The billboard (Dec 1896)

BILLBOARD ADVERTISING. Vol.. VIII., No. n. CINCINNATI, DECEMBER I, 1896. BRAIN PICTURES. One of the brightest physicians i country, a specialist in brain and diseases, once explained to me his theory of the m« ory". I " It will not surprise me," be said, '* if not. If tbe human brain is composed of photographic negatives, a picture is about the best thing you can throw at it, if you wish to mate a lasting impression. Mind yon, there must be a striking, terse, impressive fact or idea associated with tbe picture, or you have accom- plished nothing. Once photographed on the brain, the picture is simply a picture. every atom of brain-tissue found in the cortex, of intellectual brain, is an infini- tesimal photographic negative. By some process an image of not only everything seen, hut of everything heard, is im- pressed upon these negatives. That is, the brain is a phonograph and kineiu- scope combined. By an involuntary ac- tion of the will all images are diverted over one nerve-lint or another, to this or that brain-department or subdepartmenl. "■Thus, when a man for the first time pata tbe City Kail Park buildings in New letter press for the reason that it is simply a reminder—a means to an end. It isn"t in itself an advertisement, but simply a cry of "halt" that makes a man read ihe ad, and then helps him to recall it. The letter-press, the wording of the ad, is first, last and all the time, the feature of an ad that sells the goods. Moreover, the mere fact that the words, tbe facts, and the ideas in an ad are less easy to recall than the outlines of the picture, make it imperative that the moat skill, - the most ingenuity, the most study and the most money shou'd be expended in about the Tweed-ring, he involuntarily calls up and actually sees, mentally, a picture of the City Hall buildings, pro- viding they are the pictures moat intim- ately associated in his mind with Tweed. Then one by one all the other pictures by eye and ear ate recalled to him. '■ I believe the eye-pictures, jf equally pertinent and impressive take the prece- dence, are strongest and come back first. For instance, every man can shut his eyes and recall his mother's face vividly, after most of her motherly admonitions have forty years a m 5ug to their importance and impressii Here is a theory that bears upon the value of illustrated advertising, that any t is 1 B artistic standpoint, that from a business standpoint is utterly worthless. The facts that a poster will carry only a couple of lines, of wording, that the brain recalls worded matter with ninth more effort than pictured matter, and that the worded facts are what really advertise and sell the goods, make the wording Ihe vital feature. Any man who will try to convey in one or two brief lines of worded matter, in an impressive,'attractive style, the selling " rertised article, will soon about the article ar When the poster-people and tbe poster- advertisers realize the importance of the wording on their productions they will come down a little ways out of the sky of art, and gel their heels into the solid Can't Rwn » Show Without I The New York papers contain the ai hallway without a mis-step. But he can- not recall all the pranks he played in that hallway, tbe words that were spoken "The topography of the hall Is an oft- impressed picture through the eye. That is strongest. Tbe pranks or actions are pyf pictura photographed but once. They .Jake second place as to the facility t*ith which they are recalled. The read may possibly be recalled, but without any definite as the advertiser. striking and may 1 of an impression on the brain and yet utterly fall of its purpose tb favorably recill the article advertised. My conclusion is that a picture is a most import not and frequently necessary part of an ad. It is important because it stops a man and makes him read. It is neces- it helps to recall the adver- e striking fact, all the beauty or hi Palmer's, and made them fearful of the result. If a theater can't get along with- out bill posting, why docs it happen that some other classes of trade refuse to even give bill posting a trial? When approacb- edon the subject they say, "Oh, let the theaters use the hill boar ds; we cater to the intelligent class of the community, and they have to be reached in another dated with the article advertised and Here lies the mistake that kills the effectiveness of many of the most striking American posters. Money is spent with an unsparing hand to get an artistic pic- ture and the most striking color effects. But when it comes to the wording econo- my has its say. There is only room for a "Any old sentence, idiotic or inappropriate will do of boiling EVERLASTING PASTE. Dissolve a pound of alum in twenty gallons of water, when cold stir in as Then stir ii r as will give it the consistencig arefully beating up all lumpfl in half a pound of po-derea| pour on the mixture five gallons water. Set Uie barrel in a cool tiaed article and the most important facts just so long as it bring, in the name of place and rt wdl *«? f« » J""*" ™ ™* aboutit. It is le» important than Ihe the article, l^t the office-boy write if to be thinned down w>thhot water for use.