Billboard advertising (Feb 1900)

THE BILLBOARD. 1 EXCHANGES. Siii>|)Ogc there 1» a fire at midulebt. The Mil poster arrives on the sceiw; soon after ihv llrt^incn. and while they subdue the flames In- buliouholen the owner ot the bumlDK |]iiildliiR or the tcnanto. If the blaze Is con- iluid to the store-room on the ground floor. I bill poster talks with the proprietor and : iisually to some end. An hour after tbe Ore IS out. he will be boarding up the show wln- ilo»^. and by the time the city Is awake the Uuaids will be covered with gayly colored bills atlvcitlslns anything from pills to a popular i,|.ay. t*t a shopkeeper move. Before half liis goudM are Bon« the bill poster, will have siliutttd him and laid bis plans. The first niKlit the storeroom Is vacant the bill poster Will put in bla appearance and unless a po- liccnmn Interferes be will decorate Its front with a selection of invitations to buy a dozen ItindB of patent medicines. A wagon breaks down late in the evening and the weary driver, unhitching his horses, goes home intending to return In the morning prepared to put ft to rlghU. The bill poster, ever on the watch, hastens to. Ms shop and inilxce up a new lot of paste, wMlc his as- sittairt lays out a clroiee assortment of small bills. That night they make the broken-down wagon look like the lion cage of a one-ring circus, and the driver returning in the niorn- ing swears when he views the Invitations to buy one of Blank's beet bus-lness suits for H. Some night a servant girl, tired out with the day's wssMttg. forgets to take In the fam- ily .ash can. Before she is asleep thu bill poster has sighted the can. Usually be has his paste and bills ready for just such a chance, and it lakes him next to no time to decorate the can, changing its appearance so nmch that the kitchen rat, coming homo in the early hours, seeing It. concludes that the has niitBcd her bearings and moves on down the ftrrvt to be lost. There Is an explosion somewhere in town. ; The boss bill poEtcr hrars of it and is off fcr the sc-cne post baste. Arriving there, he makes his way through the crowd and ob- serves in which direction most eyes, are pointed. If the persons in the crowd aie look- ing toward a dead wall he is delighted. He hunts up th« man who owns it. rents it. or has access to It and makes a bargain with hiiri. Tlien he hurries up bis men and before Interest has been lost in the explosion he has a choice selection of bills on the wall.—New York Evening Sun. l^istcr advertising is nnklcg rapid progress in Ibesc last days of the nineteenth century. Years ago, when ttn> business was not as well undierstood as it is at present, very few advcrtlsers outside of thtsters utilized this branch of publicHty. Now that the bu-'ntss is established on a bueiness bacis, the returns are valuable, and postvr advertising pays. Naturally, newspapers will not admK this fact, but advertisers wiio have tried It know, and the very fact that a number of the larg- est advertisers use bill boards when trot in newspapers Is an evidence that poster adver- tising i>ays.—The AdWsor, A suburban resident of Delaware County is as mad as a March bare, and a sign board did It all. He was driving home one dark night last week, and when the way seemed so long he became uifcertain whether or not he »tts on the right road. He stepped Ms team at a cross road, clambered out of the wagon, crawled up on a feix.-e and struck a match to read the sign tH»rd which be could dimly see outlined. At the peril of bis neck he deciph- ered the sign by the- glare of the b'rimetone, and UKarly toppled off the fence when be saw these words: "When In doubt go to Smith's for cod liver oil,"—Pblladelphia Uccord. The following hiEtory of the oird Of the Chas. IT. Vogeler Company, manufacturers of St. Jacob's,Oil, is given by Printers' Ink and tTcfiitrd to a contemporary: Mr. and Mrs. Devries have filed a Joint deed of trust conveying to Henry S. Dulaney. as trustee, all the property of the Charles A. Vogeler Company. The trustee has filed a bond for tWKl.OdO. U is believed tha:t the as- sets oi the company are about ?]50,000. A rough estimate places the liabilities between tm.im and Jaw.'KK). Included in the deed of trust is the ante-nuptial coirtract between Mr. and Mrs. Devrics. binding them to protect the company and to place their entire property In trust for the benefit of its creditors should such a step become n-efressary. This agree- ment was exceutid Marrh 2S. 1887. Mr. Du- laney is directed to make an immediate sale. Trade publIca«ionB give useful lofomwtlon and lists of new advertisers. It is estimated that over $300,000,000 are spent annuallr in.tbe United States for advertising, and that ap- proptiatioD will annually increase. The man who does not advertise does not as a rule stay in budness long. Any successful busi- ness man will tell you that adveitrising is as legitimate an expense as rent, light, hes;t or labor, and that a certain sum brings iKtter: returns invested tlras than in any oUier way. —O. A. Meyer, Newspaperdotn. A number of proprietary concerns use space in the various m-edical papers in connection with the newspaper and other forms of ad- vertiE'ing. This is done to keep in touch with the phy- sicians, and oftentimes is a proatable invest-: ment. On' the other band, a statement made by a physician not long since is raluable because it throws li*'ht on a matter heretofore either coix*ealed or not generally known. This Tibytieian w^as asked, what he thought of a certain baby food, and Ms reply was, "Oh, that roneexn advertises in newspapers now, and physicians will no longer prescribe it." When pressed for an explanation ot this remarkable utteranc-e, he could give none ex- cept to say'that advertising in newspapers killed an advertiser In the opinion of phy- sicians. As long as the advertising was conAned to medical journals the advertiser was all right; but when he desired to reach the public and L. S. DICKSOM, Princeton. Ky.. Billposter and DUtrlbntor, DublR- or private, of all the property owned b>- Mr. and'^Mrs. Devries- 'The estate includes the Vogeler Company's stock ot medicine, and the trade-marks, formulae, etc. r>i»» rm^on Riven for tl>e decline in the sa^Tof^r3a«b's Oil is the public enlight- enrawnt upon the nature of rheumatism, a disrase In the trea*ment of which the lini- ng wsIarfTelv u«-d. It is now known that ?reuma«sm^riginatlDg in '"P^f^l?'^"" must be treated from the Inside of tlje bodj. and that at b«-t. applications to the skin g j^e Snly temporary remr. . J^^? Ill proprietary medicine say the failure of the Voider -dbmpany is due to the lack of good nia^awment. to tlfc diminution of advertis- rX a^d to the mukiplication of heeds of de- """"""w^d to the advertising done by the coiSpmiV it is said that in IS-S2 JoflO.OOO was cxptJndvd. ami this outlay has ^"^'^^^ allv docrCHsed. until to-day not over $50,000 a jiar is paid out for advertising purposes. For the past fix .vcars no dally publications have b™'n used: the remedies of the i-ompany have only bc<n given publhMty in country weeklies and" the German press. When the late Choiles Vogiler was at the head of affairs he paid great attcn.tion to the idvertifliiR. with the result that a fortune came into the roffers of the company each vear. Many striking devices were employed io make known the merits of the produet.s of llu- compainy. Amciw these were th^^ liall.t- iiiK of IlKURS of St. .laiHib holi inp a bnttle of oil on the hillside ami rocks thixughout the l-iiitcd states: a dnrlicJ-te ot the famous olHllfk new In Central Pirk wa.s nwde and nln.-id nt the lirterwMlon of Howard ititd I.ili- ertv tflr^rt.-. Ila1lln:«>tv. wlure it .orVluurd for" vjtirs to attract the attention cf residents and "tourists. A new policy In this regard \yas 1.'kiiii when Mr. Vogeler died, and fhe plan of retrenchment in adwrtlsing e.xpcnses con- timicd. increase his business, the advertiser was all wrong. The question now arises: In wbat relation does a physician stand to a medical paper and to an advertiser? wtiy should tiK fact of an advertiser' drop- ping out of medical journsls and taking up secular (?) mediums liav« any effect on the physician, and wby stmuld he cease using It in his practice? It certainly does not affect the qualities-of the article to advertise It in newspapers. Pfayc.ieiaii8 tfaemeelTes are the greatest ad- vertisers whenever they have ain opportunity. Why do they object to others making a val- ued aiticle known?—The .\dv»sor. Seme say that It was care that killed the eat. Others contend that it was curiosity. Mere likely it was careless-ness. It is care- les^ess that ruins most merchants who go to smash. They have an id€a that stock in the store is worth first tx>st and hold on to it to sell at original profits. The merchant who succeeds is the one who goes through his stock and gets rid of all the stuff thit is like- ly to grow unseasonable, or gets rid of stock that is staple but liable to get s'hop-worn. People will take it off your hands if you tell ihvm the truth about it and that you would rather lose a little money now than more latsr on. Make ;?our afleruiath sales strong. Dent cairy over .vour seek if there is a pos- sible chance of selling it or giving it awa". Do like a firewoiks dealer, who shoots rlT all his left-over fireworks on the 5th of July,— Ameiican Advertiser. An cn'terprlsitrg carriage dealer in Central Ohio rents windows in empty stores, using them to display his goods. His own windows are sir.ell and he is able to show but a lim- itid iKtttion of his bulky stock to advantage: ttili h" finds even this a highly profllahlo form of advertising and about a year ago he went about tow^ir and leased three -windows In tenantless buildings at a small rental, tl owners gladly bailing the few dollars pi montta as so much clear gain. Then be hi his new possession cleaned, cut off the emp' store with curtains and put in an attracU- display ot vehitdes, with a liberal allowan' of price cards and signs directing people ' his store. As a result, be bas a four-fo"* opportunity of catching the prospective cu tonier's eye when the town is crowded ai- Ihe very novelty of the scheme l.s of its<i an excellent publKity-bilnser.—Ad Sense. Facts afld Fallacies. r. Gleaned by At.i.KK K. HARfAtjaii. Mill Ruu. Ti A man with an Idea.—Taking his cue fro' i the Kodaks lanBuage, "you press the butto- we'll do ttoe rest," a Western undcrtak' nsilcid up Ibis sign. "You kick the buckc^ I'll db thcr rest." Pulled' His Stakesi—Recently this sign af peared In a PennsyUtiniia town: "B. F. We^ Broker-, . New York Stocks and Cibka^ Grain." A' wag suggested tint it meant Big Fisb 'Weir Intended to f!UBnare "Sucf.); ers." A Cort Bath.—A few dorrs above this, t "Old Reliable DruggteX.': displayed the wii' dow sign, ''Sbda WMer. S cents: Ice tjreaii 10 ce«ts," wilb a»ls admouit-iou: "Try—one insidie." "To be taken inwardiy, of courS' hew elsoT* queried- an obsei-ver. The jewel' rrext doer, to whom tbe remark was addret' ed; declared "people insist upon waEhic their feet with the aiticlcs." ■ .\ Sure Winner.—.V combined barber ai dram shop had this unpuni-tuatcd language i. a sign over the dOor: "Wliat do you thit I'll shave you for noUting and give j-ou drinh." The meaning was. "Wbai: do y^ thtak I'll stoavie yoii'for nctblng, and gl\ you a drink?" Origin of Pawirbroker Sien.—Three goldt bills w-ere ustd by Iibnibard. inerctuitts wl cDi'igrattd' to Louden: from Italy and set t t'ho first pawnbiioker cstsbliibmisnts. adop ing tii^"three golden pills" to be borne o the arms of the Lombard corporation fro; t!he aivnorial bearings of the Medici famil: r.f which the LcmbarCs wer* prcmlnciit men bers. Sharp Trick.—Ordered by an Orienti ruler to build* a roausxiieum, the architect, subject, decidsd to rci> him of tame. It etcad tyt that of hie royal master, he secretl t-Msrlcd' his cwtr name, then adiottly covei ing tbis witb stucco, be carved tbe name an praises of his sovereign. 1 The ftaud was sui ces^'ful. H4s Majesty was delighted and gra; ified. After his doatto the stucco fell and ri vealcd the name of the ^rewd subject, whot name and skill was perpetucted instead < tte master. He Was Not in tl>e Busin'ess.—An tlluatrtf; tioi> of the result ot the lock of clear ettunc?;- ation on the part of ° a speaker preacblng tl) funeral sermon over the remains of a prom Inent citizen, in the -W\R.t: The orator In fatk^ ibetnrical Olght: of vision meant to coave, these idess': "I can see Iiis pahtlns spirit sig among the chaste stais. * • • and methint I see bis ncble lineaments imprinted on ever rock, tree as^d fence in this county, wit whtse history 'he was so eloi'ely connected. Instead of these glowing wotds, the local pa per the next we^ biaid H: "I can see hl^ spanking spirit's eye among the cboee tan * * * and metbinks I see bis iMble liaimeot Imprinted on every rock, tree and fence V the county." ' BENJAMIN MILES, Hnntington, Ind.