The billboard (Jan-June 1896)

BILLBOARD ADVERTISING. January, i8( ?6. \ i^; J. p. FAGAN. Perhaps one of the best known and most universally popular men in the circus profession is the good-natured TohnP Pagan. He is a man of whom one cannot speak in terms too flattering, for his experience in all branches appertaining to the advance of the " white tents " is almost unlimited. He has been ah.ad of everj-thing from a " boat show " employing a total force of not more than ten peo- ple including musicians, actors and the usual accessories who are required to conduct an enterprise of this kind, to the greatest amusement institution that any age has e^er .seen namely the Bamum show, and he has at all times eiveii satisfaction of the highest degree. Last season he was the Railroad Contractor for the Walter Main Shows and everyone in the lea-t familiar with circus business knows how competent he proved himself as a railrc-id contractor. He is the oldest child in the "Franklin family' and adheres .strictly to the •' Franklin doctern." Rumor , has him-signed" with several circuses forthe season of 1S96 so that it would really be a hard matter to tell what manager will he so fortunate as to secure his services There is one thing about John that few circus agents can boast of saying, and that is that he has never been connect- ed with an amusement enterprise that has not made montj during his connection with it: as a consequence he has become known among his more intimate friends as the , " Irish Mascotte. ■ J. P. FAQAN. n. B.RAY HON D. The accompanying likeness is that of an agent of the late school, that is, his experience in advance of the " white tenU" does not date back twenty years, in fact, about half that many years ago he entered the struggling mass of agents to make a name that has now placed him among the best of them Forthe past two winter seasons he has been the business manager and press agent of the Foun- tain Square Theatre, in Cincinnati, and the very fact that his employer has several times increa.sed his salary is the best recommendation that can be given him. During the tenting season of last year he was the press agent for the Walter Main Shows and did some very effecUve work. January, 1896. BILLBOARD ADVERTISING. ; LITHOQRAPHIC ADVERTISING. ' "IIoiv shall the lithograph manufac- turer advertise? If the subject of adver- tising we're given a little tuore thought by these makers of other people's advertising tliere would not be sl. much idle machin- he Lithographic products are unlimited in variety and all are well adapted to adver- tising their makers' business. We are Strongly tempted to compare the litho- graphers to the blacksmith's horses and the shoemaker's cliildren. They either advertise none at all, or in a lackadaisical, don't-care, half-way manner, altogether i unworthy of the name of advertising. j The very first necessity of all advertis- ing is to have the article to advertise, and this the lithographer has in abundance. He must have a story to tell and must tell it often. The poster lithographer can best reach tie users of his products by emulating the e-Kample of these same users. They use billboards; and so should he. His posters are effective for them ; Uiey are more so for him. He produces them himself, and proclaims faith in the efH- cacy of his products when he uses them. His posters on the wall are examples of his work displayed in the best possible manner. Advertising of this sort is pro- fitable to the manufacturer of lithographic posters. The manufacturer of lithographic nov- elties has a means at his disposal of very effectively teUing the prospective us^rs of his work "all about it." The facilities at his command enable him to produce a circular, a folder, or any novelty. He produces them for others. He should use them himself for his own business. What better means can he have of obtaining publicity than in an attractive calendar in the offices of tlie business men desires to reach ? A lithographed circular or folder, stating facts and illustrated in the particular stj-le of the establishment from which it eman- ates, is something to attract the attention of the users of such articles. Thus is the entire range of lithographic products susceptible of advertising the lithographing business and creating more business. To sum it up it is only neces- sary to state that the best advertising for the lithograph manufacturer is a generous use of his own products, and those estab- lishments so doing are the ones who are getting the business. NEW SCHEMES. The man who realizes that a broken down wagon left in the streets attracts! more attention than it would if in good shape and moving, has invented a vehicle which collapses whenever the driver de- sires. The sides are covered with adver- tising and at the spot where travel is the thickest Mr. Driver throws the combina- tion and breaks the axle. The wagon is left to be stared at and commented on as long as it is a curiosity. When the inter- est has abated, or the police get after it, "repairs" are made and another spot sought. This scheme seems to be con- fined to New York at present Paris has a novelty in the shape of a tricycle with corrugated tires which print an advertisement on the pavement. On the top of the wheel, is an ink reservoir, supplied with a roller which inks the type, and at the bottom is a blower worked by the pedals, which is constantly blowing away the dust from the roadway in front of the wheel, so that it has a nice clean surface on which to impress its advertisement. Of course this novel tri- cycle can only print on wood or asphalt; but as most streets of Paris are so paved, there is plenty of scope for it, and the ink, being of a hrilliant color and very permanent, leaves its mark quite readable for ^ys. Experiments have lately been made in Switzerland with a view to putting the beautiful lakes of that country to some practical account. Hitherto these waters have been admired merely because of their natural beauty, but now some enterpris- ing business men have devised a scheme by which they maybe made useful for advertising purposes. The plan is to paint the words of the advertisement in big white letters on a black background. When sunk and securely held at the bot- tom of the lake the advertisement is per- fectly legible, the reflection of the light on passing through the water bringing the words near the surface. It is an- nounced that the experiments have been very successful. Michigan is nothing, if not unique. This time the merchants in Muskegan and Kalamazoo have utilized the silver dollar as an advertising medium. They are not giving away the dollars, but are using them as biUboards. They paste labels on the big silver cart wheels read- ing: " Take ine back to Blank's store and get one dollar and five cents' worth of groceries for me." Citizens are com- plaining that the labels come off and stick to their pockets and that the gum makes the money unpleasant to handle. The United States district attorney was appealed to, but he says it is not against the law to so use coins, but he thought, from experience and from aU he heard,, that public opinion would indorse a law making such a use of the national coin- age a crime. FURNITURE DEALERS, And How rhey Should Advertise. Of all the various 'lines of retail trade none will derive more prompt, beneficial and perinanent results from posters, painted bulletins and distributing matter, than the furniture dealer. No matter what town or what section of country he may be located in, the conditions are practic- ally the same. In utilizing posters, the pictorial styles . printed and carried in stock by various printing houses, should be utilized. They are bright and catchy, attracting the at- tention and holding it until the adver- I tisement they carry has been firmly im- pressed upon the memory In putting them out, bill the town thoroughly, but reserve a sufficient amount to cover the adjacent country well, and change the poster and the advertisement about every six weeks. Painted bulletins should be used spar- ingly, but in prominent locations, and they should be of the highest quality o:f artistic excellence. They may he rein- forced by judicious outlay in fence and roadside signs in the country, especially. on all roads leading to the city. Distributing matter, carefuUy put out from house to house, also possesses great value, but it must be Ulustrated. This is a matter easily accomplished, as all manu- facturers and wholesale dealers have cuts of the various articles they make or han- dle and are only too glad to loan the originals or electrotypes of them to re- tailers. The Wells & Richardson Co., of Bur- lington, Vt., are confining their distribut- ing to the New England States.. Some Criticism and Suggestions. BY IAM .W.HOKE. "If a man a.sk advice of thee, find out the kind wanted, and give it him." This is one way to be popular. The man that offers honest criticism is more apt to make enemies than friends; as an instance I will state that I have been advertising for several years the cigars made by Mr. John Smith. (John Smith is not his name, but it will answer ver3' well for this matter of comparison.) In the regular course of business I securf d the advertis- ing also of Mr. John Jones, a competitor of Smith's, and placed a considerable amount of his business, and incidentally smoked a good many of Jones' cigars. One day Jones and a number of his asso- ciates asked me for a candid opinion of his cigars as compared with Smijh^s. "You are a fair judge of a cigar," he said, "you smoke as many as the average man, now tell us candidly what you think of the Jones Cigar?" "Well," I replied, "if you are in earnest, and want my candid opinion, so far as my taste is concerned, I must say that your cigars are too heavy to suit me; this may be because I have smoked Smith's for several. years, and that I have become ntore accustomed to their taste." Well, I managed to escape with my life, but the feeling of good- fellowship that had prevailed has disap- peared, and now I get such business from Jones as I can do cheaper than anyone else. And now I want to say that anything regarding the possible improvement of the billboard "and of billboard advertising is in the interest of the bill poster, prim- arily, and in the interest of the advertiser only secondarily, for every improvement will result in increased business, and, in time, in higher prices. Use better lumber; 6-inch tongued-and- grooved flooring will cost you a very little more than ia-inch fencing, but it will forever be free from cracks; .a crack,of an inch or even of a fourth of an inch will quickly result in torn paper, and the minute paper is torn it begins to lose its attractiveness. Build your boards lo feet high; some stands are not lo feet high, but if the largest paper is furnished you it will come pretty close to covering that amount of space. Build your boards 6 to 12 inches above the ground; this will prevent rains from splashing mud and dirt onto the bottom sheets. Have a supply of clean white paper with which, to cover the bottom of your boards under the stands; a ^iled table cloth will sometimes spoil a good dinner, and a dirty fringe of old paper, or a paste- besmeared edge of lumber, underneath a bright new poster, detracts very much from the beauty of the stand. And now here comes a suggestion that will reduce the capacity of every board you have; every advertiser that has con- sidered bill posting has remarked that all stands on the boards seem to run into each other; a very few have guarded agaiust this by having their posters vAih a wide border all around, which when properly posted, separates their stand from all the others, and gives it the i prominence that all stands should have. Careful as this man is, he is frequently horrified to find that his beautiful big border is ruthlessly covered up by the man of paste, and other people's paper is jammed right tip close to the lettering in his ad. I suggest a strip of white paper, say 12 inches wide, placed between all stands, wherever the size of the board will permit, except in cases where the posters furnished have borders. When an advertiser furnishes j'ou paper for a four-weeks' display, insist upon his supplying fifty per cent, additional to renew writli—and then do your part by using it everywhere necessary. Some advertisers contract for a twelve-months' showing, and supply paper enough to renew not oftener than every two months; as a result their stands look shabby about half the time, and as a further result other advertisers cuss the biUboards, and swear they will have nothing to do with them. I believe the bill poster would make more money by losing the occa- sional order that refuses sufficient renewal paper, than he makes on the order. And now comes the question of cover- ing dead paper; many an advertiser gives an order for two or three weeks with the expectation of securing an additional feration, for ragged surroundings never did any advertiser any good; and it frequently keeps new people off wlu) imagine that this ragged paper is .still being paid for, and that their paper would be allowed to look as bad. These improvements will cost some- thing; and the advertiser will not be willing to pay any more on their account. But I believe that the bill poster that makes his spaces the most valuable to the advertisers will in course of time—and a short time at that—have every board he controls full of paper; and then he will hustle for more boards; and as soon as every vacant lot is covered he will have to begin to double-deck, in order to have spaces sufficient to accomodate his in- creasing business. Now, honest-injun, don't you think .so too? BREWERS' ADVERnsiNG. " It is not neceasary to advertise MV beer" ; that is what many brewers have said. Then they have sat in their offices and watched the increasing business of their competitors who deemed it necessary ! with the results. The effect of he posters is cunnilalive to a degree far beyond the luimerical increase in .stands. .\ thou.s- aiul .stands is not only ten fold Iictter than a hinidred stands, but a hundre<l fold better. The brewer who uses posters commands the services of the best artists and gets the benefit of their genius. The wonder- ful effects of form and color are combined and brought into use for him. The value of properly executed distrib- uting matter intelligently pill out is very great when used in conjniictioii with a thorough poster display. The po.sters tell the story in a manner which may be likened to an artillery bomb.-irdment. The circulars bring forward the argu- ment and their effect may be compared' to following up the bonibardnienl by the a.ssault of the infantry. Here, again, the brewer has it in his own hanils as to quan- tity, expense ami territory. The circular goes into the homes—all the homes or just as few or as many as he desires. ■ Not the least of the advantages of post- ers and distributing is that of economy. 1-sed lavishly or sparingly they are the . Advertising Car No. a of Tlie Greatest Show On Earth. week or more without cost. I don't be- ieve that any friendships were ever made by maliciously covering dead paper, but I would suggest that every bill poster should have a poster of his own—in fact a number of posters in various sizes—to promptly cover up all dead paper, pro- viding other business is not ready for the boards. This also shows the general pub- lic that the bill poster believes in his method of advertising. If not financially able to carry a supply of his own posters, the bill poster can cover the dead stands with white paper, and have an ad of his own lettered upon it. As a general thing a bill poster would do well to have a man in his employ that can do ordinary letter- ing, as frequent orders could be secured for short-time displays from some small concerns that could not afford to have a large number of posters printed. But aside from the advisability of cov- ering paper that is no longer pa3ring, I think that it should be covered as soon as it gets shabby. The paying advertisers on the boards are entitled to this consid- to advertise their, brands of beer. That the business methods of to-day demand advertising, is, however, so near an axiom that argument in favor of adver- tising in the abstract is well nigh lost. Its wonderful value is conceded on every side The methods of advertising are what the business man of the present considers, no matter what his line, the question is " how." For the brewers vast possibilities open before those who are successful in choosing and using the proper mediums. Their product is one of universal use. The whole population is their audience when it comes to telling about beer. In considering mediums the billboards undoubtedly head the list. They are everywhere and everybody sees them. The brewer may utilize thousands of feet of pictorial display in one location or in just as many locations as he chooses. There is no arbitrary price beyond the ! unit < f one sheet. The brewer may take just as many as he is willing to pay for; the more he takes the better satisfied is. cheapest advertising that can be bought. Compare the price of newspaper space with the results it brings. Do likewise with po.sters and circulars and see how it comes out. The purpose of this article is not to decry the value of newspapers and maga- zines as profitable advertising mediums. Quite the contrary, they are valuable. Thej- reach a field, contracted though it may be, that repays the advertiser hand- somely. Right now the Pabst Co. are spending large sums, and are doing some very effective advertising in the maga- zines-. The results have been highly satisfactory. There arc other channels into which it is profitable to divert some portion of the advertising approjjriation, and all .should be used in proportion to their merit. After all is said and done, and all other mediums have been exjiloited to their capacity the fact renains, and is patent to those who will see it. that to reach alt the people all the time there is no method so powerful and effective as the combina- tion afforded by posters .and circulars. •?i3C1