ADVERTISING.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 February 1923, Page 4

ADVERTISING.

IN THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT. (Impressions gamed as a result of the recent visit to the United States and Canada by Mr J..M. A. Holt, Managing Director of Ilott, Limited, Advertising Agents, Auckland, Wellington. Christchurch, Dunedin and Sydney). On a recent trip round the world. J gained many interesting viewpoints with regard to the appreciation in wbic.i advertising is field in other countries- - indeed, one returns to New Zealand feeling that our many manufacturers here have scarcely realised the extraordinary place the advertising allocation holds in the business arrangements o f many of the World's leading an t most successful Houses. \\ heti one Itarns the enormous figures which are spent in publicity in England, Canada, and America, and increasingly on the Continent, and when one begins to realise that these huge allocations are made by some of the keenest and shrewdest brains in the world, otic feels confident that there is ample room f<n development. One of the first things that strike one in the United States is the fact that advertising is being applied to almost everything. Kor instance, the Churches of America have recently been making an examination of the reasons why they were not reaching the masses, and a great number of them have conic to the conclusion that the best way to

reach the people to-day is to appeal 1o them through the columns of the news-

papers. At the recent Advertising Club's Convention held at Milwaukee, no less Ilian twenty papers were read which dealt with organised publicity on the part of churches. Indeed, advertising lias done splendid work in the United States and Canada. In this connection there is no need to look hack on the lessons of the war to 'realise what field there is for Commun itv Dropagaiida Advertising. e ver\ quickly forget the fact that newspaper publicity there proved its value, tor adve! Using was used by the Government to produce recruits, to obtain money for War Loans. ;o urge the people to eat less bread, to economise in coal, and to do a thousand other things which were necessary for the good of the State at that lime. In America, one found that the rlonrisl Resorts and hotels ol a speehie district would club together and pul up a suliicieiitly large sum of money to enable a reallv good story to he told. l'Yi- in-Inner. the town of New Orleans spends something like Ll2d,ofH) per annum to attract visitors to its beauties. Philadelphia, San Diego. Minneapolis. Chicago and other cities are utilising similar methods.

One was also struck by the tact that Continental Countries realised the value of advertising this way—Switzerland and Belgium were both undertaking to attract visitors to l heir countries during the forthcoming seasons. Perhaps the most outstanding work lias I icon done in developing the campaigns for co-operative .-idling ol oranges, raisins, walnuts, prunes, and other fruils. In San Diego and Les Angeles I was given the opportunity ol going through Advertising Agciicii-s uliicTi handle many of these co-operative campaigns,, and one was astounded at tin- bilge sums ot' money which were beine spent Bv the growers, -a Idle 'I was refreshing to come in‘n coo'nct with some of the Directors of Km i I -growers’ Oiganisiitioiis. and learn from them personally of their linn faith in the value of publicity. '! In- American farmer is roug'dv becoming a business man in this respect—lie is realising that he Ims to put aside a certain sum of his income to tell the story ol his products and to ensure a still better market for the future. fu this connection it. is interesting to note that the advertising men on the Western Coast: are giving the lead io their competitors in tin- rest oi the Souc and striking quite new notes ill layout and display. They are becoming less and less dependent on N’>u ) nrk and Chicago for their technique, and deserve much commendation let' tinline, clear pages and splendid newspaper advertisements which they arc

i turning nut. j Travelling right through from the I Other States. I was given tiv opporlnnj ity of coming into contact with the j leading advertisers and going tnruugh the leading Agencies in several centres . and also In Canada. An outstanding feature ol m.v trip is the memory of the warm hospitality and ext i nordinary courtesy of advertising men in the 1 tiited States and ( anada. Words fail me to express my lirgii appreciation oi 'he way in which thev laid themselves out to give me an exceedingly good time, and also the -lens which they took to enable me to gain—the fullest possible information will, regard to their systems and utganisalions and the methods in uhich they handle business. This readiness and willingness to give tlie outsider the benefit of their experience is an outstanding feature ol American business life, and one which we Britishers could emulate to advautAtn,titer impression which one carried away was that of the way in which rivals in business got together lor the good of the business as a whole.

Tee men of my own profession in the States are keen competitors ; but like so many other business men there, they come into regular conference and discuss ways and means of slid further strengthening service to the clients an I other advertising still more efficient. One found the same thing in the .Manufacturers’ organisations they were ready to tell each other any new plan which was for the good of the industry as a whole and were prepared to let other competitors know some new points which would help their particular line of business to still further strengthen its appeal. One was also impressed with the high type of personality associated with advertising in the United States and Canada. ft was realised that the Advertising Agency calls for the best type of brains, and men who were previously tre.ing into Medicine and Law are now turning their attention to publicity, realising that in tlie future it must play a still greater and more important part in tlie business world generally. * One very large Agency which I went

through, employed over 450 people, and j seventy per cent of these were TJniver- J sit\' Graduates, while they were hoping 1 that ere long every mouther of the stall' i would have had a University training.A neither feature is the increasingly ] important part which the newspaper J plays in advertising generally. One found that the most successful concerns are allocating more and more each year to the expenditure because they arc confident that no other form of publicity brings such satisfactory results and at such a reasonable cost. Talking the matter over with one rr two bigger men in advertising, they stressed the fact that one of the newspapers' stiongest appeals was the last that it was read in the home and when the minds of the people were not disinter ed bv a thousand and one other activities which were straining to gain their attention; while moreover, in no oilier medium was it possible to change Abe message so trequently and at such a low cost. Frequency i 1 change is undoubtedly one of tlm secrets of success in advertising, and advertisers generally are hernming more and more disposed" to favour the newspapers because there alone can they change as frequently as is necessary and at a reas.oJV.il>lt* cost. Another tiling which struck one in the United States ,v.as the increasing part that, good art work was playing in newspaper illustration. One found that advertisers were prepared to pay as much as CIO for each drawing used in their newspaper advertising, while two end three hundred pounds was not an uncommon figure for a roniK good ( ol *v lll* illimr rat ion.

Despite- the nival developments in (lie Noilh American Continent, >t can 1.,, elaimcu that New Zealand >» 1 11 ' 0 ' l„ ,-ti n tn its population, is well ni the hand sii l'ar as advertising is concerned. I showed a nnndicr ui American adver-

tising men specimens id' some (d the advertisements produced hv our own nt- • anisation ui d thev were astounded to liiol that such cxci-ll'-nt wink v-m hi j,|., ,1,,-iie ho til >n copy and design in a ten it arv where the average allocation v:,s sn small. Tin- high standard ol Agency service was another surprise to them indeed. I think it is not overstating the ease to sac that when tine takes into account the .mall population of the New Zealand cities, that nn ulliei eonntry in the world offers siicli excellent Advertising Agcm-v Service on n held where the ilillictiliies are so great and the average allocation is such a small amount. AH ~i us can well lie proud of the newspapers in the Dominion and of tinsplendid service that tln-.v give. I took a particular interest in this phase ol the work, meeting a great nund.cr of newspaper men and seeing a great mini her of newspapers. There again New Zealanders may be p, iul of their publications, and we can fee! confident that laird Nortlu-lifle s diet 11,11 that the newspapers cf the Dominion were er,n.d to any P'd'lieat tons nilvwhere, was not an over-s!at< niein of