FORTUNES BY ADVERTISING

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 229, 15 February 1913, Page 1 (Supplement)

FORTUNES BY ADVERTISING

STRIKING ENGLISH EXAMPLES,

AN INSTRUCTIVE EXHIBITION.

London, December 13.

All Britain is divided into two classes —those who advertise, and those who are advertised. "The men who succeed go after things that fail to come to them," says John Kendrick Banks in one of his books. When they come to them they are transferred from the first to the second class. Down at the Advertising Exhibition I saw how it is done.

Australians have no proper idea of the advantages of advertising. It is necessary to be in the centre of the greatest city in the world to appreciate v/hat the puff preliminary and the merry trumpeting of your own wares means in the markets of the globe. There are only 90 stands in the exhibition, but they tell the whole history of modern commerce, that is, successful commerce. Stevenson said that a man who knew how to omit would make an Iliad of a daily paper. Looking over the plain and picture illustrated advertisements displayed in the exhibition, the cartoons, the wall posters, the illuminated transparencies, it is impossible to avoid thinking that here were men who could make an Iliad out of an advertisement.

£100,000,000: A YEAR,

At least £100,000,000 a year is spent in advertising in the United Kingdom. The greater the amount which any Arm spends in advertising, the larger its profits are. There are thousands upon thousands who have risen from nothing to fabulous fortunes by skilful advertising. Do not run away with the idea that you can defraud the public by publicity. You cannot sell them a shilling for half-a-crown. You may do it for a short time, but it will be a very short time. The article recommended must be good. When the article is good there is almost no limit to the public consumption of it.

REMARKABSE RESULTS.

Look at Lipton's, look at Lyon's, look at damage's, look at Selfridge's. Sir Thomas Lipton had a tiny little stall squeezed out of sight in a tiny little back street. Sir Joseph Lyons began with a very modest tea-room in a very modest thoroughfare. Mr. A. W. Gamage had a half-interest in half a shop that could hardly be seen in Holborn. Mr. Gordon Selfridge come from America, built a palace in Oxford street far out of the usual trend of trade, and the quartette to-day are amongst the men who can write six-figured cheques and have them honored. Take Quaker oats. In 1901 its ordinary stock was selling at 35 dollars, and people were very shy. They advertised, and to-day that stock is selling at 375 dollars, and holders are hanging on.

Take Lever Brothers. In 1895 their share capital was £1,500,000 . They advertised. To-day it is £8,242,000. Take Harrod's stores. In 1892 their shares went begging at 22s 6d. They advertised. You cannot buy them now under £7. Take the Leibig extract. Their shares were issued at £5. They advertised, and £2l won't buy them now. Take tlie Eastman Kodak Company. Their 100-dollar shares were selling at 96 dollars in 1903. They advertised. At present sellers want 700 dollars. No further back-than 1905 you could buy the deferred shares for£l; to-day you must give £3 ss. It surely is not necessary to labor the point. He who advertises makes a fortune.

THE QUALITY OF ADVERTISING

It must be shrewd, clever advertising. It must have behind it not only money, but brains, ideas, knowledge of the psychology of the crowd, an intimate acquaintance with the daily appetite and the daily worries of the multitude. It must be scientific. It must be methodical. Above all, it must be attractive and informative. Walking through the Advertising Exhibition one appreciates the compelling strength of the work which has converted struggling companies into wealthy, prosperous and powerful concerns. Tt takes personality, energy, enthusiasm, optimism, brain?" of the best quality. The cleverest writers in the city are employed, the smartest black and white pencil men. the best etchers, and the most artistic artists. Some of the posters and some of the magazine covers which are exhibited could be hung on the line at the Royal Acad cmy without suffering liv comparison. They are all lyrical. They are all brightly colored, and they all provoke curiosity and excite a desire to sample that which they press upon public notice.

£SOO FOR A PAGE.

Advertisement writing has been made a fine art. London has led the world in this respect. There is not a house in the eitv, of any standing, which has not n publicity department, in which largesalaried experts are engaged pushing its products upon the people, through the press. And there are dozens of outside agencies engaged in similar undertakings, who pay the men they employ from CIIOO a year up to £2OOO a year for their services, and find top-notchers cheap at the latter figure. At the moment. Selfridge's are responsible for the latest novelty in advertising. They have a column in the two penny evening papers, next the reading matter. These special articles are written for them, which incidentally, and. as if by accident, men!ion Selfridge's. Ltd. These articles do not exceed 700 words in length, and the evening paper reader possibly gets better value for his pen'orfh in this column than in all the news of the paper.

c.-inn t:or a page.

Immense sums are spent hy big linns in advertising. Any campaign is resolutely planned to capture flreat Tiriiain will easily run into £ lOn.OOO. One company spends £170.000 a year. There are a dozen others who must top the •CIHO,(100. One of them in a moment of weakness and of mistaken economy cut down its "ads." Instantly its trading turnover shrank. Tt was taught a striking lesson in the efficacy of a judicious publicity. They have to pay high, prices—very high prices—for their •'•'ads." A front page of the Daily Mail or the Daily Telegraph costs CoOO, TTalf pages and quarter-pages are ill proportion, and as there are at, least a dozen papers, if any advertisement is to reach every home, a week's expenditure can very easily mop up £2OOO.

The whole front of Pearson's Weekly costs £IOO. while the page facing matter for a back page runs up to CSO. An ordinary position in the Royal Magazine runs away with £32. and so T might quote ad infinitum. Tt is the same on the Continent. At the exhibition T bad conversations with French. Herman. Italian and American salesmen or advertising agents, who quoted me prices that would horrify the average Australian advertiser, and which are paid light-heart-edly by clients, because experience has shown tliem that their sales go up in absolute ratio to their advertising. What is true of the Old World is true of the Xew. Those firms which first followed in the footsteps of the great advertising establishments of Great Britain would soonest reap the huge profits which invariably accompany plucky and persistent publicity.