WRITING AN ADVERTISEMEM By S. ROLAND HALL Hate (EalUgc of ^Agriculture Ktljara, ». f- Cornell University Library HF 582S.H3 Writing an advertisement .... 3 1924 013 946 342 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013946342 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT BY S, ROLAND HALL SCHOOL EDITION WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY OSCAR C. GALLAGHER BBAD MASTER, WEST ROXBURV HIGH SCHOOL, BOSTON BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY (X{ie Stitoec^itie ^tegg Cambn'tige COP¥IUGHT, J915, BY 5. ROLAND HMi& ALL RIGHTS R£S£RVBD '"' CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSBTT5 U . S . A TO EXPLAIN For several years prior to the publication of this book I had the conviction that a treatise on the art of writing an advertisement, — "preparing copy," as we advertising men put it, — written in a simple, chatty style, would be welcomed by a public that is becoming more and more keenly interested in the busi- ness of "selling through publicity." The word "advertising," broadly inter- preted, covers many different operations and considerable tedinique. Four large volumes were required for the text of a course of adver- tising instruction prepared under my direc- tion by the International Correspondence Schools. No department of advertising is more important or possesses more never-end- ing interest than thatwhich deals with"copy." In these pages I have tried to answer simply that question — "How do you go about writ- ing an advertisement?" My only apology for TO EXPLAIN writing in the first person is that it is much easier to be simple and direct that way. Writ- ing in the third person encourages roundabout explanation and verbiage. My only explana- tion for introducing examples from my per- sonal work is that I can write most helpfully about the things that are familiar to me. No attempt is made in these pages to pre- sent a mathematically correct formula or set of rules for the composition of good advertise- ments. As the New York Sun once pointed out, every good story that appears is a model, a new example of successful technique. Charts are of little value, and rules may interfere with the freedom of thought. While not all writers of advertising copy work in exactly the same way, every one would probably agree that the principles covered in these pages must be con- sidered consciously or unconsciously. S. Roland Hall. Easton, Pennsylvania, February I, 1915. CONTENTS Introduction. By Oscar C. Gallagher . . . . vii I. Importance of Copy i II. Studying the Article ....... 8 III. Inside and Outside Points of View . . i8 IV. The People 23 V. The Conditions 35 VI. The Advertisement Itself 41 VII. Sign-Posts of Advertisements .... 50 VIII. Points of Contact 61 IX. Interest Value and the News Element . 70 X. The Appeal of Pictures 80 XL Imagination in Advertising 92 XII. Style, and Strength of Appeals ... 99 XIII. Dressing the Idea 13S XIV. The Price and the Power of Words . . 146 XV. Some Ad-Writing Experiences . . . .153 XVI. Cumulative Effects, and Tests . . . .171 XVII. Last Words 206 Questions and Problems i INTRODUCTION This book appears in response to new de- mands in education. The world is expecting the schools to give pupils not only the power to grapple with the problems that life presents, but also the knowledge to use that power ef- fectively. In recent years especially a great increase has been seen in the number of courses of training for the competitive or distributive side of business, as distinguished from the clerical and the accounting. Sales- manship and advertising, in particular, are being introduced into more and more schools each year. Just where the line runs between salesman- ship and advertising it is not easy to state. It is safe to say, however, that the knowledge of the one is intimately bound up with the knowledge of the other. The salesman igno- rant of advertising and the advertiser ignorant of salesmanship are aHke inefficient. While the appeal may be more definitely personal vii INTRODUCTION in salesmanship, the ability to understand human nature individually and collectively is no less indispensable in advertising. In seeking to impart the ability to under- stand human nature many books on advertising begin with the study of psychology, and from a consideration of the laws of the human mind they evolve a set of principles as a basis for the practice of advertising. This book pursues a different plan. It comes from the pen of an advertising expert who has had practical ex- perience in every branch of the work, — writ- ing, advising, financing, and teaching — whose textbooks on advertising are more widely used than those of any other writer on the sub- ject. From the outset the emphasis is laid upon the importance of copy. The practical problem is considered in relation to the com- modity itself, the public, the conditions, vari- ous devices, financial considerations, etc., and the practical application of the underlying principles of psychology that operate are in- stinctively grasped by the student in dealing vitally with the problem itself, viii INTRODUCTION It is realized, of course, that not all the pupils in commercial courses who study books on advertising plan to follow advertising as a distinct profession. No matter what line of buying and selling a pupil is to enter, however, a thorough grasp of the principles of advertis- ing is indispensable. Even pupils in clerical and accounting courses will gain from the study of advertising a clearer insight into the relation that their individual tasks are to bear to the extensive problems of the business house for which they are to work. The plan and scope of this book may be readily seen from the table of contents, and a careful discussion of this table should form the opening lesson in the use of the book. Then each chapter should be carefully studied by the pupils and thoroughly discussed by the class as a whole. In this connection the exer- cises at the end of the book should be used both to fix firmly in mind the principles in point and to form subjects for investigation for written reports. The illustrations, too, af- ford abundant material for the application of ix INTRODUCTION the principles that are brought out. From their own investigations pupils should bring to the class advertisements that illustrate or vio- late the principles that the book teaches. A scrapbook should be kept, in which advertise- ments should be carefully grouped according to the headings given in the table of con- tents. Even in commercial courses in which adver- tising is not especially treated, teachers of English will welcome such a book as Writing an Advertisement, for they will find it a clear, brisk treatment in everyday English of a most live and important branch of commercial study. The topics in the exercises, too, will afford definite assignments for both oral and written composition. Thus, from reading, study, discussion, and investigation, each pupil will build up for himself a logical knowledge of practical ad- vertising. In distinction to books on adver- tising in which mere exercises are given and questions asked, he will find in this volume a definite and constant guide that will keep him INTRODUCTION from losing himself in the generalities of ad- vertising and will give him a practical grasp of the subject, which he may later extend as opportunity offers. Oscar C. Gallagher. WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT IMPORTANCE OF COPY That the representative advertising agen- cies, or companies, pay from $50 to ^100 a week — sometimes even more — to copy-writ- ers of superior ability, indicates graphically the importance of the man who is able to put the advertiser's appeal into a form that will attract and impress the reading public. Early in the days of modern advertising, the writer of advertisements was a rather unique personage. He was surrounded with some mystery, too much halo. Often he ad- vertised himself as an "expert," with the re- sult that the word "expert" fell into disrepute so far as it related to advertising, and even as yet has hardly succeeded in recovering its former perfectly proper meaning. I WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT As more and more attention was drawn to the great business of advertising, it became more generally recognized that the writing of the advertisement and the publishing of it, important as that work is, constitute only a part of advertising — taking the word in its full meaning. In other words, people who con- cluded that they should advertise were rush- ing to get clever advertisements written and printed without giving liie proper amoimt of thought to the questions of what kind of adver- tising was needed and when and where it could be done to the best advantage; of how the reader could conveniently see and procure the thing advertised; of how the advertising would affect retailers or other dealers in the adver- tised goods. In brief, advertising was looked upon more as clever business writing than as a great business force whose relation to the other business forces ought to be carefully considered before its power was utilized. Then followed a long period in which em- phasis was put on investigations, conferences, preliminary work, dealer relations, etc., as IMPORTANCE OF COPY things to be looked into or undertaken before the preparation of any advertising copy. There was a tendency during this period, when the pendulum of thought had swung away from copy to plans, to minimize the importance of copy. Some of the advertising agencies were inclined to say: "Copy is a mere detail, the surface or signs of the campaign." A reaction has come. Good copy never was, never will be, a mere detail. Too few people are able to write it. Millions of dollars are in- vested in advertising with a poor return be- cause the "surface of the advertising plan," the only thing the buying public, the ultimate consumer, sees, has so little appeal to it that it gets no attention, makes no impression. No matter what brains are put into an in- vestigation of the market for a given com- modity or how skillful a distribution plan or sales campaign is laid out, at the last, the job, if the article is one that can be advertised,' comes to the copy-writer in order that he may interpret to the public what the advertiser's product or service stands for. I have known 3 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT one of the oldest advertising agencies of New York to search around for weeks to find a writer with the special ability to write shoe advertisements that a certain large and suc- cessful shoe manufacturer would regard as being worthy of going into magazine pages costing from ^500 to $6000 each. People do not, as a rule, search for adver- tisements. True, advertisements are occa- sionally looked up, but magazines and news- papers are bought ordinarily for the news, stories, etc. they contain, and the advertiser must "butt into attention," so to speak. Fig- ure the number of advertisements in a single copy of a large publication and the number of minutes that the publication gets from the average reader, and you will have a good idea of what an important undertaking it is to write advertisements that will capture the coveted attention and hold it until a favorable impression regarding the advertised article has been created. There are men who can talk entertainingly about goods when face to face with a customer, who are tongue-tied or finger- 4 IMPORTANCE OF COPY bound when it comes to putting an interesting sales message into print. Oddly, the farmer is usually a good adver- tiser. When he has a mule to sell, he puts down some such headline as "Good Mule for Sale," and goes about telling readers about the mule, which is good advertising — much better, as a rule, than the country-town mer- chant puts out, because it really tells something that some people are interested in knowing. The merchant is inclined toward generali- ties, hackneyed announcements or "smart" copy. Advertising has been called salesmanship in print, and yet there are noteworthy differ- ences between face-to-face salesmanship and printed salesmanship. With a single customer before him, the salesman has just one type to study. The face of the customer, the clothing, the general maimer, all give hints as to the appeal that will make a favorable impression. Moreover, as the customer asks questions or gives answers to questions, other valuable clues are made available. The face-to-face 5 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT salesman can appeal to perhaps several of the senses of the customer — hearing, taste, sight, smell, touch. In advertising, the salesman ordinarily has only one sense — sight — to appeal to, and he must clothe his appeal to the eye so skillfully that the customer, in imagina- tion, will feel the cloth, taste the tomato soup, hear the piano, or smell the delicately per- fumed soap that the advertisement deals with. In some forms of advertising, samples can be sent and several senses appealed to, but we are here considering mainly the advertisement in a newspaper, magazine, or some other me- dium affording only the opportunity to pre- sent a printed appeal. So the man who can take wire rope, flour, a brand of clothing, or a certain make of piano, and so picture that article before buyers of wire rope, flour, cloth- ing, or pianos that it will earn general prefer- ence over other merchandise of its kind is a genius. How far this ability is natural with people, and how far it may be acquired or de- veloped, are questions I cannot answer defin- 6 IMPORTANCE OF COPY itely. I have seen enough cases of successful development to lead me to believe that suc- cess is due as much to development as to "bom talent." n STUDYING THE ARTICLE The editor of a great newspaper was once asked if it were possible for all persons to learn to write. "Yes," was the reply, "if they all had something to write about." Without something to write about, he who hopes to construct advertisements is in the predicament of the man who stood in a crowd and said: "My friends, I am here because I wish to be a speaker, but as there is nothing I can think of to say, I shall sit down." A few sentences, though arranged gram- matically, do not constitute a good advertise- ment imless there is something in the language to command the attention of prospective buy- ers, to develop interest and to produce convic- tion. ' The first essential, in starting out to write an advertisement, is to collect all the informa- tion available about the article or service that 8 STUDYING THE ARTICLE IS to be advertised. As Irvin S. Cobb says, it is one of the mysteries of the writing business that, in order to make the deepest impression on your reader, you must know what you are writing about. Some clever but superficial work may pass the test, but sooner or later the man who knows nothing about paints or paint- ing, but who tries to write advertisements that aim to influence people to buy certain paints or do certain kinds of painting, will betray himself. There is a great deal in this big world of ours to know, and nobody knows a very large pro- portion of what there is to learn. Consequently, it is not so very difficult, when one concen- trates on a given subject long enough, to dig up interesting things about it that few people are familiar with. Genius, said Helvetius, is only concentrated attention. Ordinary raw cotton may seem to be a subject to which there is little; yet a cotton expert can see so much to cotton that he can grade it in more than thirty different grades. Pig iron seems to be too staple a product to be advertised in any dis- 9 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT tinctive way, but an enterprising iron man was able to discover that his product had an tm- usual percentage of vanadium in it, which in- gredient gives iron greater strength; the use of that point made possible iron-advertising of vmusual interest. The story is told of an editor who, to dis- courage an applicant for a reporting job, told him to write an article on bread. The young man visited all the bakeries of the city, col- lected a vast amoimt of interesting informa- tion, which he culled over and made the basis of *n article on "Our Daily Bread" that most readers of the newspaper found entertaining. Mr. Manley Gillam, a veteran of the adver- tising business, has told most interestingly of one of his earliest efforts at advertising — how he was asked to help in the selling of butter made from the milk of a well-kept herd of pure- bred Holstein cows. He found so much of interest in the history and characteristics of the Holstein cow when he looked the subject up, and so many distinctive features about the making of this Holstein butter, that he had lO STUDYING THE ARTICLE no difficulty in building a series of interesting advertisements that sold every pound of the butter at a good price. An ice-cream manufacturer, who for years had contented himself with a "standing card" in the local newspaper, — which standing card, like the standing army that Kipling wrote about, "just stood," — employed a trained ad-writer to get up some copy. This ice-cream maker had said in his standing card that his ice- cream was " rich and pure." This statement was concise enough to please the worshipers of brevity, but, imfortunately, the claim for richness and purity was stated in such a hack- neyed way, having been said in perhaps just those words by thousands of different adver- tisers, that it made Httle or no impression on the reading public. The ad-writer began to dig. He was not long in finding out that this maker's ice-cream was, by several per cent, richer in butter-fat than any other ice-cream made in that city. He unearthed the fact that this ice-cream man made tutti-frutti and hick- ory-nut flavors, but never gave any publicity II WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT to these things, thinking that housekeepers knew them. They did n't. It was compara tively easy for this man with a "nose for news" to get ice-cream items that made in- teresting reading. He wrote a "Suiiday-Din- ner-Dessert-Suggestion" advertisement and others that were equally interesting. There is a great deal in common between the work of a good newspaper reporter and a good advertising man. Each delves into his subject with a view to finding what there is in it that will be of interest to the public. Each makes himself a human interrogation-point and finds that natural questions, why this? why that? asked from the reader's or customer's point of view, afford the quickest and surest way of bringing the essential information to light. Neither ordinarily uses all of the facts fovmd, for some of the facts are likely to be im- interesting or of secondary value. The import- ant thing is first to get the facts. Then the writer must use judgment in deciding what part of the material will really interest the public and inake a favorable impression for the goods 12 The unitrecord desk, showa above, is a concrete example of the Library Bureau Idea. The first desk of this kind was made for a bond bouse. Their problem was to put several thou- sand cards in shape to be handled by one clerk. The obvious thing was to sell them a flat-top desk and four or five card cabinets. That is the very thing we did not do. We devised the unit record desk —a comb'ination of a card file and a desk. We improved it and altered it so that it can be used as a ledger desk as well as for hous- ing customers lists, credit ioior- mation, sales records, price quotations, etc. Then we standardized it and noir carry it regularly in stock. You see, don't you, what the Library Bureau Idea is— ORIGI- NATE! IMPROVEI ADAPT! STANDARDIZE! Library Bureau MuuifBcturtDB diairlbuiors of Cud sad fUlOK systeiDE. Unit cabloets In wood and sMeL 316 Broadway, New York One of an attention-compelling series of newspaper advertisements Originally two columns wide STUDYING THE ARTICLE or service to be advertised. I have written con- siderable advertising about Portland Cement, but have never undertaken to tell the general public the chemical constituents of Portland Cement. In the case of cement such informa- tion is not the feature that interests the public. In advertising certain other goods it is, advis- able to give some information as to the con- stituents. It all depends on the article. Sometimes it is more essential to study the uses or the service of the goods than the goods themselves. Take an adding-machine, as an example. It would be of little value to the advertising man to have a thorough under- standing of the mechanics of the machine un- less the machine possessed some very distinc- tive feature that could be "played up." In this case, the service rendered by the machine should be the principal field of investigation. A keen advertising man, studying a shovel manufacturer's selling problem, hit upon the idea of having the manufacturer feature a shovel that would hold just the load that an "efficiency engineer" had recently figured out 13 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT would enable a laborer to do the most work. TTiat idea, strongly advertised, lifted that shovel manufacturer's product out of the rut. Not long ago the advertisers of Trinidad Asphalt brought out the point that asphalt could be made that seemed chemically exactly like the South American product, but went on to argue that the Trinidad material had baked for years under the broiling sun of the tropics. Here was a vital fact that appealed to the in- terest and reason of the readers. So, then, the study of the article goes con- siderably further than the article itself. It comprehends the study of the materials of which the article is made, the process of manu- facturing, the history and development of the business. Somewhere along this route of re- search may lie untouched the vital fact upon which a successful advertising campaign may be based. Probably the safety device of the Tver Johnson revolver was a part of the fire- arm long before some mind was keen enough to recognize in it a feature that possessed won- derful advertising possibilities. H STUDYING THE ARTICLE A New York advertising agency, on getting a contract for a large amount of tobacco ad- vertising, as the first step sent a trained inves- tigator and writer to Cuba to study Cuban tobacco at first hand. What has already been said about the study of the article makes it obvious that it is difii- cult to do successful advertising for a business or a commodity that possesses no distinctive features. This is a fact that is too seldom rec- ognized. Many concerns producing ordinary products or miming very ordinary stores seem to imagine that advertising is a magic art that in some mysterious way or another can be made to bring them extra business. Advertis- ing is only the search-light of publicity. It can throw into public view only that which exists. This statement must be immediately qualified by the explanation that it is possible, with false advertising, to temporarily give the pub- lic an incorrect picture of a business. But im- less such an advertiser is far away from his customers or does business only with a scatter- ing few, the false picture that he draws of his 15 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT goods or service will in due time be detected and become ineffective. He who hopes to real- ize a handsome investment on advertising should seek to make his goods or his business distinctive in someway — if not in big things, then in little. If this is impossible, he has nothing left to do but to seek what we call "general publicity" — that is, keep his name or the name of his goods before the public con- tinually. It is a generally acknowledged prin- ciple that unless we have some decided prefer- ence for one article over another, we will take the one that seems most familiar to us. Even general publicity advertising makes things familiar to us. Though we have never actu- ally seen or handled certain goods, if the name has been hammered on our memories for a long time, it seems familiar and is likely to be preferred. There are a number of articles for which only general publicity advertising seems possible. Take a five-cent cigar or ordinan' laundry soap, as an example. The frank trutli about the material of these commodities would be of no interest to the public; indeed, it might i6 STUDYING THE ARTICLE make out a good case against the purchase of goods. So recourse is had to mere "name- advertising" or to some catchy slogan or pic- ture. Sometimes a name Itself may possess considerable advertising value — the name of "Sunny Monday" Soap, for example. In the words "Sunny Monday" is a suggestion that the soap is one that helps along wash-day, that brightens "blue Monday." General publicity advertising is, however, costly. It gives the public no definite reason for preferring a certain article. It succeeds, if it does succeed, by constant hammering, by sledge-hammer blows, by suggestion or infer- ence. The more the ad-writer can dig up in the way of interesting information about the goods and the more plausible reasons he can create for the purchase of them, the easier becomes the solving of the advertiser's problem and the less will be the investment required. Consequently, the ad-writer could do no more important preliminary work than to study exhaustively the article, its origin an(? manufacture, and its uses or service. Ill INSIDE AND OUTSIDE POINTS OF VIEW There has been much discussion in the advertising world as to whether the man with an outside point of view is not better fitted to write an advertisement than the man with an inside point of view. It is argued that the man who has lived with a business a long time gets too close to it and becomes unable to look at it as the outside man — the prospective purchaser — would. It is said that the inside man often takes it for granted that the prospective pur- chaser will understand certain things, they being so familiar to those in the advertiser's business, and so does not bother to make these clear in the advertisements he writes. In other words, the argument against the in- side writer is that he loses the perspective, gets so tied up with inside knowledge of his busi- ness that it is impossible for him to get away i8 POINTS OF VIEW from his personal point of view and look at the subject with fresh eyes. The inside man, on the other hand, is likely to argue that the outside man, unless he hap- pens to be a user of the article to be advertised, or is well acquainted with those who use it, knows too little about the article or business to advertise it properly; that he will take facts of little importance and make them out to be facts of great importance; that he will argue in such a way as to appear ridiculous to experienced users of such products as the one to be advertised. To advertise such an article as the cash register, a piano, a brand of cloth- ing, says the inside advocate, a man ought to know a great deal about the cash register, the piano or the clothing business — about the people that buy such goods and how they buy them, the competition, etc. Example after example could be introduced to prove that both sides in this argument are right. The truth, as is usual in arguments, lies between the two extremes. No man can know too much about a business that he is to 19 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT advertise, provided he maintains the right point of view — looks at the business through the eyes of a prospective purchaser. This is by no means easy, but some of the greatest advertisers of the world are those who have "eaten and slept" with their businesses, as it were, and know more about them than any outsider. The most skillful advertiser will make use of both inside and outside points of view, but will be careful always to judge his finished advertisement from the point of "How will this strike and affect Mr. Prospective Customer?"— not "How well does it strike me, the advertising manager of the company, or how will it strike Mr. Blank, the president ? " It is probably within the truth to say that most of the best national advertising of to-day represents the work of the "outside writer" to a greater or less extent. Some years ago a number of leading adver- tising men were asked how they got their ideas for advertisements, how they worked them up, etc. The replies were interesting. Some declared that often the right thought would 20 POINTS OF VIEW come while they were on the train coming to, or going home from, work. One man insists that some of his best ideas come during the morning shave, while an art director who conceived a particularly happy idea says he captured it while in the bathtub I A number gleaned good copy ideas from situations they saw in their talk or dealings with their sales- men or with retail merchants. Letters from users of the product were productive of good ideas. Close study of the consumer's use or need of the article yielded its quota of effec- tive appeals. Some of the most striking Yaw- man Erbe office-equipment advertisements have shown typical office scenes — a vexed office manager saying, "I want that letter right now," followed by argument for the Y. & E. system of letter-filing; a manufacturer exasperated at finding the carbon copy of his price-quotation hopelessly blurred, followed by argument for the roller-copier method of copying letters as against the carbon method. A writer of advertisements for a washing- machine seemed imable to produce appeals 21 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT that would bring the proper response. One day he tried to put himself in the place of a typical buyer. No sooner had he done so than he concluded that he would have to try a washing-machine before he would buy. So came into being the well-known "30-Days- Free-Trial" appeal of the washer. The advertisers of Pompeian Massage Cream had a large art calendar that they expected to distribute to their customers. There was an argument as to whether many of the readers of the magazine would want such a calendar. So an advertisement was prepared that put this question frankly before readers. It pulled unusually well. Another concern tried a simi- lar appeal with poor results! Some men are noted for the quickness with which copy ideas come to them after they con- centrate on a subject. With others the copy- idea mill grinds more slowly, and their best ideas are likely to come only after extended study, after "sleeping and eating" with the business, so to speak. Temperament evi- dently plays its part. IV THE PEOPLE It is not enough to know the goods or the service that the advertiser is to oifer for sale, important as that knowledge is. Advertising, so far as the commercial world is concerned, is a form of selling, and selling is a transaction that comprehends, not only the man who has something to sell and the thing that he has to sell, but the people to whom he hopes to sell. The prospective customer is the most impor- tant factor in the game. The goods or service to be advertised may be of great value, but, commercially speaking, their value amounts to nothing unless the prospective purchaser can be made to see the value. Value depends on the state of mind of the prospective pur- chaser. The mission of advertising is to de- velop states of mind. Advertising will always be a work of end- less variety and will never be reduced to an 23 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT exact science, just because of this "prospec- tive-customer" factor. Human nature is the most wonderful thing in the world. You, the reader, are just one human being, and you do not even know yourself perfectly. You cannot accurately forecast just what your impressions and actions will be under some circumstances. It is true, however, that there are certain men- tal processes that are common to most people. If this were not true, we could have no science of the mind, no psychology. Because human minds are fundamentally alike, we are able, by reflecting how we ourselves observe, rea- son, remember, and act, to approximate how others will observe, reason, remember, and act. Furthermore, we have acquaintances, among whom there are various types. Our intimate knowledge of these types of people broadens our knowledge of humankind. But tempera- ment varies greatly. Sex, age, education, en- vironment, and other factors give infinite va- riety to hmnan nature. As has already been pointed out, advertis- ing differs materially from face-to-face selling 24 THE PEOPLE in that the advertising man has no type of customer actually before him whom he can study closely and to whom he can adapt his argument. He must aim his argument at a prospective customer whom he can see only in his imagination. Besides — and this is an- other big difference — he cannot address him- self to one individual even in imagination. Now and then the class of prospective cus- tomers that the ad-writer addresses will be sharply defined, as, for example, in selling to wdmen, or to boys, or to architects ; but even within these sharply defined groups, custom- ers differ greatly in temperament, environ- ment, etc. Consequently, the ad-writer's job is that of selling to a group of people and a group that he does not see except in imagina- tion. Probably there is no such thing, strictly speaking, as the "average man" or the "aver- age woman," but when we use these terms we mean a type of customer possessing the most common traits in the group of people that wp are addressing, a composite customer, so to 25 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT speak. Mr. Edward Bok, editor of The Ladies^ Home Journal, says that for many years he had edited his great magazine with a certain type of woman in mind, a composite type, and that he did not meet a woman that seemed to combine all the qualities of his "mental pro- spective customer" until a few years ago. It is very difficult, indeed, for either editor or ad-writer to get away from his own personal point of view and look at subjects as those subjects are regarded by prospective custom- ers. Probably more errors are made in ad- vertising practice through conclusions arrived at from personal points of view than from any other reason. A busy man looks at a bulky catalogue. "Huh," he gnmts, "who would read such a thing! I know / never would, and I don't believe anybody does." Annual sales running over fifty million dollars a year seem pretty satisfactory evidence that one mail- order concern's bulky catalogues are read. The trouble with Mr. Busy Man in this case is that he is looking at the catalogue from his personal point of view rather than from the 26 THE PEOPLE point of view of the people for whom the cata- logue was written. We frequently hear remarks to the effect that long letters will not be read, that adver- tising matter sent under one-cent postage will not be opened, that cheap printing will get no attention, and so on — all of which may be true with respect to one class of people, but altogether and absolutely untrue with respect to another class of people. Once in the presence of my wife I held up a conventional announcement of a millinery opening, and, without any thought as to the point of view of my criticism, began to explain why the advertisement was likely to be in- effective. I had not gone far in my criticism before the wind was taken out of my sails by evidence that the advertisement had not only drawn the head of my household but a num- ber of her friends. I had been neatly cauglit in the simple error of criticizing from a man's point of view an advertisement that was writ- ten to appeal to women. For the moment I lost sight of the great difference between a 27 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT man's method of buying a hat and a woman's. Men do not attend formal millinery openings. Women find delight in them. One of the Travelers Insurance Company advertisements, showing a widow gazing at a vision of a train wreck, seemed to me to be ideal as a pictorial advertisement. But the ad- vertisement immediately impressed a woman as being uimatural, because the figure sup- posed to be the widow did not wear a collar or yoke that was appropriate for first mourning or second mourning. This is a good place to record my convic- tion that, on account of the difference between man's and woman's points of view on so many different kinds of goods, and because so large a proportion of the necessities of life are bought by women, — some put it as high as eighty per cent, — the usefulness of women ad-writers is sure to be more generally recognized. Ten years ago the woman ad-writer was a novelty. To-day there are scores of bright women in the business. The larger stores are employing them; the advertising agencies are finding real 28 THE PEOPLE need for them. What man could have the proper appreciation of fine silk petticoats or could put such a subject before the feminine mind properly! Some men can get the women's point of view, but it takes effort to study out things that a woman knows intuitively and can work out in a minute. Styles and fabrics — she began imbibing information about them when her hair himg down in two little plaits, and she has been at it ever since. These things are second nature to her. Her housekeeping and home-making interests began with the little toy house, the tin dishes, and her first doll. The faculty of knowing the woman's point of view is born in her. Where a man might ad- vertise, "We have a handsome line of infants' apparel," a woman could n't refrain from be- coming enthusiastic over the clothing of the important little personages. She would, to quote Mr. Charles Shearer, say quite natur- ally, "We have here the daintiest, cutest mites of apparel — dear little duds that you unconsciously take up tenderly and caress 29 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT soothingly, pat lovingly — just as if that tiny pink-and-white precious were already snug- gling in the graceful folds." Here is something from a recent advertise- ment of a large dry-goods store that shows how easy it is for "mere man" to miss woman's point of view: — "These stylish messaline petticoats have deep flounces and elastic tops." If Mr. Mere Man had possessed the faculty of talking as woman to woman, he would more likely have said: — "Just what the particular dresser has been waiting for — a petticoat that fits so snugly that the gown or skirt lies perfectly smooth around the waist line. A handsome black mes- saline without a bulky belt or string of any kind, but with a six-inch yoke of strong elas- tic that yields with every movement of the body, thus giving perfect comfort with exclu" sive style." The illustration of the difference between the average man's point of view and the aver- age woman's has been cited here just as one 30 THE PEOPLE example. It would be easy to multiply these examples. Much copy that is written to ap- peal to farmers goes wide of the mark because the writer does not know farmers. He may picture all of them as " rubes," or he may go to the other extreme and think of them as con- sisting entirely of the prosperous type, all own- ing automobiles, etc. The only safe way to learn people is to study the people themselves, their method of living, their methods of buying, their letters, etc. One may go wrong, in addressing farmers, even with a wealth of information, but he is surely less likely to go wrong than if he starts out with the stage, or the humorous-paper, picture of the farmer. Likewise, if one is to sell an article to den- tists, or to architects, or to retail grocers, he must make a study of dentists, architects, or retail grocers and be sure that his arguments will be received favorably by at least a good- sized group of these people. For the reasons here given, it is a poor plan for an ad-writer to confine himself entirely to 31 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT office work. To study psychology by means of textbooks may be well enough, but aroimd him, in the busy world, is a great laboratory into which he can enter and learn day by day. The best study of mankind is man, wrote Pope. Go out and mingle with the people that you hope to interest and to convince. See how they live and what attracts them. A suc- cessful department-store man makes it a rule to spend some hours every week on the street in front of the windows of his store, watching the crowds to see what they find in the win- dows that is of interest to them. He wanders aroimd the sales coimters, listening to the re- marks of customers about goods. He goes back to his work with first-hand impressions to keep him away from the quicksand of adver- tising, that shoal of errors and wrecks, the personal point of view. It has been argued, and with some reason, that copy should be written differently for readers in different parts of even one country — that we should, for example, advertise to New England readers in a different tone or 32 THE PEOPLE style from that which we would use for the South and West. It is easy, however, to rate this theory too highly. Undoubtedly some ad- vertisements should be shaped especially for New England readers and put in different form BOYS, LOOK This Mitt Only $1 .....^ Your team can't play the game right unless your catcher has a good mitt. Here's a bargain. Our CRACK- ERJACK mitt is made on the regular pro- fessional model, only it isn't so heavy. Back Is i soft glove leather, but ends of fingers are protected i 60 the fast ones can't hurt Front is selected heavy' J buckskin, skilfully padded Vtrith good felt. Wrist has heel pad. This mitt is put together to '' atay ; it's double-stitched ; will outlast sev. eral cheap mitts. Worth $2, but to get acquainted, we offer it at the low price of '^1 postpaid, satisfaction guaranteed. , Large illustrated guide and catalog of , J sportidg goods free. Wn'tt Unight. Say\ whether you wish mitt for right or left band J. J. Roach, 68 Veaey St, New York for Western or Southern readers, but a great deal of copy will fit one section of the country as well as another. Try sometime the job of writing an adver- tisement directly to a particular group of readers, say, for example, fifteen-year-old boys. The copy above, describing a baseball 33 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT mitt, is a good example of an attractive appeal to boys. Such copy is not as easy to write as it may appear at first glance. "A keen student of people," or "a good judge of human nature," is often put down as the secret of a merchant's success. The same idea applies to the writer of advertising copy. THE CONDITIONS One's knowledge of the article or service to be sold may be excellent, and he may be a keen student of people, and yet he may blunder in advertising if he goes ahead with a poor knowledge of the conditions in the market in which he proposes to sell. Is there really a market for the article? If there is already strong competition in the field, may it be overcome or can sufficient hold be gained to make the venture worth while? Are there enough prospective purchasers, able to pay the price asked by the advertiser, to make a permanent business possible? Is the article on sale in retail stores? Is it advisable to sell it that way? If it is not on sale in retail stores, how can it be placed on sale there, and must this not be looked after before the advertising appears, so that the 35 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT reader may be told where he can see the goods? Must an exclusive agent or sales represen- tative be introduced into the plan ? Can the article be sold direct to the con- sumer? If so, what is the easiest way to make the sale to him? Is it possible to make the periodical adver- tisements bring orders, or must the first object be merely to draw an inquiry and a catalogue or other circular be used to turn the inquiry into an order? What action can I reasonably expect of the prospective customer? These and other such questions should be answered. Surprising as It may seem, many costly ad- vertisements have been written and published when no facilities had been provided by which the customer could purchase. A large con- cern selling by mail an article that was priced for ^50, some years ago inserted pages of ad- vertising that cost from ^500 to $2000 each, before it had a booklet or a catalogue describ- 36 THE CONDITIONS ing the article. The concern fondly imagined that a plain typewritten sheet of description would bring an order. The magazine adver- tisements were written well enough. They developed interest and produced inquiries, but the campaign was futile because the ad- vertiser did not recognize the conditions and review them carefully before writing and pub- lishing the advertising. If you write an advertisement about flour or soap, you can hardly expect the reader to lay down the paper and make a bee-line for the nearest grocery store in order to buy and try the article you have advertised. Understand- ing the conditions under which such goods are usually bought, you will know that the most you can expect is a trial purchase of your arti- cle the next time the reader is m the market for flour or soap. You can count yourself lucky if any large proportion of the readers of a pub- lication are impressed to that extent. On the other hand, the writer of an adver- tisement about a gun or an automobile may reasonably expect to make such an impression 37 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT that many readers will at once ask for a cata- logue or write for information as to the name of the nearest dealer or sales agent. At the same time, it should not be overlooked that, even in such cases as these, a considerable advertising value is created among those who are not sufficiently impressed to send the ad- vertiser an inquiry. Some kinds of goods must be seen by the prospective purchaser before he will buy or commit himself to buy. All such conditions must be recognized before the advertising appeal can be intelligently written. It is said that an American advertiser has advertised in Chile, using a picture of Santa Claus going down an ice-encrusted chimney, when the weather in ChiFe at the Christmas season corresponds to the summer in the United States and when — still worse — the Chileans do not recognize Santa Claus! An advertisement intended to appeal to civil en- gineers was made ridiculous because the fig- ure in the illustration holding the rod was in a position that no rodman would take. An ad- 38 THE CONDITIONS vertising campaign in a section of country where housekeepers put up an unusual amount of canned goods, pickles, preserves, etc., failed to bring proper returns, for the obvious rea- son that the market for the advertised goods in that community was small. A paint manu- facturer found that he lost considerable of the effect of his advertising because much of it appeared in certain sections of the country behind the painting season or too far ahead of it. All of these examples are just instances of where advertising failed to exercise its full force, could not exercise its full force, just be- cause those who prepared and published the advertising did not understand the conditions thoroughly. Constructed so as to sway people to move easily and naturally in the direction that they are most inclined to go, advertising can accomplish wonders. But to expect it to overcome hard conditions may be to court disappointment. Advertising has broken peo- ple of certain habits and even induced new ones, but success is much more likely to come 39 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT if the advertising is so arranged that people may conveniently do what the advertiser asks. "Come to my store to-morrow morning and get a dozen at fifty cents," may f^il to bring the reader, because it may not be convenient for the reader to come. "Call me on the tele- phone and tell me to send you a dozen at fifty cents," may tempt the reader to act favorably at once. To get full efficiency from our advertise- ments, we must cap our knowledge of the art^- icle and of the people to whom we hope to sell it with a good knowledge of the conditions in the market we wish to enter. VI THE ADVERTISEMENT ITSELF Assuming that we have primed ourselves with a good knowledge of the commodity, that we have a true vision of the group of people that ought to buy the article or service, and that the conditions are such that we can go ahead with our advertising, we are ready to lay the foundations of the advertisement it- self. Much indeed has been done when we have arrived at this state. What shall the advertisement be? It may be well at this point to define what the word " advertisement " stands for. It com- prehends the illustration of the advertisement if one is to be used. It also comprehends the typographical display. But there is not space in a book of this size to consider all these vari- ous phases of an advertisement. A thorough discussion of such a subject as advertise- ment illustration would alone fill a good-sized 41 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT book. The object here is to deal merely with the writing, the literary form, of advertis- ing. Now, as has already been pointed out, an advertisement may consist merely of an at- tractive or suggestive name, or a slogan such as "Don't envy a good complexion; use Pom- peian and have one." It may be a four-line classified advertisement xmder Help Wanted or For Rent, a kind of advertisement that is actually looked for by a large number of readers. It may be a few words on a sign or forty or fifty words on a street-car card. It may be a four- inch single colunrn newspaper advertisement of $ioo-bonds that must be worded so care- fully and set up so impressively by the printer that it will force itself into the attention of hundreds of readers. Or it may be a full-page dry-goods store advertisement. Our copy may deal with a subject so commonplace that we can hope to get attention only for a few words boldly displayed, or the subject may be of such inherent interest that, with a single at- tention-attracting feature, we can command 42 THE ADVERTISEMENT ITSELF favorable attention for a thousand or more words set in small type. The very fact that the word "advertise- ment" covers so much makes it difficult to lay down rules. However, for the sake of simplicity, we will disregard those advertisements that a reader naturally looks for, such as Help Wanted, For Rent, and. others of this class. Most adver- tisements should be written on the assump- tion that they must be forced into attention; that the reader bought the magazine or the newspaper for the sake of what appears in the so-called news columns or reading pages and will give his voluntary attention to that; and that we have the task of drawing him away and making it to his interests to read our message. Manifestly, then, the ad-writer has the same job before him that the story-writer or the writer of a news article has — to produce some- thing that commands the attention of the reader and commands it in such a way that the reader will have his interest" developed rather than decreased. 43 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT The George Batten Company, a New York advertising agency, has summed up the pur- poses of an advertisement admirably. Accord- ing to the Batten definition, an advertisement has these purposes : — To be seen; To be read; To be beheved. And it is added that the most important thing about the advertisement is that it should be believed, I would add "to be remembered," as a fourth important purpose. This simple definition really sums up an entire advertising course. There is no need for other rules as to how an advertisement should begin, how it should be developed, and how it should end. Begin it in such a way that it will be seen, will appear attractive to the eye of the reader and secure a reading. Construct the message so that it will be believed and remembered. This done with a high degree of efficiency is a task worthy of a master hand. The functions of an advertisement have been often stated in a way that is somewhat 44 Saks Skeleton Clothes flThey are just ligaments of cloth held together by thread and fused through with Style. 9 And you can see Saks workmanship exposed at erery seam and thriving on exposure! QEven the waistcoat, in many of our models, is absolutely denuded of every stitch of lining. flAnd the fabrics them- selves, being selected for their lightness of texture, add to the desirability of these wonderful clothes by virtue of what they subtract. flCandidly, Saks suits this Summer are the lightest creations ever turned out from the tailor's bench producing Comfort by what they omit and Style by what they include. Men'} Suits $17.50 to f4S Broadway at 34th Street The " skeleton " idea made this stand out strongly amongcloth- ing advertisements. It sold a Saks suit to the author of this book The new pack of deep sea mackerel are surely fine There are two divisions in the Mackerel tribe. One is the shore fish — such as those that are in onr Fam- ily Kit. The other are the deep seaNorway Mackerel. Somehow, the cold depths of northern waters give to the mackerel a firmness and pluihpoesB of flesh, together with a tenderness that make them mighty appetizing. There is perhaps no breakfast that appeals more keenly to a hungry man on a crisp October morning. These are choicely selected fish. Freshen out well, broil and cover with melted butter. Number 4 FaU (1.26 Number 3 FaU ll.fiO Number 2 Fail 12.00 Number 1 FaU 12.60 Our Family Kit U ooropQilBd of shore. mAckeral — dfllicioiu little flib, mnntng perbsps tS to Iff ko tbakit. $1 the Idl Fish foods of high merit Tnna, big obooky meat like tba wbita meat of ohioken, tba flaeit of all flab for ulacU. aSo « tin; (2.65 a doHo. Herring Roe, IBe ■ tin; 82 dam, Codfiib Shreds, enough for fuar people in eaab P^gt lOo « pke. MaaonoobleKlpperfldHarriiiB; ISO tk tin; Vtl.lS a dos. Morel's Bon41as*Sudliies,aSo • box; A2.85 a doa. Shad Roe, 25o ■ tin. Thos. Martindale & Co. 10th & Market Eatabliihfld in 1S69 8«1I Pheass— nn>ert 2B70.Fab«t 2871 Kqrstoaa— Raca 690, Race S91 An appetizing food adver- tisement This and the Saks example appeared originally as single- column newspaper advertise- ments THE ADVERTISEMENT ITSELF different from the Batten analysis. The fol- lowing are the "steps" most frequently out- lined for an advertisement: — ' To attract favorable attention; To develop interest; To create confidence; To convince; To induce action. This is merely a more elaborate way of stating the ideas that are concisely expressed in the Batten formula. Observe that " attention" is qualified by " favorable." It is comparatively easy to attract attention if one be satisfied with any sort of attention, but it accom- plishes nothing to attract attention if the ad- vertiser is regarded with derision or suspicion, as he is likely to be when he adopts freakish or sensational schemes. Not every advertisement, however, will in- corporate all of the five steps. Many ad- vertisements do not and cannot induce any immediate action. Many do not really con- vince of anything, but merely catch attention and impress the reader with the name or 45 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT identity of a certain article and stop with that. It would not be judicious to try to make every advertisement perform all of the five steps. Some advertisements present such a brief mes- sage, and flash it so quickly on the reader, that all the various steps that enter into the ad- vertisement are merged into one. Sometimes an advertisement is merely an appeal to curi- osity, as in the case of the following: — What is JOHN MARTIN'S BOOK FOK CHILDREN 7 Write to 6 West 39tli St., N. T, Here the advertiser, realizing that it would take considerable space to describe his book, is endeavoring, by merely making it clear that he has something special for children, to draw inquiries with a very small advertisement and then give the full information to interested persons. It is not always possible to do this, and yet the advertisement here reproduced seems to have a fair chance for success. An advertisement may be a complete ex- position of the merits of an article, as, for in- stance, when a house or a business is to be sold. Or it may be just a point or a few points about 46 IHE ADVERTISEMENT ITSELF an article. The article may be such that the public would not care to read a long treatise about it. It would be difficult, for example, to get very long advertisements about shaving- so^p read unless the soap possessed remarkable features that were described in an unusually interesting manner. Most goods of this class are advertised in series of advertisements, each one of which presents a point or a point or two about the product. Yet the busy man, who probably would not read more than fifty or a hundred words about a shaving-soap, might read five hundred about a motor-boat. So once more we fall back on the principle that the amount of information to be given in a single advertisement depends on what the article is and the class of people to whom it is advertised. It would be easy to say that men would not read much matter about a cigar, but Mr. Her- bert Shivers, a mail-order advertiser of Phila- delphia, has succeeded in getting long and closely set cigar advertisements both read and believed. So something depends on the 47 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT treatment as well as on the character of the article. This is to be considered: the sale of many products cannot possibly be closed by an ad- vertisement. The most that an advertisement can do in cases of this sort is to attract the reader, interest him, and induce him either to write for further information or to go to a retail store or a local sales agent to see the advertised article. In a case of this kind it would be folly to use costly space in a vain effort to complete the sale with the periodical advertisement alone. In deciding about the amount of informa- tion to be given, it is well to remember that the reader of an advertisement is not impelled by courtesy to read one second longer than the ad- vertisement merits attention. The prospective purchaser in a store may listen patiently to a tiresome conversation by the salesman, but the author of salesmanship in print has no such advantage; he must deserve attention in order to get it, and must maintain the attention until his appeal has made the desired impression. 48 THE ADVERTISEMENT ITSELF As has been suggested, it is often advisable to present the argument in favor of a product in a series of advertisements that tell the full story, rather than risk boring the reader by- giving all the details in one advertisement. Procter and Gamble, the owners of Ivory Soap, have used a fine newspaper series, each advertisement dealing with just one special use of Ivory Soap. In such cases it may be well to carry some striking display or central idea in all the advertisements of the series, so that a connection will be established. If the advertiser has a slogan, perhaps that may be used as the connecting link. In some instances the different steps in producing the advertised article have been used as subjects of series advertisements. VII SIGN-POSTS OF ADVERTISEMENTS It is astonishing that so little has been written about the "sign-posts of advertise- ments" — the headlines or principal displays. A great amovmt of attention is paid to head- line writing in newspaper work; and story- writers give the greatest consideration to the titles of their stories — seeking a combination of words that will awaken interest. The head- line is certainly of as great importance to an advertisement as it is to a news-story or a bit of fiction. It is possible to have an attractive adver- tisement without a headline. When the no- headline form is adopted, however, the open- ing of the advertisement is usually set in a large, clear type that practically takes the place of a headline. Occasionally the ad-writer will depend entirely on an apt illustration tc catch the reader's attention. But in most ad- 5° SIGN-POSTS OF ADVERTISEMENTS vertisements the headline plays an indispens- able part in the exceedingly important matter of securing the reader's attention. The headline is the attention-catcher, the index by which the eye of the reader is caught and brought to what the advertiser has to say. Students of advertising are often urged to study newspaper headlines as examples of ad- vertisement-headlines, but there is a difference that it is important to recognize. The news- paper serves many different classes of people, and its publishers do not imagine that every article they publish will be interesting to every reader. They aim to publish a little that will attract each class of their readers — politics for those interested in politics, sports for those interested in that department, etc. Conse- quently, the newspaper headline clearly indi- cates what follows. If a reader is not interested in a certain subject, the newspaper editor ex- pects that reader's attention to move on to something else. The advertiser, on the other hand, wants to draw the attention of people to his announce- 51 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT ment, whether they were originally interested or not. While he is running a grave risk if he uses deceptive headlines (it is generally con- ceded that all advertising that deceives, tricks, or provokes the reader has no sales force when the reader becomes aware of the deception), he must so phrase his headline that the reader will be impelled to give attention. For in- stance, the headline " The Man Who Knows" has much more pulling power than "New Encyclopedia for Sale on Easy Terms," though the reader does not instantly see that a set of books is being advertised. The incompetent advertiser shows his in- competence by selecting headlines that pos- sess little or no interest value — "Notice," "Your Attention is Invited," etc. Here, again, point of view must be considered. Don't use a headline just because it suits your particular fancy. Ask yourself how it will appeal to the people you are trying to reach. Good headlines may be coined for even the most ordinary products. Take, for example, this headline from a lumber advertisement: — ■ 52 SIGN-POSTS OF ADVERTISEMENTS 40,000 Feet of Hemlock Boards at $18 a Thousand This is pertinent and would no doubt get the attention of any one who could make good use of such boards. One of the finest headlines I ever saw was on an insurance advertisement — "Don't Force Your Widow to Marry Again." It shot an arrow straight to the mind of every married man who had not sufficiently protected his family with insurance. The choice of words is admirable. Think of the meaning behind the word "force." "One Tenth of a Cent Will Buy Prestige" is the headline of an advertisement of supe- rior bond letterhead stock. It would be diffi- cult to assemble eight words that would more impressively bring out the point of how little it sometimes costs to go from the ordinary to the distinctive. Even such a staid business as a financial or brokerage house may have a headline or slogan full of interest value. A New York brokerage house advertises itself S3 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT freely as "Odd-Lot Specialists" and appar- ently finds that excellent advertising. Students of advertising have frequently asked that certain classes of headlines be de- fined and certain rules laid down. It seems to me that classifications would be confusing, because almost every day a first-class adver- tisement headline pops up that is in a class by itself. The only test worth while, is, Will this combination of words surely draw the favor- able attention of a good group of readers to the remainder of the advertiser's message? If the headline will do this, then it is a good headline, no matter what its form is. Some ad-writers prefer the forceful form of heading known as the "direct-command." "Shop in New York," "Save the Agent's Conamission on Your Insurance," "Protect Your House from Fire," are examples of di- rect-conamand headings. The question-form of heading is a favorite one also. Examples: "Do you Want to Go to California?" "Is Your Home Protected?" The question is a form of expression that goes 54 Write Your Sermons in Shorthand Hov east\y and qatckly shorthand is written. Only eight or ten seconds required to write the above, which in plain print is "And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem." Why Yon Should Take Our Special Correspondence Course In Shorthand lor Ministers Ir To Save Time and Labor. One of th^ hardest parts of a preacher's work Is the writing out of his two sermons each week. After days of^ study and meditatloa upoo his chosen theme comes the drudgery of giving It verbal form and writing it on paper. Many a [ireacher seeks his bed at midnight on Saturday after tedious hours of wrKing. His vitality ■ not as it should be, at flood tide for his Sabbath day's work. By our method he can write his sermons la less than one-iifth the time, Indeed, as quickly almost as he can think, and with scarcely any resultant weariness ; and they will be perfectly legible. 2. To Gather SlateriaL Inashorthandvestpocketnote-bookthebusypreachermaycatry a working reference library of useful thoughts, extracts, apt quotations, Illustrations, suggestions, headings, outlines, references, etc., to w^iich he can add daily, on the instant, as the spirit moves. 3. To Save Space and Bulk. The preacher who uses the manuscript of his sermon lo his pulpit little knows, oftentimes, how the continual turning of the leaves, be it ever so alclLf ully done, wearies a portion of his congregation and causes them to long for the last leaf. A sennoa may be written In shorthand on very lew sheets of paper. A comprehensive outline may b^ written on a single sheet or card. A sermon thus written will occupy much less space in the desk. A year's sermons may be placed In one small box. The saving of paper aloo^ becomes an Item. Pmyermeeting talks can be written on a small card to be held in a hand Bible. 4. ToAld Fluent, Vigorous Composition. The marked difference between extern* poraneous preaching and reading a written sermon is caused ta large measure by the alow Srocess of writing out the discourse. The mind flashes ahead faster tnan the hand can follow. ly the time the words come from the pen they have lost something of the fire and 'fluency of the mind's first conception. A sermon written by our rapid shorthand method approatiks more nearly to the extemporaneous utterance, and thus carries greater power and convittion. Sverv minister would learn shorthand If he realized the immense value of the accomplish- ment and the ease with which it may be ac* quired. Read the enthusiastic testimonials of ministers in our catalogue. ■WE TEACH ONLY BY MAIt. Instruction is based on experience in pro- fessional shorthand work. For more than two years we .did a large amount of shorthand reporting for the Law Department of the City of New York. Highly endorsed by leading shorthand experts. Three years' experience in teaching by mail. Successtul pupils in our own city and In every part of the country. Send the Inquiry Coupon opposite, and secure full partic- ulars concerning our methods of correspondence teaching and our special short course for minis* ters. Costsnolhingtotiyalesson. Sendto-day. Jan. SEND THIS mpli.iii,wHhaulfu(lhrr obllKoil™ on mr P»r TcillJe.inll Sunt. F.leotrlclBn Civil Kn>lr.c€r Italld'K ioutmelor Architect HlruFlumlKDilncFr llDiiLInc Mlnl..g>:nKl>..^er Strong because true to life Size of original, 45 X S inches POINTS OF CONTACT was "The Man Who Knows." Instead of fea- turing the set of volumes as a desirable pur- chase, the writer of the advertisement very skillfully brought out the suggestion that the man who keeps storing his mind with useful information is likely to win position and power. Hence, the appeal was made more pointed. The International Correspondence Schools' advertising is all along this line. They do not advertise "Home Study Courses for Sale." They realize that the idea of study is attractive to only a few, that the thing they must play up is the benefit of study, the rewards that technical knowledge will bring the possessor. Of course, in both the cases here cited, the books or the course of instruction are finally brought into the argument, but they are kept secondary to the main appeal of the advertise- ment. The talking-machine was not a wonder- ful success commercially so long as it was ad- vertised in a mechanical way. When the entertainment possibilities were realized, and entertainment was made the keynote of the 65 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT advertising, the advertising was nauch more eifective. Powder as powder has n't a great deal of interest for the average reader, but advertise it as a means of enjoying the sport of trap- shooting, or as an effective way of getting stumps out of land, breaking the hard pan of soil, blasting ditches, etc., and immediately a broad field of interest is opened. Waldo P. Warren, advertising manager for Marshall Field & Co. for a nimiber of years, says that one day he visited the childrenV clothing department to gather material for a children's-clothing panel for one of his forth- coming advertisements. The buyer gave a lot of data about the assortment of the goods, the materials, the good quality of workmanship, etc., but still it did not seem to Mr. Warren that any point that had been presented stuck out strongly. Finally, he blurted out: "Why is it, when you have such splendid offerings here, that a great many more women do not buy these children's outfits?" "That's easy," replied the buyer: "they 66 POINTS OF CONTACT have become so accustomed to buying goods and making up their children's clothing that it is hard for them to get out of the habit or for us to get them out of it." There was the strong appeal, and the leading thought in that section of the Marshall Field advertisement a day or so later was that it was folly, a sheer waste of time, to make children's clothes at home when such assortments and such values as the Field store offered could be had. The point of contact had been found. This "point-of-contact" idea is such a broad one that it covers many of the details of an advertisement such as the headline, the illustrations, etc., subjects that will be consid- ered separately in following chapters. The writer of advertisements that are to be inserted in magazines, newspapers, street-cars, etc., need not give much thought to introduc- tions. It might almost be said that there are no introductions to advertisements, for, while usually there is a preliminary of some kind, — a point of contact made before we thrust forth the purely commercial object of the adver- 67 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT tisement, — this preliminary is such a vital, inseparable part of the message that it would be misleading to call it an introduction. If the opening language is not vital to that which follows, if it could be easily separated and would leave the succeeding copy with an inter- esting opening, then it may well be questioned whether or not the so-called introduction is not mere verbiage, generalities of interest may- be to the one who wrote them and possibly also pleasing to the manufacturer or merchant who is to pay for the announcement, but of no in- terest to the people expected to read the mes- sage. Some ten years ago the advertisements of the department and dry-goods stores were adorned with long or pompous introductions. Nowadays the preliminary talk of the experi- enced advisers is short and pointed. The "Baby Letter" here reproduced is merely an advertisement in letter form. Sales letters, whether written singly to different people or written along general lines so as to appeal to a group of people, should conform to all the requisites of good copy-writing. In 68 Traders Natiohal Bank SCRANTON. Pennsylvania Bear Tonne 7rlanl: This lianlc lellBTes In working for the futura, anl 80 -the other day when we saw In the paper that you had ooms to town to stay we made up our mind to send you a little letter. Of oourse, Just now ereryhody Is fusslns orer you, tryins to make you oomforta'ble and trying to decide whether you look most like .Fapa or Uamma, or whether yott are Just the Image of Orandpa. Sut don't you let the grown folks worry you. Just klok up your heels and hare a. good time, for there la lots of fun ahead of you. Tou don't need money now, hut you will some day, ant .10 you oan't start too early to saTO. Just tell Uamma and Papa the heat you can hy winks and hllnks that the next time -either of them oomes downtown we want a oall, for we are laying aside a nice little home-saTings hank for you. Uamma and Papa can put in odd change for you. It will count up like ererythlng, and by and hy when you are hlgger you will save nlckles and dimes, too. If Papa oomes home and says he forgot to call here for your hank,, you set up a howl, and the next time he won't forget. We will he watching out for him, hecauaa If he isn't already a depositor here we want to show hln the kind of serrioe we give folke who do their hanking tusineas with us. Good luok to you, and may you grow up to he healthy > vaalthy and wise. Host truly yours, TBADSRS HATIOITAI. BABS Printed originally on embossed "baby size" stationery POINTS OF CONTACT this case the letter was addressed to newly bom babies about two weeks after birth, the names being taken from the daily papers and afterwards checked off with the deaths so that no letter should be sent to a home where the baby lived only a few days. The plan here, of course, was to reach the parent through the child and through the new plans and ideals that come into a home on the birth of a child. Some people do hot learn the full lesson of responsibility imtil they have children. This letter arrives, then, at a psychological mo- ment, so to speak. Printed attractively on em- bossed baby noteheads, it has been used suc- cessfully. It is just one more of many scores of different kinds of "points of contact." IX INTEREST VALUE AND THE NEWS ELEMENT While the ground has been taken that most advertisements must be forced into attention and should be prepared on that assumption, I have little patience with the idea that there is not a great deal of inherent interest in ad- vertisements of worthy products. The interest of people generally in the so-called reading- pages of the newspapers and magazines is con- ceded. Yet many of the matters dealt with »in the advertising columns are just as vital and as interesting, if treated properly, to groups of readers as any other kind of so-called news. What is of more vital interest to the housewife than attractive clothing and furniture, than good food? What is closer to a man than his farming machinery, his blooded live-stock, his office equipment, improved drills for his quarry work, a new golf stick, etc.? With such subjects treated skillfully and with stale, 70 THE NEWS ELEMENT general advertising decreased, we can make the advertising section of a publication as interesting as the part in which the editors labor, ' The story of Kipling and the advertising sections of magazines may or may not be cor- rect, but it contains a kernel of truth. As the tale goes, an American friend sent a package of magazines from which the advertising sec- tions had been cut lest the distinguished author be bored or annoyed by sordid commercial writing that fills space worth from ten dollars to over a hundred dollars per column-inch, Kipling responded, it is said, "Next time send me the advertisements; I can write stories myself." For the sake of good advertising, publishers should discourage uninteresting appeals and should by all means refuse all offensive or fraudulent copy which, sad to say, still parades impudently in many publications. Consider for a moment an advertisement of the Lehigh Valley Railroad annoimcing that day coaches would be made a part of the 71 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT Black Diamond Express. This train is a fam- ous train on which thousands of people like to travel. Formerly it consisted of Pullman cars exclusively. The mere annoimcement that day coaches would be added was an item of great news value to thousands of travelers. I was once discussing advertising with a manufacturer of wire rope. He admitted that he was probably not advertising in the most skillful manner; "but what," said he, "can you really say about wire rope, after all. It is just wire rope, and about all you can do is to say that the Blank Manufacturing Company makes wire rope." A few minutes later he gave the information that the wire rope of his com- pany was being installed in the then tallest building of New York — a building that per- haps hundreds of thousands of people had read about and that was of particular interest to the big builders. Here was a chance for this man- ufacturer to tie up his advertising to a building undertaking that was coming in for a great deal of expenseless advertising. He did n't see it at all. He had no "nose for news." 72 THE NEWS ELEMENT A real-estate man called on a clever adver- tising woman to discuss advertising a very attractive suburban tract. It was a beautiful hill, well wooded. Early in the conversation the real-estate man dropped the information that he was having the trees cut off. "Of course," said the advertising woman, "you are leaving some on each lot. Do that and we'll call it Bungalow Hill." The real-estate man grabbed the telephone and shouted a quick order to stop the cutting of the trees im- til he gave further instructions. Odd as it may seem, he had overlooked the possibilities that the person of keen advertising nose saw im- mediately. Of course no rules can be laid down as to how a writer may put greater " interest value" into his copy. That is his problem. He must look at his work with fresh eyes, must avoid the hackneyed and the commonplace. In a sense, he must be original; and he can afford at times to be daring. A Denver store some years ago adopted a plan of having a clever writer go through the various sections or depart- 73 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT ments as a visitor would and write only about the goods that particularly attracted her. One day, for example, she described the vacation goods that she saw, another day, the things that a newly married couple would probably find interesting. This feature of the day's advertisement was written up in such a chatty, newsy style that many readers thought it was a news department of the paper instead of a mere section of a large advertisement. The novelty of the treatment evidently com- manded several times the usual attention. Had many stores been running a feature of this sort, there would have been nothing novel about it. Style, whether in clothing, furniture, or something else, has a powerful interest or news value v^ith certain classes of readers, particularly women. It is likely that style advertising will replace bargain advertising to some extent as time goes on. The bargain offer has had more "interest value" than any other appeal that retail advertisements ever incorporated; but it has been grossly mis- 74 THE NEWS ELEMENT handled, and reforms will come with the better class of stores. Service is full of strong interest value. The information and cooperation that some con- cerns give as a part of what they sell to the purchaser is so valuable that it becomes the appealing part of the advertising. Mr. E. St. Elmo Lewis, of the Burroughs Adding- Machine Company, demonstrated this when he changed the advertising of the Burroughs Machine from a straight sales message about the machine itself to a message about a well- written practical book entitled "A Better Day's Work." Of course the book dealt with the way that a Burroughs Adding-Machine makes a better day's work, but Mr. Lewis is authority for the statement that the new style of advertising pulled m.uch more strongly than the former style. A manufacturer of fine stationery offers a book on "Letter Etiquette." Thousands of people want hints on social letter-writing and send for the book. The book itself gives an ideal opportunity to do the necessary adver- 75 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT tising work for that manufacturer's brand of linen stationery, but the point is that the little book possessed infinitely more " interest value " than a manufacturer's selfish argument about the merit of his paper. Timeliness and seasonableness are merely variations of "interest value." When the United States took possession of Vera Cruz, immediately the interest in the United States Navy and in naval and military topics greatly increased. Probably five or six times as much attention was given to these subjects as would ordinarily be given. Realizing this, I featured the new Naval Academy Armory at Annapolis in an Alpha Portland Cement advertisement with the heading, "Where the U.S. Gov- ernment Builds Men for the Navy — Built with ALPHA CEMENT." This is just one of many examples of how advertisers may seize the opportime moment for making a deep impression. Turning the thought of a great group of people in the direction you want it turned is^ no easy undertaking. It costs a great deal of 76 hero the U.S.Governmen Builds Men for the Nav Bulk with ALf MA CEMENT -JfieJfi^kMterJidof Vitality HE United States Government, in making the Naval Academy improvements, built with materials that stood for strength and permanence as well as for beauty. The imposing Armory in which the Naval Academy cadets will assemble for generations to come typifies the strength and permanence of the Government that the structure represents. ALPHA Portland Cement was used exclusively in this building. ALPHA Portland Cement has for twenty-three years been manufactured on a "high- quality" poHcy. There-has never been any second grade ALPHA; only one grade is made, and that the best that human skill and the most modem equipment can produce from quarries that are famous in the cement-making world. ALPHA Portland Cement is tested hourly by chemists throughout the process of manu- facturing. In composition, thorough burning, fine grinding and proper seasoning it is an I exceptional cement. It is guaranteed to more than meet U. S. Government and all other standard requirements. You can always be absolutely sure of ALPHA quahty. Capacity, 25,000 barrels a day; storage for 2,000,000 barrels. Six great plants on six trunk-line railroads; one plant with private docks directly on the Hudson River, ideally situated for canal, coast and export shipment. Eight branch offices at your service. Alpha Portland Cement Co. %i^^^'j) General Offias EASTON. PA., ^s^lMI BmmhOmca NEW YORK, CHICAGO, PHILADELPHIA, " " " BOSTON, BUrFALO,PnTSBURGH.BALTIMORE.SAVANNAH Timely because published when the U.S. Navy was guarding Vera Cruz Size of original, 7X10 inches THE NEWS ELEMENT money. Consequently, when the attention is naturally turned the way you want it, when there is a state of mind that has cost you noth- ing, but which perhaps you could not create without the expenditure of tens of thousands of dollars, surely it behooves you to make the best possible use of that state of mind by featuring things in your advertising that are timely. The connection should be logical, how- ever. At the begiiming of the European War, a number of advertisers attempted to trade on the interest in the war by introducing "war talk" into their copy when there was abso- lutely no connection. This is idle or worse. When Colonel Roosevelt returned from his African hxmt the advertiser of Gold Dust made a hit by the use of a large poster, showing the distinguished hunter landing, while behind him came the smiling Gold Dust Twins. The word- ing was "Roosevelt Scoured Africa — We Scour America." When the baseball player is at the height of his popularity, the tobacco company arranges to have him confess how dearly he loves to 77 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT smoke a certain brand that this concern makes, and the public at that certain time is much interested in the famous pitcher or hitter and reads his opinion about the tobacco with more than the usual interest. This is timeliness com- bined with that general interest that human beings have in other well-known human beings. When the eyes of the sporting world in America were centered on the 1913 World's Series between the champions of the National and American Baseball Leagues, the adver- tisers of the Victor Typewriter broke into the New York newspapers with advertisements explaining why the reporters of these exciting games were using Victor typewriters. Here the advertisers deliberately "cashed in" on an interest that they probably could not have created with ten thousand dollars of their own money, and it was legitimate even if a few wise readers suspected that the stage had been fixed for the advertising. Seasonableness is a form of timeliness. At different seasons of the year the thoughts of groups of readers turn naturally to certain 78 Plain Piano Talk Why don't you settle that mnch^ mooted question in your family by buying a piano NOW? Tallcing about it won't put It Into your home— will not stop the importunities of the young folic. Let's guess why you are pro- crastinating. You want a piano; you feel the need of it; but you can't spare the money to pay cash just now, and yon thinlc you can save money by waiting until you can spore it. And you wait and wait. You are wrong. No man, no matter what his station In life, can buy a piano in our store for less money by paying cash down than the man who talces advantage of our little-a-month plan, with inter> est at 6 per cent, a year. Every piano on our floors is marked the spot^cash price. If you want to borrow the money to pay for it we will lend it to you at 6 per cent, interest a year on the unpaid balance. Cash or time, the price Is the same. We will sell you, at the spot-cash price, any piano you may select, and give you 20 to 30 months in which to pay for it. Suppose you tried to save the money to pay cash. Could you doit? Would yoaioM Let us talk with you. Come Iq and see what we have. No tricks, no guessing contests; the only one-price, no-commission piano and music house. J. W. JENKINS' SONS MUSIC CO. 1013-1015 Walnut Street Nothing about the goods, but a forceful appeal Single-column newspaper advertisement THE NEWS ELEMENT subjects. At such times, seasonable advertis- ing has great additional interest value. "Hunt- ing Season Just Three Days Off " hits the bull's- eye with probably every lover of hunting who. even glances at the page on which this adver- tisement appears. Perhaps fishing-rods can be sold at Christ- mas, but they can be advertised to much greater advantage when the air begins to have the feel of the fishing season and the passer-by sees the swift leap of the trout or the bass from an alluring brook. X THE APPEAL OF PICTURES The ad-writer has no greater aid than good illustration. Pictures possess strong inherent interest value. The child is attracted by pic- tures long before printed words mean any- thing to him. Everybody likes to look at pic- tures. Pictures give the argument or the descrip- tion at a glance. They show what perhaps could not be fully described in five hundred or a thousand words. Boss Tweed, of New York, it is said, declared that he cared nothing about the word-criticism of him that the newspapers published, but he shrank from having the peo- ple see cartoons of him; they could understand the pictures even if they did n't read edito- rials. And it is generally conceded that Nast's pictures put this political boss out of business. Besides their great value as a means of 80 "Is There a Great Difference Among Portland Cements?" ?«< "Maybe not," says the wise engineer, "but in a product I ike cement a little difference is a big difference. You can't have your cement too good when you are after strength, permanence and safety. And you want senice and responsibility that is as good as the cement itself." For 23 ycary the name ALPHA has stood for "the bigli-water mark of quality" among Portland Cements. ALPH.'V came into the field when imporied Portland Cements were tl t'arded as being the best, but the high uniform qualUy of ALPHA CIJMnNT speedily resulted in the adoption of ALPHA in place of the imporied article In the ALPHA plants the chemist has been and always will be a real boss. Quality comes first, and no zeal for large output or low operatmg cost is allowed to interfere with the ALPHA standard Hourly tests arc made in all ALPHA plants beginning with a careful analysis rf everv boring of the rock Chenueal ami cRiciencv engineers oversee the burning and griadlnj, RcMilt— every bag of ALPHA CEMENT goes out guaranlcd lo more than meet all standarj requirements. You can always depend on ALPHA CEMENT being correctly proportioned thoroughly burned, finely ground and properly aged. H'^ed in budding Bush Terminal. P. R. R. New York Terminal, New York Aqueduct, Gal \eston Sea Wall, Detroit Tunnel, and scores of other famous engineering undertakings. Capacity 25.000 barrels a day; storage for 2,000,000 barrels. Six great plants on six trunk Ijni.' railroads, one plant with private docks directly on the Hudson River, ideally situated for can.il, coast and export shipment. Eight branch offices at your service. .\sk for a cnpy of the ALPHA book, contaming valuable information on cement and con A conversational appeal Size of original, 7 X lo inches THE APPEAL OF PICTURES catching the attention of readers, illustrations may depict the goods themselves or demon- strate their use or operation. As has been already indicated, it is not the purpose, in this volume, to attempt to deal comprehensively with such important divisions of advertising as illustration, typographical display, the choice of advertising mediums, etc. But as illustration is such an important component of copy in most cases, it is impos- sible to consider thoroughly even the writing of copy without including consideration of the illustration. "Wouldn't the appeal to the reader be much more effective if the advertisement were illustrated?" is always a good question for the copy-writer to ask himself. Instances can be cited where illustration is hardly required — as, for example, in the case of an offering of bonds; but most advertisements profit by the introduction of illustration. The picture is far more attractive to the eye than plain type. Good illustrations made especially for use 8i WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT in just one advertisement are likely to increase the cost of the advertisement considerably. That, no doubt, is why a great many occa- sional advertisers content themselves with all- tjrpe messages, or use what are known as stock cuts or syndicated illustrations, which are de- signs made up in such a way that they can be used by different advertisers in the same kind of business but located in different sections of the country. Some really good illustrations are sold in this way. Cuts of clothing, hats, shoes, etc., are those sold most extensively on the stock or syndicate plan. By the use of these, an advertiser can for a dollar or two, maybe less, use illustrations that, if made for him alone, would cost from five to twenty-five dollars. The weakness of most stock illustra- tions is that they do not usually illustrate faithfully the exact goods advertised. Being made for general use, they are likely to be general rather than specific. They are useful mainly to retailers, and the best of them are the designs made up by manufacturers for the use of retailers of their goods aiid usually fur- 82 Get Your Uniforms And Play Ball The nine must have uniforms in order to make the proper showing. We have just received our full line of samples. It means a great deal to say that the colors are even pret- tier than those of last season, but they are; and prices are no higher. Come in and get samples to show the team. The style book this year suggests good color combinations. Copies free. Complete suits — cap, shirt, belt, trousers, stocliings, and shoes, $6, $8, $10, and $13.50. The $6 and $8 suits are the best we have ever ofibred at that price. Get in your order early and get your suits early. Suits for whole team lettered free. REINHART, 10 WASHINGTON AVENUE Copy written to fit an inexpensive stock cut Originally a double-column newspaper advertisement THE APPEAL OF PICTURES nished complimentarily; these show the exact design of the hats, shoes, etc., and enable the retailer to undertake illustrated advertising at reasonable cost. National advertisers and advertisers of spe- cialties must have special illustrations drawn or photographs taken if they want to intro- duce the picture element into their announce- ments effectively. Irrelevant and so-called humorous illustra- tions had better be kept out of advertising. The new advertiser is often tempted to intro- duce silly pictures or those that have no con- nection with the product to be advertised. Occasionally we see reminders of illustrations that were plentiful enough a dozen years ago: furniture tumbling over Niagara, illustrating "a flood of values"; a camel bearing the letter- ing "a humping opportunity." In the hands of the clever advertiser the humorous or quaint picture may be turned to good account, but cheap wit, poor puns, and grotesque figures are dangerous as illustrations. Have the il- Ivistration as attractive as possible, but let 83 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT it have a sensible connection with the subject of the advertisement. This does not mean that an illustration may not be cute; many illustrations of children are cute and very effective. As to whether photographic views or draw- ings are the better, I feel like replying, as the little girl did when asked whom she liked the better, papa or mamma. She replied, "Both." Photographs are stronger in realism, and you can usually get the details faithful in photo- graphs if you have good posing. On the other hand, drawings can be staged better, so to speak, and you can put emphasis on the im- portant point somewhat better in a drawing. Take, as an example, the cement advertisement showing the two men before the railroad bridge. It would have been practically impossible to secure the right sort of photograph for this advertisement. In fact, the argument was thought out first and the illustration had to be made to fit the idea. Cuts made from draw- ings are of more general use than half-tones from photographs. But both kinds of illustra- 84 The novelty of this illustration arrests the eye Size of original, 7 X lo inches THE APPEAL OF PICTURES tions are indispensable in the advertising busi- ness. Whether one or the other is the better depends on the particular thing or argument to be illustrated. The "Big Blast" cement advertisement fac- ing page 84 is a first-class example of how an unusual picture can be introduced in order to capture the reader's attention. Of course here the picture has nothing to do with the quality of the cement, but as it shows some of the operations in cement-making, it connects per- fectly with the argument in the mortise of the advertisement. It may be remarked, in pass- ing, that pictures showing action are generally regarded as having more attractive value than "stUl-life views." An old rule among illustrators seems to be, when you cannot get anything else that is better, show a good-looking woman or a bright child. Both subjects are attractive in life, so in advertising they are used liberally. Just because, however, pretty women and children can be used as attention factors in many advertisements, there is a tendency to 85 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT use such illustrations at times when they seem out of place. A fire-arms company has re- cently used an illustration of a smiling young woman holding a repeating shotgun out to the reader. It seems that the figure of a hunter would be more in keeping with the atmosphere of a gun advertisement. If the advertisement were designed to encourage the purchase of the gun by women or for women, the situation would be different. One of the automobile- tire manufacturers has long used the picture of an attractive young woman in its magazine advertisements and window cards and argues that it attracts people just as an attractive yoimg woman in a store would draw attention to herself. Women take a greater part in au- tomobiling than they do in hunting or in the buying of tires. It seems that the introduc- tion of the woman into a tire advertisement is not nearly so pertinent as it would be in ad- vertisements of household goods or complete automobiles. The association with the latter subjects is logical. One error that the writer unused to having 86 Compels attention because of its simplicity and directness Originally a back cover page of the Saturday Evenuig Post THE APPEAL OF PICTURES illustrations made is exceedingly likely to fall into is that of having the pictures show too much. If a vacuum cleaner is to be shown in action, it is not necessary that the parlor table, the bookcase, the andirons, and the cat be shown in the picture. The main feature of the illustration should be brought out strongly and nothing but the most necessary details included. The fewer the details, the stronger the main feature can be brought out. Study the best examples of human-figure advertis- ing — particularly among the small advertise- ments — and you will observe that often only a part of the human figure is included. We do not need to put all of a woman's body into the picture to show her using a meat- chopper; in fact, half of the figure will do well, if we have her hands and her face in the picture. Refer again to the cement ad- vertisement entitled "Is There a Great Dif- ference Among Portland Cements.?" What would have been gained here by including the figures of the men down to the soles of their shoes? 87 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT The Old Dutch Cleanser advertisement op- posite page 86 is a remarkably fine example of how the human figure can be introduced into an advertisement without at -the same time bringing in parts of the figure that are iinnec- essary as illustration. If the entire figure of the woman were included in this case, the hands would have to be much smaller. The floor-scrubbing scene would then have to be subordinated so as to accommodate the full figure of the woman. As the advertiser has it, the hands and face of the woman stand out strongly, and attention is focused directly on the scrubbing scene — the thing that the advertiser wishes to draw attention to. The imagination fills out the remainder of the picture. There are probably no better examples of illustrations of strong interest value coupled with conciseness than the pictures in that se- ries of Kodak advertisements entitled "There is a Photographer in Your Town." One could scarcely turn the page without stopping to look at the quaint picture of "Mother" and 88 c »J -S ' c F "t: t s o u E -c _c 3 S s •i ^S :S i3 -D ^ 3"S n O 'sl-S'S fast res. our si > ts^^s^ •£ i-.H ns 'd 6 CL. 0.-3 ^ u s-6 ^^%- ^ //^^^m [^ ^1 — 3 85 S b ^^^ t.5 J^H l^bf^A "^ c^ il X what the poet heart has felt, taken now and th image and memo 1 Clever photogr lenses and fast pi get wonderful res How long since baby's picture tak 1^ ■1; E I? s THE APPEAL OF PICTURES to read about her being a beauty in her day. These advertisements were true to life. Study the Pratt's Food advertisement for a moment. This is a simple idea — the enclos- ing of a message about poultry food in the T SAVE ALL CHICKS by feeding for the first three weeks PRATTS Baby Chick Food It carries them safely through the danger period, prevents disease, insures quick growth and early maturity. Sold 00 Money Back Gnarantea ■>, \\ . . <^ Dealers ETcrywhero A small advertisement that sticks out outline of a baby chick, but this illustrative feature made a small advertisement stand out on a page like the proverbial sore thumb. The hands by themselves — used in hold- ing things, pointing to features, etc., — have 89 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT been used to good advantage by illustrators. There is something very human about a pair of hands when we catch sight of them in a pic- ture, and we stop and look to see what it is alf about. That well-remembered Knox Hat ad- vertisement that showed a Knox held by Colo- nel Roosevelt had the striking view of a hand as well as the personality of an interesting man as attention-drawing features. Every one knows how business details can worry a man and keep him awake. The Bur- roughs Adding-Machine Company wanted to build an advertisement that pictured the woes of a man who did not have an adding-machine. So they produced the view of a restless book- keeper tossing on his bed at midnight while over him danced hob-goblins made up of col- umns of figures. As most people have had simi- lar experiences, the illustration hit the mark. The Park Hill advertisement shows how pictures can lend to copy tone that could hardly be imparted by words, no matter how skillfully written. Just because an illustration is to be a fea- 90 has witbineasy reach the churches, schoob and markeLs of Yonkers.enioyiag all tbe protection and advantages of this progressive city of 70,000 innab- itonta. In convenience, beauty, healthfulness, eocial life and eveiything that CQ&kes a homo location attractive, Park Hill, "The Suburb Beautiful," pr«eents a combination of city and country advantages that cannot ba ■urpBwed. On tbe very northerly edge of New York City, Juat beyond Van Cortlandt Park, in the direct path of the city's greatest growth, it is reached \>y 3 rapid transit lines, 45 minutes from the Battery, and 30 minutes front the shopping districts. With the extension of the Subway op Broadn-ay and the etectrlfication of the Putnam Division of the New York Central, Park Hill will enjoy the •cheapest and best transportation service of any suburb around New York, free from all Annoyance of fogs, ferries, bridges, transfers, tunnels, etc. You could want noi)etter, more attractive, more convenient location for » real home, and you could hardly find a more desirable investment. The time to buy to the best advantage is now. Choice plots ars offered on easy terms. Write to-day for booklet, map and full imorm.ition. AMERICAN REAL ESTATE COMPANY 5th Avenue & 44tli Street, New York 503 Night and Day BidIc Sulldro;. Telaphooe, J58a-J8th str«et An unusually high-grade example of an illustrated real-estate advertisement Newspaper advertisement reduced from three columns wide THE APPEAL OF PICTURES ture of your advertisement, don't neglect the part that is to go into type. Let both the wording and the picture be of one hundred per cent strength and ^t into each other har- moniously. XI IMAGINATION IN ADVERTISING Good advertising requires considerable Im- agination on the part of the writer and also re- quires that the imagination of the reader be appealed to. We have seen that the value of language in advertising depends on its picture-creating power. Before the reader comes to the point of deciding to buy his Fox gun or his Overland automobile, there have been created and re- volved in his mind pictures of himself owning and enjoying his gun or automobile. Imagination is a wonderful thing. In a twinkling it jumps hundreds or thousands of miles. It paints in faithful colors and in great detail anything in the mind of the reader that he himself may will to put there or anything that some one else may suggest to him. When we say that "anticipation is sometimes better 92 IMAGINATION IN ADVERTISING than participation," We are merely paying a great tribute to the power of the imagination to create pictures. A few words rightly chosen may be enough to start trains of thought in a reader's mind that will create vivid and impressive pictures. "As Imperishable as if cut out of Solid Stone," wrote some one, referring to a reinforced con- crete building. Immediately there arises be- fore the mind a building hewed out of solid stone. The words "Contented Cows" puts before those of us who know cows a picture of sleek Jerseys standing hoof-deep in pebbly, shady streams or grazing in rich meadows. ■ Take President Wilson's "watchful wait- ing" expression as an example of suggestive language. It put before the American nation a picture of a policy that could not be better described in five thousand words. Its power is .illustrated by the manner in which the expres- sion was caught up and passed along through- out the country and perhaps the world. There is great opportunity in advertising for the man who can write copy that appeals 93 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT strongly to the imagination — that in a few- words will start trains of thought and begin pictures that the imagination of the reader afterwards completes. Such copy is econom- ical cbpy, for in a few words it accomplishes as much as hundreds of words of another sort could accomplish. The International Correspondence Schools' style of advertising is a fine example of the appeal to the imagination. Pictures and head- lines are used that strike home, that catch attention, first of all, by making the reader feel that "that is my case," or, "that means me." 'Are Your Hands Tied?" is one of the best-known I. C. S. advertisements, and it is illustrated with a pair of hands at the top of the advertisement with the wrists wrapped tightly with rope. Having caught attention, the text of the advertisement proceeds to draw a picture of how the man with hands tied, so far as ordinary methods of gaining an educa- tion is concerned, may by the home-study plan become a free man. This is an inspiring vision to put before the masses of people who 94 YOUR Hands Tied? Do you want to get on- SUCCEED — earn more money ? Is there a cer- tain line of work in which you think you could do better— if you only had the training? Or a certain kind of position you would like to hold- only you fear your *'hands are tied?" Don't let your ambition die ! Don't think your hands are tied ! Don't think that you can't strike out for advancement and success — chat you do not dare, because you must eke out your daily bread — ^that you must go on in the same old rut as long as you live. Get out of the crowd of ordinary un- trained men — whose each day's work purs them no further ahead. Start \our advancement NOW — mark the coupon with a cross opposite the occu- pation you prefer, mail it to-day, and let the International Correspondence Schools give you full information on how they can hell> yoit to succeed — costs but postage — you incur no obligation. Simply let the I. C. S. tell you how they can assist you to become an EXPERT in your chosen work — in your spare time — at home — no matter where you live or how little you now earn. It's a winning game for you — if you will only enter. More than 400 I. C. S. students monthly VOLUNTARILY report increases in pay due to I. C. S. help. The world owes you success if you demand it — the world owes you nothing if you do not. Mark the coupon — begin NOW! This Coupon is for YOU '~ INTER^AT10?ALCORRESPONDENFEsIllOOLS' " Boi SCBANTON. FA. ?i fri ^ "f 'o' r" 'mi 1 n ' Cll^mUt /iCrram BulldinBCoDtnirtor Tilfphonp EiiMirt ■ItpcLlphdnebupl. Agriculture Bookliecptr I'l.Ttrlo niillwnTn Toulmaklnir r.M.llry Farmlne L. An advertisement that was published a number of times with excellent results Size of original, 5| X S inches WANil^D I •.\t- Wanted— Men to Fill Good Positions The International CoRRttSPONDENCE Schools, that great institu- tion that has done so much in the past and is doing so much every minute for working men and women, offers you a direct and easy way to help yourself to a most desirable position in the trade or profession that best suits your taste and ambition. The I. C. S. plan enables you to help yourself right where you are, without losing an hour's work or a dollar of pay ; without changing positions until you are ready to step into the one you desire ; without obligating you to pay more than your present salary will afford no matter how small it is. Special Sclf-Help Olfcr— Start Now! To assist those who have been hesitating, the I. C. S. has inaugu- rated the most remarkable plan of self-help ever conceived. Between May 15th :iud Ji'b' !='*■ everyone asking for information will be entitled to a special discount if they decide to enroll. This gives you every advantage the I. C S. has to offer at a cost so small and terms so easy that the last barrier is removed. There is absolutely no charge for infor- mation. Simply select from the list the kind of occupation you prefer, writing a postal card to the International Correspondence Schools, asking how you can become a suc- cess in that position. By return mail you will receive books, litera- ture and helpful advice that will surprise you. Write the postal card to-day. Inter- national Corres- pondence Schools, Box ii98,Scranton,Pa. Here is & List of Good Positions Select the one you prefer, write a postal to The InlernAtlonal Correspondence Schools, BoxlLdS , Scranlon, Pa., and ask how you can qualify to fill it at a good salary. Be sure and w-cMion the position you prtfer: Mechjn Stenographer Advertisement Writer Show Card Writer Window Trimmer Commciei^l Ljw lor SlenoBiiphcr* Illusliiloi Civil Service Chemijl Textile Mill Supl, Llcctricijn £,lcc. Engineer un Plumber Lice. Lighting Supt. Mechan. Engineer Surveyor Slationary Engineer Civil Engineer Building Contrjclor Architcct'l Dnllimji Architect Structural Engineer Bridge Engineer Mining Engineer ' Strong in human interest Magazine page reduced IMAGINATION IN ADVERTISING are dependent on their weekly wages and who in reality have their hands tied. "Wanted" is another strong I. C. S. head- line, accompanying which is a view of an empty office chair. This tells the whole story of the lack of men for big positions — a truth that every well-informed man at heart ac- knowledges. To draw in the reader's mind pictures of pleasure and comfort, of happy homes, of ap- petizing foods, stylish clothes, satisfying tools and the like — this is the task of the ad-writer who would draw large compensation for his labors ! But he, too, must have imagination, for though he may understand the value of every word in the dictionary, he cannot use them in painting pictures that he does not first see in his own imagination. No man who can- not see in his own mind the rare sport of coming up behind a setter, rigid as a statue as he points the place where lies the partridge; whose heart does not thump at the sight of the great brown bird hurtling up through the brush and soaring off down the hillside; whose 95 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT nostrils do hot in imagination catch the tang r^i the powder as the quick roar of the gun rings out and the heavy bird, with feathers cut loose and drifting lazily off, goes headlong to the ground, can ever draw vivid pictures of hvmting joys for others. He who can see in a Thermos bottle only a vacuum affair with non-conducting walls to keep out hot or cold for several days will never make a good copy-writer. He must be able to see, in his mind's eye, what a Thermos filled with cold lemonade means on the picnic or on the dusty roadside as the machine is stopped for a look into the hamper of grub. He must be able to appreciate the comfort the Thermos is to the mother on a cold winter night when the milk is ready for the little one without the bother of getting up and heating the bottle. The following introduction to a Thanksgiv- ing grocery-store list of offerings was written by a young student of advertising who a few weeks prior had no knowledge of the business of writing. It shows how atmosphere can be created even by a novice: — 96 IMAGINATION IN ADVERTISING Thanksgiving, Home day of feast and fun! Sir Gobbler struts no more, but king at last, brown-roasted and bursting with royal dress- ing, — fragrant, spicy and savory, — for his brief hour he reigns, the center of attraction. No wonder youngsters, pop-eyed with hungry longing, are almost too eager to wait. From orchards' "way back on the farm" come rosy, juicy apples. Then there are vegetables, piping hot, crisp celery, golden pumpkin pies and crinkly-crusted mince ones, tart cranberry sauce as of yore, and smoking fruit-puddings. Candies for a sweet tooth and nuts to crack with jest and story — such goodies once more make children of us all. We don't want to miss them. We've gathered all these toothsome things here from the markets of the world, and the variety is big enough for every appetite and purse. Let them call you a dreamer if they will, but take comfort in the fact that they who cut new paths In advertising efforts are those who dream dreams and see visions. When you put an advertisement before a superior for consideration or approval, it is best to make it as complete as possible. Some 97 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT people have little imagination and will not be able to grasp what you really intend to advertise unless the layout, or diagram of your argument, illustration, etc., is fairly complete. Because this is true, advertising agencies some- times go so far as to set advertisements up in type and submit first-class proofs. XII STYLE, AND STRENGTH OF APPEALS Le style c'est I'homme (The style is the man himself)- BUFFON. I HAVE seen many baseball pitchers pitch and many tennis players serve, but I have never seen two that brought their arms over in precisely the same way. Every man has some little movement all his own, and no one of them could perhaps swing or strike just as some one else does, and play as well as usual. It is, therefore, undertaking a great deal when one attempts to lay down anything but the most fundamental principles in discussing style in composition. One of the most striking newspaper stories written for the New York papers during the last ten years was the story of the murder of a policeman which was told almost entirely in the language of his Irish mother. That narrative was wholly outside of all accepted rules and styles of newspaper 99 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT writing, and still it was admirable work. One of the most popular books of the present gen- eration appeared in the form of the letters of one man to a younger man. Not every writer can write a successful book in just that style. Furthermore, when many books written in that style are appearing, the style loses its effectiveness. A New York writer some years ago wrote an unusual advertisement on the printing- press, in which the personified printing-press told its own story, beginning with the dec- laration, "I am the Printing-Press," as a heading. Immediately other "I am" adver- tisements began to spring up over the country imtil the writers and publishers of them began to receive derision. There is little need of discussing another ob- vious truth, that the style of the copy-writer must be adapted to the subject. He cannot write of small boys' clothes in the same style that he would write of stocks and bonds. He cannot sell cemetery lots and cigars with the same style of copy. Nor can the mail-order lOO STRENGTH OF APPEALS advertiser of cheap jewelry advertise success- fully by methods that would be entirely appro- priate for Tiffany & Co., the famous New York jewelers. There is one sure thing, however, about this subject of style, and that is, that the writer must be able to produce matter that is interesting to his group of readers. If he is able to command the coveted favorable atten- tion and interest, it matters little what the style is. The formal announcements of Tiffany & Co., the well-known New York jewelry house, are probably just as effective in their concise, hand-lettered, all-capitals style as is the breezy conversational talk of Herbert Shivers and the Prince Albert tobacco people to their re- spective "audiences." It is easy to criticize and to give reasons why certain advertise- ments should be different from what they are. Much of this criticism is well founded, because there still exists a great deal of very poor ad- vertising; but considerable criticism that is apparently logical is based on a mere personal lOI WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT point of view. Time and again the caustic and humorous criticism shoots wide of the mark, for the very good reason that the critic does not know enough of the inside workings of the advertising campaign to criticize inteUi- gently. Who, outside of the photographic business, for example, is in a position to know, without painstaking investigation, the value of that series of Kodak advertisements which told nothing about the Eastman product, but which encouraged the taking of frequent pho- tographs and wound up with "There is a photographer in your town"? It is evident that the advertiser was aiming to cultivate the good-will of photographers and photo- graphic dealers by this advertising, and maybe the good-will thus cultivated was well worth the money expended. The critic of advertise- ments should proceed with caution and with breadth of view. More than one gleeful fault- finder has come to grief when he attempted to improve the pulling power of some homely- looking advertisement that possessed imsus- pected strength of appeal. The business of 1 02 STRENGTH OF APPEALS the critic, it is said, requires less capital than any other business or profession! If he really has "capital" — the brains with which to make the advertising dollar bring a better re- turn — the advertising field has plenty of room and plenty of need for his services. Lack- ing such capital, he does well to amuse himself in fields other than that of the mail-order — to pick advertisements whose value is a matter of opinion anyhow rather than those that are keyed or checked. There is another sure thing in connection with style. A writer cannot command favor- able interest and make a good impression un- less he is natural and sincere. We are wiser than we can explain, and the writer who is superficial, unnatural, or insincere is more than likely to betray himself and defeat his own purposes. There is still considerable adver- tising that could properly be referred to as clever, but smart writing in the advertising business is waning. In our shopping we are fearful of being cheated by the salesman who is too smart, and we do not care to deal with 103 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT those who are fresh. It is somewhat the way with printed salesmanship. As the George Batten Company has said, the most important purpose of the advertisement is to be believed, One may be bright, picturesque and cheerful, and even breezy, if the subject permits, but he must be natural and sincere if he is to make the desired effect on readers generally. The so-called "breezy style" of composition has many admirers, and it is well adapted to some subjects. Men's clothing, tobacco, and commodities of this sort are written about attractively in a breezy and even slangy style. But it goes without saying that this style can- not be applied to every subject. Says Mr. George L. Dyer: "When Caesar spoke, the people said, 'How great is Caesar.' When Demosthenes spoke, they said, 'Let us go against the Macedonians.' " It may be worth very little to have a reader exclaim — "What a clever advertisement!" What we want them to say is, "There is something that I want to buy!" Subordinate the writer and play up the product. 104 STRENGTH OF APPEALS Realistic descriptions are needed, but if the writer overreaches and tries to make the reader believe that every tomato used in the making of Smith's Tomato Soup is picked at sunrise while the dew is on the vines, and is inspected carefully for faults by an expert, the argument becomes unbelievable and ineffect- ive with thoughtful people. The earnest, frank salesman seems to com- mand our interest and confidence without effort and without realization on our part that he is selling something to us. He seems rather to be helping us to find out something that we really want to know or ought to know. It is much the same way in advertising. The ad- vertisement must be distinctive enough to catch attention, but, in general, the most win- ning copy is that which rings true as to natural- ness and sincerity. This is not a mere tribute to honest advertising nor only a personal opin- ion. An increasing number of advertising men are of this mind. One of the largest adver- tising agencies, the Taylor-Critchfield-Clague Corporation of Chicago, has issued a treatise 105 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT on "Sincerity First," from which the follow- ing extracts are quoted: — The big fact is that sincerity — one of the least- referred-to qualities in advertising — outshines them all. The world is just coming to realize this. Frauds, snares, published forms of graft, are being weeded out by wholesale. But insincerity goes deeper — spreads farther. It is the most costly error in advertising. We honestly believe that more campaigns have been wrecked by manifest exaggeration in copy and salesmanship — by insincerity — than by any other cause. We believe that a single /a/j^ note often has turned the public wholly against an advertised product. Advertising is personality in print. Please get the full force of that. Your advertising either reflects or distorts your character — the character of your business. What you say to a thousand is exactly one thou- sand times as important as what you say to one. Can you, who consider your personal word your bond when dealing with an individual, per- mit your advertising to multiply to hundreds of thousands the Impression of insincerity, exag- geration, bluff, bluster, and buncombe^ The florid, fluent salesman who exaggerates the facts does not compare in sales force with 1 06 STRENGTH OF APPEALS the quiet sincere chap who gets believed. And the bombastic, blatant advertisement fails in comparison with simple, earnest copy that has sincerity shining right out of it. To have a forceful appeal, copy should be reasonably logical. I say "reasonably," be- cause I believe that the reading public makes considerable allowance for an advertiser's en- thusiasm and does not take literally all state- ments made. For example, no one believes that Sapolio ever made a "Spotless Town." In this case a clever advertiser has merely cre- ated a mythical town and associated his clean- ing preparation with it. His creation is an appeal to the imagination, and readers enter into the story good-natUredly, as people do at a play. They do not feel that they have been deceived because conditions are idealized. Some one, arguing against all deceptive state- ments, has cited the claim of the IngersoU watch that it "made the dollar famous" and declared that the claim is an untruth — that the dollar was famous long before the watch was! This reasoning shows little discernment 107 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT' of the public mind. That the dollar was fam- ous before dollar-watches were ever made does not lessen the probability that the IngersoU product has made the dollar more famous so far as its purchasing power is concerned, and it seems little short of ridiculous to argue that the claim is a deceptive one. It is likely that nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine readers out of ten thousand would good-na- turedly concede to R. H.. IngersoU & Bro. the right to feel and state that their watch has made the dollar famous. Yet if we go too far away from the path of reason, there is real danger that the reader will sense the lack of logic in the argument. Lately there appeared a dentifrice advertisement en- titled "A Moral from the Movies," a novelty so far as form goes and undoubtedly of strong attractive value. Progressive scenes were shown just as in a moving-picture show. As the story goes, the hero was careful to buy the ad- vertiser's dentifrice and to keep his teeth and digestion in good order. When the college game came oiF, the regular pitcher of the ball ie8 STRENGTH OF APPEALS team, having neglected his teeth and conse- quently his digestion, made a poor showing and had to be taken out. The hero was put in and won the game. Hurrah for our dentifrice! It is a rather far cry from the beginning to the sequel of this story, and it is a question whether the advertisement meets the requirement here- tofore put down as the most important — that it be believed. It is a matter of opinion, for no one can accurately gauge the effect of this par- ticular advertisement. At the same time, it is certainly well for an ad-writer always to question whether or not the story or the argu- ment that he puts before the public will be received as being true to life or, if an ideal, as a reasonable ideal. If in doubt, it is best to change to some other appeal that he is certain will be both received and believed. Some advertising, particularly that of low- priced staple articles, depends on a catchy form of appeal, which may be cute, lively or even amusing. "Fish bite while the East is gray; Big Ben will get you on your way" — is a fair specimen of a number of advertise- 109 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT ments of an alarm clock that has won prestige and large sales by this distinctive style of publicity. Giving the clock an attractive name and describing its service by catchy references to the early-rising habit, the morn- ing bath, being at the office on time, etc., earned for the advertising an interest that could never have been secured by tame presentations of the service of an alarm clock. It will be ob- served that all of these Big Ben truisms deal with familiar subjects; the reader is likely to say or think, "That's right." So, the Big Ben publicity is an illustration of the value of na- turalness as well as of a catchy form of appeal. Perhaps no product was ever advertised more catchily than Sapolio. Most verse adver- tising is poor and a sign of the novice. But Sapolio advertising proved to be the exertion to the rule. The clever verses caught the pub- lic eye generally and doubtless commanded more attention than any plain statement of the merits of the product could ever have done. The advertisement facing this page is a fair example of the Sapolio street-car card series. no This brilliant man walks up and down Upon the streets of SpotlesA Town. The g:rittcr of his shinin^r star Arrests attention ironi afar. It lights the heat mid a;(»es to show- That naught can beat SAPOLIO Reduced street-car card. One of the few examples of successful verse advertising Much trouble is saved by paying bills with checks. The check acts as a receipt for payment. Put your money in the Dime Bank, subject to check, and avoid ugly disputes. "I certainly paid that!" "Beg your pardon, you didn't!" "But I'm sure I did!" Don't rely on memory! You can prove that you pay your bills if you pay by check. Put your money in the Dime Bank, pay by check, and avoid ugly disputes. Observe how the change from the tame language of Example I to the chatty style of Example 2 strengthens the interest value These advertisements are also reduced street-car cards STRENGTH OF APPEALS It is well to observe that most of the success- ful catchy style of advertising has dealt with low-priced articles. It would be hazardous for the advertiser of such commodities as insur- ance, automobiles, bonds, engines, etc., to attempt being clever or cute, for the considera- tion of these commodities is too serious a mat- ter to admit of very light treatment. Some one has compared styles in adver- tising in the following manner: — Ancient Style ; Jones' Hats. Mediaeval Style: Jones' Hats are Best. Modern Style: Jones' Hats are best because, etc. (giving reasons). Most Modern Style : Wear a Jones Hat. They are best because (giving reasons), and they may be obtained from (giving name of dealer). The large amount of advertising that merely affirmed superiority for the product or service without giving reasons that appealed to a logi- cal mind was sure in time to cause the creation of another style of advertising. This new style was not altogether new, but it was much talked about some eight or ten years ago, III WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT when it was referred to as "reason-why copy." Such names as "data-built copy" were also used. Mr. John E. Kennedy was a stanch advocate of the "reason-why advertisement." Mr. Kennedy was and is a genius for digging up strong selling argument and for putting this argument into convincing language. His missionary work in the cause of adver- tisements that give the " reason why " bore good fruit, though it seems likely that for a time some ad-writers erred in the direction of trying to throw too many reasons into the reader's face at once and in too forcible a maimer. Some advertisements must gain en- trance into the reader's mind quietly and by the easiest way. To attempt to carry tJie bat- tle by storm with an imposing array of selling argument may be to fail altogether. It may be expedient to run a series of advertisements with only one selling point, or perhaps two selling points in each, in preference to running a great deal of argument in one advertise- ment. Indeed, an advertisement may be a real "reason-why advertisement" while at 112 STRENGTH OF APPEALS the same time being concise. A painted sign may advertise, "Alpha, the Hourly Tested Portland Cement." In these six words, a good reason for purchasing the cement is given — ■ that it is tested hourly. A great deal of copy is very properly of the "atmospheric" or "suggestive" variety — that is, advertisements that by apt illustra- tion and skillful text cause the reader to get a very favorable impression of the goods when perhaps direct statement would not accom- plish the purpose. Take the advertisement that features the picture of Colonel Roosevelt waving his Knox Hat. It is not necessary for the advertisement to say that the Colonel regards the Knox hat as the best hat made. The fact that he has bought one and wears it speaks for itself. The inference, the sugges- tion, is stronger than the direct assertion would be. I have advertised that the Pennsylvania Railroad used over a quarter of million barrels of Alpha Cement in building the great New York Terminal, after putting cement to the most exacting tests. It would be ridiculous to 113 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT argue that no other cement could have been used with good results. The reader may gain, from the simple facts, a much stronger impres- sion than it would have been advisable to convey to him by direct statement. Fine silverware, fine furniture, and the like are described in language befitting the class of goods and illustrated with pictures that build up the desired atmosphere. It is a good thing for the inexperienced writer of advertising copy to resolve that whenever possible he will get in a reason for the use of the products that he advertises and not content himself with mere name publicity. When the reader has a reason in his mind for the purchase of a particular commodity, he is much less likely to accept a substitute than when he undertakes to make a purchase with only a familiarity with the name of a product or a general impression of its good quality The "you" style of advertising also has come in for a great deal of attention. Cer- tain writers were able to get attention and good results by a forceful style of copy ad- 114 STRENGTH OF APPEALS dressed to the reader as a letter would be, in which the pronoun "you" was freely used. It was "You, Mr. Reader," " You Need This," and so on. So much of this style of advertising has appeared that good judges of copy have felt that readers were getting somewhat tired of being "you'd," and have fallen back to the quiet impersonal method of expression. It is apparent that styles in writing are much like styles in dress and other things. If the style is radical and is overworked, it soon loses its effectiveness. If it is sound and in good taste^ it may be used indefinitely with safety. The "conversational" advertisement is a style that has long been used with success. Conversation looks interesting in print, and anything that looks interesting starts with a strong point in its favor so far as advertising is concerned. It is absolutely necessary, however, that the conversation between the charac- ters shown or suggested by the advertisement be perfectly natural. The advertisement fac- ing page 80 is a good example of the conver- sational style. Here, the conversation between "5 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT the two men about cement brings out a point that would not be easy to bring out in direct statement, and the illustration in the back- ground gives fitting support. The testimonial style of copy is of great variety. The success of patent-medicine ad- vertising was due, first, to the tendency of people to be over-concerned about their per- sonal ills or imaginary ills, and, secondly, to the shrewd use of testimonials. That some one else was ill in just the same way and evi- dently believes that Dr. Fakem's Resuscitator cured him or her means much more to a reader than the advertiser's assertion as to the merit of the preparation. Testimonials from people near the reader mean more than testimonials from people in far-away points. Testimonials are by no means confined to patent-medicine advertising. Pointed expres- sions of opinion as to the service or value of the article make interesting and possibly con- vincing copy. There is something about the opinions of other people that attracts. We expect the advertiser to blow his own horn, ii6 STRENGTH OF APPEALS and we discount what he says. What an ap- parently disinterested user says, however, is looked on in a different light. The "story," or descriptive-article, style of advertisement is a form that has come into favor rapidly during the last year or two. This kind of advertising usually nms into a lengthy story of from two to four or six pages. The writer deals with the article or business to be advertised much as he would if he were writing it up for the so-called reading-pages of the publication instead of the advertising- section. No attempt is made, as would have been made in former years, to make the reader believe that the article is not advertising. The pages are frankly marked as advertising- pages by the publisher, but this does not in most cases rob the material of its value, pro- vided it is written in an interesting way. Late- ly, very effective "story advertisements" of the H. J. Heinz products, the IngersoU Watch, the Ostermoor Mattress, and other nationally known advertisers have appeared in the maga- zines. The most effective advertisements that 117 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT Elbert Hubbard has written have taken this story form. It is a highly effective form if the treatment is skillful. The bargain offer has been for many years one of the most powerful appeals in advertising, and it has been used without rest in the retail field. It appeals to the desire to get something for nothing or for less than it is worth or for an unusually attractive price. The bargain offer takes a great variety of forms. The busi- ness man who gets a "bonus" of common stock with the share of preferred stock that he buys is responding to a bargain offer; so is he who buys a set of books at a time when a special stand or an index volume is offered as a special inducement. Readers seem rarely to figure out that they pay for the extras or the premium that comes with the pur- chase. The bargain offer has appealed strongly be- cause it has news value and stimulates the im- agination. We are interested in reading of how the store got the special lot of cloaks at a low price, or how merchandise in certain lines has ii8 STRENGTH OF APPEALS run down to odd sizes which will be sold at cost, etc. Some keen advertising men are predicting the end of bargain advertising, but I do not think we shall ever see the end of it, for the simple reason that buying is no more an exact science than advertising. There will always be left-overs, odd sizes, slow-selling goods, etc., in every store,' and the only way these can be cleared out and the original investment of the merchant regained is to put low prices on these goods. Such bargain advertising has a powerful and a logical appeal to it. Make- believe bargains — that is, bargains whose values are misrepresented, and bargains that are put down to a low price merely as a bait to draw customers to buy other goods — are likely to appeal less and less to the well-in- formed people. The irresponsible merchant will probably continue them as long as he can find victims, and that will be for many years. Brill Brothers, a large New York concern, some years ago announced that they would eliminate"comparative-price" advertising and 119 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT offer their goods at original prices. That is, instead of advertising "^25 Suits for $19," they would explain to the public just what they could offer for $20, ^25, or $30, as the case might be. They felt that with the special- price style of advertising it was necessary to use more and more space all the time in ©rder to impress a public that had grown weary of bargains, bargains, bargains. The new style, they believed, would enable them to cut down the amount of space; plain truth takes less space than elaborate tales. Their new style of advertising was commented on favorably, but after about a year of experience with it, Brill Brothers went back to the cornparative-price offerings — not quite the strong style of for- mer years, but a bargain appeal just the same. So it is obvious that a change in advertising styles cannot be rapid. The public must be educated slowly. Price is sometimes a strong appeal and then again it is not. Whether the price of the com- modity should be advertised depends solely on whether or not the price is an attraction. Price 120 SavedHkelsn^ Imagine a dreary furnished room — a disiouraned EJrl writing bill of fare for her meals. In a gol- den clow she saw ihi^ duiidelions of last summer and the younp fanner whom she had. lifct. No wonder she made the error, but i( was a glorious error — it brought Waller to her again — and haippin^'S*. How? Ask— O. HENRY .. ago hi 1 the world for the ;ti1l the sale; climb le no home without O. Henry. I already in the United Stateil How thousand in Au-tralia, France. England, .ny, Africa and Asia we cannot tell. And " Henry is amonR the few very grcate t i nipathy, in pity and under landing. . t lovc5 him; the university ■ pays him hoirage. The sale of O. y will go on forever, for his is a quality that t thii V price , while you can, get your ave O. Henry if your library You must have O. Henry if life all the beauty and fun can have his ■ • ■- -besides n todaj obe 11 Kipling FREE but the spin my Atkins" is dying TakinH of Lungtungper icrs foughl naked a-^ they y do today with a few rlothc'^ on, aii( tarled Kiphng easily held the place as the / "■'"" know him to be greater /^ ; very spirit of war. Not / o I of all war y'aoir, _ . .. fight, the • »'• heart of courage. / ShJ ™ di '/# A", n the trenches. •*■.«." /•,r ."CV to you promptly, all charges prepaid. If they are .'Name ou ever read, if you do not read them and reread / em bock at our cipense. If you arc not proud to / Addren , . your library ahelvea, send them back. But send • rv, ,i h upon today. It puts you under no obliEation. It .' 'JC'^'-D"'"'" ■ g es ounotrouble. Send it today before the ofler closes. /^tk. b~uiiiui ib™-, REIIEW OF REVIEWS CO., 30 Irving PI., Hew York /^-^ STRENGTH OF APPEALS is surely an attractive point in the advertise- ment of a typewriter that seems to do all that any other writing machine will do, but sells at ^50. In such a case it would be well to "play up" the price in the heading. On the other hand, it would be folly for the Burroughs Adding-Machine Company or the publishers of a high-priced encyclopedia to advertise the price. In these two instances price is an ob- stacle to the sale rather than a help, and is very properly kept in the background imtil the interest of the reader has been built up and the machine or the set of books has been inspected. Two well-defined cases have' been compared — one in which it is clearly advis- able to publish the price and the other in which price should be kept back as information to be given in the catalogue or the "follow-up," or by the salesman. Between these two ex- tremes are cases in which it is not so easy to decide about the including of price. Some- times only experiment will settle the question. It is one of the curious traits of human nature that sometimes even high price is an 121 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT attraction. There are those who want the $5000 automobile, and the $3 cravat and who are impressed by learning at the very outset that the commodity advertised is something that only a few can afford. As women are usually keen on values, prices are used liberally in advertising foods, cloth- ing, and household necessities. The style of the little advertisement shown below has been aptly called the "telegraphic style." It is a simple "reader" run at the bot- tom of a column of news. Space is limited and every word must covmt. A great deal is told in these three lines. Ideal Home for Fall & Winter. Hotel Hont- clair, Montclair, N*. J., 42 minutes out. Steam heat; open fireplaces; sun parlors. Golf; dancing. — Adv. Writing such advertisements is good practice, as is also the writing of advertisements for street-car cards, where the writer is limited to about fifty words. He learns the great lesson of picking just the words and sentences that with the least attention of the reader will drive home the sales message. Negative statements have been regarded 121 STRENGTH OF APPEALS by some advertising writers as being inferior to affirmative statements — that is, "Don't Ruin Your Eyes " as a headline is thought to have less force than "Preserve Your Eyes." The fact is, however, that various advertisers have used copy displaying negative state- ments that experience proved to be unusually strong. Therefore, something must depend on the degree of the negative effect. If it is not negative to the point of turning the reader's thoughts into the wrong direction, but on the contrary has strong attractive power, then the usual argument against it would not prevail. It will not be amiss, in this connection, to discuss "association of ideas" briefly. Psy- chologists, who have given considerable atten- tion to advertising, have argued for the use of such words, figures of speech, illustrations, etc., in advertisements as will connect instantly and favorably with the product advertised. "Carnation Milk," for example, suggests to the mind the sweetness of the carnation, a very desirable association for milk. The name 123 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT of the " General Grant " cigar has been criti- cized for the reason that General Grant died from throat trouble thought to have been caused or aggravated by excessive smoking. The association of ideas in this case is not pleasant to those who know the facts. The ad-writer who dwells on the weaknesses of com- petitors, or takes up much space telling about the faults that his product does not possess, may, through the association of ideas, actually instill suspicion as to the merit of his goods. However, the extent of the effect of a negative statement or an unpleasant association of ideas depends on how long it is kept before the reader. Some of the most successful advertis- ers of the past were patent-medicine advertis- ers whose advertisements often opened with exaggerated representations of certain ills and conditions. This was plainly an attention- attracting device. When the attention had been caught, the advertisement led on to praise of the preparation. The method proved to be effective. If, however, the attention of the reader had been held on the negative or 1:24 STRENGTH OF APPEALS unpleasant side of the subject for a long time, disgust or disbelief might have been aroused. Unagreeable association of ideas does not necessarily prejudice. One of the most effec- tive advertisements of the proper treatment of tuberculosis is a street-clock sign that tolls a bell at the end of the average interval be- tween deaths from tuberculosis in the United States. There is nothing agreeable about the tolling of a bell or the thoughts of death from tuberculosis, but this seems to be the only way that the educational work against the great white plague can be done. People just have to be shocked into paying attention to this im- portant matter. A college professor once criticized the head- line "A Shovel Married an Idea," which was used over a publisher's account of how a shovel manufacturer took up a new plan of advertis- ing and made a success of it. The professor declared that the thought of a shovel "marry- ing" an idea was incongruous, that the associa- tion was illogical, etc. But the adveirtisement pulled remarkably well, and later on, when the las WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT professor himself took an active part in the copy-work of an advertising agency, he frank- ly admitted that he had changed his opinion regarding the effectiveness of the headline re- ferred to. The fact is that the novelty of the headline commanded attention; it did not ac- tually turn the thoughts of the reader away from the advertisement and to matrimony. There is no valid objection against either negative statements or preliminary unagree- able association of ideas, so long as these de- vices actually command attention and do not disgust, deceive, or bore the reader, but leave him in a favorable state of mind for reading what follows the negative suggestion or the in- congruous or unagreeable association of ideas. In case of doubt, adopt the affirmative form of appeal. A concern that spends a large ap- propriation and whose tests are known to me has had some advertisements of the negative or unagreeable-association class that have been good pullers; on the other hand, averag- ing several years' advertising, the affirmative appeals take the lead in returns. 126 STRENGTH OF APPEALS It is much easier, as Professor Walter Dill Scott has so well pointed out, to get people to act if we can strike an emotional or sentimental point of contact. "We are late at the pew but early at the bleachers," says Professor Scott; "we put off writing to cousins and aunts, but the fiancee is answered by return mail. The dictates of reason may be resisted, but not the promptings of sentiment and emotions." Ad- vertisements that possess a strong human appeal sometimes astonish us by their pulling power. Perhaps the most famous charity advertisement was that one run by the New York Association for the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor, which, in place of the usual dry statistics of expenditures, needs, etc., featured a typical case of how the association could help the poor by means of a seaside home. The illustration of the advertisement, a view of "Smiling Joe" strapped to a board, drew a great deal of favorable attention and consideration. The story of the advertise- ment is told in the following lines : — 127 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT SMILING JOE That was what they called him, and the name fit mighty well, For though things went "agin" him, it was not his style to yell; Oh, no! he just looked at you, and his face was all aglow With a grin that went straight through you — he was always Smiling Joe. There was something or other the matter with his stunted little spine. You see, he lived up in the slums, where there 're ills of many a kind. He did n't have the air and sunshine that most of us enjoy. But the lack o' that did n't keep him from being " the smiling boy," They strapped him to a board, so as to keep his body still; But even that did n't still his smile; it went on like a mill A-grinding out the happy grins through all the weary days. It was enough to make us healthy folks ashamed of our ways. His little bony backbone was n't guaranteed to wear; But there's the other kind of backbone, and the other kind was there. ia8 STRENGTH OF APPEALS And when the surgeons saw his smi]e, they were wise enough to know That there was more'n a fighting chance for little Smiling Joe. "We must get him to the seashore, where there's plenty of air and sun, And plenty of sand to play in, when he's well enough to run." But though there was plenty of seashore and plenty of air and sun, Getting the money to buy such things is never a job of fun. But one who saw that happy face of Joe of Cherry Street Saw in his smile the magic touch to make hearts everywhere beat. And so instead of figures about the troubles of the poor. They published little Joe's picture and his story — not much more. Then Smiling Joe no longer smiled just to folks around his bed, He smiled all around the world in the magazines you read. And when people saw that winning smile, they could n't pass it by; It gripped them; it swayed them; ity almost made some cry. 129 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT Checks and drafts came through the maik as thick as autumn leaves, With words of cheer for little Joe as plenteous as you please. And soon there was enough to buy that Home down by the sea, Where Joe and others like him could have some weeks of glee. Joe was soon much better and out a-digging on the shore; He had more sand than most of us, but still he wanted more. And when again they kodaked him and put him into print, He looked so well that those who gave were glad they did n't stint. And now we see it in the paper that Joe is ill again. That they can't coax that little spine to stay right on the mend. But smiling Joe is smilingon with that bright face of his, And I'm dead sure that he'll pull through with that good-natured phiz. So here's to you, Cherry Street Joe, and to your cheery smile. That's got Quaker-Oat grins and other grins beat out by more'n a mile. May the long night be far from you; we need more of your style. May the years be long and plenty, with you a-smil- ing all the while. 130 STRENGTH OF APPEALS Should the information in the advertise- ment be technical or of a popular nature? Should it deal with the details of the commod- ity or the broad general feature of its service? These questions, like most questions in ad- vertising practice, cannot be answered in gen- eral. There are cases where it is judicious to give considerable technical information about the details of the commodity — a close, accu- rate description. There are other instances where these details are of no particular inter- est to the reader — where the strong appeal is the service of the commodity. It would be idle for the advertisers of the adding-machine or the cash register to advertise merely the gen- eral mechanical features of their machines. The service of the machine, the part that it plays in the conducting of business, is the proper appeal. On the other hand, some auto- mobile advertisers have found it advisable to give the reader a great deal of detailed infor- mation as to what he gets for his money when he buys one of their machines. The manufac- turer of a popularly priced automobile strad- 131 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT died the fence on this question admirably. His illustration was a striking view of a stream close by a road. The happy automobile owner was engaged in landing a trout, while his wife was hurrying over from the machine with the landing-net. The introductory copy pictured the joys possible when the family owned an automobile and could steal away at the close of the day for little trips of the sort depicted. Then, in a secondary section of the advertise- ment and set in smaller type, was the techni- cal, or mechanical, information about the car. This advertisement was adapted to the man who needed the general argument about the desirability of buying an automobile, and was also adapted to the man who was already "sold" on that idea, but was interested in learning where he could get the most for his thousand dollars. People interested in advertising are fond of asking a lecturer or a writer on advertis- ing subjects, "How would you advertise such- and-such a product?" A man once did me the rare honor to give me sixty-seven words of in- 132 ....... „ ., ...__ it-ln'be—atiJ ailed the fly on your first east. You hncw he u.a.? there- you had dreamed II winter thai he mas there. And "The Missus"- wholoies the uilder- IS you love it ran back to the H upmobile for the net. The dawn of that May morning had found you welt out of the smoky city. Over the fraeranl pine ridges and along the old "lole-road" the H upmobile had whirled you. The whip-poor-will pitches his nronolonovs chant as the shadows Irngthen. Trout-filled creels are tumbled into the car. Back over the old "tote-road" the Hupmobile flics with you. Once tlie wild little people of . vour trout stream were a railroad journey away fiom you and your city home. The Hupmobile has brought them very close. You and yours are led back to nature in " The Car of the Amencan Family. " Hupmobile "32" Roadster $1000 f. o. b. Detroit InCanado.SI ISOf.o.b.Wlndior Four-cylinder motor, cylinders 3'< inch bore by 5'i-inch stroke, cast en bloc Unit power plant Sliding gears Full floating rear axle. Wheelbase, 106 in. Tires. 32x3^', in Equipment of windshield, mohair top with envelope. Jiffy curtains, soeedometer quick detachable rims rear shock absorber, xa^ headlights. Prest-o-Lite tank, oil lamps, tools and horn. Finish. bidck with nickel trimmings "3Z" Tourins C«t $1000 In Canada. SI 180 "32" SU-PBuonaer S1200 In Canada, SI 430 "20" H. P Runabout % 750 Jn Canada. $8S0 NE XT MON TH A Hupmobile week-end a If you'll stop to think— there are very few cars in this country which possess a following that is utterly unaffected by any other car. And it must be plain to you that the Hupmobile is one of the very few. It is so individual, so distinctive, and is so widely known for long-continued-good-service, that it is almost non- competitive. The Hupmobile owner does not change. He buys another Hupmobile. And for his used Hupmobile he asks and receives a price far above the ordinary allow- ance for second hand cars. We have repeatedly said that we believe the Hupmobile to be, in its class, the best car in the world. And that is precisely the way the average Hupmobile owner feels about it. Hupp Motor Car Co.. 0000 Rlilwaukee Ave.» Detroit, Mich. STRENGTH OF APPEALS formation about a product that he referred to as "Cedarine" and to ask how it should be advertised. He did not say whether it was a machine or cedar sawdust, whether it was sold in ten-cent packages or by the barrel, whether it was on sale in retail stores or had not been distributed to the retail trade. Yet he im- agined that somehow all this essential infor- mation could be dreamed by the advertising man. The man who could give correct adver- tising advice offhand, even if put into posses- sion of the essential facts, would be a wonder who could make his fortune in a short time and retire. Very often the winning appeal or plan is found only after careful experiment. Field Marshal von Moltke of the German Army said: "It is a delusion to believe that a plan of war may be laid for a prolonged period and carried out at every point. The first collision with the enemy changes the situation en- tirely according to the result. Some things decided upon will be impracticable; others which originally seemed impossible become feasible." ^33 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT This observation on war methods fits adver- tising methods well. The lesson, then, is that successful style in advertising, even if we hold the application strictly to copy-work, must to some extent be a matter of experiment. Appeals must be gauged as accurately as possible. Conclusions should not be arrived at from exceptional hap- penings or opinions. Maybe the first expres- sion of opinion about an advertising appeal will be that it is very weak, when in truth it may be just the reverse. An actual try-out is often worth many opinions. An apt sentence, written perhaps on the spur of the moment, sometimes proves to be an appeal of unusual value, one that can be repeated indefinitely. When we play on the human mind, we are touching the most won- derful instrument in the world, a harp of a thousand strings. That is one of the charms of the advertising business. There is always variety and enough uncertainty to give zest to the chase. Every success and every failure brings its lesson. XIII DRESSING THE IDEA It has been well said that there is very little that is actually new in the way of ideas — that usually the things that attract us are old ideas which some one has merely put into new and attractive form. The most striking philo- sophic utterances of to-day can usually be traced back, so far as the kernel of truth in the utterance is concerned; only the method of expression is new. "Must I not be original ? " is a question often asked. Yes, and no. Originality in itself does not necessarily count for much. One may be original and still not effective. And, as has been pointed out, there is very little of real originality, anyhow, except so far as the cloak of the idea is concerned. But to get attention in advertising, one must study to put things, whether in words or picture, in graphic, im- pressive form. It should not be forgotten, ^35 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT though it often is, that the reader of printed language is impelled by no courtesy to read further than his interest is maintained. Usu- ally, interesting reading matter is close by, and if the advertisement does not command and hold attention the reader passes on to something else. The curse of most advertising is stereotyped, dry expression — saying things in exactly the same words or in about the same words that hundreds have used and w^hich therefore have become as boring as an oft-repeated joke or story. For example: "Come early and avoid the rush." This has been said in just this way so many times that it has become almost humorous; yet retailers still work this sadly overworked veteran of an expression which should have been retired long ago. If a re- tailer were to say: "These waists go on sale at eight o'clock and there are not likely to be any left at noon," he would say something in a simple, direct way that would probably be read with interest and believed. Advertising is full of this general, monotonous language 136 DRESSING THE IDEA that is just words, words, words — no inter- esting facts, no fresh, lifelike descriptions. Take the following for example: — Buy our hams once and you will buy them always. All of our meat is from young hogs, and is not tough, but is high-grade. Nothing but corn-fed stock is used. We guarantee the quality. We use good sugar in curing our hams, the best quality of saltpeter and some salt. The result is a natural flavor that can't be beat. We chal- lenge competition. Compare this dull presentation of good hams with another word-picture which is, I believe, from the pen of Mr. John E. Kennedy, one of the most forceful writers who ever filled advertising space: — This mark certifies that the hog came from good stock, that it was corn-fed in order that it might be firm and sweet — that it was a barrow hog, so that the meat would be fully flavored and juicy — that it was a young hog, making the ham thin-skinned and tender — well condi- tioned and fat, insuring the lean of the ham to be tasty and nutritious. The mark certifies that the ham was cured in a liquor nearly good enough to drink, made of granulated sugar, pure 137 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT saltpeter and only a very little salt; this brings out all the fine, rich, natural flavor of the care- fully selected meat, and preserves it without "salty pickling." Of course, it follows that to write interest- ing, convincing language, one must have the facts and must do some thinking about them. Many people are lazy mentally and do not concentrate enough to create new arguments and new ways of expressing the argument. Men like Mr. Kennedy are noted for their exhaustive study of the subjects that they expect to write about. How could he draw such a true picture of a fine ham and the way it is cured unless he did? Mr. Kennedy has written advertisements about such subjects as lard and water that command a great deal of attention. The Simon Pure Lard advertise- ment facing this page is another example of his work and is a masterpiece. To repeat: such an advertisement represents not only thorough research but concentrated thought. The Mar- tindale Food advertisements, run in Philadel- phia newspapers, are of this interesting, appe- 138 f/ '^imon-Pitre ££^ J UST try that once, Madam ! A little three pound pail of it will do. The result will delight, and surprise, you. When you take the cover off be sure to note the beautiful Crisp, waxy, and wrinkled, appearance of this Queen of Snorteners. « a What is it? Just purified Lard. Nothing added to it, but a great deal eliminated. All excess of greasy charac- teristics removed. * <» It is made from the few crisp, dry, flakes of kidney Fat found in each Hog. These are, as you know, the choicest of Lard. But a clever Armour Pro- ^ cess makes it choicer still, by extracting every undesirable element, and leaving a rich creamy odor and flavor in place of the porky kind. The removal of these ele- ments naturally lessens the' weight of the Lard. That's why "Simon-Pure" Lard must cost you a trifle more than the commoner kinds. But,— the Paatru it makes ! Tender, light. Digestible, and deliciously toothsome. Being less Greasy than ordin- ary Lsffd it works into flour quicker, and goes further, so that its slightly higher cost is more than offset in this, and the finer quality of the Pastry it helps to make. Grocers and Butchers every- where sell it, in three pound, five pound and ten pound pails. « ft Nowdtm'task for just "Lard" but see that you get "Armour's Simon-Pure Lard." Every pail of the genuine is clearly laDelled:— -"Simon PureL&^ Interesting treatment of a commonplace subject Reduced from S|x8 inches DRESSING THE IDEA tizing kind and tell readers much that they are glad to know. An example is reproduced facing page 44. It is comparatively easy for a writer to pre- sent some interesting facts and arguments about very distinctive merchandise, such, for example, as a high-grade electric vacuum cleaner to be sold at ^25. Good argument im- mediately presents itself. But the great mass of merchandise to be sold is not extraordinary. It possesses only small points of superiority, perhaps, not the distinctive interest features of a fine electric vacuum cleaner at $25. George H. Perry, another advertising man of rare ability in finding the way to make an advertisement distinctive, has said that the real task in advertising is the writing of copy that will sell the ordinarily good merchandise of moderate price. The ad-writer may not be able, in every piece of copy he prepares, to compose striking sentences, but he can at least keep clear of all hackneyed language and be earnest, simple, and direct. ^39 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT "Costs only a very little" does not convey much to a retail merchant. "Costs less than the wages of an errand girl" is much better because a definite picture of the cost is put in the merchant's mind. "Earn while you learn," and "we teach wherever the mails reach," are examples of impressive alliterative expressions coined and used by the International Correspondence Schools. Alliteration is a good thing if the effort for it is not obvious, but in the case of "The Butter That Betters the Bread," the effort to run in a succession of words beginning with B is too obvious. Besides, almost any kind of butter might be said to better the bread; in the effort to include a word begin- ning with B, one has been selected that praises the butter very faintly, indeed. In "Carna- tion Milk, from Contented Cows," the lan- guage is pleasingly suggestive, despite the rather obvious effort to produce an alliterative effect. The poin,t is that it pays to juggle words so long as the juggling is not noticeable, if thereby language is made more picturesque ?4P DRESSING THE IDEA and more likely to build in the mind of the reader the picture that must be there before the chance for a sale of the advertiser's goods is promising. "Take the Tube Home" is an attractive ex- pression used by Colgate & Co. in advertis- ing its tube of dental cream. A point against it, however, is the fact that going home by means of "the tube," though familiar in and around New York, is not readily grasped by thousands of readers, so that the play on words appreciated by residents of New York and visitors to the city is likely to be lost by others. It is well in advertising to the people of the entire country not to introduce examples or illustrations that are not generally familiar. "Best by Every Test" was good when new, but has become hackneyed. Such claims as "best," "quickest," "cheap- est," etc., have been so greatly used and abused that their usefulness has been much diminished. A writer has to possess the con- fidence of readers to a remarkable degree if they are willing to take such unsupported 141 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT general statements at face value. "Smith offers the greatest values in Philadelphia." Who believes Smith ? Let Smith tell interest- ingly of what he has to offer. Concrete facts stated sincerely will be received without suspi- cion by the reader, but blanket, general claims are always discounted. Compare the following specimens of copy: — (i) Of interest to all. A very interesting and useful volume for every young man and young woman that hopes to accomplish success in this world, and surely all wish to do that. If you are not satisfied and wish to gain some useful infor- mation and advice as to how you may improve your chances for success in securing employ- ment, you could not make a wiser move or a more useful purchase than to send for this book. So why do you hesitate.'' Do it now. You will never regret it. The cost is only 56 cents for a postpaid copy, and if you are not fully satisfied, your money will be returned on request. There- fore you ought to have no hesitation in accept- ing this offer. Blank Publishing Company, New York, N.Y. (2) "How to Get a Position" — A book chock full of helpful experiences, tried plans and "horse sense." Treats of choice of occupation, of prepa- 142 DRESSING THE IDEA ration, qualifications, changes, the questions of salary, hours, advancement, etc. ; shows the kind of endorsements to get; instructs how to adver- tise for a position; teaches how to write letters of application that command attention, and gives dozens of models; tells how to interview; and deals with dozens of other important topics. Written by an expert correspondent who has made special study of employment problems. Contains boiled-down experience of years. Helps beginners to get started and "grown-ups" to climb higher. Praised by editors and business men. "Worth its weight in gold," says one pur- chaser. One hundred and forty pages, cloth. Special chapters for clerks, book-keepers, sten- ographers, salesmen, advertising men, technical men, and twenty-five other classes. Single copy, postpaid, 56 cents, stamps or coin. Money back if dissatisfied. Tear this ad out. Blank Publish- ing Company, New York, N.Y. The first example is too general to have much sales power, while the second proved by actual test to have high producing power. Perhaps there are some writers of advertise- ments who, having gathered their material, can lay out a skeleton or diagram from which the complete copy can be written in an orderly, 143 WRITING AN ADyERTISEMENT finished style; but I do not know any one who works In just that way. Most writers, when reflection brings ideas to their minds, make a start with a "point of contact" that seems to be good, write out the entire -copy in the rough, and then recast and improve it. Robert R. UpdegrafF says, in Advertising y Selling: — Not many of us, in writing an advertisement or form letter, have the nicety of diction to start at the proper point with our story, build the argument logically, and stop at the end — or where the end ought to be. There is usually so much to say that it is hard to tell where to begin, where to stop, and what to put in between. "Playing checkers" with your copy simplifies the job. The idea is this : Start at most any place, write what you think ought to be said; then, if possible, lay aside the copy until the next day, or even longer. When you take it up, cut the paragraphs apart with a pair of scissors and spread them out on the desk. Now, start to rearrange them, picking out a good one for a starter (successful short-story writers tell us to "begin at the middle of the story"), and arrange the rest where they will do the most good. Often you will find that the third 144 DRESSING THE IDEA or fourth paragraph should have been the first and that the first is n't necessary at all. Fre- quently several paragraphs can be omitted alto- gether, or combined in one or two. xrv THE PRICE AND THE POWER OF WORDS Macaulay said of Milton's diction : — ■ His poetry acts like an incantation. Its merit lies less in its obvious meaning than in its occult power. There would seem, at first sight, to be no more in his words than in other words. But they are words of enchantment. No sooner are they pronounced, than the past is present and the distant near. New forms of beauty start into existence, and all the burial places of the mem- ory give up their dead. Change the structure of the sentence; substitute one synonym for an- other and the whole effect is destroyed. , The spell loses its power; and he who should then hope to conjure with it would find himself as much mistaken as Cassim in the Arabian tale, when he stood crying, "Open Wheat," "Open Barley," to the door which obeyed no sound but "Open Sesame." As the man who advertises pays so much for the space that each word occupies instead of, as in the case of the author of fiction, re- 146 PRICE AND POWER OF WORDS ceiving so much for each word that he writes, there seems to be a most excellent reason why the advertising man should be a fine judge of the value of words and get the greatest possi- ble value for his money. The right idea is more important than right language, but language is highly Important. As the salesman loses greatly in efficiency if he is slovenly dressed or awkward in conver- sation, so the strong idea will be weakened by being poorly expressed. As the advertiser is charged for the space that each line occupies, the writing of an ad- vertisement is not a matter of merely filling the space. Select every word and every sen- tence with a view to accomplishing the ob- ject of the advertisement. It is not difiicult to write a few smooth, correct sentences. But to compose a few sentences that will command the interest of people and induce them to spend their money is a task demanding your most earnest thought. Put your copy to this test. Ask yourself: "If I were one of the people to whom I am 147 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT making this appeal, would the advertisement accomplish the purpose it is designed for?" If you have to say "No," keep trying until you get a stronger advertisement. Good dis- play is important enough, but it is the copy that will usually determine the failure or suc- cess of the advertisement. One shrewd adver- tiser recommends that when the writer is about to prepare an advertisement he should put the price of the space down on the desk so that he may be constantly reminded that it will cost him $$ or ^lo or $ioo — as the case may be — to insert the advertisement, and be sure of writing copy that will bring the money back. This is a very large subject, and nothing can be done in a single chapter of this book except to lay emphasis on the importance of word study and of searching for words that are the most efficient in conveying to the reader the ideas or pictures that the writer wishes to con- vey. I shall never forget the early lesson that an editor taught me when he blue-penciled my "famous politician" to " notorious politician." 148 PRICE AND POWER OF WORDS Study this striking headline: Weis' Prun- ing Shears Will Snip a Broom Handle." Right along with the headline were illustrations of several sections of broom handle sliced off. "Snip" may not be the purest English, but consider the impression that it conveys to the mind — the instant severance of the broom handle as if it had been a thread clipped with scissors. Try replacing "snip" with any other word that will mean cutting or severing and see if you can duplicate the effect. "Velvet shave" is another example of an apt phrase that conveys graphically an attrac- tive idea of a smooth, painless shave. Think of the picturesqueness of "the Prudential has the strength of Gibraltar." What six words could convey more to a farmer than "horse high, pig tight, bull strong," as applied to a wire fence? It is said that a farm-engine advertisement became more effective when the engine was referred to as the "iron horse." Whether this is strictly correct or not, there is no denying that the ad-writer always gains when he seizes figures of speech that make his 149 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT meaning instantly clear and vividly impres- sive. A group of advertising men once spent half an hour discussing a very brief advertisement for a popular restaurant. For some time the headline "Eat at Brown's" was regarded as acceptable, but when "dine" was suggested for "eat," the entire company agreed that the change gave the advertisement better tone. Words and sentences do not necessarily have to be short in order to be strong in picture- painting power. The advice is frequently given that advertising copy must consist of short words and short, snappy sentences. "Short, snappy sentences" are ideal for some pur- poses in advertising and poor for others. Some advocates of short words have at times writ- ten letters on the superiority of one- and two- syllable words over those with three and four syllables, while in their own letters denying the value of long words they freely used the longer words! "Advertisement" is a four- syllable word; so is "introduction" and hun- dreds of others that are indispensable. 150 PRICE AND POWER OF WORDS To express ideas clearly and forcefully to the reader, you must use words that are famil- iar to him. Whether they are short or long is immaterial, though it follows that, everything else being equal, short words are preferred in advertising for the very good reason that they occupy less space. For the same reason the wordp that may be easily dispensed with are often lopped off in advertising. "Does n't scratch" is just as effective as "It doesn't scratch." Advertisers who have experimented with such closing expressions to advertisements as "Cut this ad out" declare that a change from the word "cut" to the word "tear" helps results. Because of the fact that every writer has his own individual style and because naturalness and sincerity are all-important, it seems gen- erally agreed that copy-writing can hardly be a cooperative business. That is to say, while it is well to have the criticisms of other people not only as to the accuracy of statements made but as to their clearness and impres- WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT siveness, it is generally best that one writer should work out the changes. Undoubtedly there are many cases where copy, worked over and finally put in such final shape that it contains the language and ideas of a number of people, has been good copy, but often this method turns out to be a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. XV SOME AD-WRITING EXPERIENCES Whenever an advertising man attempts to tell how he would write an advertisement about goods or service that he knows little or nothing about, he does what he would tell a student of advertising is putting the cart be- fore^ the horse — attempting to write before finding what there Is to write about. By rea- son of his unfamiliarity, he runs the risk of advocating some appeal or argument .that might seem weak or ridiculous were he in full possession of the facts. Therefore, while not desiring to overwork personal experiences and references in this book, I shall attempt to make clearer the principles of ad-writing by tracing the processes by which diflFerent ad- vertisements of my own composition were prepared. My own method of compiling facts, digesting them, and writing copy may not be precisely the methods of other advertising ^53 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT men, but there can be no great differences. Some men are more systematic and conscious of their acts than others; but this is largely a matter of temperament. One of the mOst interesting experiences I ever had was in writing the advertisement of a ^ national bank. This bank, The Traders Na- tional of Scranton, Pennsylvania, is one of a number of excellent banks in the metropolis of the anthracite region. It is not the oldest or the largest bank in its territory, nor even nexj to the largest or oldest. National banks do business along much the same lines. They lend money on about the same conditions; they pay the same rate of interest on savings deposits; they are usually conveniently located; and all of the well- equipped banks have safe-deposit vaults, ladies' rooms, etc. Consequently, at first thought, it appears difficult to do any very distinctive advertising for a national bank. In my opinion, the preachy, save-youi^ money bank advertisement has been over- worked. It certainly had been in Scranton. 1 54 The New Minister Said That one of his church members sent him here, and he also said that we were the most obliging^ bank people he had ever run up ag^ainst. That was fine of him, but we really try to make everybody feel that way. Try us. Traders National Bank Corner Wyoming Ave. and Spruce St. Courtesy our Watchword. , Why the Names Are There When you come into our banking room you will see our names by the various desks and windows. There's a reason. We must know who you are, and wc want you to know who is serving you. Traders National Bank Comer Wyoming Ave. and Spruce St. "Courtesy our Watchword" A Critic Asks Us "Why do you claim a monopoly of courtesy ? " We don't— never have. We only try to so treat people that they will think of this as the bink of courtesy. There are lots of other courteous people. The more, the better. Courtesy pays— in money and other ways. We are glad we adopted Courtesy as our Watchword. Traders National Bank Corner Wyoming Avenue and Spruce Street. Double column newspaper advertisements reduced SOME AD-WRITING EXPERIENCES With thousands of young people coming into maturity all the time, a certain amount of the save-your-money argument is a good thing for every bank, but each such advertisement should present a pointed reason for saving or some plan of saving, etc., rather than cut-and- dried, save-your-money talk. The idea of hav- ing money laid by for a business education or for an unusual investment opportunity, a home, a vacation, a trip abroad, etc., — are all live appeals. But my analysis of the situation in Scranton led me to believe that something more than saving preachments was needed. The saving talk did some good undoubtedly, but in a way it was publicity for all the Scranton banks. It was difficult to tie up such advertising to one bank. Banks are much alike, and yet much unlike. A bank is not a mere building with certain windows for receiving and paying out money and a big vault for keeping cash and valuables safe. Each bank has a distinct individuality created by the people who run it, and that ^55 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT individuality is as different as the individual- ity of people. It is the same way with stores. Think over the banks and stores that you are acquainted with. Each has an individuality or atmosphere all its own. Maybe you could not express that individuality in words, but it is there just the same. I believed that the main appeal of the Trad- ers Bank advertising should be of a sort that would stamp the individuality of the bank on the community. Fortimately, the Traders Bank had the prime essential of an advertis- ing campaign — something to advertise. Be- fore I had been called in, its managers had given most careful attention to policy and service, and, with excellent advertising judg- ment, had decided that they would endeavor to make the bank known by its courteous ser- vice. "Courtesy our Watchword" had been adopted as a slogan. Weekly meetings of the employees were held, at which was empha- sized the necessity, on the part of every one from messenger to president, for treating with the utmost courtesy everybody who entered 156 SOME AD-WRITING EXPERIENCES the bank, wrote to it, or called on the tele- phone. A bank's advertising must carry a certain amount of dignity. It is not so easy to adver- tise the courtesy of a bank or its strength without too much formality or too much of the throwing-flowers-at-ourselves apirit. Be- tween the two extremes, however, is an inter- esting, cordial style that commands the favor- able attention of the public. This advertising policy and campaign proved successful. To-day there are few people with- in the territory of the Traders National Bank of Scranton who do not think of that institu- tion as the bank that is distinguished by its courteous service. The advertisements shown facing page 154 tell the remainder of the story. It will be observed that little incidents and interesting points were taken as texts for the preaching of the " courteous service sermons These were chosen deliberately for their inter- est value. We even told why the word "please " appeared in the elevator sign, — "What floor, please?" — explaining that this was typical 157 j» WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT of the spirit at the Traders National. We were complimented by receiving requests from dif- ferent parts of the country for advertisements of the same style for other banks. I had to explain to several bank cashiers that it would be impossible to create these "human-inter- est," individual advertisements for them un- less I had opportunity to get into their insti- tutions, study their policies and people — in other words, I could not draw a realistic pic- ture of something I knew little about. Here is a subject that I have often used as an example of analysis and the building-up of copy. The article is a device known as the Soapator, selling for several dollars, which is fastened to washstands, and which, with a turn of the handle, granulates a little soap into your hand. The Soapator is a good ex- ample of an article for which there is no lack of distinctive selling argument. In the first place, we have the point of economy. The soap is kept dry and the waste from excessive wetting is eliminated. As the soap is granu- lated and fluffs up, the user gets all that he 158 This House Would Probably Suit You My change of residence to East on forcfs me to put on tlie market the house I had built at 816 Taylor avenue in 1908, See above picture at right. This house is not perfection but is probably ns finely appointed, con- venient and distinctive a house as any of its size in Scranton. Lot 40x150, finely graded and sodded: trees, shrubs, flowers, etc.; back yard fenced with solid board, top-rail fence, painted; small garden with strawberry bed and other berries. Street curbed and asphalted in 1911: and the block is now one of the prettiest on the Hill, not a cheap-looking house in it. House well equipped with screens, awnings, etc. Fine front porch. Entire outside repainted eighteen months a.eo by Rehrig. Both first and second floors papered and redecorated by Williams & McAnulty last Fall. Excellent condition throughout. First floor has reception hall, sitting-room with open fireplace and book- cases built in, dining-room, kitchen, pantry Oak floor except in kitchen; hardwood trim in front part. Second floor has three bedrooms and tiled-wail bath. Front room is double room, with open fireplace- Closet in each room. Linen closet. Large room on third floor that could be made easily into two rooms; lias light and heat. Extra floe fixtures throughout, gas and electricity, fine gas range: 'steam heat; cold-storage closet and extra water closet in cellar; extra large coal bins and hot- water tank; laundry stove and tubs; cement floor. There is some fun and several pecks of trouble in building a house. Yon can buy this house and lot for §500 less than you could now dupli cate it, with the present cost of building and real estate. Fine buy for somebody who can make a largely cash deal. Talk with Reynolds & Wynkoop. Peoples Bank Building, or your own preferred agent. S. ROLAND HALL, Formerly of I. C. S. Forceful headline followed by interesting details Originally a double-column newspaper advertisement SOME AD-WRITING EXPERIENCES needs with a turn or two of the handle. He may idly play with a cake of soap in the basin, using several times as much as he needs, but he will not amuse himself by continuing to turn the handle of the Soapator. The soap is locked into this device, thus making it impos- sible for people in hotels to walk off with the cake. The cake is used down to the last bit, and there are no small pieces of soap running through the pipes to clog them up. Finally, the Soapator method is the sanitary one. You grind out fresh soap for your wash and do not have to use a soiled cake that may have been in use by various people whose ablutions you would not care to follow, judg- ing from the traces left behind. Against all these advantages of the Soapator there is that fearful obstacle of habit. People are habit- uated to buying and using cake soap. Besides, the use of the Soapator calls for the expendi- ture of several dollars to start with, and there is the trouble of putting on the fixture. Now, then, with a rich assemblage of mate- rial, we have the task of deciding what the 159 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT appeal shall be. Shall the argument be econ- omy or convenience or sanitation? It would not be difficult to get up a number of effective appeals, and, indeed, in advertising an article of this kind it would be well to use different forms of appeal, for certain possible buyers would be particularly impressed with the econ- omy appeal — hotels, for example. My choice of openings for the main appeal of this adver- tisement would be the sanitary argument. "Dirty Soap is Dangerous" would be a good headline, and we could ride in on the general public tendency nowadays toward greater sanitation. The house advertisement speaks for itself. A house IS a subject with great possibilities for individual treatment in advertisements, but this seems to be seldom recognized. The people in the market for a home are keenly interested in the small details of the properties that are offered for sale. I had always thought that if I advertised a house for sale, I would illustrate the property and give a frank, full description oi it. That I was correct in my i6o SOME AD-WRITING EXPERIENCES conception of this matter seems to be proved by the fact that the advertising sold the house quickly and at moderate cost when the real- estate market was exceedingly dull in the com- mxinity where the property was located. At , least one reader of the advertisement clipped it and sent it to her husband, then in another city, as the best means of telling him just what the property was. Portland cement is a highly standardized product. Unfortunately for the manufactur- ers, all Portland cement carries the general name "Portland," because of the fact that the discoverer of this cement thought the stone he made with it resembled the oolitic lime- stone on the island of Portland off the coast of England; so he called his cement "Portland Cement." Portland cement is now made from various raw materials, by scores of different concerns, each with its own policies and meth- ods, but a large part of the general pub- lic loses sight of the manufacturer's brand altogether and buys merely "Portland Ce- ment," thinking that it is all the same product. i6i WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT The truth is that most Portland cements are nowadays made to come up to certain re- quirements as to fineness, tensile strength, etc., known as "standard specifications," and all cement for large works is tested by the en- gineer or contractor to see that it actually does meet these tests. These facts mean that from an advertising point of view the product is standardized and that it is difficult for any one manufacturer of Portland cement to "in- dividualize" his product, so to speak. Yet this is possible by means that have already l?een pointed out — studying the product, its manufacturing and its uses, and getting the "point of contact" with the user by present- ing those features of cement that most in- terest him. It is easy to capture the atten- tion of farmers and other home-owners, by running a series of advertisements that illus- trated first one and then another home-or- farm-concrete improvement. It is not so easy to catch the attention of the larger users of cement. Nevertheless, the use of views of notable undertakings will command the in- 162 ALPHA under the Hudson The great New York Aqueduct, now fast approaching completion, IS the most noteworthy undertaking of its kind. To transport, such a distance and under such conditions, a supply of water ample for the needs o! the metropolis for an indefi- nite numlier of years required the best cnKineerint; skill and the most powerful of IjuildiuK material. It is. therefore, a great tribute to the hiKh-watcr mark quality of ALPHA Portland Cement that a total of over a million barrels will have been used in the completed Aqueduct. Still more interestiuR, however, is the fact that where the monster tube gOCT straight down for over a thousand feet and crosses in the rocky depths under the Hud'^on, where the pressure is about "iXODO pounds per square foot, ALPHA Portland Cement was used exclusively for the concrete lining designed to prevent seepage and leaking. But this is only one of a long list of Rrc^t enginccrirg undertakings where ALPHA was selected for the important work after the most exacting tests. ALPHA Service is on a par with ALPHA quality. Six great plants on six great trunk lines. One great plant with its private docks directly on the Hudson River, ideally situated for Coast, Canal and export shipments. Daily capacity of 25,000 barrels. Storage capacity for 2,000,000 ban-Qls. Prompt shipments of properly burned. properly ground, properly- aged finest-quality Portland Cement at all Ask for the ALPHA Book. ALPHA PORTLAND CEMENT CO., General Offices, Easlon, Pa. Sales Omccs: New York, Chlcafto, Balilmorc. Phlladclp >n. Pltl5bureti, Buflalo, Specify ALPHA and be SURE Riding into attention on the interest of tlie construction world in a great engineering undertaking Size of original, 7 X 9j SOME AD-WRITING EXPERIENCES terested attention of architects, engineers, and builders. Note the "Alpha Under the Hud- son" advertisement. Perhaps nothing in the way of engineering on the American continent was talked about more than the great Cat- skill Aqueduct of New York, This advertise- ment earned so much attention that men connected with very large construction com- panies wrote, asking if we could furnish other details of the construction of the great tube where it was carried down over eleven hun- dred feet under the Hudson River. Early in my study of the problem of ad- vertising Alpha Cement I was impressed with the company's practice of requiring hourly tests of the product. It seemed to me that if the cement-using world could be impressed with the idea that Alpha is "the hour-tested ce- ment," we should gain much. Possibly other cement companies test their product regularly, too, but the public does not know it to be the truth. The hourly test makes good argument. The question was, What is the most attrac- tive way to put this before the public ? how 163 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT can the hourly test be visualized ? The answer was simple : Make a clock or a watch the dis- play feature of the advertisements. In the first place, the timepiece would act as an attention- drawer, a curiosity-stimulator. Then the fa- miliarity of the public with this indicator of the hours would enable me to make the hourly- tested argument as clear as day even to the casual reader. The advertisement facing this page shows one way in which the hourly argument was featured. When the adver- tising man strikes a good argument, usually slightly different ways of presenting it can be found, so that the reader does not have to be bored with the same design used again and again in exactly the same form. The hourly- test idea has been illustrated in four different ways in Alpha Cement copy. I have been in advertising work for fifteen years, writing copy of various kinds during all of that time. Yet some two years ago I spent an hour thinking over, plaiming, and construct- ing an apparently simple advertisement that, when completed, did not contain more than 164 THE CUARANTEE| PORTLANC Every Hour Day and Night WHETHER the user of Portland Cement makes his own private tests or not. it must be a source of satisfaction to him to know that all ALPHA Cement that comes to him has been tested hourly by chemists who are men of real authority in all ALPHA plants. Under the ALPHA system of super- vision, all Cement must be correctly pro- portioned as to raw material, thoroughly burned, and ground to exceed standard specifications : it is impossible for any ALPHA Cement shipped out to be lacking in proper binding power. Every bag of ALPHA Cement is guaranteed to more than meet the U. S, Government standard and every other recognized teat. Plants on six trunk-line railroads, one plant with its private docks directly on the Hudson River. Capacity, 25,000 barrels daily. Ask for Art Envelope No. , containing views of distinctive concrete constructions, and for the 80-page illustrated handbook, "ALPHA Cement — How to Use It." Alpha Portland Cement Co., oi^^ Easton, Pa. Branch Offices: New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburgh. Baltimore, Savannah Three points are illustrated — the Alpha Cement package, the hourly test, and the chemist's supervision Originally a 9 x 12 page in the Engineering Record As an engineering authority recently said: *'The making of Portland Cement requires fixe greatest care and long experience. It is a scien- tific and chemical procedure representing the antithesis of guesswork or slipshod methods." The ALPHA system of manufacturing is the result of 25 years of experience, during which time ALPHA CEMENT has displaced the best imported Portlands. The chemist is a man of real authority in every ALPHA plant. He cannot be overruled by men zealous for large or economic output. The hourly system of tests, beginning with tbe quarry borings, is followed strictly. Result: It is impossible for cement that is (acking in binding power to be shipped from an ALPHA plant. The word "guaranteed," now stamped on every new ALPHA bag, assures you that the cement will more than meet all standard requirements. Stndfor the ALPHA Book No, , gwing oaluablt imjormaiion about cement and concrete work. Alpha Portland Cement Co. General Office, i Easton, Pa« SALES OFFICES Boston, New York, Fhiladelphiai Pittsburgh, Baltimore, ' Savannah :tS« EwH OU BL-Y'jTTsT,£0Va'MO'* The clock and the figure of the chemist visualize the hourly test argument. Note that both the letter and the border sug- gest the strength of concrete construction Originally a 7 x lo advertisement SOME AD-WRITING EXPERIENCES one hundred and fifty words. My subject was Life Buoy Soap. Life Buoy Soap is an excel- lent soap for toilet and general washing pur- poses, but it has a slight carbolated odor (the odor of carbolic acid), which is disagreeable, or at least unagreeable, to many people, de- spite the fact that the carbolic ingredient in Life Buoy attacks germs, makes the skin sani- tary, and keeps anything that you may wash cleaner than most soaps do. Before the subject came to me for my work, a dozen grocers and druggists had been inter- viewed, had been asked what classes of people bought the soap, what they bought it for, how buyers said they liked it, and so on. Further- more, an experienced investigator had can- vassed nearly a thousand homes in the city of Philadelphia to determine (i) what proportion of the people had bought or were using Life Buoy Soap; (2) why those who had stopped using it did so; (3) why those who used Life Buoy regularly liked it and for what purposes they used it most; and other such data. These reports were before me as I wrote, and I had 165 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT bought a cake of the soap, examined it care- fully, and used it, so that I could write in full knowledge of the article. The problem, then, was this: Here is an excellent soap for toilet and general use oh sale in drug stores and grocery stores through- out the country, but which is not bought to any great extent mainly because the carbo- lated odor is objectionable — because people do not realize that this smell is a clean smell — that it does not, as a heavy perfume may do, cover up germs. Suppose something like this were written: — BUY LIFE BUOY SOAP once and you will buy It always. You can't use this high-grade soap for your hands or for gen- eral purposes without being convinced that it affords the best and cleanest wash in existence. Don't mind the carbolated odor, for that means only that Life Buoy is death to the germs that are in dirt. Germs are dangerous things and you owe it to yourself to protect yourself against them. Try Life Buoy once and you will buy it always. Five cents a cake at all druggists and grocers. 1 66 Lay That Cellar Floor Now while you have the time to make a good job of It Concrete makes a clean, everlasting floor, easily swept or wasned — one that the furnace or hot ashes cannot set ablaze. All the materials you need are good sand and gravel or crushed stone and flLPHrpSCEMENT ALPHA Cement is sure to produce a fine hard job, for Its quality is guarded (^refully by chemists ttiroughout the pmcess of manufacturing. It is tested eyery hour, so tttat every bag is sure to be of full strength and binding power. ALPHA is warranted in composition, fineness and tensile strength to more than meet the United States Govern- ment requirements and all other standard tests. ALPHA Portland Cement always gives satisfactory results on the farm. Jt goes further and is cheaper in actual use than ordinary cements. It makes everlasting walls, walks, driveways, porch floors, silos, posts, troughs, etc In building for permanence you want the best Portland Cement you can get. Use a brand guaranteed for strength. Insist upon ALPHA and be SURE. The ALPHA Dealer Has a Book for You Our large illustrated ALPHA book shows how to make scores of home-and- farm improvements. The ALPHA dealer in your community will 'be glad to give you a copy and tell you more about everlasting improvements made with ALPHA Cement. If you don*t know the ALPHA dealer, write us, jnention- ing what you are planning to make or build. Address Dept. ALPHA PoRTUND Cement Co., S'^::! Easton, pa. KALES OfflfEfi I Nk. Y.rk. fUnro, Pbl^dtlpbli. I'UtibHrrb. Bull.Io, B.lll«ui'«. BMlan, Gavanniih The general reader's interest in concrete floors brought this farm- magazine advertisement considerable attention Originally two columns wide SOME AD-WRITING EXPERIENCES What's wrong with this copy? It reads smoothly, and it is punctuated properly. It states some truths that are important and there is a "direct command" heading to buy Life Buoy. This is a fair example of thousands of pieces of copy that appear in newspapers and magazines, copy that is not extremely poor, but is just "ordinary," has n't enough interest and force to it to make readers stop and read. To use a little slang, it lacks "the pimch." A high-salaried man with one of the big advertising agencies says that when he writes about a soap, cigar, or any article of that kind, he thinks to himself: "This article is not of great importance to the reader I want to in- terest. At least, he doesn't think so. Just suppose that such a reader has been in this room and is now on the point of leaving. He has opened- the door and is d)out to step out. What can I say quickly that will stop him and impress the features of this article strongly on his mind?" Analyze the heading of the foregoing Life 167 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT Buoy copy for a moment. Will a woman reader stop and be impelled to read the text of the advertisement because we have said, " Buy Life Buoy Soap," when there are interesting stories and items all around the advertisement? Is she eager to spend her money for something ? Is the name of a soap of, great interest to her? Is there anything in the heading to attract her attention, to make her feel that there is a good reason for changing the soap she has been using? The answer to all these questions is "No." Though the copy is smooth, it has very little attention-attracting value, and would probably not do anything toward help- ing the sales of Life Buoy. Let's get at the thing from another angle — one that will afford live treatment. This Life Buoy Soap is appreciated by the well-informed woman, for she is up-to-date enough to know the value of a soap that makes things abso- lutely clean. Suppose we create such a charac- ter and let her be the spokesman, or the spokes- woman. Her conversational expressions will have an interesting look. This woman, whose i68 SOME AD-WRITING EXPERIENCES sayings about Life Buoy will be the central ideas in a series of advertisements, is a fine example of the scrupulously careful housewife and mother. The illustration will show her as such. We will call her " Mrs. Particular," and one of our advertisements will be the follow- ing:— Mrs. Particular Says: "I don't mind the slight carbolated odor of Life Buoy Soap. I really like it, because I know that it means that things are absolutely clean." It's easy to put heavy perfumes into soap, but the agreeable smell is n't necessarily a clean smell. Life Buoy Soap not only has rare dirt- removing qualities, but it leaves things hygien- ically clean — loo per cent clean. Life Buoy contains red palm oil. It gives a soft, velvety lather most beneficial to the skin. Five cents a cake at all grocers and druggists. The leading idea could be varied from adver- tisement to advertisement, thus : — "Life Buoy Soap is fine for the children," says Mrs. Particular, "for children do get so dirty, and Life Buoy keeps the scratches on their little hands safe from infection." 169 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT This kind of argument is true to life and has an interesting look that will impel women to read. They will want to know what Mrs. Particular says, and if what she says is in ac- cordance with modem ideas of sanitation and is forcefully expressed, it will drive home the arguments about Life Buoy Soap. XVI CUMULATIVE EFFECTS, AND TESTS "Repetition Makes Reputation" runs the slogan of one publisher with space to sell and whose interests, naturally, are served by hav- ing advertisers continue to use his space un- interruptedly. Another publisher lays stress on "continuity of impressiSn" — which is only another way of arguing for uninterrupted advertising. Incorporating the same idea are the slogans of two advertising agencies — " The time to advertise is all the time," and " Keeping everlas,tingly at it brings success." The analogy between the effect of contin- uous advertising and the result of the drip- ping water that finally wears away the stone is frequently cited. Again and again we hear the argument about advertisement after adver- tisement making its little impression until the arrival of that happy day for the advertiser when the pressure becomes too strong for the 171 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT reader to bear, or he suddenly has need for such an article, buys the advertiser's goods and the bread that long floated upon the waters has been gathered in. There is a great deal of truth in all of this, and the fact that there is a great deal of truth in the argument for steady advertising makes it difficult to so present the subject of cumu- lative effects that students of advertising will be able to discriminate between cases where advertising should be continued persistently and cases where it should not be. There can be no question about millions of dollars having been wasted in advertising tiiat was not worth its cost, but which was continued in the blind faith that somewhere and somehow the investment would be profit- able. The problem is all the more complex because it is not possible to key or gauge the effect of some advertising with any accuracy. Certain advertisers, particularly those whose propositions call for a response from the reader through the mails, can check up the effect of their impressions with considerable 172 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS accuracy. But people go to local stores for a large proportion of their purchases. When some one goes into a grocery store and buys a package of Shredded Wheat or a cake of Pear's Soap, there is usually no way by which the advertiser can tell what advertisement or what publication or other advertising medium was responsible for the sale. If the advertiser happens to be doing some special local adver- tising or sampling in that particular commun- ity, he can check up the increase of sales over normal with the special promotion and get a good idea of what his work is accomplishing, but otherwise he is at sea. As a matter of fact, even the purchaser of such goods will not likely know just what influenced her to buy. Some advertising men have gone so far as to say that advertising has not reached its full effectiveness until the reader has forgotten just where he or she saw any particular adver- tisement, but just has a strong impression as to the desirability of the goods. This argu- ment is easily disproved by the fact that thou- sands of people write direct to the advertiser 173 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT inxmediately on seeing an advertisement and most assuredly know where they saw the advertisement. They sometimes make mis- takes and say they were influenced by one publication when it was really another that appealed to them; and very often the inquiry or sale is the result of seeing the advertisement in several publications. A large proportion of staple goods, and even specialties bought in retail stores, are bought as the result of con- tinued impressions made by advertisements. The danger in attempting to come to a gen- eral conclusion about this matter of cumula- tive effect lies in the truth that what applies to one advertised article does not apply to an- other. Let us take a soap or a flour as an ex- ample. Who expects the reader, immediately on reading even the most attractive advertise- ment of the article, to lay down the publica- tion and start for the drug store or the grocery store? True, an advertisement of an unusual sort of soap might draw a request by mail for a sample; but ordinarily the soap or flour will not be bought until the reader is in need of 174 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS supplies of that kind; and, indeed, the partic- ular kind advertised may not be tried for a year or more. Hence the necessity for contin- ued advertising. A single advertisement or a few advertisements would be wasted. We must keep on with our impressions if we would make sales. How frequently we must appear before our public, and how large our advertisements should be to reach maximum effectiveness without waste of money, are questions that the advertising world as yet knows little about. It is at this time largely a matter of individual opinion and of experiences with the increase of sales. The publishers, eager to sell space, can- not be expected to look at the question from an impartial point of view, though some cer- tainly try to do so. Any person of reasoning mind can understand that, beyond the making of a certain impression, the advertiser has nothing to gain and would be wasting his money then to appear more frequently and with more and larger advertisements than the reader would give attention to. If advertising 17s WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT cost nothing, he need not watch for the "point of diminishing returns"; but costs are very- high, and when he feels sure, from his study of the habits of the people he sells to or hopes to sell to, that he is appearing as frequently as he need do in order to be constantly in their minds, that he is telling them as much of a story as he can hope to get read, then he should draw a line on his expenditures. The department and dry-goods stores follow the practice of advertising daily, and their practice is probably soimd. On the other hand, advertisers of national products have become successful appearing before the public once a month or once a week. It is to be remembered here, though, that attractive magazines are rarely thrown away at once, but are on hand for weeks ordinarily and are of continuous ad- vertising benefit. There are not so many advocates of large- space advertising as there were a few years ago. Once more be it remembered that what is advisable for one advertiser may not be for another. It would be difficult to exploit an 176 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS automobile properly in small advertisements. The subject requires room. On the other hand, an advertiser of cedar chests has, after the most careful experimenting, found that a space of from one to two inches gives him the best returns, cost considered. In my opinion, the appeals of Alpha Cement to architects, engi- neers, and other busy men must be in large space. The appeals to the readers of farm journals can be made effective in much smaller advertisements, because we can, in these publi- cations, feature such constructions as silos, cow bams, etc., that are sure attention-catchers. Here, frequent small advertisements with an occasional large advertisement for general ef- fect make the best plan. No rules can be laid down. The amount of space to be used depends on the article itself, its importance to the pur- chaser, the conditions surrounding the sale of it and the people who buy it, the amount of space competitors are using, etc. A staple product has been considered with respect to cumulative effects. Let us now con- eider an article such as an encyclopaedia or a 177 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT set of books or a course of correspondence in- struction. Here, too, it seems logical to argue that "repetition makes reputation," that peo- ple who are at first unimpressed by the adver- tiser's argument become more and more im- pressed by subsequent advertisements and finally come to the point of inquiring and making a purchase. The unvarnished truth, however, shatters our theories, as it often does. Close acquaintance with the experiences of several advertisers of this class makes it clear to me that the cumulative effect on their busi- ness is small. Some readers of these advertise- ments who are impressed at the time of first reading, but who, for some reason or another, will not consider the purchase of the article, later have some change come about in their affairs that gives them a, new interest in the advertised product. The original impression is then renewed and an inquiry made. In such cases, however, if the original impression had been strong, the first advertisement would have brought the inquiry had no other adver- tisements appeared. In some cases several im- 178 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS pressions are required before die reader comes to the point of inquiring, but these cases are much fewer than many advertising men and publishers seem to be aware of or are willing to admit. This is not a question of opinions; figures representing the returns from millions of dollars tell the story. If the striking adver- tisements of the International Correspondence Schools had a strong cumulative effect, the inquiry-cost of that concern would have been gradually getting lower year by year. The facts are that the inquiry-cost has shown a tendency to increase rather than to decrease. Note the following returns from a series of I. C. S. ad- vertisements that I wrote and followed very closely. They were inserted in a printers' magazine, and the inquiries by successive months were as follows: 15, 5, 13, 17, 14, 28, II, 7, 10, ID, S, IS, 8, 3, 20, 6, 5, 5. As a matter of fact, these advertisements, with four exceptions, brought enough inquir- ies to make the investment profitable, but note the great variance in returns, due to the difference in the pulling power of the different 179 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT advertisements. The advertisement which brought twenty-eight inquiries was the same piece of copy that, repeated nine months later, brought twenty inquiries, thus showing that the relative strength of the advertisements ac- counted for the returns more thari any will-o'- the-wisp cumulative effect can do. The two advertisements are reproduced here for study. No. 2 was the unusually successful advertise- ment. It is strong in human interest, both in the headline and the text. The other, though apparently a fair piece of copy, is written in the didactic style. The inquiry record tells the tale. It can be set down as a hard and important fact that belated returns from old advertise- ments — ^most of which returns would have come had the advertising been discontinued (this is proved by the experiences of advertisers who continue to get returns from old issues of magazines long after advertising has been stopped) — account for considerable of the "phenomena" known popularly as "cumula- tive effect." 1 80 S 2 •H « « « J ■a'- tilt- £ ■S M « go g.Se:|.2 ■"■■Ml/) = "I«J "S 3- " -S 2'S-S. B a o jj-c M.t- ;;;^ rs XS CO If III |J5K>- 2§^ •el " '3's-a •c g'^-oSS 5-2 a E p It rt IB u u cuptrt o o O ^ S ?».2 « >^ y SP.2 .-£•*« .btbgS K » g B V O S » f^oi ^.s£ 8.S .s .. « r « C w V S V en •'3 qTS S s " a 3§ _ B 3 « ">" "•"sag •Sg^EiS _3-a fc.B-i B E S^MC » g-;iJsg-o|eB3g.ai "|.sB-§6i)g,= Pg.h-3g ■S.2 " s.= «-c ".s " »^-oJ^ s-° gu gs »* Sw3 g »;; i o (fl B.^ STftS rt O B •^'H C ^ (!j lit V ft. i ^9 Q 1 1 g 10 3 ] V4 8 a CUMULATIVE EFFECTS A well-known advertiser was recently re- sponsible for the unfortunate statement that "ordinary advertising long continued brings success, while the most brilliant advertising done irregularly means failure." Such a state- ment needs a great deal of qualification. Some advertising need be done only at irregular periods, for the needs may be special, and it is surely folly to perpetuate the delusion that, though your advertising may be ordinary, all you have to do is to keep on spending money on it. A heater manufacturer of my acquaintance tells me that after continued use of a national magazine, repeating none of his advertise- ments, he often finds the inquiry-cost climbing. After staying out of the pages of that publica- tion a while, he finds that the readers appear to be taking fresh interest in his advertisements and the inquiry-cost is materially lowered. It may be that, in the advertising of a product such as a heating plant, continuous advertis- ing for six months exhausts all the "prospects " that read that particular magazine, and that i8i WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT after a rest the new subscribers secured give the advertiser a new field on which to work. The experience is so unusual that it would be risky for other advertisers to draw any gen- eral conclusion from it. It is, however, another proof of the complexity of " cumulative effect." Usually, when the subject of cumulative effect in advertising is brought up, those who hold that continuous advertising is sure to be a good investment in the long run are apt to contend that we who argue that there is little cumulative effect in certain lines of advertis- ing are attempting to put all business on the mail-order basis. They declare that mail- order advertising affects people quite differ- ently from retail advertising and the adver- tising of national concerns that aim to send the reader to his retailer to buy the advertised goods. There is this important difference — that the effect of the advertising on the reader who goes to his retailer for the goods is very difficult to trace with certainty, while it can be traced with reasonable accuracy when the reader commimicates direct with the adver- 182 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS tiser. However, the fact remains that the peo- ple who read mail-order advertising, and those who read retail advertisements and advertise- ments of national concerns urging them to go to retailers, are human beings with the same kind of minds. If advertising has no pull when put to the mail-order test, it is not likely to have decided pulling power when put to the other uses. We who are inclined, particularly in certain forms of advertising mentioned, to trace the effect of advertising to strong pieces of copy rather than to continuous advertising, are not arguing that all advertisers should go into the mail-order business. We do argue, nevertheless, that those who are doing retail adver- tising and national advertisers who are endeavor- ing to interest readers and have them get the article from their local dealers need as much force to their advertisements as the outright mail-order advertiser, I have always been glad I had good experi- ence in mail-order and direct advertising. Such advertising is put to the brutal tests of the cou- pon, the key, and the return card. There is nothing like it to knock out straw-man theo- 183 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT ries, and it would be a fine thing if all adver- tisers who have to do their advertising largely on faith could have a reasonable experience with advertising that checks itself up. The only tests worth while in advertising are the tests derived from people when they are observing or reading advertising matter in the usual and natural way. Tests on se- lected groups or general groups of people, made when they are aware that a test of ad- vertising is to be made, have not proved to be reliable. Knowing that he is playing a part in a test as to what advertisements will be noticed and remembered, a reader will un- consciously observe advertisements that he would ordinarily skip, and vice versa. When an advertiser cannot key his advertisements with any degree of accuracy, the next best thing to do is to observe carefully the reading tendencies of people with respect to his adver- tising and question them, if he wishes, after they have had a chance to observe his copy under the usual conditions. Nearly all advertisers will do well to adopt 184 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS some method of keying or checking, even if that method be only a partial test. Straws show which way the wind blows. Offer cer- ' tain booklets, using different numbers for dif- ferent publications, or use a different street- number, a coupon, or some other device for determining which of the publications that run your advertising really command the in- terest of readers to an imusual degree. Some methods of keying that are satisfac- tory for one advertiser would not do for an- other. Tiffany & Co. would hardly care to use different street-numbers, though their building probably carries four or five numbers. In this case, a number could be given to the Tiffany Blue Book — "Blue Book 13 "being used in one publication, "Blue Book 14" in another, and so on. Of course it follows that the quality of in- quiries must be carefully watched, because it is easily possible, for one publication to pull more inquiries than another but a smaller total of real business. Inquiries are not sales by any means. 185 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT A great deal of the effect of the advertising will not be determined by any such method of keying. But just the same, it stands to reason that the reader who is interested to the point of sending for your Blue Book, your booklet on "How to use Beaver Board in an Old House," etc., is not only more impressed than the reader who gives your advertisement merely a passing glance or possibly does not see it at all, but will be still more impressed by the act of receiving and reading the book- let. Why not? The attention in the latter case is concentrated on the advertiser's product for perhaps half an hour or an hour, as against a few seconds in the first place. Readers of farm papers are not expected to order Portland Cement direct by mail, though many mail inquiries are received that lead to real business. Portland cement advertising is so planned as to send inquirers eventually to dealers or to people whom the manufacturer hopes to make his dealers. Nevertheless, I know positively that the advertising which draws requests for information on how to build i86 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS concrete roads, walks, stables, silos, etc., is worth much more than the advertising that 'draws from readers no indication of interest. Not much response is expected from the read- ers of an engineering or an architectural mag- azine, but in the case of a publication reach- ing the general public, if there is no indication of interest in the advertising, I put it down as evidence of weak copy or a weak medium. Once more, however, be it said, that this re- mark will not apply in full force to all adver- tised products. There is very little reason why a housekeeper should write to the advertisers of Ivory or Sunny Monday Soap, and it would probably be impossible to prepare a soap book- let of sufficient interest to draw very many inquiries. In the case of an advertisement such as that of the New International Encyclopedia, we face an entirely different problem. Here it is possible for one insertion to present a complete and impressive canvass of the article for sale and for one insertion to draw an in- quiry. If the advertisement does not draw the inquiry, then the copy or the medium is at 187 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT fault. When the reader has given thorough attention to the advertisement, he ought to be sufficiently impressed to write for the in- formation offered, provided he is in a position to profit by study. In such a case there is not much ground for believing that the next ad- vertisement of the same product will take up the cause of the advertiser and deepen the im- pression. Does the salesman who gets a full hearing on a specialty proposition and fails to get our name on the dotted line stand a good chance of coming back next month, getting the same attention and winning our order? Not usually. One can easily build up a fine-spun and apparently logical theory that the repeated canvass, whether in face-to-face salesmanship or advertising, will deepen the impression and win business in increasing quantity for all ad- vertisers, but the plain figures of advertisers who have spent hundreds of thousands of dol- lars is worth much more than theories. There are scores of steady advertisers whose inquiry- cost has remained stationary or has gone up during the last ten years. How can advertia- i8§ CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ing be strongly cumulative for these concerns? This conclusion does not mean that such con- cerns should not do continuous advertising. It only means that they are able with a few in- sertions to get a fair test of a medium and would be chasing a wiU-o'-the-wisp if they continued to use a medium for years fondly believing that somehow they are getting an adequate return for their expenditures. The inability to check results accurately and a blind faith in cumulative effects have caused advertisers to stay in many mediums that are losing money for them rather than gain- ing it. The retailer has no easy time checking the force of his advertising because continuous effort brings people into his store who do not even realize that advertising brought them there. They learn his reputation, and that reputation, if very good, becomes a stronger force than any merchandise offerings that the store may present in its advertisements. The mere titles of the Altm^n, the Wanamaker, the Marshall Field, and other such stores have be- 189 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT come, by good merchandising and good adver- tising, of such powerful attention-attracting and confidence-creating value that they are carried, very properly, as headings to their an- nouncements. What a tribute to honest ad- vertising it is to say that the advertising head- ing or "sign-post" reading, in effect, "This is what the Wanamaker Store has to say to- day," is stronger than any "point of contact" that can be drawn from any of the great stock of merchandise of that great store. You are safe in one conclusion on this sub- ject of cumulative advertising: If your propo- sition is such that you can reasonably hope to get immediate action from the reader, your results from any given advertisement are largely immediate {immediate here covers a period of a few days in the case of a newspaper and a few months in the case of a magazine) if the advertisement is properly prepared. If the character of the article is such that the reader acts or buys only after a series of im- pressions, then the immediate results from one piece of copy caimot be traced, and the igo CUMULATIVE EFFECTS force of the advertising is found in "continuity of impression," or cumulative effect. Some advertisements are looked up, as, for instance, when there is a sudden need and the would-be buyer does not know where he can obtain what he wants. At the time I write this text, I am in need of a mailing-list of certain classes of people. I recall that a compiler of mailing-lists was advertising his service in the advertising magazines a year ago, but I can- not remember his name or his address. I am searching for it, and if I run across the adver- tisement of some other mailing-list concern first, that one will get my order. An advertiser of this class ought to be before his audience con- tinuously. His product is not of such interest or importance to us that we will carry a last- ing impression of his name and address from seeing one or two of his advertisements. To be out of a certain issue of a publication that appeals to his prospective customers may mean that the very issue he skips may be one some reader searches for information as to where mailing-lists can be had. 191 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT On the other hand, there are products that we never look up so far as referring to adver- tisements is concerned. The housewife plan- ning a cake does not search over her piles of magazines in order to decide what flour shall be used, nor does the engineer look up the ad- vertised argument of different brands of ce- ment when planning his bridge. Advertisers of such products must win favor by making their impressions on readers previous to the time when the goods are needed. They must expect to "butt into" the attention of the reader rather than to be looked up. And they must appear frequently enough for the reader to feel familiar with the advertised product and possibly also to remember where it can be bought. How large the advertisements must be, and how often they must appear to have their full effect and without unneces- sary expenditure, are questions that can be decided only by one who gives the keenest study to the particular product, to be adver- tised and the people to whom it is to be ad- vertised. 192 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS I am only laying stress on the vital impor- tance of having copy of positive selling force, so that we shall not be obliged to rest com- placently under the impression that all the advertising we put out, whether we hear from it at all or not, is building up a wonderful cumulative effect that our children or our grandchildren will^eap if we do not live to see the day. I must record what I have found to be true, even at the risk of being misimder- stood and of being accused of treason by those advertising men and publishers who become alarmed at any argument against giving long- time tests to all sorts of advertising. It is reasonable to suppose that with the hundreds of thousands of advertisements being pub- lished nowadays, many are not effective. Mail- order advertising proves this. Mail-order advertising shows that it required a high de- gree of skill to produce copy that actually pays when it is thrown entirely on its own strength — has no display of goods, no show- windows, no local acquaintance to strengthen the publicity appeal. Why not, then, admit ^93 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT that it is extremely likely that there is just as much inefficiency in that class of copy that is not of a mail-order nature? Why not be con- tent to credit cumulative effect with just its true worth rather than make it a blanket for all our weakness in copy effort? It usually costs an advertiser of staple goods a great deal more than his profit to induce a reader to make the first purchase. If the ad- vertisers of Uneeda Biscuit or the H. J. Heinz products could hope to make only one sale to the reader, they would do well to eliminate their advertising altogether. It is only by producing a product that people will buy again and continuously, and that they will speak of to their friends, that enduring success can be won. Once a sale is built up for a prod- uct of this kind, the advertising becomes a sort of insurance, a bulwark against the enemy, as it were. The advertisers of Ivory Soap spend a very large annual appropriation. In the year 1914 the company declared a divi- dend of thirty-two and a half per cent on their common stock. No matter how large the 194 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS yearly bill for advertising "insurance," the concern can well afford to pay it so long as they maintain Ivory prestige to the extent of being able to pay thirty-two and a half per cent on common stock. Probably there are a dozen soap manufacturers able to make as good a soap as Ivory. Probably there are a dozen now making as good a soap as Ivory. The 'potent fact is that Ivory has the prestige, is safely entrenched, and by powerful adver- tising will keep itself entrenched. For a con- cern of this class to let down in its advertising would mean that the way would be open to the enemy to break down its sales, after which it might not be possible for Ivory to regain the lost ground. Some of our best copy-writers are of the opinion that, in advertising a national prod- uct appealing to people scattered over broad territory, an advertiser might get up a series of a dozen good advertisements and use them for a long time, running the series through and then starting again with Advertisement No. I. This is probably true, and yet as he 195 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT studies his customers and his appeals, the ad- vertiser may be able year by year to perfect his appeals and do his work more efficiently all the time. Where the appeal is to a small class of people or to the people in one commun- ity, the change of appeal should be frequent, perhaps running no advertisement twice in exactly the same form. In this way monotony and stale argument are avoided. This does not mean that the leading argument may not be continued. As has been shown, it is pos- sible to put a new dress or form on an old ar- gument and make it of new interest while at the same time driving home the same old facts. Many advertisers are concerned about the duplication of circulation among the adver- tising mediums they use, its bearing on cumu- lative effect, etc.; they are questioning how many times it is profitable to go before readers with the same advertisement or the same form of appeal. A great many people read from two to three up to six, eight, or ten magazines and newspapers. Magazine advertisers have 196 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS not so far shown a marked taidency to prepare separate advertisements for different publica- tions of the same general class. Their an- nouncement m.McClure's Magazine is likely to be the same as in the Literary Digest. To pre- pare different copy for each publication would mean a considerable increase of cost, and yet I am sure there will be a more pronounced tendency in this direction in the days to come. This is to be taken into consideration, that only a small proportion of the readers of a publication are likely to see a single advertise- ment of ordinary size. Let us say that ten per cent of the readers of McClure's Magazine see a certain advertisement. If only ten per cent of those who receive the Literary Digest see it, and only ten per cent of the subscribers to Good Housekeeping see it, there may not be as much overlapping as one might think at first. Then, too, the commodity may be of such a nature that three or four impressions a month, if a single reader should receive that many, may not be wasteful. It must be true that a point of "complete saturation" 197 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT or "diminishing return" will be eventually- reached, no matter what the product is; and after passing that point, after making as deep an impression as he could profitably make, the advertiser would be spending his money un- necessarily. Not many general advertisers reach this point. The world is so big and busy, and there is so much going on, so much likeli- hood of people forgetting such a thing as one article of merchandise, that an advertiser may buy considerable duplication of circulation before getting to the point of diminishing re- turn. The farmer who sees commodities ad- vertised in his farm magazine, and then sees the same goods advertised over the name of a local dealer in a local newspaper, has received two impressions that are more likely to make him act than one would have done. The ad- vertiser has much to gain, however, by either varying his appeal or dressing his advertise- ment in different form in different mediums, provided he can keep expense within bounds. Then, when a reader sees the advertisement in different places, he will see a new treatment, 198 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS and the danger of having him pass on with the thought, "I have already seen that," will be avoided. Take the IngersoU Watch, for example. It is advertised in boys' magazines with copy written especially to appeal to boys. In the magazines read by grown-ups, it is advertised as a fine present to give the boys. This way of reaching the same home, from different angles is an ideal one. The pulling power of an advertisement does not depend alone on the advertisement. A concern whose advertising experiences are familiar to me uses regularly a group of pub- lications that appeal to about the same class of people. The advertising is of such character that its pulling power cai* be gauged. One of these publications produces sixty per cent greater returns, dollar for dollar, than the next best on the list.* Circulation probably has something to do with this, but as rates among these publications run about alike per thousand of circulation, I am convinced that the difference is largely due to the fact that the readers of the leading publication read it 199 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT with considerably more interest and confidence than they do the others. The finest kind of copy will not do much for you unless you can get it before a large body of the people with whom you can reasonably hope to do business, and get it before them in a medium that really commands their in- terest and confidence. I emphasize interest and confidence because I am sure that these phases of advertising do not receive the atten- tion they are entitled to. It is no child's play to produce a publica- tion that many thousands of people will read regularly with interest and confidence. There are publications filled with such uninteresting reading-matter and such poor advertisements that the reader would have to be in solitary confinement with limited reading-matter be- fore hewould give them much attention. They don't command attention, and the advertiser will find it impossible to get a proper return on his investment in the advertising space of such a publication. The "interest value" of space deserves our keenest consideration. 200 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS There are publishers who offer to prostitute their columns by printing supposed news items or "editorial endorsements" that are thinly disguised advertisements. The stupid adver- tiser who is taken in by such a device does not stop to figure out that the publisher is trifling with his greatest asset — the interest and con- fidence of the reader. When a reader sees that a few dollars will buy the eadorsement of a publisher, his faith is immediately weakened, and the space is worth little. The sensational, biased, unreliable publica- tion gradually educates its readers to regard it as such, and its advertising value to the sane, reliable advertiser is lowered correspondingly. To get one hundred per cent efficiency, we must have the reader feel that all the adver- tisements he sees in his favorite newspaper or magazine are trustworthy. You would not hire a sharper as a salesman, would you.? You would feel that your sales message would be ineffective if delivered by such a person. Then, why employ a publica- tion, as a deliverer of your printed sales mes- aoi WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT sages, if that publication aids the faker — if it barters the boasted confidence of its readers to every swindler who has the money to buy space or serves merely the adroit swindler — the "almost honest" advertiser? The pub- lisher cannot sell you the confidence of readers after he has bartered it away to sharpers. If the publication carries "confidence-wrecking" advertising, then the value of the space is greatly diminished for "confidence-creating" advertising. The publication that inserts the fake "Medical Questions and Answers," makes women think they are reading medical advice and has them filling prescriptions ( ?) that in- clude fifty cents' worth of a patent remedy worth two cents, has hundreds of homes smarting under the sting of deception. How will your messages be received in those homes } That publisher is not playing fair to either you or his readers. He is deliberately destroying the great thing that he has to sell an adver- tiser — an opportunity to interest and convince people. If he offers the honest advertiser space at all, he should give a liberal discount. 202 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS Those publications which advertise "in- vestment" humbugs and aid in the robbery of consumptives, cancer victims, etc., impair their value to decent advertisers most seri- ously. Newspapers have been conspicuous and persistent offenders in running this shame- less sort of advertising. When will the news- paper publishers awake to their great oppor- tunity? Decent advertisers have as much grievance against publishers who deliberately open the doors of their readers' homes to the quacks and sharpers as they have against the "black sheep" advertisers. Such publishers are acces- sories. They have made their columns com- mon — ' very common — carriers, when they should be discriminating carriers. The ex- cuses that publishers make about being un- able to discriminate are evasions. The answer is that the publishers willing to discriminate do it with ease. Imagine any one of the leading magazine publishers having any doubt as to whether or not an advertiser is fit to be intro- duced to the readers of his publication! There 203 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT are now statutes In a good number of the States, bearing on fraudulent advertising. It is a fine thing to have these laws, but the quick weapon for getting disreputable advertising out of mediums is the reputable advertiser's appropriation. When publishers are made to understand that high-grade sales messages will not be associated with fraudulent or ob- jectionable copy, conditions will soon be cor- rected. Those who have honest sales messages to deliver can stop all this advertising evil by protesting against "confidence-wrecking" ad- vertising whenever and wherever it appears, by declining to use mediums that carry such advertising, by telling publishers plainly that they must choose whom they will serve, by encouraging lay readers to protest vigorously against improper advertising, by turning over to the Post-Office Department all questionable advertising received through the mails. You will find it Interesting sometimes to trace out your own order of impressions and 204 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS the processes of reasoning that you go through before finally buying an advertised article. Often other factors besides the advertising enter into the process. For example, I am determined to buy a Fox shotgun. Though the Fox people have doubtless been advertis- ing their guns for years, I do not recall ever seeing one of their advertisements until the appearance of that one which quoted Colonel Roosevelt as saying that no better gun than the Fox was ever made. A friend who has a Fox likes it very much, and I have seen and admired his gun. Finally, a gundealer has assured me that the Fox gun is excellent value. In this case the resolution to buy has been built up by four distinct factors — the advertisement containing the good words of a distinguished pleased purchaser; the endorsement of a friend; satisfactory examination of the article itself; and a trusted dealer's assurance of quality. This is genuine cumulative effect and a signi- ficant lesson in advertising. XVII LAST WORDS Recall the purposes of an advertisement as outlined in chapter VI, "The Advertise- ment Itself." Remember that most impor- tant of all is to get the reader to believe, to remember, to act. There is a great deal of in- ertia in this world of ours. People forget and neglect to do things. Many people dislike greatly the writing of letters. If your product cannot be conveniently seen, maybe readers won't bother to hunt it out, but will wait, and perhaps later they are attracted by some- thing else, their money is spent for that, and you are forgotten. Some people who are ener- getic physically are, lazy mentally. There is a great deal going on in the world and your busi- ness is just a little part of it. All of this is lead- ing up to the admonition that, if you expect to be remembered and to have people act on your sales messages, you must make it con- ao6 LAST WORDS venient for them to do so. Every extra thing that you ask them to do, every difficulty that you put in their way, lessens your chance to get action. Be reminded once more that the reader is not even actuated by the courtesy that he feels when you are dealing face to face with him. Therefore, if you, can use coupons, return cards, and other such aids to ready ac- tion, do so; tell the reader just to put his name and address on the margin of the advertise- ment or to write you and say "Yes," or " Send me your booklet " ; or tell him, if you can with- out requiring him to write, what dealers han- dle your goods. I have used in sales letters and others letters of that general class, which are only advertisements in letter form, such de- vices as inviting the reader to sign a blank printed at the bottom of the letter-sheet, or merely to put "Yes" on the letter, sign his name, and return it, or to turn the letter over and write his answer on the back — all varia- tions of the oiie idea that it should be made as easy as possible for the reader to send you his evidence of interest. 207 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT Near the end of your advertisement, or as your final display, there should, if possible, be a clincher of some sort — something that will cause the reader to remember — to act — to insist on having your goods rather than a competitor's, maybe. What this final word should be depends entirely, of course, on the nature of the article. In the case of building material it might be, "Ask Your Architect," or, "Specify ALPHA and be SURE." It might be something like the Welch Grape Juice admonition to ask for "Welch's" rather than "grape juice," or the suggestion of the Munsingwear manufacturers that you ask for Munsingwear rather than underwear. Some- times the keen advertiser closes with some such statement as "None genuine without the signature of Charles Madison," or "Look for the Spear." Bearing in mind the ease with which the world forgets, this closing admoni- tion should be as impressive and as easy to remember as possible. To advertise is not all of advertising. Adver- tising is just publicity — the light of directed 208 LAST WORDS attention. For a while a skillful word-artist may draw pictures that paint goods or service more attractively than the facts warrant, but this cannot be kept up successfully. In the long run the advertiser will be known for just what he is. If he makes a cheap article or gives poor service, he must brace up or the adver- tising will become as "sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal." That is the trouble with a great many merchants and manufacturers to-day. They lack the distinctive products and service that make "lOO per cent adver- tising" 'possible. Too many men and con- cerns rush into advertising before having these essentials. A bank, we will say, has a gruff cashier whose disagreeable manner sends many customers to competitors. That man goes to his board of directors for an advertis- ing appropriation, overlooking the fact that he is regularly, day by day, doing some very effective advertising — for competitors! He does not realize that the truth of "What you are speaks so loud that I caimot hear what you say." 209 WRITING AN ADVERTISEMENT There is an asset in business that we de- scribe with the magic word "good-will." Zeal- ously built and jealously guarded, it becomes, like the prestige of Ivory Soap, a great force for business, a bulwark against competition, a shelter in the time of storm. But it is an intangible force, so intangible and elastic that many good accountants refuse to list it as an asset. It may be easily lost, and once lost be- comes, like other kinds of lost reputations, a difficult thing to regain. Therefore, all honor to the advertising man who, equipped with the skill to pen sales mes- sages that will go before and sway thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, while the face- to-face salesman is dealing with a dozen or a score of customers, has the courage to say to his employers: "To win enduring success, we must be believed. To be believed, we must be honest jn our statements, faithful to our guarantees : we need the best goods, the best salespeople, the best service obtainable." QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS Chapter I. Importance of Copy 1. What is "advertising copy"? 2. Explain, concisely, the relation of copy to the advertising campaign. 3. What mistake was frequently made by mer- chants and manufacturers when' "clever" ad- vertising began to command general attention ? 4. Why is good copy of paramount importance? What is there about the attitude of the reader of a publication that makes it so important to get attention-attracting value into copy? 5. Point out the difference between face-to-face salesmanship and advertising salesmanship. 6. Is writing ability altogether natural ability, or may it be developed or acquired? 7. Submit an advertisement that you regard as being an effective appeal to the class of people aimed at by the advertiser, naming the class of readers that you believe the advertisement was intended to impress. 8. Submit another advertisement that you regard as being a weak appeal to the class of people aimed at by the advertiser, naming in this in- stance also the class you believe the advertise- ment was intended to impress. 9. Submit an advertisement that, through the eye, makes a strong appeal to the taste or appe- tite of the reader. QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 10. By what means may the advertiser of such an article as the Victrola appeal effectively to the sense of hearing or the reader's love of music? Chapter II. Studying the Article 1. What is the most important step in writing any kind of composition.? 2. What happens when one makes a close study of even such staple commodities as cotton, iron, brick, bu-tter, etc.? 3. In what respect is the work of the writer of advertisements like that of a newspaper re- porter? 4. When a large amount of data has been col- lected, what is the next important step? 5. Name a product other than those mentioned in Chapter II which could be advertised better by facts and arguments relating to its service than by data covering the composition or in- gredients of the product itself. 6. If you were required to advertise the products of a bakery,, what kind of information would you secure? 7. Why is it so necessary, in advertising, that an article or a business have some distinctive feature? 8. If an article is of only ordinary quality, has no distinctive feature, what kind of advertising can be undertaken for it? 9. Submit an advertisement that appears to you to give too little definite information about the article advertised. QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 10. Submit an advertisement that appears to in- clude too much data about the product, — more than a reader would find interesting or be likely to remember. 11. Make a close study of some article that you have recently purchased for yourself, or that has been bought for your home, and make a list of all the points about its quality, service, style, etc., that make it attractive. Chapter III. Inside and Outside Points of View 1. Why is advertising that is planned entirely from the inside point of view likely to be in some degree ineffective? 2. Why is it advisable to write with an under- standing of both inside and outside points of view? 3.' What point or points of view must the adver- tising man take in order that the copy he writes may be of full effectiveness ? 4. What tests would you apply to advertisements on the following subjects, in order to determine whether or not they were written from the cor- rect point of view: {a) a kitchen cabinet; (b) an incubator; (c) the savings department of a bank? 5. Submit an advertisement that appears to you to have been written from the right point of view, and give reasons for your opinion. 6. Submit an advertisement that appears to you to have been written from the wrong point of view, and state why you believe the point of view to be incorrect. • •• m QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS Chapter IV. The People 1. Why is it so important to study the people whom the advertiser hopes to impress ? 2. Why can advertising never be an exact science? 3. How far does a knowledge of the various types and classes of people help in the writing of copy? 4. Explain how the "composite-customer" idea may be used to advantage. 5. What mistake is frequently made when people assert that certain kinds of advertisements are not read, that others are not effective, etc.? 6. Give an example of the radical difference be- tween a man's point of view and a woman's on some general appeal. 7. Is a man as likely to read about the details of articles of wear or household goods as a woman? 8. As a rule, would a woman be as likely as a man to read the details of an automobile advertise- ment ? 9. What is the best way to keep clear of errors that result from looking at subjects from one's own point of view? 10. Does a close knowledge of the people of one section of the country enable a writer to appeal as effectively to people of other sections of the country ? Chapter V. The Conditions I. Name some important questions about condi- tions that an advertiser should be able to answer satisfactorily before spending his money in costly publicity. iv QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 2. If the article to be advertised is one that could be most conveniently marketed through retail stores, what is the danger of advertising before an investigation of the conditions in retail stores is made? 3. Why is interest-satisfying literature often equally important with inquiry-producing ad- vertising? 4. Point out the difference between the effect of such advertisements as those of soaps and flour and of such specialties as shotguns, books, etc. 5. Explain how the force of an advertising cam- paign may be completely or largely lost because of the advertiser's ignorance of conditions in the market he was trying to enter. 6. Why is it best to make it as easy as possible for people to respond to the advertising? 7. If you were called on to assist in the marketing plans of a new fountain pen of distinctive qual- ities, what would you want to learn regarding conditions ? Chapter VI. The Advertisement Itself 1. What is comprehended in the word "advertise- ment" ? 2. Mention a class of advertisements that are actually looked for by readers. 3. Quote or send a clipped advertisement that consists of merely a few well-chosen words. 4. Could such an article as a kitchen cabinet or an encyclopedia be advertised effectively by a mere slogan? 5. Why is it best to assume ordinarily that most QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS readers will have only a casual interest in the advertiser's message, if that? 6. Comment on the definitions or purposes of an advertisement as they have been defined by the George Batten Company. 7. Name the five stages or steps of an advertise- ment as they are sometimes given. 8. Why may not every advertisement include the five steps.'' 9. What can you say as to the proper length of an advertisement ? 10. When is it advisable to give only a part of the information about an article and to refrain from any attempt to close a sale by the adver- tisement itself? 11. Submit an advertisement that incorporates all five steps. 12. Submit an advertisement that was apparently prepared only to attract attention and make an impression of quality. 13. If you were advertising fine silverware for a manufacturer who sells through many retail stores, but also sells direct to the user where no retail stores handling the goods are convenient to the inquirer, what would be the features of your advertisement? 14. If you were required to advertise moderately priced houses for sale by a local real-estate company, what features would you incorporate in advertisements prepared for publication in a daily newspaper? In what respect would your advertisements on this subject be different if they were also to appear as street-car cards? vi QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS Chapter VII. Signposts of Advertisements 1. In what respect is the headline of an advertise- ment similar to the headline of a newspaper article or the title of a story? 2. What is a very important difference between the purpose of an article headline and the head- line of an advertisement? 3. If an advertisement is to have no headline, what must fulfill the mission of the headline? 4. Why is it sometimes not best to have the head- line of an advertisement instantly reveal the character of the merchandise offered for sale? J. Criticize the headline "Special Announce- ment" as used in an advertisement of a new kind of bread. ,6. Compose a " direct-command " headline about a local class in advertising. 7. Suggest a good question headline for an electric- light company. 8. What features are frequently and properly incorporated in headlines of advertisements dealing with the necessities, such as food, cloth- ing, etCi 9. What should be kept in mind as to the arrange- ment of headlines in different lines? 10. What may be said as to clear, plain type and the general use of capital letters? 11. Discuss the question of the number of displays to have in an advertisement of small or moder- ate size. 12. How may the "poster effect" be secured in a small advertisement? vli QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 13. What do you think of the appropriateness of "Spend Your Money Here" as a headline for a restaurant advertisement? 14. Create headlines of not more than seven words each for advertisements about the following subjects: («) a typewriter that sells for $50 but which can be used for all ordinary typewriting and is light and portable; (b) butter of unusual quality made from the milkof pure-bred Jerseys; (c) motor boats of various prices sold direct from manufacturer to user; (d) a stock of new hats; (?) a sale of shoes of odd sizes. Chapter VIII. Points of Contact 1. What does the expression "points of contact" mean to you ? 2. Why are there so many different points of con- tact to be taken account of in advertising work.' 3. What lesson may be drawn from the incident in the Marshall Field store related in Chapter VIII.? 4. Explain how the service of a commodity may sometimes be made a more effective point of contact than a mere description of the mer- chandise. 5. A newspaper uses as an advertisement the bare statement that it has twenty-five per cent more circulation than any other paper in its field. Discuss whatever strong or weak features you see in this statement, used, as it was, to gain other readers and to secure advertising patron- age. vili QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 6. If you were asked to write an advertisement of Ingersoll dollar watches for use in a boys' magazine, what would be your "point of con- tact"? What different appeal would you use in an advertisement to be inserted in a magazine read largely by adults? 7. Compose a strong headline and an opening paragraph of at least fifty words for an adver- tisement for a piano store. 8. Compose a strong headline and an opening para- graph for a manufacturer's magazine adver- tisement of superior linen stationery. Chapter IX. Interest Value and the News Element 1. What is wrong with the notion that readers must always be tricked into reading advertisements? 2. Mention at least three features that possess strong news value for advertisements. 3. What effect has uninteresting advertising on the appeals of other advertisers? 4. Name several things that, in the experience of many advertisers, prove to possess strong in- terest value. 5. Why is it to the advertiser's interests to con- nect his announcements with subjects to which the public is giving much attention, provided he can establish a logical connection ? 6. What is the particular value of seasonableness . and timeliness? 7. A considerable part of the loss in the burning of the Edison plant at East Orange, New Jersey, ix QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS in 1914, was due to the fact that wood had been used in the sash, trim, etc., of the windows. How could the makers of metal sash use this incident to advantage? 8. Unusual conditions cause a rapid advance in a certain kind of merchandise that a store for which you are writing advertisements has in large quantity. How may this circumstance be used to advantage.^ 9. A prominent man, in an interview, remarks that for years a Waterman fountain pen has been one of his most faithful assistants. Compose a headline and an opening paragraph showing how this information could be used to advan- tage. (The prominent man may be referred to as "Colonel Blank.") Chapter X. The Appeal of Pictures 1. Explain why pictures are of great aid in adver- tising. 2. In what way do pictures save space in adver- tisements } 3. Is an illustration always an indispensable part of an advertisement.'' 4. What is a "stock" illustration, and what are its good features and its weak features.? Why are the illustrations furnished by manufacturers to the retail stores selling their goods likely to be superior to other syndicate or stock illustra- tions i 5. Discuss the use of the humorous illustration in advertisements. QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 6. Compare the value of photographs with draw- ings. 7. What may be said as to the use of pictures of women and children? 8. What must be guarded against in the matter of the number of details to be included in an illus- tration ? 9. What may often be done with illustrations of human figures, in order to save expensive space ? 10. Comment on the illustrations of the Kodak advertisements reproduced in Chapter X. 11. What may be said as to the value of views of hands as illustrations for advertisements .'' 12. Suggest effective illustrations for advertise- ments dealing with the following subjects: (a) baking powder; {b) a lawn-mower so constructed that it will cut close to a fence; (c) superior linen stationery; (d) high-class silverware. 13. Submit an advertisement that seems to you to be poorly illustrated, stating reasons for your opinion. 14. Submit an advertisement^ that you regard as being effectively illustrated, and explain why you regard the illustration as being effective. Chapter XI. Imagination in Advertising 1. What takes place in the mind of the buyer of an article before he actually makes the purchase ? 2. How may appeals to the imagination be made to save words and costly space? 3. Why must the writer of advertisements have xi QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS imagination before he can effectively appeal to the imaginations of others ? 4. Compose an advertisement for a florist. This advertisement is to appear prior to Easter Sunday and is intended to suggest what pleasure and attractiveness flowers may create on that day. Chapter XII. Style, and Strength of Appeals 1. What may be said as to the value of developing an individual style in the writing of advertise- ments ? 2. When many writers follow a certain style slavishly, what is the result? 3. Discuss "clever writing" as compared with an earnest, sincere style. 4. Does it follow that because a style of writing may be effective in selling tobacco it will be as effective in selling dynamos or cemetery lots ? 5. Discuss the Big Ben clock advertising and that of Sapolio. 6. What is the so-called "Reason Why" style of copy? What is its strength, and in what direc- tion is the writer of reason-why copy likely to err ? 7. Define "atmospheric" or "suggestive" adver- tising. 8. Why is it important to put a reason in the read- er's mind for preferring a certain brand or make of merchandise? 9. What may be said for and against the direct style of address, — that is, referring to the reader of advertisements as "you"? xii QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 10. In what way may conversational language be used to advantage? 11. What is the value of the testimonial? 12. What has been shown by the "story" form of advertisement? 13. Review the bargain style of advertising and the changes that are taking place in the use of this style. 14. What is the so-called " telegraphic " style of copy ? 15. What may be said on the subject of negative statements in advertising? 16. Discuss the question of technical information and argument as against popular treatment. 17. Submit an advertisement that impresses you as being written in an unusually eifective style. Comment on the style. 18. Select some article of merchandise that you have recently purchased for yourself or that has been purchased for your home, and write a com- plete advertisement that would likely sell such goods to other people. State whether the ad- vertisement is intended for manufacturer 9r retailer and in what kind of publication or medium it is to appear. Chapter XIII. Dressing the Idea 1. Discuss the value of originality in advertising. 2. What common fault in advertising copy keeps the language from being impressive? 3. Select six phrases from the second description of hams in Chapter XIII that are particularly effective in building up the picture of fine meat. xiii QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 4. What may be said as to the comparative diffi- culty of writing copy for a distinctive article and for merchandise of ordinary good quality? 5. How far may alliteration be used to advantage? 6. Compose an alliterative slogan for a brand of high-class cutlery — pen-knives, shears, scissors, etc. 7. Criticize, in detail, the first example of copy for the book How to Get a Position, reproduced in Chapter XIII. Then point out the superior- ity of the second example. 8. Cut from a local newspaper an example of com- monplace, stereotyped advertising copy, and rewrite the material (or prepare entirely new material on the same subject), so that the pre- sentation of the ideas will be attractive to the casual reader. 9. Submit an advertisement that you regard as being a good example of graphic description. Chapter XIV. The Price and the Power of Words 1. What very practical reason may be offered for having every word in an advertisement the best word for that particular use? 2. What may be said on the subject of short words and short sentences? 3 . Comment on that familiar railroad-track notice, " Stop, Look and Listen." 4. Express in the simplest and most concise and striking way the ideas contained in the follow- ing sentence: "If you are not altogether sat- xiv QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS isfied with any merchandise you may purchase in this establishment, after you have taken your purchases home, return the same to us im- mediately and we will undertake to adjust the matter." 5. Select some advertisement that appears to you to be written in cumbersome, ineffective lan- guage and point out where changes could be made to advantage. 6. Write, for a gas company, an advertisement de- signed to interest newspaper readers in the use of gas-ranges for hot-weather cooking. Descrip- tions of the ranges will not be required, as that would necessitate data that you may not be in a position to secure. Chapter XV. Some Ad-writing Experiences 1. Take the headline "Dirty Soap is Dangerous" and write an advertisement of not less than one hundred and fifty words designed to interest general magazine readers and to draw from them a request for the Soapator booklet. Suggest what illustration you would like to accompany the copy you write. 2. Write, for a retail drug store, an advertisement featuring the Thermos Bottle, which has a vacuum wall that enables the bottle to retain the heat or the cold in a liquid several days. Prices may be mentioned as running from $2 to $$ for the different styles and sizes. XV QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS Chapter XVI. Cumulative Effects, and Tests 1. What is sound and what is unsound in ithe argument that "repetition makes reputation"? 2. Why is continued impression necessary in order to induce people to buy certain brands of soap, flour, canned goods, etc.? 3. What may be said, on the point of frequency of advertisements, with respect to a department store and an automobile advertiser? 4. What light is shed on the subject of cumulative effect by the fact that often, after magazine advertisements have been discontinued for a year or more, they continue to produce in- quiries ? J. What is keying, and what is the value of it? 6. Why is keying very often only a partial test of the pulling power of advertising? 7. Why is there not as- much cumulative effect in the advertising of an encyclopedia as in the ad- vertising of a shaving soap ? 8. Why do some of the best-known stores carry their firm names at the top of their page ad- vertisements ? 9. Name some advertisements that are likely to be looked up by readers. Name others that would probably never be looked up, but which must do their work by impressing the reader strongly at the time he first sees the page on which they appear. 10. Why would it be poor policy for the advertisers of Ivory Soap to discontinue or materially re- duce their advertising? xvi QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 1 1 . Explain how the character of the article and the class of people appealed to must determine the amount of space that it is best to use for adver- tisements. 12. Discuss duplication of circulation in its effect on the advertiser's interests. 1 3 . What factors other than advertisements in news- papers, magazines, cars, etc., enter into the decision of people to buy certain goods i 14. In what way is exaggerated and deceptive ad- vertising injurious to the opportunity of the honest advertiser? 15. Is it your opinion that Barnum, the famous showman, was right in his assertion that people like to be humbugged ? 16. Why is it advisable to make it as easy as possible for readers to respond to advertising.? Explain some methods of making inquiry or response easy. INDEX INDEX Action as last step of advertise- ment, 45. at end of advertisement, 208. Adding-machine advertising, 75. Advertisement, construction of the, 41. Advertisements in series, 49. Advertising as insurance, 19J. AfHrmative statements in copy, 126. Alliteration in advertising, 140. Alpha Cement advertisements, facing 76, 80, 84, 160, 162, 164, 166. American Real Estate Com- pany advertisement, fac- ing 90. Analysis of article, 8. of conditions, 35. of people, 23. Appeals, different forms of, 61. strength of, in advertising, 99- to sentiment and emotion, 127. Armour's Lard advertisement, facing 138. Article, studying the, 8. Article or story style of copy, Association of ideas, 123. Attention, attracting favorable, AS- 21 Automobile advertising^ well planned, 131. Baby letter for bank, facing 68. Bank street-car advertisements, facing 110. Bank (Traders National) news- paper advertisements, fac- ing i;54. Bargain offers, 1 18. Baseball mitt advertisement, 33- Baseball uniform advertise- ment, facing 82. Batten definition of copy re- quirements, 44, Big Ben clock advertising, 109. Book advertisements, effective and ineffective, 142. Boys, appeal of Curtis Pub- lishing Company to, 63. Brief advertisements, value of, 122. Brill Bros, experiment, lig. Burroughs Adding-Machine ad- vertising, 75. Camera advertisements, facing 88. Cement advertisements, facing 76, 80, 84, 160, 162, 164, 166. Chick food advertisement, 89. 3 INDEX Children's clothing, how to pre- sent, 66. Children, figures of, in illustra- tions, 85. Circulation, duplication of, 196. Clothing advertisement, facing 44. "Comparative-price" advertis- ing, 119. Composite-customer idea in ad- vertising, 25. Confidence, of reader in publi- cation, 200. step to create, 45. Conditions, study of, 35, Contact, points of, 61. Continuity of impression, 171. "Conversational" style of copy, IIS. Copy, analysis of, 41. by several writers, 151. criticism of, 102. importance of, i. rotation of, 195. transposition of, for best ar- rangement, 144. various styles of, 99. Copy-writers, salaries paid to, I. Correspondence School adver- tisements, facing 64, 94, 96, 180. Criticism of advertisements, 102. Cumulative effects, 171. Curtis Publishing Company appeal to boys, 63. Customers, study of, 23. Cut-and-dried language, weak- ness of, 136. Cuts for advertisements, 82. 1 Data about article, how gath- ered, 12. Data-built advertising, 112. Descriptions, realistic, 105. Diction, importance of good, 146. Dime Bank street-car advertise- ments, facing 1 10. Direct-command headlines, 54. Display, value of simplicity in, 59- Displays of advertisements, 50. Disreputable advertising, 201. Distinctive merchandise, writ- ing copy for, 139. Dressing the language, 135. Duplication of circulation, 196. Durham-Duplex Razor copy, 60. Dutch Cleanser advertisement, facing 86. comment on, 88. Dyer, George L., comment on style, 104. Eastman Kodak advertisements, facing 88. Emotion, appeals to, 127. Endorsement style of copy, 116. Experiments in testing copy values, 134. Fake advertising, 201. Farmer as ad-writer, 5. Feminine point of view, 28. Figure, human, in advertising, 87. . . Food advertising, facing 44. Fraudulent advertising, 201. Frequency of insertion, 175. INDEX General publicity, definition of, i6. Good-will in advertising, 210. Goods, studying the, 8. Grocery-store advertising, fac- ing 44. Hackneyed language, weakness of, 136. Ham, examples of descriptions of, 137- Headlines, classes of, 54. of advertisements, 50. typographical arrangement of, 58. Heater manufacturer's experi- ence with continuous ad- vertising, 181. Holstein advertising, how writ- ten up, 10. House advertisement, facing Human figure in advertising, 87. Human nature in advertising, 24. Humorous illustrations, 83. Ice-cream advertising, how pre- pared, II. I.C.S. advertisements, record of, 179. Illustrations, value of, 80. Imagination in advertising, 92. IngersoU Watch advertising, comment on, 107. Insertions, frequency of, 175. Inside and outside points of view, 18. Insurance headlines, 64. 11 International Correspondence Schools advertisements, facing 64, 94, 96, 180. Interest, and confidence of read- er in publication, 200. developing of, 45. Interest value in copy, 70. Investigation of conditions, 35. Ivory Soap advertising as insur- ance, 194. Jenkins' Sons piano advertise- ment, facing 78. Kennedy, John E., influence of, on copy, 112. Keying systems, 185. Knowledge of article, impor- tance of, 8. Knox Hat advertisement, 113. Kodak advertisements, facing Language, polishing of, 135. Lard advertisement, facing 138. Laws bearing on fraudulent ad- vertising, 204. Length of advertisement, 46. Library Bureau advertisement, facing 12. Life Buoy Soap advertising, 164. Long words and sentences, I JO. Macaulay's comment on Mil- ton's diction, 146. Mail-order advertising, check- ing-up of, 172. Mail-order advertising force, 183. INDEX Manhattan Reporting Com- pany advertisement, facing S4- Mankind, study of, 32. Martindale advertisement, fac- ing 44. Millinery advertisement, how judged erroneously, 27. Milton's diction, 146. Mistakes through ignorance of conditions, 38. Mitt advertisement, 33. Name advertising, limitations of, 16. Names in advertising, associa- tion of, 123. Negative statements, 124. New York Association for Im- provement of Condition of Poor advertising, 127. News element in copy, 70. Objectionable advertising, 201. Originality in advertising, 135. Origin of article, importance of studying, 14. Outside point of view, 18. Park Hill advertisement, fac- ing 90. People, study of, 23. Perry, George H., on advertis- ing of ordinary goods, 139. Personal point of view, danger of, 25. Piano advertisement, facing 78. Picture-creating language, 140. Pictures, in advertising, 80. mental, in advertising, 95. 21 "Playing checkers" with copy, 144. Points of contact, 61. Points of view, inside and out- side, 18. Popular information in copy, 131- Portland Cement advertising, 161. Poster style of display, 59. Pratt's Food advertisement, 89. Price and power of words, 146. Product, importance of study- ing, 8. Prospective customer, study of, 23- Psychology in advertising, 24. Question form of headlines, 54. Readers' confidence in publica- tion, 200. Real-estate advertising experi- ence, 73. Reason-why advertising, H2. Reduced-price offers, 118. Repetition in advertising, 171. Rotation of copy, 195. Saks Clothing advertisement, facing 44. Salaries paid copy-writers, I. Salesmanship and advertising, J. Sapolio advertisement, facing no. Saturday Evening Post advertis- ing to boys, 63. Seasonableness in advertising, .76. Selling points, how found, 12. Senses,appealof advertising to,6. 6 INDEX Sentiment, appeal to, 127. Sign-posts of advertisements, SO- Simon Pure Lard advertisement, facing 138. Sincerity in copy-writing, 103. Size of advertisements, 175. Shivers cigar advertisements, comment on, 47. Sliorthand course advertise- ment, facing 54. Short words and sentences, 150. Slogans, 56. "Smiling Joe" advertisement, 127. Soap advertising, 164, Soapator advertising, 158. Space, amount of, to use, 175. Steps of an advertisement, 44- 45- Stereotyped language, weakness of, 136. Stock cuts in advertising, 82. Story style of copy, 117. Street-car advertisements, fac- ing no. Strength of appeals in advertis- ing. 99-_ Style, question of, in advertis- ing, 99- Style as a selling point, 74. Styles of advertising, change in, III. Suggestive advertising, 113. Suit advertisement, facing 44. Syndicate illustrations, 82. Talk, attractive appearance of, IIS. Taylor-Critchfield-Clague views on sincerity, 105. Technical information in copy, 131- Testimonial style of copy, 116. Tests of advertising, 171. Thanksgiving introduction, 97. Thermos Bottle as advertising subject, 96. Timeliness in advertising, 76. Traders National Bank adver- tisements, /acing 154. Traders National Bank baby letter, facing 68. Type for headlines, 58. Unpleasant associations in copy, 124. Updegraff, Robert R., sugges- tion of, as to transposing copy, 144. Verse advertising, no. View, inside and outside points of, 18. Warren, Waldo P., method of finding effective appeal, 66. Waste in advertising, 172. Wire manufacturer's attitude toward advertising, 72. Woman's point of view, 27. Women, figures of, in illustra- tions, 85. Women in advertising work, 28. Words, importance of good choice of, 146. "You" style in advertising, 114.