ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4526, 12 February 1923, Page 1

ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

IN U.S.A. AMERICANS Mr J. M. A. Hott, of Wellington, who recently returned from a trip to the U.S.A, and Canada, writes On a recent trip round the -world I gained many interesting viewpoints with regard to the appreciation in which advertising is held 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' of many of- the world’s leading and most successful houses. When one learns of the enormous figures which are spent in publicity in England, Canada, and America, and increasingly on the Continem, and when; one begins to realise that these huge allocations are made by some of the' keenest, and shrewdest brains in the .world, one feels confident that there is ample room for development. APPLIED FOR EVERYWHERE. One of the first things that strike one in the United States is the fact that advertising is being applied to almost everything. For 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 come to the conclusion that the best way to reach the people to-day is to appeal to them througn the columns of the newspapers. In America one found that the tourist, resorts and hotels of a specific district would club togethervand put up a sufficiently large sum of money to enable a really good story to be told. For instance, the town of New Orleans spends something like £25,000 per annum to attract visitors to its beauties. Philadelphia, San Diego, Minneapolis, Chicago, and other cities are utilising similar, methods. VALUE REALISED. One was also struck by the fact that Continental countries realised the value of advertising this way— Switzerland and Belgium were both undertaking to attract visitors to t.heir countries during the forthcoming seasons. Perhaps the most outstanding work has been done in developing the campaigns for co-operative selling if oranges, raisins, walnuts, prunes, and other fruits. In San Diego and Los Angeles I was given the opportunity of going through advertising agencies which handle many of these co-opera-tive campaigns, and one was astounded at the huge sums of money which were being spent by the growers, while it was refreshing to come into contact with soine oif tile directors of fruitgrowers’ organisations, and learn from them personally of their firm faith in. the value of publicity. The American farmer is roughly becoming a business man in this respect—he is realising that he has to put aside a certain sum of bis income to toll the story of his products and to ensure a still better market for the future. An impression which one carried away was that of' the way in which rivals in business got together for the good of the business as a whole. KEEN COMPETITORS. The 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 ">f still further -strengthening service to the 'clients and rendering newspaper and other advertising still more efficient. One found the same thing in the manuifatcurers’ 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 >o still further strengthen its appeal. NEWSPAPERS’ PART. Another feature is the increasingly important part which the "newspaper plays in advetrising generally. One found that the most successful concerns are allocating more and more each year to this expenditure, because they are confident that no other form of publicity brings such satisfactory results, and at such a reasonable cost. THE STRONGEST APPEALS. Talking the matter over with one or two bigger men in advertising, they stressed the fact that one of' the newspapers' ■strongest appeals was the fact that it was read in the home and when the minds of the people were not, distracted by a thousand and one other activities which were straining to gain their attention; while, moreover, in no other medium was it possible to change the message so frequently and at such a low cost. Frequency of change is undoubtedly one of the secrets of success in advertising, and advertisers generally are becoming more and more disposed to favour the newspapers, because there alone can they change as frequently as is necessary, and at a reasonable cost. “WELL IN THE BAND.” Despite the great, developments in the North American Continent, it can be claimed that New Zealand in proportion to its population is well in the band so far as advertising is concerned. I showed a number of American advertising men specimens of some of the advertisements produced by our own organisation and thev were astounded to find that such excellent work was being done both in copy and design in a territory where the average allocation was so small. /The high standard of Agency service was another -surprise to them — indeed, I thing it. is not overstating the case to say that when one takes into account the small population of the New Zealand cities no other country in the world offers such excellent advertising agency service on a field where the difficulties are so great and the average allocation is such a small amount. PROUD OF NEWSPAPERS. All of us can well be proud of the newspapers in the Dominion and of the splendid -service that they give. I took a particular interest in this phase of the work, meeting a great number of newspaper men and seeing a great, number of newspapers. There, again. New Zealanders may be proud of their, publications, and we can feel confident that Lord Northcliffe s dictum that the newspapers of the Dominion were equal to any publications anywhere was not an over-statement of the case.