Radio showmanship (Sept 1940-May 1941)

son for being alive is the distinctive dust of his surrounding, is either shaking the cobwebs out of his store and turning over to Style, or else, he's just not turning over merchandise." Price, in our city (and probably yours) has been dragged to its death under the wheels of huge, slashing, deep-cut price tags; prices that seemed to offer every suit at practically a loss ; dollar signs that stood out above all else in newspaper advertisements, in window displays. Clothiers were all singing the same tune. There must be a way of making the buying public aware of your merchandise without waving a red half-price tag in their faces. Perhaps the job could be done by selling STYLE — instead of price! There was only one way to sell the buying public on style, in my mind at any rate, and that way was via radio. "What can radio do for me?" I answered: Help me build a reputation as a style center! Why radio? Because with the medium of the human voice you can (1) build confidence (2) tell a story (3) leave an impression. That's what I wanted radio to do for Juster Bros. — leave an impression. Not of price, but of style, of authority. I wanted to leave such an indelible impression in the ears and on the minds of radio listeners that after each program they would say, "Well, I guess they know their business." Isn't that all you want to know when you go to a doctor or a lawyer? That's all a customer wants to know before coming into your store. If you leave that impression, and your prices are right, you are succeeding in a new method of merchandising. We did it. And it worked. Your community is not so different from ours. And certainly your answer can't be, "my business is different." Too many merchants cling to old ideas. Too many are hidebound by what they have done in rhe past. Too many fail to realize that the promotion of style, once the merchandise is on the shelves, is equally as essential as ..ireful buying. There are hundreds of us in the men's wear industry today who feel our job il done after we go into the market • mil bllj iniirU Ityled goods and return and place if on our racks. W< t.i ! to realize that this job of educating men to an appreciation of th< bin, fits derived dretted must <j" »n. day af 0 handled' Simply. Authoritative I progi am as an example. Each Tuesday night at 9:45 in the evening, following the Studebaker program with Richard Himber's orchestra and preceding the regular 10 P. M. newscast, the Juster program was aired over WCCO. The program opened with its theme song, followed by an introduction and a short, to-the-point commercial of not more than 25 words. Then the piano and organ team introduced a current musical number. Following that I was introduced by the announcer. Then came about 10 minutes of fast-moving, but casual, conversation between the announcer and myself. What did we talk about? Some style problems sent in by an about.-tobe-married listener; what I saw at New Haven, or on the Harvard campus during my recent trip east; ten rules for men on how to dress well; the value of dressing well in business and social life; the effect of a haircut on your appearance; how to take care of clothes; but most of all, the theme that ran constantly through the program was: Buy Clothes that DO Something For You! When I prepared a program that included Ten Rules for Being WellDressed, that fact was advertised in a 1x4 advertisement on the radio pages of both dailies the night of the program; all floor salesmen at the store had copies of the rules to give out to customers who asked for them. When I discussed proper apparel for a fall wedding, I invited the radio audience to stop by and look at our windows and see actual examples of the clothing I had described. When Juster Bros, took on the Hart, Schaffner & Marx clothing line for the city of Minneapolis, Mr. A. S. Hart of that company; Ed Richer, Hart, Schaffner & Marx advertising director; Bobby Sneath, style scout; and Ray Manning, its sales director, came to Minneapolis to appear on the "Juster Styles for Men" program. In other words, the show was merchandised. It wasn't just put on the air, it was promoted as any entertainment program should he. Not as sensationally as Barnum with his circus, not with 24 sheets as the film industry does, but in a dignified, but persuasive fashion. The program had its effect. When Style problems came up, more and more men called Juster Bros. Out of touners came to our store especially to make sure that they purchased the right clothes for the right occasion. But, you'll lay (or at least Harold Blach said). "I can't go on the air myself. I haven't (Pleate turn to f>a</t M) 10 RADIO SHOWMANSHIP