Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1941)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

IL aundry Sales Thru the Air By A. WESLEY NEWBY, President Newby, Peron S. Flitcraft, Advertising Agents for the Quality Laundry Co., Chicago, 111. There are In Chicago over 270 laundries, and a reasonable percentage of them are out plugging hard for business. Just like the restaurant merchandising idea of several years ago, "All you can eat for 65c" — Chicago laundries had a big flurry recently offering "All the washing you can send in your laundry bag for $1.00." Because the public responded too well, restrictions had to be imposed. This, in turn, dulled the effectiveness of the idea and this type of advertising gradually tapered off. At this point we were invited to handle the advertising of the Quality Wet Wash Laundry Company, established over 30 years, and one of the leading laundries in Chicago. Quality employs more than 240 employees who work in a modern daylight plant. They serve over 8,000 families weekly. Switching is one of the bug-a-boos of the laundry industry and the recent $1.00 bundle offers had intensified "switching" more than ever. We realized that to attract business something really sensational had to be done. A very fine opportunity presented itself. Sparks-Withington Co., of Jackson, Michi gan, makers of the Sparton musical air horn, designed a horn that "played" the musical notes of the well-known nursery rhyme and song, "This is the way we wash your clothes." It was a natural! A deal was made with the Sparks-Withington Co. for the exclusive use of this musical theme for this territory. Each of the "Q's" 50 trucks (the laundry has established its name as the "Q") was equipped with one of the musical horns. Wherever they went they invariably attracted favorable attention. Now comes the important tie-up. Spot an nouncements were contracted for. The intro duction was an actual reproduction of the musical, horn, followed by the announcer singing, "Here is the 'Q' (cue) to wash your clothes." This was followed by a commercial featuring two laundry offers. The radio campaign broke on WGN. Then new transcriptions were prepared in which dramatized commercial tied up with the musical horn. Stations WIND and WAAF were added. Many spots during the morning were used. Thus the housewife kept on hearing "Q's" musical horn in her home, as well as when she went outdoors. THIS 10 RADIO SHOWM ANSH IP