WINDOW DISPLAYS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 March 1939, Page 6

WINDOW DISPLAYS

JUDGE’S COMMENTS HIGH STANDARD REACHED. SELLING THEME NECESSARY IN DISPLAYS. Mr R. B. Forsyth, ot tne Goldberg Advertising Agency. Wellington, who acted as judge of the window dressing competition last week held in connection with the “Ideal Homes Season,” has written to the Retailers’ Committee congratulating the successful entrants. The competition, Mr Forsyth considered, was of a uniformly high standard. Those displays which did not secure a place, did not necessarily-fall short of the requirements of a good window. In normal company many of them would have been outstanding. “Perhaps the most noticeable factor in deciding the leading windows,” writes Mr Forsyth, “was the presentation of th£ selling story, lack of which causing a number of windows to drop marks.

"The major function of a window is that of a vehicle to display the goods and while, for instance with food stuffs, the actual pro'duct, such as ham, often has sufficient appeal in itself, we find that with most merchandise further explanation regarding the use or the value of the goods is necessary, and this involves use of the printed word. “In my opinion many otherwise excellent windows fell short because they left too much to the imagination of an admittedly unimaginative public. In selling it is an axiom that you should ask for the order, and by the same token a window should make it quite clear that the goods are there to be sold, either by suggestion that the public buy the goods or by sellin gthe public an idea that involves the use of the goods. “Outstanding in this connection was the W.F.C.A. washing machine window, which although not original in thought (but after all, what is originality but the fact that no one else happens to have seen the thing before) clearly portrayed by means of words and pictures the .comparison between drudgery and leisure. Dominating the whole in the local centre of the window. was a washing machine, incidentally a' working model, and the answer to the question ‘which side are you on?' The window was by no means faultless technically but the idea it conveyed reached out .and gripped the attention. Then by pictures and comparisons it offered enough material to hold the observer for several minutes.

“The W.F.C.A.’s sheeting window was also very well executed, and while scoring for arrangement, comparison with adjacent windows, the use of colour and so on, slipped in the presenta, tion of an idea and simplicity. It lacked an attractive optical centre and the theme ‘the two great wonders of the world’ although excellent in theory was rather weak in'execution. I would repeat again that in my humble opinion a plainly worded card will often convey a much stronger message than elaborate picturesque cut out or glittercovered messages; the latter often stuck at such angles and of such a size as to be almost illegible.

“The next window which comes to my mind as being worthy of comment, although it did not secure a place, was N. R. Cunningham’s radio window. It was an excellent and. striking presentation of a theme. The writer took the.’, banjo to represent perfection in tone, but as this was' not clearly stated the banjo resolved itself into a freak at-tention-getter. Moreover I think it will be admitted that tone is a very secondary, feature in radios, people being interested mainly in appearance and price advantages, neither of which the banjo hinted at. N. R. Cunningham’s other window, the refrigerator one, although not so striking at first sight, was a much superior window by virtue of its theme. It not only suggested but it said: ‘Here’s ,a way to serve nice cool foods in the hottest weather.’ it did not clutter .the window up with a lot of minor selling points about the actual refrigerator being displayed, but left that job to the store salesmen after it had interested the prospect in the idea of deliciously cool and fresh foods in all weathers. And this is an idea we can all very easily become interested in.

“Another window which I cannot keep out. of my mind’s eye was McDuff’s Bridal window, and this un* dctibtedly would have secured a placing had it not taken the law into its own hands and departed' from the Better Homes theme, and featured Easter bridal gifts. It had all the elements of attractiveness, symmetrical arrangement, simplicity, striking first apearance and colour which go to make a first class window. It would, however, have been unfair to have awarded this window a place when it took liberties with the regulations of the competition. “Another similar “stunt” window was that of J. Bouzaid. While I noticed it attracted probably more attention per square foot of window than any two other windows in the competition, I think this was due to a side competition which had previously been announced in the “Times-Age.” Unfortunately this was not mentioned in the window, and while there was a large number of people inspecting the window I doubt if they were looking so much for the good points of the merchandise as for flaws in the merchandise.

“A window which would have done credit to any grocery store in Wellington or Auckland, was that of Community Stores, displaying the trimmed hams. Probably this window, although it did not lend itself favourably to competition with the more spectacular windows, may have sold more goods. It was to this window I referred earlier in this letter when I spoke of such merchandise as hams not requiring a selling message if the merchandise itself is sufficiently attractively displayed. “And last, but not least, there was Hugo and Shearer’s window displaying furnishing goods. This window definitely sold the idea of making a purchase by bringing the act of purchasing within the vision and imagination of the onlooker. In other words, instead of'calling the public from a distance it went to the public with its counter, like Mahommed and the Mountain.

“I am sorry I cannot pass comment on every window and give a few tips regarding each, but I think from the remarks I have made, the entrants even if their particular window has not been mentioned, will be able to draw their own conclusions as to what are the outstanding features about a window from the public’s viewpoint. “In conclusion, I want to again thank you and your committee for your kindness, and also to congratulate you upon your progressiveness and the value to Masterton retailing as a whole, of such wide awake schemes as this “Better Homes” Campaign, and I wish you all success with any other similar schemes that you may undertake,”