of sales as compared with calls
makes them more valuable without increasing their
labor. Sales coöperation is the result of applying
the principles of scientific management to selling
methods. It is sharing with salesmen the responsi-
bility of planning their work. Advertising does the
THE ADVERTISING AGENCY 247
missionary work and the salesman becomes an expert
“closer” and business-builder.
Nowadays a banking corporation regards itself
as the trustee of its depositor’s money, and does not
loan money to any business in which its
alºw officials are interested. The same general
#. principles should govern the conduct of an
of the advertising organization.
º,* Advertisers should have at all times ac-
cess to the books of the organization which
places their advertising. Once each year they should
receive from an audit company a report which shows
Advertise, that their advertising appropriation has been
Shºuld Have spent as had been agreed upon.
Access to & ge e & e
Agent. The highest type of advertising service is
* offered by the organization which attracts as
customers only those businesses which are acknowl-
edged leaders in their respective lines, and then at
The Agency all times regards them as a group of non-
of the conflicting interests coöperating for their
#ºn common good.
Advise Such an organization will advise against
Against tº e º g e
Ajng advertising if the advertiser is not ready for
if #ºr it. It will tell him, how, when, and where,
Ready advertising should be done. It should be
** consulted long before the advertiser starts
to plan about prices, distribution, the package, sell-
ing methods, and the instruction of salesmen about
ways and means for cashing in on the advertising.
CHAPTER XXIV
ACCOUNTING
more important than a system of accounting
which records all transactions accurately, so
that the totals unmistakably show the trend of the
business as a whole.
Advertising is creative and constructive, and
largely a matter of spontaneous expression—the best
reason in the world for knowing how to determine
exactly the strength and competency of it as a pro-
ductive force, and the positive value of each separate
factor thereof.
Accounting is not a matter of books, cards, blanks,
and specific forms. It is keeping track of the details
Accounting of advertising all the time, so that they may
*...* be considered in the aggregate as well as
a Ready separately frequently, and intelligent deduc-
*†, tions made therefrom. There is a good deal
Peductions of red tape about modern accounting. Some
of it is valueless, but much can be accomplished if
there is a proper system of recording everything that
is done. The cumulative figures will be full of mean-
IIlg.
N" ELEMENT of successful advertising is
248
ACCOUNTING 249
I have often said that my most valuable business
experience was that gained during the installation
of an accounting system in our business Some years
ago, and during the process of emancipating our-
selves from the system by putting into practice the
principles which supported it. We all got a thor-
ough grounding in the essentials of accounting.
Frequently I have been appalled at the inadequate
knowledge upon which a prospective advertiser was
basing his conclusions. So often overhead
Proper Dis- © * = e
jo.; expense is not properly distributed in figur-
º: ing costs. In the one case a particularly
profitable transaction may be made to bear
far more than its share of general expense; in
another case a positively unprofitable item, which,
however, appears to be making money, is continued—
because it has not been charged with its rightful
portion of overhead.
It is my conviction that each department of a
retail establishment should be charged directly with
every line of publicity for which it has been respon-
sible and from which it is to profit, and that “general
publicity” or “cumulative results” should be “vel-
vet,” or a plus commodity.
Advertising that has for its purpose general pub-
licity is usually purposeless publicity. Even if it does
accomplish what it is expected to do, it is only half as
valuable as it should be; for the same results would
have been had, at no cost whatever, had this publicity
been charged and paid for by the proper department.
250 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
A simple, accurate system of accounting, to check
up results, is necessary to “make advertising pay.”
If a salesman is able to reduce his percentage of
Checking unproductive calls by talking the advertis-
Ujiji, ing of his house in addition to the worth
; of the goods, or if he is able to increase the
GS3/ © º
amount of his average sale, his reports
should show it. All salesmen’s reports should be
tabulated, so that the sales manager can plan intelli-
gently for the future. Such a method does not work
the salesman any harder, mentally or physically;
but he accomplishes more, is worth more, and is
entitled to know of his increased value and to receive
a fair share of the profits of his coöperative work.
Every accounting system should be able to give
the executive head of the business all he
e.* , wants to know, whenever he wants to know
sº it, and in such condensed form that a com-
K.A., parison or an analysis will be simple.
#.. On the opposite page a sheet from a daily
Know at a time book devised by Herman A. Groth,
*...* Secretary and Treasurer of the Mahin Ad-
vertising Company, is shown. You will
see at once how easily and exactly each man’s time
can be recorded there. Any one can use this blank,
no matter what his business. And I guarantee that
if the habit of using it is formed, and the summary
studied each month, many useless or unessential
tasks will be omitted and the more profitable ones
developed into expertness.
This Record to be filled out each day by Ea:ecutives, Department
Managers, Copy Writers, Service Managers, and Representatives of the
Mahin Advertising Company.
DAILY SERVICE TIME RECORD.
NAME DATE 191—

DETAILS OF SERVICE BIOURS CUSTOMER.
8 A.M.
9 A.M.
10 A.M.
11 A.M.
I2 M.
I P.M.
2 P.M.
3 P.M.
4 P.M.
5 P.M.
6 P.M.
7 P.M.
8 P.M.
9 P.M.
10 P.M.
II P.M.
This form is designed for the man who every hour strives for 100%
Efficiency for Customer, House, and Self.
251
252 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
Nothing impresses a banker more than an exact
system of accounting. To most bankers advertising
good Ac- is more or less of a mystery. The man-
counting an ufacturer must establish in his banker’s
Asset in * * > tº
Negotiating mind something besides the fact that he
“” is advertising; he must convince him that
he knows how to use advertising so that it will get
results.
When you call on your banker for a loan, there
is just one kind of advertising that he will look fa-
vorably upon—the kind that has been so accurately
recorded by a comprehensive accounting system that
you can prove to him that it has accomplished what
it set out to do. *
The building of a national good-will bears a direct
relation to the amount of money spent for national
The advertising. I have known many an ad-
Relation of vertiser who at the end of three years of
Advertis- º tº º
ing to Good-national advertising would not sell the brand
* he had established for all he had spent for
national advertising in those three years, although
it had been charged off to expense each year.
When a business is being sold, the amount spent for
general advertising is often the basis for computing
the value of the good-will.
I certainly do not advise inventorying advertising
expenditure as an asset, but I do believe an account
showing the annual expenditure for each brand which
has a national sale is properly an item of a financial
statement. I think the time is coming when banks
ACCOUNTING 253
will ask for a statement by years, for profits may not
be radically lessened for a number of years after
advertising has been dropped. But the original
net profit could not be restored without spending
all profits for advertising for a year or two, or per-
haps more.
Most people, if asked to name the highest moun-
tain in Colorado, would say “Pike's Peak.” But
An Accu- the fact is there are twenty-six that are
... ...a higher. There are many articles that are
sº really staples and are known only by their
Annual Ex-trade name. No one knows whether there
ſº. are twenty-six, or more, equally good Ones.
tising Bagh The consumer’s preference, which is a mix-
Product ſº * * * * * tº
ture of experience, familiarity, and friend-
liness, is the manufacturer's biggest asset. No one
could estimate how many pages have been written
about Pike's Peak, or how many times its name
has been mentioned in magazines, newspapers, or
by word of mouth; but all agree that in that way,
and only in that way, has it acquired its distinction
with reference to other Colorado mountains.
Granted, then, that what has been written, printed,
and said about a certain staple is what gives it prefer-
ence, it follows that an accurate record should be
kept of the cost of this favorable mental attitude,
and that due regard be paid to the expenditure neces-
sary to keep this investment intact and enhance its
value if possible.
It is impossible to say just how much should be
254 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
spent for advertising, or how much for salesmanship.
I can only repeat that price is never a measure of
How Much value. It only measures the pocket-book’s
j ñ, relation to the intensity of desires which
*::::::: have been created by personal salesmanship
ertising tº º wº
and advertising. Practically every one has
more wants than he has means. Lowering the price
broadens the market; raising it, contracts the mar-
ket. Many people who have unlimited means gladly
pay for exclusiveness and distinction. Price never
can determine or measure intrinsic value.
A five-dollar safety razor leads the market against
a competitor which sells as low as 25 cents. How is
it done? The manufacturer put his price high enough,
at the start, to provide him with a margin of safety.
Then he has had to determine, by accounting,
whether the market shall be widened and competi-
tion discouraged by reducing the price and making
on volume, or if he shall keep up the price and give
his goods the added value of distinction and ex-
clusiveness.
If there is one idea that I wish more than another
to have impressed upon the readers of this book, it is
this: successful advertising is the active employment
Successful of many factors properly balanced with re-
Advertising lation to each other, inter-related, one to
Defined another, so that their movements coördinate
without waste or friction in carrying out plans capable
of varying to meet an emergency situation but bear-
ing directly toward a fixed goal. If I have made
ACCOUNTING 255
this point clear, the importance of careful, compre-
hensive accounting, up to the minute at all times, is
obvious.
Advertising is so many sided—it builds and con-
serves business, it reduces expense, it strengthens
credit, it eliminates waste, it puts a business on a
rock foundation, as immune as is possible to compe-
tition—that facts and figures with reference to it
cannot be too carefully gathered.
No one can accomplish much in this age without
using some phase of advertising. And if this book
shall inspire some to make use of it in a wholesome,
helpful way, I shall be well repaid for the pleasant
labor of producing it.
REFERENCES ON CHAPTER XXIV
Twenty-five years ago I read “Goodwin’s Improved
Bookkeeping and Business Manual,” published by
J. H. Goodwin, 1215 Broadway, New York City.
It seemed to me then to expound the fundamental
principles of accounting better than anything I had
been able to get hold of.
Quite recently I asked George F. Watt, president
of the Elliott-Fisher Company, Harrisburg, Pa.,
maker of The Bookkeeping Machine, about this
book, which has been rewritten and brought up to
date.
Mr. Watt told me when he was vice-president of
the Baker-Vawter Company he inaugurated the
policy of giving a copy of this book to each new sales-
256 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER
man, to make sure that he thoroughly comprehended
the basic principles of accounting.
The Baker-Vawter Company, Benton Harbor,
Mich., and the Burroughs Adding Machine Co., of
Detroit, Mich., issue booklets emphasizing the broad
scope and value in creative work of modern ac-
counting methods.
“Works Administration,” a twenty-eight page
booklet of Gunn, Richards & Co., New York City,
is a model piece of advertising matter for a profes-
sional house, as well as an exposition of accounting
principles.
“Accounts—Their Construction and Interpreta-
tion—for Business Men and Students of Affairs,” by
William Morse Cole, A. M., Assistant Professor of
Accounting in Harvard University (Houghton,
Mifflin Company, Boston), is an authoritative pres-
entation of modern accounting in its scientific as-
pects.
APPENDIX
The following communication was published in
the Chicago Record (since absorbed by the Chicago
Herald) on September 30, 1896:
FREE COINAGE OF LABOR.
If free coinage is such a good thing, why not have
free coinage of labor? The proposition that a miner
of silver can take his silver to the mint and receive a
fixed compensation for it is an excellent thing for the
man who has silver. If this could be done, and a
ratio of 16 to 1 be actually maintained with gold, it
would show a handsome profit to the silver producer,
or, if it should prove that free coinage would bring
the dollar down to its intrinsic value in silver, it is
still a convenience to the silver mine-owner to have
a ready market for his product.
In the interest of labor, it seems absurd to urge the
free coinage of silver. Who has silver? Anybody
but the mine-owner?
Must we assume the worry and unnecessary labor
of rearranging our system of business, our fixed values,
our railroad rates, and our government salaries by
changing our standard of measurement, simply to
accommodate him? *
But there is one thing every man possesses which
he should in a wisely ordered government have a free
and unrestricted market for, and that is his labor.
I would join heart and soul in any movement which
257
258 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
sought the free coinage of American labor. A govern-
ment which kept open an opportunity for every able-
bodied man to turn his day’s labor into not less than
$1.50 to $2 in money on the gold standard would fur-
nish an equilibrium for business, and do more to pre-
vent depression and panic than any system of metal
coinage that could be devised.
See how simple the proposition is. Here we have
70,000,000 of people. Of that number there are per-
haps 12,000,000 able-bodied men. Every person in
the United States is fed, clothed, and housed every
day. People are not dying of starvation. In exchange
for food, shelter, and clothing, what does man give in
return? His labor.
With a free and unrestricted market for his labor,
his productive capacity is increased. He is able to
add more to the actual wealth of the country and se-
cure a larger portion of it for himself.
Every day spent in searching for employment,
every idle day spent in waiting while mills and fac-
tories are shut down, means a loss of production, while
steady, regular employment, with its proceeds prop-
erly distributed, means an increase in the comforts
and possessions of the people.
If every man in the country were absolutely sure
he could market his services for not less than $1.50
a day, what ease of mind and comfort of body it would
mean to the laborer—he would be able to act in-
dependently of harsh employers and be assured of
support for his family.
This would make $1.50 a day a minimum price
and would act as a regulator of the labor market.
It would insure a steady and regular income for the
laboring people and thereby establish a fixed and firm
foundation for trade and business.
APPENDIX 259
I would not have this market in the form of a sine-
cure or fat political job. I would want to see it sim-
ply a government affair where any one out of work
could go for three months at a time—transportation to
and from the place where work was going on free—and
receive $1.50 a day, or its equivalent, less a fair and
reasonable cost of board and lodging, which should
be similar to that furnished soldiers in the regular
army.
The government could undertake great public
works—canals, fortifications, harbor improvements
—under this system, and when times became better
and wages rose above $1.50, as they did in 1892,
the work could be contracted to a smaller scale,
and when times became dull and the demand for
labor became scarce, the government works could be
expanded again under the direction of army engineers
and officers, of which there are plenty waiting around
for something to do.
No one will object to the government issuing bonds
to furnish funds to pay labor of this kind in dull times
if such were necessary, which is not likely, as a normal
healthy business system would undoubtedly be the
result, and deficient revenue would be very unlikely.
It would entail no additional burden on the people
at large, as every one in the country must be sup-
ported in some manner. By this system there is
gained the result of every worker's labor in addition
to the self-respecting and well-ordered mind possessed
by an employed man.
If unskilled labor has a ready market, skilled labor
needs no assistance. It will take care of itself.
The prosperity of a country rests upon the pros-
perity of its unskilled labor. A scheme like this
would act as the governor of a steam engine to reg-
260 ADVERTISING—SELLING THE CONSUMER.
ulate and keep in a steady and even condition the
foundation upon which a healthy and aggressive busi-
ness must float.
One of my friends says this is socialism. But un-
der the circumstances I have described where could
there be anything but good results from such a pro-
cedure?
It certainly is fairer to all men if we have free
coinage of anything at a fixed value to have that
which all men possess and can give if they so desire.
There is certainly no discrimination or favoritism
in it. It would greatly simplify the demands in
charity to refer all able-bodied men to the govern-
ment works where all who would could work and be
paid for it.
JoBN LEE MAHIN.
Chicago, Ill., September 24, 1896.
MAY 2 g lºš
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK

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