The talking machine world (Jan-June 1919)

July 15, 1919 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD 41 CONVENTION OF EDISON DEALERS IN NEW YORK GREATEST EVER HELD— (Continued from page 39) or any of those qualifications that make for big success. "You can't successfully handle your dealership without these qualifications. Hear me, that man who criticizes, finds fault, spends his hours and days in worrying over the things which have not been done, is rapidly approaching stagnation. He is engendering in his employes, in himself, in his whole business organization, the spirit of pessimism, a word that also spells failure. "If you are handling a line of merchandise about which you no longer can enthuse, either go take a vacation and reverse yourself or give it up. There are only two kinds of dealers; the live wire or enthusiast and the complainer or pessimist. You are in one or the other class. As the darky says, you either 'is' or you 'ain't.' "There are several very necessary assets which every business, to be successful, must have. Were I to ask you the most important you'd yell 'Cash' at the top of your lungs. Yes, I admit it is important and further I admit it s easier to be an enthusiast when the bank balance is bulging than when the reverse is true, yet I question the all importance of cash. How about the asset of Character, Up-to-dateness, Honest Dealing, Popularity, Service, Vision, Pleasantness, and Imagination? Never heard of listing some of these things as business assets, did you? There are many more that could be added to the list. The trouble is, so many of us take too many necessary qualifications for granted. Why not analyze your business and yourself as well and determine positively just how you measure up to your job? Call the following statement ridiculous if you wish, but weigh it well before passing judgment: I consider Enthusiasm, intelligently directed, the greatest business asset of all — greater than 'Cash' or 'Credit,' because our store was a rank failure when cash was plentiful and enthusiasm absent. "If you could analyze the story of the Diamond Disc Shop, of Peoria, you'd find ample proof of what enthusiasm can and will do. You'd find there was a time when cash gave out because of the lack of enthusiasm; a time when nothing in God's world but enthusiasm could save the situation. Enthusiasm entered, put new life into the organization, sold goods, created recognition over all the country for the store; as a matter of fact made that store almost everything that it is to-day. "Oh, I could tell you a thousand little stories about enthusiasm as regards our shop, but, since figures better tell the story, listen: Our business in 1918 doubled the 1917 business with less than $1,000.00 additional expense. The sales for last December exceeded the entire sales for the first twelve months in business, and the sales this year have each month doubled the same month last year. And, gentlemen, enthusiasm did it. "Don't imagine you can qualify as a real wideawake dealer unless you are able to be a consistent as well as an everlasting optimist and enthusiast, because it can't be done. Too many of you have waited for the 'cream' stage to arrive before you thought of going after business. When that time does arrive there won't be any business for you to go after because the fellows who have fought on in spite of the difficulties will be the fellows who have covered the entire territory while you have been idling and worrying your time away. "May I read you, in conclusion, the following verse from 'Success': The man who wins is the man wlio does. The man who makes things hum and buzz. The man who works and the man who acts. Who builds on a basis of solid facts; Who doesn't sit down to mope and dream. Who bumps ahead with the force of steam. Who hasn't the time to fuss and fret, But gets there every time — you bet. The man who wins is the man who wears A smile to cover his burden of cares, Who knows that the sun will shine again. That the clouds will pass, and we need the rain. Who buckles down to a pile of work And never gives up and never will sliirk 'Till the task is done, and the toil is sweet, . While the temples throb with red blood's heat. The man who wins is the man who climbs The ladder of life to the cheery chimes Of the bells of labor, the bells of toil. And isn't afraid his skin will spoil, If he faces the shine of tlic glaring sun -'\nd works in the light till his task is done; .\ liuman engine with triple beam .\nd a himdrcd and fifty pounds of steam. ^MIIIMIIIIIIIIIllllllllllllllllllJIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUIJIIIIIIIIIIII^ I Palmer Talks on News | I Value in Advertising | ^niiiiMinMniiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^ Following Mr. Lacey, Arthur J. Palmer, advertising manager of Thomas A. Edison, Inc., discussed the matter of "Advertising That Has News Value." His speech ran as follows: "What constitutes a good advertisement? I should hesitate to pass judgment. I am frank to confess that I do not know positively just Arthur J. Palmer what does constitute a good advertisement, but I have my own ideas. "You might think that the shouting, circus type of advertisement, megaphoning to the public the fact that they can purchase the New Edison for almost nothing down and less than nothing a week, is good advertising, whereas I might think that an ultra-dignified advertisement, utterly devoid of all striking display and absolutely shunning even the thought of terms, is good advertising. Distinctiveness in Advertising "However, I am convinced that the character of the Edison magazine advert'sing which we have been doing for the past nine months is good advertising because it stands out from the ordinary routine of just plain copy on account of its distinctiveness. Each advertisement in itself constitutes a story, an account of something which has actually happened. It tells of a specific occasion on which a humanly interesting test of the New Edison's ability to recreate was made. "When you open your morning newspaper you expect to find on the front page something different from that which you found the morning before. You eagerly scan the columns to find out what has happened, the latest occurrences out of the regular routine of daily life. Suppose you should find on the front page the same themes, the same stories in a new form, with new headlines, simply paraphrased from yesterday's stories. You would soon grow tired of reading that paper and would very shortly cut it out altogether. "Then, isn't it logical to assume that a news twist to advertising greatly increases the reader's interest? I think there is no doubt about that, and that is why we strive to give every Edison magazine advertisement a news angle. "You will recall the Lazzari advertisement, the Case advertisement, the Ciccolini advertisement and particularly the Fields advertisement. Each one told of a happening of interest to the music-loving reader, each was a distinct advertisement in itself, each one possessed an individuality of its own, telling a story of its own, though all on the same subject. "You remember when a boy, how when a crowd would gather up near a corner and people would come running from all directions, all the fellows would shout 'Something's up.' Something had happened out of the ordinary routine, something that quickened your interest and appealed to your natural curiosity to find out what was doing. Something of 'news value.' Lessons from Motor Publicity "When an automobile manufacturer wins a great race, like the recent Indianapolis classic, the next morning his announcement of the achievement appears in the papers. His car has accomplished a great feat. He does not come out with the mere announcement that his car has four cylinders, or six or eight cylinders. He hits you between the eyes with a live, interest-compelling statement to the effect that his product has demonstrated its superiority over its competitors. So it is with the tire manufacturer and the makers of the various automobile accessories used on the winning car. "Recently I saw a striking advertisement of a new vacuum bottle that has an unbreakable lining. The figure of a man was shown handing one of the bottles up to the aviator of one of the overseas aeroplanes and the copy said that Hawker, Alcock and Read all had taken this make of vacuum bottle on their perilous trips across the ocean. How intensely interesting is such advertising to the prospective purchaser of the respective products mentioned. "Remarkable in their field as such products are, I am sure you will agree with me that we have a much more interesting and far more wonderful product and a still more interesting story to tell — and I feel that we are getting our story across to the magazine-reading public with what I might call a 'front-page punch,' and I feel that that is due to the news character of each advertisement. "Do not misunderstand me. I am not lacking in appreciation of the power of reiteration, but in order to make an advertisement one that will tell an interesting story we must have something more than mere reiteration of a basic theme. We must present our story in a new garb each time it appears, we must dress it up. We are endeavoring to do that by giving each Edison advertisement an individual appeal, a newsy slant that will make it as palatable as the news stories on the front page of your paper. "It is our present intention to continue these advertisements that have news value so long as subjects hold out, perhaps here and there injecting an advertisement like that of our recent announcement of the new period cabinets. "If we are correct in our judgment we are making a favorable impression with our present line of advertisements on the magazine readers of the country. We are creating reader interest right in the very neighborhood; in fact, in the immediate vicinity of every dealer present. That interest is an asset. What have you done about it? What are you going to do about it? We are planting the seeds of favorable impression. Are you fertilizing the soil and are you nurturing the crop by running the interlocking advertisements? That reader interest will evaporate into thin air if you do not concentrate it on your store. "We should like to print the name of every Edison dealer at the bottom all our magazine advertisements. Of course, that is impracticable, but the next best thing is for you to run the interlocking advertisements and shoot out to your prospects the interlocking folders which we furnish coincident with every magazine advertisement we run. Get all that's com . ing to you out of our national advertising. "You will find it highly profitable to tie up (Continued on page 42)