Moving Picture Age (Jan-Dec 1920)

20 MOVING PICTURE AGE May, 1920 I Ad Slides— Good and Bad | I A Department of Criticism, Edited for | I Reel and Slide Magazine by Jonas Howard | illlllNIIIIIIIIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII^ Slides as a Dealer Help By H. A. Cowan (Manager, Dealers' Service Department, Wilson & Co., U. S. Yards, Chicago.) Advertising slides when carefully designed, giving the dealer consideration, will prove to be the most powerful form of local advertising. After thorough inquiry the writer is pleased to say that as far as can be ascertained Wilson & Co.'s dealers are the first to derive the full benefit of this modernized slide advertising. The old style slide made up with the selfish intention of getting the manufacturer's product first, leaving only the absolutely essential space at the bottom for the name of the dealer who is handling the product and paying for the advertising of the slide, will soon be a thing of the past, is my prediction. The time for showing advertising slides in the average show house is very limited and for that reason the writer inaugurated the idea of putting the dealer's name, complete address, telephone number, or any advertising that he usually carries on his bill-heads or letter-heads at the top of the slide, allowing him at least onethird to one-half of the slide. The illustrated part of the slide is made up to tell the story at a glance, using no superfluous type matter. We are particular to have our illustrations clear, clean, and natural. An illustration of this kind will convey a message and impress a recollection in the flash of an eye, that a thousand words of type would fail to accomplish. We also consider that, although the audience is not given sufficient time to note the manufacturer's part of the slide (as much Radio ^1/ Slide; ^-^'^ , PAJENTED o O r "-T "RADIO'S" the slide wiiich carries your thoughts typewritten 25 Radios tape and glasses $1.00 Patented • /*\ ■ ■ ■ ■. »\ ■ as they would if his part of the advertisement had been first), we have at least called the attention of the public to our dealer, which is our primary consideration. By attracting business to this particular dealer, it naturally follows that it will increase the sales of our products. On the other hand, if we had the manufacturer's part of the slide at the top with the dealer's name at the bottom and the audience was not given sufficient time to read the entire slide neither would have gained by this advertisement, for the audience would not have learned where this product could be purchased. Another appreciated feature of our slides is that we allow the dealer from one-third to one-half of the upper part of the slide. From the results obtained in the matter of hearty co-operation on the part of our various dealers and judging by the increasing number of re_quests_ for our dealer slides, we have taken a good stride forward in reviving interests in what the writer considers the best result getter in local advertising. The dealers frequently request PETER HAMPEL & SON THE BRICA STORE duality Groc, Flour; Fe«d, Hdw. & Queenswar^ Wije tinMA<y>x •€a.^& ptai£ZjU> f/MX. mSr<je one slide after another, for we offer eighteen different slides, as well as the willingness to design one to suit the dealer's need if he so requests it. Results are showing in our sales department, for dealers do not hesitate to stock up on Wilson products, due to the fact that they have such co-operation. We have learned, however, that some slide manufacturers discourage the idea of putting the dealer's advertisement at the top for the reason that it causes extra labor, as the slide must be made upside down in order to put the dealer imprint at the top. Some manufacturers also discourage the use of more than the dealer's name, arguing that the cost is three and one-half cents per line for type setting, making the slide too expensive to be issued gratis. However, we have found it well worth the difference, as the dealers have shown unlimited interest, and we consider that satisfaction on the dealer's part more than repays us for the added expense, for naturaly the better pleased the dealer is with the slide, the more he will have it in use before the public, both to his advantage and ours. General Library Service for Producers and Authors Henry MacMahon, 321 West Fifty-fifth street, New York, has established a scenario and title-editing department of his literary bureau in the general service of the industry. Authors and playwrights of distinction have agreed to dispose of their work through this agency, and there is a competent staff to take charge of original research work for producers, the preparation of stories and the making of continuities and titles. Originally a magazine writer and representative of big special attractions, such as "The Blue Bird" and "The Birth of a Nation," Henry MacMahon has specialized the last two years in the writing of original matter for the screen. He says : "Rightly advertised values are excellent in selling a picture, but just as important as the 'rights' of famous play or novel is the literary ability to help the director make them live upon the screen. The film expert must know what is picturizable and what isn't; he must transfer without mutilation, and he must create much that playwright and book author left germinal or unexpressed. There is genuine need of this service, just as there is need of ability to handle new themes as well, and both with the old and the new stories I can demonstrate to interested producers the value of intelligence and imagination on the literary side of the work." A course of twelve illustrated lectures on all phases of advertising, including practical work in ad writing, is to be opened shortly in Lexington. Ky., as a part of the local extension work of the university. The purpose of the course is not to encourage the use of more advertising, but to improve it.