Motion Picture News (Oct 1913 - Jan 1914)

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The Motion Picture News MOVING PICTURE NEWS EXHIBITORS' TIMES Established 1908 Established 1913 Volume VIII November 8, 1913 Number 18 WHY IS AN ADVERTISEMENT? ^JpHE above title is rather a large one with which to begin this informal series of little talks on advertising. OUNTLESS reams of paper have been used up in attempts to answer this query. ^JpHE writer recalls an advertising men's banquet at the Sphinx Club in London in which several earnest young men bored the diners for several hours with this very subject. Then the guest of honor was called upon for the concluding speech. He was a Napoleonic little man, known to a suffering world as Doctor Munyon. ifc. ;J; ^jpHE little man slid to his feet and with a sphinxlike smile raised a forefinger. "Gentlemen," said he. "There is hope!" The verbose young men told of how and why the other fellow did it — after the other fellow did it. Dr. Munyon made a living image of a trade-mark which he built up to a million-dollar value — and didn't tell. * * * JT'S a very big and platitudinous subject — this why of advertising, and here are a few "whys" which may offer some suggestions that may hit home — which is the modest aim of this series. * * * ''XA/^ advertise?" said a big manufacturer about * two years ago. JT is amusing to note that this same man had formerly been advertising manager of a weekly publication and now declined to swallow the medicine he had so often prescribed for others. So he went to the other extreme. * * * l-T E had a force of more than eighty field salesmen, each costing him from $2,500 to $12,000 yearly. They kept his plant overrun with orders. Then he saw a light. He started a small advertising campaign and as he increased it he cut down his sales staff. Now he does more business with thirty-odd salesmen, and his selling cost is almost 50 per cent less. H4 • % • % ^J^HESE two go together, by the way — advertising and field salesmanship. Either is expensive or inefficient without the other. ^ ^ ^ "\X7HY advertise?" asked a well-to-do merchant. He had the leading furniture store in the city of Troy, N. Y. Forty years of hard work had built up a fine business. It was there, solid and selfsufficient, with customers enough and permanent. The aged proprietor was about to turn it over to his son, with the feeling that the business was secure — forever. * * * "V^THY insure?" was the answer. "You wouldn't leave your store to-night if it were uninsured. You wouldn't turn it over to your son, if you felt that he would let his policies lapse." * * * "J^OW, suppose a new concern with plenty of " capital and experience comes here and starts advertising. Where will your son and your business be in two years ? Why not insure your store with advertising — nozuf" * * * AND the conservative old tradesman did. * ^JO here are two "whys" of advertising: To sell goods economically — if you want to sell them and market is open. To insure their sale in the future, if you don't need to sell them now and if your market happens to be temporarily closed. * * * T>()TII of which "whys" apply very intimately, it would seem to mc, to a number of makers of films and theatre equipment supplies. William Allen Johnston.