NOT A FOOL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4443, 21 July 1922, Page 4

NOT A FOOL.

10,000 DOLLARS A DAY SPENT ON ADVERTISING CHEWING GUM. (“Printers’ Ink.”) A friend of William Wrigley, the chewing gum manufacturer, informed him gently, but firmly, that he was a fool. The gentleman’s contention was that there was no rhyme or reason in Mr. Wrigley’s present expenditure of move than 10,000 dollars a day in advertising. Inasmuch as everybody in the country knew’ about Wrigley’s, gum, anyway, w’hy not cut one halt or tihree-fourths from the outlay ?

“Well, maybe I am a fool,” Mr. I Wrigley admitted. “But I’ll say this : If I would reduce my advertising my sales volume would fall behind. If I stopped advertising my business also would stop in time.” Discussing the incident with “Printers’ Ink,” Mr. Wrigley declared his advertising, in inducing several million people to form the habit of chewing Spearmint, had done its work only too partially. “It 'has to keep them 'sold,” he said. “:It has to keep reminding them that they bougnt Spearmint yesterday or last week and liked it.” It seems to be necessary at the present stage of business development to remind some advertises that the natural tendency of; man or woman is to buy an art’cle as an article and not as one bearing a special name. Everybody knows this, but sometimes the rapid march of events can pus,.i into the discard the most selfl-cvideii.: truths. When a name has been established by advertising the person buys by the. name instead of asking for merely a pair of shoes, a suit cf clothes, a collar, or an inner tube. To confirm people in this kind of a buying habit the name must be kept constantly before them in advertising. Othcrw’ise some other manufacturer with iin equally good product is going to come along and land the business.

Get right down to a serious analysis of various first, class articles of merchandise and you see there is not a great deal of choice between or | among them as to quality or perform- | ing power. This is why it is so easy —so ridiculously easy sometimes —for I a new product to displace another that has been long in the field. A woman may be sold a cetrain name of ■ hose. But after a while she does not ’ see the mame advertised. Then al- f most unconsciously' she may ask for | just. hose. She gets another brandel line, likes it, and then is “off" tire ! first line, perhaps permanently., Con- | stant advertising is necessary in or- | der that competitors may he stood off J and that she may be kept’sold on the i! name. t Mr. Wrigley has exactly the same idea about his various gums. I; His well-meaning friend was sadly in error in calling him a fool. ; Business " needs more of that kind L of; "fool” to-day.