Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

16 REEL and SLIDE 1 Ad Slides — Good and Bad \ A Department of Criticism, Edited for j Reel and Slide Magazine by Jonas Howard !StHllil[lllllll[llli!|[llll!!llll]|l[lil|];illlllli[lllllllllli!llllllll!llin IN preparing copy for ad slides, too little thought is given as to the conditions under which the slides are shown. Slides are scarcely more than "hints" — there isn't time nor space to tell a story or describe at length the merits of a shoe or farm tractor. As a matter of fact, slides are a publicity medium and should be considered as such. And in writing copy for slides, this should be kept in mind. A slide containing only wording is a bulletin ; a picture added and it becomes an advertisement in the common conception of that term. It differs from an announcement in a newspaper or magazine in that it is held before the eyes of the reader for a limited and brief period of time. In the newspaper the same announcement is visible at the option of the reader. It is important that trade marks and names be prominently displayed in slide announcements or that pictures associated with the commodity being exploited be given ample space. To go beyond the slogan and trade mark, with the addition of the local dealer's name, is overshooting the mark. We have in mind a slide made for the Emerson Shoe people by Excelsior of New York. This slide is reproduced herewith. Slogan, trade name and trade mark are here blended ideally. The effectiveness of this layout cannot be questioned. Perhaps the border might have been dropped to add further to the simple effectiveness of the whole. As a "bulletin," the slide stands pre-eminent. In election returns on open air screens it has proved its value in cases where great masses of people are to be informed quickly. In most cases where slides are used to bulletin news, they are written in with a typewriter or with a pen and ink. When it is possible to take time in the work, very effective results are possible. The Riley Optical Instrument Company, one of the oldest slide houses in New York, has recently produced some bulletin slides which are both unique and effective. One of them is reproduced herewith. The chief virtue of this arrangement lies in its readability. The lettering is well done. These slides were made in quantity for the client and have been used widely before special audiences. ^ Speaking of bulletin slides, the Radio Mat Slide Company of New York furnishes a set of special slide materials with which the user may quickly typewrite his flashes on a specially prepared film which is mounted on the glass and used immediately. Theaters, formerly the chief users of this system of bulletin slides, have given way to industrial concerns and educational institutions, we are informed by the Radio Company. When a slide is wanted in a hurry the Radio System certainlv fills the bill. The introduction of a half dozen automatic stereopticons has opened a wider field for the user of slides for publicity purposes. One maker of a machine lists the following places where, and ways in which, his machine is being used to display slides : Conventions Congresses Expositions State fairs Publicity campaigns Sales rooms Reception rooms Show windows Lobbies Banks Halls Booths The automatic stereopticon undoubtedly has widened the field of usefulness for the lantern slide. It will run on of its own accord, without attention, displaying slide after slide with only slight cost to the advertiser, since the machine usually holds from 50 to 100 slides shown in rotation. The cost of installation, divided among a score of advertisers, cuts the cost per advertiser down to a minimum. Actual tests have proved the feasibility of selling merchandise by this method in certain lines. Providing the projection is good — that is, good illumination — the automate stereopticon has attention getting qualities which are hard to beat. Its chief value lies in portability and therefore the possibility of placing the stereopticons where the greatest number of possible buyers will be reached. For instance, a Chicago modiste has an automatic stereopticon at work in her rest room where visitors can sit and watch the newest style creations. These are all shown by means of hand colored slides made for the purpose and carrying her own imprint. This woman is contemplating the installation of additional machines in the big hotels where out of town patronage might be secured. * * * This department has received the following letter ; IIOOO Jersey Cows Have Completed Yearly Tests WITH Average Production of 7876 lbs of MILK 422 lbs of FAT 536^FAT(HIDH^EDtu) news paper or periodical advertising, the slide is not backed up by the "good will" or prestige of a publication. And yet, despite this handicap, the slide has been known to pull direct returns when hitched up with an intelligent local dealer co-operation. Dear Sir: — The firm I represent has included lantern slides in its advertising appropriation for nine years. Every year it has increased its use of slides. Therefore, it cannot be denied that we place some value on the screen. But we have never regarded the slide as a direct seller of goods. Rather do we consider it a good trade mark exploiter. It should be considered that and nothing else. B. J. Carlson, Louisville, Ky. There is much truth in this. As balanced against New Tractor Film Campaign Covers Country One of the most interesting film campaigns now under way is that of the Advance Rumley Threshing Machine Company of LaPorte, Ind., which is showing throughout the country a very interesting two-reel picture of its Oil Pull tractor, entitled "Into Service." When a manufacturer has a product, the functions of which will bear out whatever claims are made for it in a national advertising campaign, and that product can withstand the effect of a rigid demonstration, a better means of exploitation than the motion picture does not exist. In the quiet confines of the motion picture theater, the product is "put through its paces." The intent interest and attention of every individual in the room is riveted upon the patch of screen, upon which is a reproduction of a large field, with the tractor in the foreground, its every action apparent to every person in the room. The Oil Pull tractors which "posed" for "Into Service," which was made for the Advance Rumely Company by the Universal industrial department, presents to every person who witnesses the film actual performances. Long, straight, deep furrows are plowed in a virgin field; the machine puffs and pants under the power furnished so that its every operation is visible. Advance Rumely dealers are given every opportunity to cooperate in the showing of this film throughout the country. Of course, an interesting story is built about the tractor, so that the public will not have foisted upon it something that it cares nothing about. Shows Slides of Tractors in Talk to Engineers C. H. Simpson, of the Hippodrome Motor Company, delivered an illustrated lecture on "Types of Tractors — Their Use by Contractors and Engineers," to the Engineering Association of Nashville, Tenn., at a recent meeting. Lantern slides were used by Councilman Charles H. Stroup of Johnstown, Pa., in explaining city projects to a class in the University Night Course at the Franklin Street Methodist Episcopal Church in that city. The Y. M. C. A. of Decatur, 111., has purchased a projection machine and will show educational films every Friday night.