The billboard (July-Dec 1898)

^SsSsSjSSSSSPlsl 24 THE BILLBOARD m tf§« SUCCESSfTIL BILLP05TING COSTS THE SAME AS THE OTHER KINDS, WHICH KIND WILL YOU TAKE? <J£ <J£ %Jfi «^6 «J6 *j£ i£ <j£ 4^6 *T*HE newspaper advertiser has lonjj since cc.-iscd A trying to attend to the details himself; he has wisely placed the matter in Hie hands of some one of the hundred or more reputable advertising agencies. These agencies are all rij;ht in their line, but they don't understand billposting. I have studied billposting for years ; I have placed billposting for same of the largest concerns in America. I do nothing but billpcsting and poster print- ing. I have placed billposting in nearly every town or city in America of 500 population and up*. I have personally in pectcd tl e plants of a large proportion of them. There is not a billposter in America that does not know me, or of me. And they all know that an order from me is as good as the cash in hand — providing the work is done right. Most of the people «hose posli g I have placed are still using the billboards, and still placing the work through my agency. I can't guarantee busi- ness success, but all the same, my clients are among the successful users of the billboards. Any article that is used, or that could, would or should be used by the general public, can be successfully advertised on the billboards alone. It can, in some instances, be advertised better, in combination with distributing circulars and sam- ples. In some instances, it can be done ljest in connection with several other methods of adver- tising. I am prepared to take entire charge of your poster work ; to design, lithograph or. print the poster, and to ship it to the various points, and to place it upon the best locations of the best bill- boards t>elongiiig to the best billposters in anv city in the United States. lanv & *£<£<£<£&<£<£<£,£ Long Distance Billposter, 251 FIFTH AVENUE, N. E. Cor. 28th St. Phone 2074-38. N£W YORK CITY, CAUTION.—Be sure you get Hoke, $am Hoke, $am W. Hoke. Refuse all substitutes and imitations. THE BILLBOARD Vol. X., No. 11. CINCINNATI, NOVEMBER i, 1898. PRICE 10 CENTS PER YEAR. $1.00 You never saw a business house That grew to imiiuiuotli size, Unless its head or manager, Knew how to advertise. Hdw to Advertise a Whisky and Get Your Money Back. I want to say.at the beginning that although born a Colonel, I know very little about whiskies. But in the course of a number- of years devoted to ad- vertising, I 'have seen a great many whiskies advertised, and iu the coins:; of business I have rubbed elbows with :i great many saloon keepers, and liava been given to understand that pretty nearly every saloon and bar in the laud has at least one bottle of every prominent whisky that has ever b.en advertised. There seems to bo no difficulty in disposing of one bottle of the adver- tised article to the retail trade: the only difficulty being that that one bjt- lle seems to last forever—ji;st a< maty cigar retailers make one box of im- ported Henry Clays last forever. Cigar manufacturers have a law in their favor which does not apply to whiskies: It is illegal for a cigar deal- er, or any one else, to put cigars into an old cigar box, and the penalty for so doing is very severe. The only law, however, against "put- ting new wine into old bottles" is the Scriptural injunction, and this does not seem to lie widely known to the retailers of whiskies. The Music Hall people ad iptcd. quite a long while ago. a plan to pre- vent, their waiters from taking ad- vantage of their patrons who desired red liquor. Their plan was to furnish an ounce bottle, holding just emugh whisky for an ordinary "dram." This bottle they labelled with the name of the brand and the price to b:> charged for it: in this manner the recipient knew if he was paying 2."» ecu's for the drink of whisky, that the waiter was also paying '2~> cents at the bir. and was not supplying'him with some- thing that cost the waiter a dime. Xow. if I were a millionaire ..distiller, and should wish to spend •f10:>.0"0 in advertising some brand of whisky. 1 would endeavor to profit by the ex- perience of the Music Hall managers: and while I wouid bottle it in quarts and pints, as is customary now.- I would also bottie it In phials' suitable for a single drink, tying a small cork- screw to the side of the 'Kit lie. and I would have the name of the article blown in the bottle, aud also imprint- ed on the label that cavers the* cork. 1 would then warn the imbiber to be sure that when he wanted a drink of Van Bibber whisky, to see that he gets a bottle that has never been opened, and that lie notices particu- larly that the maker's name and t:a'le mark are hlrtwp upon the bottle, and appear on thclahci covering the co'k. I would use a 24-sheet, or a 2S-sbret poster, and would devote, say I went v sheets, to displaying the name "of the lirand, and then use almut chrht sheets for small prlnl. telling how the whisky Is bottled. It Is customary to .advise against any small print on a poster, and J am among those who b divve that, way: itv spite of which 1 say, make the poster big enough, anyhow, and Ihen put the. small print in mine additional space and tack on at the end. It will be read: not every time the balance of the poster is read, lr.it it will ho read one time by all. and when they see the poster and the small type In future, they will remember what the small type said. By the way, Is there a "Van Bibber" whisky? If not, what's the matter with that name Tor a new brand? It's a good-enough name for a cigarette. "1 would then warn the imbiber to be sure that when he wanted a drink of Van Bibber whisky to see that he gets a bottle that has never lieeu opened, and that he notices particu- larly that the maker's name and trade mark are blown upon the battle, and appear on the label covering the cork. I would have a signature on the eark label, the counterfeiting of which would be a felony." cuously. but have them delivered to the lady of the house, and we do it in the following way: We wrap a small picture card, a sample powder and a booklet in a piece of ordinary mauila paper. It is tied with a white string, no printing •whatever on the outside. These packages are taken through the best residence portions of the city; our distributor rings the door-bell, and the package is handed to whoever may come to the door, with the'informa- tion that it is for me lady of the house. THOMAS J. MURPHY, Of Brooklyn, N. Y. A Nut for the Knockers. If billboard advertising is nut su- lierior to newspaper space, why is it on the increase, while tiie latter wanes? "Why are prominent adver- tisers, men who possess w-ide experi- ence, acumen 'and sound judgment in- creasing their orders for posters, anil constantly cutting down their appro- priations for newspapers? It must be delivered to the lady of the bouse, as it is tied up aud the servant can not see what it is. and she has no right or authority to open it. We taka this extra precaution and trouble .lie- cause in a great many instances, when a door-bell is answered by a servant girl, the sample would otherwise fall into her hands." In a recent interview Charles It. Cooke, the president of the .T. A. Poss- Koni Pharniacal Co.. of St. Louis (!\vt- Koni's Complexion Powder), said: "We patronize the billboards and street cars. They give quick publicity, and stand out before the people where they must be seen. We do genvral sampling with our powder, and be- lieve it to be one of the best ways of advertising, as there is nothing so sat- isfactory to. the consumer as an actral test of the goods she is about to u-e. We do uot distribute samples promts'--: Thomas I. Murphy. ' Thomas J. Murphy, whose portrait adorns our first page this mouth, is President of the American IUU Posting Co. of Brooklyn and Pittsburg and Allegheny. Pa. He is one of nature's noblemen. Jovial" in disposition, he can sing a sens or tell a funny story with the best of them. We could best convev an idea of Murphy's personality by recounting some of his stories, but that Is impossible. Aside from the fact that their peculiarities fthe story of Murphy's dog. for instance) ren- der them difficult to put in type. No one can tell them but Murphy. Mr. Murphy ts one of the few bill posters of the olden times who has kept up with the demands and requirements of the new school. He is a great traveler. He has covered Eu- rcpe and the British Isles thoroughly several fines, and has even gone as far as Egypt and the Holy Land. Palmer Cox Again. Reply to a Critic. Mill Run, Ta., Oct. 17, 189S. Editor "The Billboard:" Dear Sir—Kindly accepting evidenca of Brownies in Scottish folk-lore, of- fered by the Rev. Alexander Dick, of Meridan, N. Y., in last issue of 'The Billboard," I alluded to the evolution of the Brownie idea by Palmer Cox in line and on the same plan of thought, implying an achievement sim- ilar to the person who. transformed coarse-featured Puck, of "Midsummer Night's Dream," into the sleek, yet half clad youngster, who mischlevors- Vy remarks: '• \Vnat fools thess mor- tals be!" The practical points conveyed by the lesson are wisely observed" by my friendly critic; but he should be Im- pressed that by the same liberty of interpretation bestowed upon the phrase, "invented and peopled." as applied to "the irres'stible and ubiqu!- tons Brownies," and when applied to Inventors (?) and their Inventions (?), we all would say a long and last fare- well to Bell, Edison. Fnlton, Morse, and hosts of celebrities. Their names and achievements will live! Very respectfully, ALLEN E. HARBAUGH. If American advertisers win "but assert their Americanism exhibits frbm the United States will be conspicuous by their absence. Frenchmen are engaged In offering American tourists every insult that a rabid ingenuity can devise. They never overlook a chance to •manifest their sympathy for Spain. Boycott the Paris show. (Special Correspondence to "The Billboard"). The ouarantincs in the South have played hob with the fairs this season. Meridian has postponed her dates in the hopes that early frosts will admit of a successful meeting. There is a lot of foolishness in the quatan- tine law. There is no more danger of an epidemic cf yellow fever in these days than there is of one of cholera. There are many "doing" going on in Bos- ton, if the newspapers are to be believed. Donnelly's men are having fun with the boards belonging to the Columbia Theatre. and the Municipal Couit was having fun with DojinpP'e "fii. A* least, that was the case at cur last account. Row Between Advertiser and Billposter. The Southern Bin Posting Co.. of Knoi- vKie, Tenn., received twenty-five Early Bird Tobacco, 16-sheets. from Jam Hoke September 20. and sent in list October 11. dating the list September 20. Dan Hall, representing the manufacturers, called en the bill poster, a Mr; Barnes. October 5, and reported to his house that only one stand had been posted. The list of locations was sent to Hall to check up. and on falling to find the paper where listed, he called aeain on Mr. Barnes and asked for an explanation. The explana- tion terminated in Mr. Hail being ejected from the office to the street, where he awaited his assai'ant- After the final encounter both parties claim the victory, and proudly tell you to "look at the other fellow's eyes.*': And both parties still claim to be in the right, the bill poster claiming the paper is up. and the advertiser claiming it has not been up—and there you ■ are.; Mr. Hoke states that inspectors from all other towns are loud in their praises of the way the bill posters have done their work. Knc-xville being the only snag encountered by this new convert to the bill boards. One step won't take yon very far. You've got to keep on walking; One., word-won't tell folks what you ■-.- ate, .'..'.." You've got to keep on talking. One inch won't make you very tall, You've got to keep on growing; One little "ad." won't do it all. You've got to keep'em going. —Publicity (London,: Eng.)