Sponsor (Jan-Mar 1959)

exceptions are conservative, lacking in perspective, bird-in-the-hand minded and completely oblivious to that prime mover of merchandise to the mass markets — advertising. Some elements in the various soil goods industries have emerged as advertising leaders and, consequently, as profit leaders. But the copy-cat technique of competitors in hard goods lines and in package goods fields hasn't been picked up by soft goods people. The most progressive of merchandisers and marketers in the sundry soft goods operations — and there are hundreds of offshoots — have taken bold steps toward advertising and in broadcast media, particularly television. They're allocating budgets which compare favorably with ratios set long ago by hard goods and packaged lines. They're experimenting with tv techniques and are evolving formulas which fit the fuzzy pattern of soft goods merchandising. Most importantly, these soft goods concerns— with their complex intra-in dusliv relationships — are learning bow to maneuver advertising so it serves their multiple purposes. Their advertising objectives and promotional aims are just about as difficult to frame as the soft goods industry itself. The biggest single industry in soft goods is textiles. These companies van from cutter to converter to fabricator to manufacturer and their marketing problem is multiple. Textile A needs to reach I 1 I the manufacturers to whom it sells its fabrics: (2) department stores which carry either the fabrics as piece goods or the end products which are manufactured from A's materials; and (3) the consumer, the retail store customer who is influenced in the purchase of an item because of its specific fabric type and content. How does advertising — and broadcast advertising — serve all these masters? Take a case in point with Du Pont, which patents three synthetics, Orion, Dacron and Nylon. Du Pont's heavy i\ schedule, network as well as spot, pushes the concept ol these synthetic fibers to the consumer, prc-scll specific apparel manufactured with these fibers in tic-ins with department stores all over the country, backs up Du Pont manufacturer-customers who incorporate these products into their apparel. So soft goods people must balance these intangibles of style with highly tangible promotional and advertising efforts to get maximum return from their investment in labels. This label is of increasing importance to tin' woman ol the fainilv I who does mosl of the soft goods bu\ingl. Promotion has gone hand-in-hand with advertising since the advent of soft goods merchandising — but it's a matter of promotion pulling the hand of advertising, which is several steps behind. These two functions of merchandising are separated into two distinct areas in all non-soft goods operations. But in soft goods as in retailing — and retailing sets the pace I Please turn to page 68) BRANDED APPAREL, RUGS-CARPETS, DOMESTICS ^^L ^^^^ — TT^j --. j H m^t-Jt ■ By 1 \ m ^^^ ^^^ bite ■ fe!!^^nK Photo courtesy of American Carpet Institute Photo ooui U n "r Cannon Mills CARPETS, RUGS have greater brand identification than TOWELS AND SHEETS, unknown by brand name until most soft goods because of many consumer campaigns recently, are sold with labels of producer, fabric supplier SPONSOR 21 FEBRUARY 1959 27