The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 1930 THE POPULARITY CAMPAIGN

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1041, 4 August 1930, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 1930 THE POPULARITY CAMPAIGN

THE remarkable success of the Popularity Campaign, which con- * eluded in the Civic Theatre on Saturday night, is unique , in the history of New Zealand newspapers. Primarily it was, in the language of the American publisher, a “circulation drive,” and the impressive results show beyond all doubt that it is an effective means of developing a newspaper connection. In the newspaper business it is sometimes necessary to adopt more or less spectacular and bizarre methods. No matter how good a newspaper may be, it is always difficult to break into a new field.. The innate conservatism of the average citizen as far as his daily newspaper is concerned creates a wall of prejudice which can only be broken down slowly and by degrees. Everyone admits that as a result of the advent of The Sun the Auckland newspapers have improved out of recognition. Yet many of the very people who benefit most from competition frequently withhold their support mainly because they dislike making a change; hence, the necessity of unusual means of persuading non-subscribers to become Sun readers for a sufficiently long period to enable them to give The Sun a fair trial. Although new to New Zealand, campaigns of this description are common enough in other countries, where the proprietors of a chain of newspapers maintain their own promotion staffs and move them from one territory to another as required. In the present instance the campaign was handled for The Sun by the Teall Company, of Geneva, New York, which has been engaged in this business for over 20 years. When the campaign was announced the magnitude of the prizes offered took everyone by surprise. Needless to say it caused a certain amount of alarm in certain quarters, and various expedients were adopted to discredit it, to intimidate contestants, and generally to minimise its success. Relatives of contestants were threatened with loss of employment, others were told they would lose business connections, and generally the tactics that have been employed during the past three years to retard the progress of The Sun were invoked with great energy and resource. These petty activities may litive discouraged a few contestants, hut the net result of the campaign was a gain of thousands of new subscribers for The Sun throughout the Auckland Province and today The Sun lias the largest circulation, with one exception (and possibly another) of any daily evening newspaper in New Zealand. This is, naturally, very gratifying to us. We desire to thank all those who participated in the campaign and who contributed to its success. The great increase in the number of our readers gives us a larger audience for the policy of industrial progress and national development we have consistently advocated. By continuing to publish a good paper featuring all the news that is worth printing, and preserving a sane and progressive editorial policy, we hope to hold the large connection, we have gained through the Popularity Campaign.