The billboard (July-Dec 1895)

BILLBOARD ADVERTISING is the Official Organ of the KENTUCKY Bill Posters' Association. BILLBOARD ADVERTISING is thp Official Oman of the MICHIGAN Bill Posters' Association. ■Jt -I L-aj ^ ^smi Service—Good and Bad. An Interesting Interview With a Practical Business Man. Most of the readers of Btwsoakd Ad- VBRISSIKG have noted the magnificent 24-sheet stands that have heen promi- nently posted around the country, for the Franco-American Food Co. This firm, up to last year; -were strong Believers in magazine and newspaper advertising, but were led to make an ex- periment in the City of- New York, with snch favorable results, as to to lead them to increase their appropriation many times over, and include many other cities in their list. The paper is put out in most cases for six, seven and eight months time, and where it receives the right care and atten- tion, make a very strong impression on the general public. A reporter for Billboard Advertising was sent to New York, for the special purpose of interviewing the firm, relative to their experience in this method of pub- licity, as against the stereotyped magazine- arid newspaper work. Our represantative was very fortunate in finding Mr. Octavo Biardot, treasurer of the company, who had just returned from a month's tour through the princi- pal cities, where he had been inspecting the billings and sizing up the towns as to their possibilities for out-door work, and the susceptibility of the people to become users of Franco-American Soups. Mr. Biardot is the son of the founder of the house, and although quite a young man new to the bill posting business, evinced such a practical knowledge of the subject, that if the fraternity at large could only have had the opportunity of hearing his ideas, and would have hearkened to his suggestions, there is no question what- soever, that within a year or two, the posting of commercial work would double and triple in quantity. After a pleasant greeting, and explain- ing the nature of my business, Sir. Biardot very courteously declined to talk for pub- lication, modestly claiming that his views could be of very little benefit. He had looked over the different cities in relation to the' Franco-American Soup interests only, and did not see how it could interest the public at large. "But, Mr. Biardot," said the scribe, "we do not want your views for the public; we want them for the benefit of the bill posters. Our paper goes principally to bill posters arid advertisers. Won't you tell us what led you into such extensive bill posting, and why you prefer it to other methods ?" "Well, that is hard to say. We have always felt that, while the magazines and the newspapers produced a given amount of result, that with our limited appropria- tion we were almost lost among the mass of other advertisers, especially with the constant increase of rates, and -we had been for several years on the lookout for some effective medium through which we could forcibly individualize our article, and which would not be more expensive than the limited margin on a high-priced soup permits." £ About two years ago^we commenced to paint some large signs on the Brooklyn Bridge and felt- that they' were arousing considerable interest, and concluded to extend this method along the railroads and public highways throughout the country. But we finally concluded to adopt bill posting because thereby, our ap- peal could be presented where the popula- tion was more congested, and right in amongst consumers of our article. "Right here let us say that this was not our own thought in the beginning. The O. J. Gude Co., who are handling all this business for us advanced the argument. And further let us say that if it had not been for their fidelity to our interests, their advance explanation of the many difficulties we would have to encounter, and their inspiring of us with faith that the "game was worth the candle," we do not believe we would have posted more than our first run of bills. The dif- ficulties of this business for a person that has not gone through it are almost insur- mountable. The bill posters as a rule ;. seem to lack a proper conception of busi- ness methods, and it is only by constant hammering and pounding, soliciting and coercing that we have managed to secure a proper service. This cannot be said of all bill posters, "but of the majority. There are some bright exceptions.'' In this last trip from which we have just returned we want to extend the meed of praise first to Mr. Ames, of Providence who, as far as a bill poster cahhe, is really and truly an artist His boards are a joy to look upon. We have given him an open order to post our bills on every stand he now has and on every new stand he erects that he thinks suitable for our busi- ness. Everyone of his boards is as true as a plumb line. He uses all tongued and grooved lumber. There is not a crack in his paper and he uses splendid taste in making up a bill board of the different paperthathehas on hand, so that the light background throws out the dark backgroundpaper.and there is a regulari- ty and a taste displayed that is as refresh- ing as novel. In a conversation with Mr. Ames we found him an enthusiast on his business; he is very watchful of all detail, and is constantly driving around the city, seeing that his paper is put up properly by his men. He has given great care and study to getting a proper paste that while it will hold the bills firmly to the boards, unlike that made from lye, does not smear the outside of the paper so as to mar its appearancel We went out of the city of-Providence with only one regret—that Mr. Ames did not nave twice as many boards, and that; it was not among the things to be expected that we should find other bill posters like him. "The nearest we came to it was with Messrs. Bryan & Co., of Cleveland. They are also deserving of great praise. They have a magnificent lot of bill boards. The city is covered much more thoroughly than Providence and they offer greater possibilities for that eye-compelling show which forces everybody who travels around this city to see a poster whether they wish to or not. The boards are very well built, all tongued and grooved lum- ber used. The paper is handled with great care. The boards are not, as a rule, as long, and the work is of a more scattering nature than what -we saw posted in Providence." There is not that truly artistic look that Mr. Ames excels in producing, but for all- round service and possibility of covering the town thoroughly, we think we can safe- ly say that of all the cities we have visited. Cleveland fills the bill most completely. We doubled our order for that city. "And now, really, we do not think we should say anything further. In speak- ing of anything, we like to mention those things worthy of praise and try to forget the bad things." "But, my dear Mr. Biardot, do you mean to say that the cities of Providence and Cleveland are the only ones that you can say a kindly word for in connection with bill posting? " "Oh, no, New York City is unques- tionably, the best bill posting city in America. Here they have the business down to a systematic basis and give a service as positive as the ticking of a clock. Messrs. Van Beuren& Co., Munson and Reagan & Clark, in their endeavors to annihilate one another during the past two years, instead of following the old- fashioned method of pulling down each- other's boards, adopted the up-to-date idea of each endeavoring to put up better boards in better locations, one than the other. Result, we have had during the last two years a bill posting service in New York that is unparalleled in the history of this method of publicity. A service that did more to awaken our interest in the possibilities of this method of advertising than any sermon that could be preached in its favor by the most eloquent canvas- ser that ever called to solicit our business.'' "But the country at large, outside of New York, has been a disappointment. Our interest was heightened by the mag- ' nificent display we received in this city, but when we went elsewhere all was choas and confusion. That is the reason we are so glad to note the splendid service in Cleveland and Providence. Of the other cities that were visited,—Boston for in- stance, we have a very fair show, but had hard work to secure it Mr. Gude visited the city personally and made a selection of boards from Donnelly that were the best locations in the city. Well, they were good, and whilst we had a good bill post- ing show for the city, Boston has not de- veloped its full possibilities in that direc- tion. The boards are put up in a very careless manner, large cracks in many of Hietn and very few of them capped off. A handsome twenty-four-sheet stand looks immediately after its billing as though it had been up for two months in very stormy weather. A few of the boards, and a very few only.out of the number of stands that we had, were posted in a manner that at all compared with the service in New York, Cleveland and Providence. We talked to Mr. Donnelly about this matter and he promised to stir his boys up. We do not blame Mr. Donnelly as much as the commercial and the theatrical people of the city of Boston, who are apparently contented with a second class service. We do want to say, however, that our paper was treated as well as anybody's, if not a little better. Our reflection is simply on the lower standard of service in that city where one would naturally look for some- thing very high-class." "We found the same fault in Buffalo, only in a greater degree. We had a very pleasant interview with Mr. Filbrick, of Whitmier & Filbrick. Found him a courteous, kindly gentleman, who did all in his power to make our stay in the city pleasant; but he would have made it much more agreeable if he had had his boards in proper shape. Our paper had the best possible showing that the town permitted. Some of the stands were in very good locations, but, oh, the boards ! the boards ! Some only eight and niiie feet high; none of them capped off, paper trailing on the ground and lapping over the tops. Many boards bulging in and bulging out, so that if you run your eye down the stand, it looked like the front rank in an awkward squad, and it gave the whole bill posting of the city a "down in the heel" disrepu- table look. Buffalo is a nice city with a class of people who, as a rule, should be good customers for a high-class article like our Soups. We would liked to have doubled our billing there, but to-day we are debating whether it would not be ad- visable to order the whole show down, for the simple reason that we believe a poorly posted bill is worse and does more harm to an advertiser than no bill at all." "This might look like a rather severe criticism on Buffalo. We give it with no other thought than a desire to stimulate Messrs. Whitmier and Filbrick to an ap- preciation of the kind of service an adver- tiser must have in order that he be induced to renew his contracts. They have got a good plant and splendid locations, but they must brace up all along the line." "This was not our first experience iri Buffalo, although it was our first visit there. We want to say as the other side of the picture, that the inspector's report from that city has always shown the paper to be up in the place agreed upon, and that we always found the firm strictly honest and reliable, but they do lack an appreciation of high-class bill posting methods." "From Buffalo we ran to Rochester, not with the intention of doing any bill posting there, but to look over the town to see the possibility of some other method of publicity. A tour of the city made us feel that there was nothing to be regretted in having stricken Rochester off the list. It is a beautiful city, with clean, handsome avenues and fine residences, that suggest the possibility of a considerable consump- tion of our article; but we could not cover the city on the bill boards because of an entire lack of any good stands on the principal thoroughfares. The boards that are up are well built. The paper is in good condition, but as they are mostly en side streets, they would be of no value to us." "In Detroit we found everything in good shape. That town we thought stood next to Cleveland and Providence in ser- vice. The boards were well located, properly posted, and we increased the al- lotment." "But, Mr. Reporter, don't you think we have said enough on this subject now? That our first thought was correct; that we had very little to say that would be of interest to bill posters or the public? " "No, I don't agree with your thought at all, Mr. Biardot. I bajieve that the traoewlnterested, and if you have visited any.«th^Kcittes'; I would like to have your opinion. I think that the bill posters would like to know it;. that the ideas of a practical business man whohas given out contracts for this work is" what the trade at large wants." ■_ '"Well J hope that the people whom-we have' had. to criticise, adversely will -.not have any bard feelings. " We ■[ are'; simply giving you' our honest opinion ,on. the subject,: and we have so great a faith, in the possibilitiesof this method of advertising,; that, we feel and know that if the bill post- ers will only'stir themselves and improve: their, service, they can greatly increase- their business" . ,-''. .'"-•'",*..-.' "We were very much dissappointed irr the city of St. Louis. Mr. Gude had told us that that town was the. greatest -bill- posting town. in. Atherica. That the re- sult of the .fight between R. J. Gunning Co., and the Cottrell Bill Posting Co., had been to establish a plant that was the envy of all other-bill posters throughout the country.' Well, the plant is there but very much run down ; likewise the service; the paper was poorly posted, much of. it. placed on side streets, and the whole show had been put up in what ap- peared to be a •slap-bang' style, of simply getting the paper up,, without a sin- gle thought as to. the interest of the advertiser or endeavor to hang the paper on the boards, so that one bill would help out the other and thereby benefit all the advertisers. The system is overgrown. The " think" machine undersized. The head piece evidently out of a kilter. , This may be the fault of too much business. . Our friend Gunning wants to take a little time from his many other enterprises and jump into St. Louis and give the boys a shaking up. .'■ We decreased our output in St. Louis." . ■ . ' " -: " "Chicago, we found a very hard city to post properly,. There are a number-of stands well located, but the lumber not being, tongued and grooved, there are of necessity a great many cracks in the boards through which -the prairie winds whistle a merry tune, 'which, means torn paper every time. The seyice, outside of tlie fact.that the building of the boards needed improving was very satisfactory. Mr. Campbell blanks in the paper in a way-.that is very creditable. He r seemed to take an earnest interest in putting our paper in the places where the show would do us the most good, and unquestionably did.all in his power to give, us an effective service. But no man, no matter how goSd his intentions are, can keep paper from splitting on boards that have cracks in them several inches wide. We increased the. allotment in this city, and would have willingly doubled it if Mr. Campbell had had more stands in high-class neighbor- hoods. For these we had to depend to a' great extent on the Ri J. Gunning Co., and we could not but commend the wisdom of Mr. Gude in splitting our appropriation for that city and putting a good portion of it on the bulletin boards in these high- class locations. Of course, these bulletins are much more expensive than bill posting so we only use them where we cannot get good bill posting stands. But no one can ignore Mr. Gunning's bulletins if he wants to cover the city of Chicago thor- oughly for-outside display with a high- class article. The chewing gum and "cheap tobacco, the bill posters can handle .very' satisfaH53ry,'' but.therfi are certain - . ser>r tions of the city wherea bill board would' not be allowed,' but a painted sigh is per- ; mitted." " '" "'''" ." l r " "Ifind another serious handicap tobut- side work in "Chicago. The'city covering such an immense area, - with' lots 01 un-; built space, offers so Tnariy-'oppbrtunities- for bill posting, fence and wall painting, that the whole town is one immense bulle- tin board,' so that an advertiser, to be "fn it" has to spend more in proportion to population than he would have to other- wise, because, unless he has-a tremendous big show, he is lost in the-crowd." ■ "Washington, as you know.-is a beauti- ful city, and its bill boards are kept in * very good condition. The only fault that , we have to find with that city is that Mr. Moxley has not enough boards. Those that he has he keeps in good shape, and he treated our paper very handsomely." "Philadelphia, I found to be somewhat like Chicago. A number of good spaces, but theboards only fairly good, and the paper only fairly posted. We must say - A- LESSON IN ADVERTISING. Slveir'by a" Merchant in the Sacramento " 1. v -.-.- '•:-. (Cat.) Bee - Every business man can become success- ful by proper advertisings It never yet failed an experienced master. 1 Given a merchant who keeps fair goods at fair prices; who misrepresents nothing and treats his customers fairly; who has daily space in a bright newspaper of approved circulation, and who has the -knowledge and' experience to use that space; there is nothing that can prevent him increas- ing his business up to the possible limit imposed by territorial conditions. The Bee a number of years ago sent to one -hundred local advertisers for two years, one of the best periodical publica- tions on practical advertising, and since then- has published at intervals,-several series of special letters on scientific adver- tising. Of course the Bee had an ulterior rno- tive in so doing. It hoped to so educate the Sacramento advertisers in the matter of scientific advertising that they would learn to fill their advertising space so as If I were proprietor of a newspaper, I would send a copy of a publication devoted to advertising to my advertisers for one year. I would do this in order to educate them up to how to advertise judiciously and effectively. If an ad. is not attractive - it is not going to catch the eye of all. An ad. that is left in.jthe paper from month to month and year to year, without a change of type or reading matter, loses all its effectiveness. The ad. of a wide-awake merchant changes as rapidly as styles do, with every .new article that he gets in stock; and then it must be newsy. The reader must be educated to look at your ad. for . styles and prices. It is very easy to make ' your ad., readable, and once the people, get to looking for it every day, then sue-, cess in business is assured. \ . I know lots of people who look for our ad. every day. That is the reason we change it every. day, and always give them something new. * Some 'merchants only advertise every other-day. This is a great mistake. A] v liye firm's ad. should be" in the paper*; that Mr. Robinson gave us a very good selection of locations, but their service while better than the average, has not reached the high standard of Cleveland and Providence." "Of Pittsburg, we think the less we say tlie better. Suffice it that we telegraphed Mr. Gude the day after we arrived to order our showing discorttinued, and havesimply put a black niatk against that city." "Now, Mr. Reporter, you will have to excuse us from saying anything further. While you say we have not bored you, we are afraid we may bore your readers, and we only want to add this one thought— that everything we have said,has been spoken in the friendliest and- kindest spirit." ..•'--- - -'-""- '."' '"•"' ."We want to reiterate our faith' in this, method of publicity, and we-.would like to see Billboard ADYERTisiNOkeepon" doing the good work of. - instructing" the bill posters that the'foest way for 'theni. to better their business is to better, their serViee." -'• - •■>■ ■-.'••' We can sum it all upin three word's;-^ "Service is everything:" ." .•; _; .'.' to bring them the most returns. With the value of advertising thus demon- strated to them, their use of advertising space in the Bee would increase and be as much to be relied on in dull times as in prosperous seasons. The Bee supplies communication -with nearly every home in Sacramento; it wanted the merchants, to do the rest. I am a firm believer in advertising. The advertisement we are running in the Evening Bee pays us a hundred-fold. Even you newspaper men cannot conceive of the large amount of business that is directed to our store through that advertise- ment of ours. The secret of our success is the manner in which we use advertising space. Advertising pays; but very few men know how to advertsie so that it will pay. A great deal of money is wasted in public announcements which bring no return, direct or indirect; but the merchant who, having the goods and treating his cus- tomers fairly, intelligently utilizes space in a well-circulated newspaper, is abso- lureltv -certain of success. every day, and should be always fresh and readable. I notice one thing, that those who ad- vertise best, get the most trade and are prospering. The firms that are at a standstill, .or retrograding, are the ones who depend on their personal influence for trade and ignore the advertising col- umns of the newspaper with the circula tion.— Neu'spafierdom. Harry Stoops* Swell Wagon. . " If any billposter in-the land can boast of a larger stock of good and original ideas than that possessed by Harry E. Stoops, of Chattanooga, we have not heard of him. His latest invention is the wagon shown in the above cut, which is a perfect marvel of ingenious devices and conveniences. I Snipes might be appropriately com- pared to small arms, one-sheet posters to gatlings, three-sheets to rapid fire machine guns, and stands to great guns.