Productive advertising

Front matter

■SIP tie.

i

LOS

Preface

The most difficult problem that a student of advertising has to face in attempting to gain a knowledge of the principles involved, is that kind of information which is logical in development and which leads him into a comprehensive evolutionary appreciation of the relations which exist. This book has been written with the idea of giving to the beginner in advertising a logically discussed text, which includes: first the psychology of advertising; second, the typography of advertising; 'third, the English of advertising ; fourth, the economic implications of advertising; and fifth, throughout the entire work there is insisted upon, a certain philosophical interpretation of all the principles

"^ involved, which the progressive advertiser must ever observe in

connection with any creative work he might attempt to perform.

\ Furthermore, there is an insistent demand that the student

recognize the relationship between theory and practice as related to advertising. In other words, the principles as discussed with their suggested problems should reveal at least twO' things to the student who has faithfully carried out the foregoing outline :

r^ first, whether or not he himself possesses that quality of mind

which will enable him creatively to compete in the actual formulation of advertising campaigns; or second, whether, not being creative, he is able to serve rather as an executive or as one fully appreciating the principles involved. In this latter attitude of mind he recognizes himself as one competent to work harmoniously and analytically with those who are initiatively interested in the successful selling phase of a particular business. In contrast to the two types of students thus ushered into a larger appreciation of the significance of advertising in our selling

vii viii PREFACE

system, we have those students whose lack of appreciation in advertising values readily suggests interest in other phases of business more fixed in nature. Just as the business world under an efficiency system is compelled constantly to revalue and classify the abilities of its employees, so the spirit of this book should reveal to each student his particular adaptability or non-adaptability to the field of advertising.

The new instructor who uses this text should bear in mind that the ultimate meaning of this advertising course is the creation by the student of an advertising campaign related to some specific article or proposition. Xow to introduce one into the field of advertising, it is quite impossible to consider tlie advertising campaign immediately ; rather should he be instructed regarding the principles involved, which enable him to become critical in his appreciation of the advertising material being presented at a given time by the business world. Thus the new instructor should himself recognize the fact that the principles of psychology and typography are merely to formulate a standard for general criticism, the principles of which are to take a definite creative form immediately upon the introduction of the chapter on the " Advertising Campaign." A logical development of the course would insist that the advertising campaign be considered at the beginning of the second term. Thus the student's mind is turned from a critical to that of a creative attitude.

As I have intimated before, and it should be duly emphasized, productive advertising implies creating an impulse on the part of the student instantly to initiate himself into the practical interpretation of any advertising problem. The principles of this book, as facts, are merely to be looked upon as valuable accordingly as they can be used in the mastery of selling difficulties suggested in the problems.

PREFACE ix

In writing this book I am particularly indebted to several of my old students who have themselves become interested in the advertising field and who have thus been able to give such suggestions as would keep the work in touch with the young advertiser about to initiate himself into this realm. I am grateful to Mr. James Montgomery of the Foley Advertising Agency, whose suggestions regarding agency work have been invaluable; Mr, Frank Parker, law student and former assistant, for his legal analysis of the trade-mark. Mr. D. M. Johnson and Mr. Harvey Cassedy, my assistants, have been persistent in revising the text. Mr. Benjamin F. Emery, printer, has constantly guarded the printer's point of view, while Mr. Abbott McClure of the Industrial Art School and Mr. Jack Lit have given valuable suggestions in color. Mr. G. A. Pfeiffer has assisted in an intensive analysis of street car advertising. I am particularly grateful to Mr. F. C. Teller of the Onondago Lithographic Company, Syracuse, IST. Y., for the practical chapter on "Illustration." H. W. H.

Philadelphia, July, 1915.

Contents

Chapter page

I. The Advertiser, His Article and People 13

II. The Function of Sense Experience in Advertising 24

Introduction

Advertising is as old as the human race, and throughout history we find its actions and reactions being relative to and coming directly from humanity. The unconscious beginning of advertising first manifested itself in the attempt of the individual to avail himself of the natural human forces and processes about him, in an endeavor to further his own economic ends. From this primal stage, advertising has evolved and developed in accordance and with the particular needs and desires of the various epochs which mark the progress of the world. With advertising intimately correlated to human development, it has in turn been affected and modified by the results of its own efforts. The power of advertising in its history, thus, at one time suggests retrogression and at another, advancement. For instance, the quack medicine advertisement has been as harmful, as advertised painless dentistry has been helpful, to humanity. Throughout the centuries the relation between advertising and evolution has been constant; only the form of advertising itself, as a highly specialized element in the creative processes of life, has changed. To-day, far from being a passive or an unconscious factor in human existence, and far from complacently following JJE^ the vacillating course of the public's footsteps, advertising has become a positive and productive force,— a guiding factor in the shaping of the constantly changing public standards of life. It works with art and science in the evolution of human need and desire.

The date of the first advertisement, recognized as such, is unknown. However, during the period of civilization, when for geographical and economic reasons the maintenance of an individual existence was simple and non-competitive, there was little or no interest in advertising. The thinness of the population and the abundance of food, together with the wide areas of unoccupied territory, enabled each family unit to live oblivious of the rest. Social forces as yet exerted no pressure on the individual. Accordingly, however, as economic conditions were slowly transformed, the direct consequence was the grouping |0f people into communities. At the same time, the social and ■economic pressure of community life began more or less to fdevelop dependence in the gratifi(^tipn^of human desires. This pressure soon resulted in a competitive business system based on the constantly increasing demands of humanity. The marketing of the family's output of commodities grew more difficult. Then it was discovered that by a broadcast proclamation of the excellence of wares, combined with the personality of a persuasive seller, the power of competition began to develop trade, wherefore traders hawked their wares tmto the purchasing public. Advertising grew with civilization. As communities devel- -oped into towns and towns into cities, the attendant congealing of the economic and social forces produced a stability and permanence in the merchant-trader's business location. Shops were opened: itinerancy lessened. So in a way the importance of the hawker, as such, dwindled until in time he was almost completely supplanted by that type of crier whose counterpart to-day is exemplified by the " barker." It was but a step from the latter to the public crier or prcecone, an officer of the municipal or State government, as the case might be, charged with the proclamation of affairs of State as well as giving publicity to the shopkeeper, who was sagacious and prosperous enough to procure it. Finally, with the slow and steady advance of civilization and. its consequent influence on the expansion of art and letters, • the written advertisement appeared.

Three thousand years ago an Egyptian landowner wrote on a scrap of papyrus an advertisement for the return of a runaway slave. Exhumed from the ruins of Thebes, this papyrus is still preserved in the British Museum. It is not to be deduced, however, that written advertisements were of common occurrence at this time, for thoiigli the art of writing was being acquired by the populace, nevertlieless the majority were still illiterate. Under such circumstances, therefore, written advertisements were of little avail ; but as the center of civilization shifted from Palestine westward, absorbing the knowledge and the culture of each nation thru which it passed, written advertising became the more productive medium. Thus in the early Hebrew civilization practically all the advertising was done by word of mouth thru the public crier, although the utterances of tbe Kings and Prophets were inscribed on parchment and made prominent in the public places of the city.

The modes of advertising in Greece were apparently equally divided between the spoken and the written word. Here, the public crier survived in more accomplished splendor, always being accompanied by a musician, and using only the choicest rhetorical speech. Until this time the advertisements which were written partook of a public or quasi-public nature. N^ow in contrast with the Hebraic advertising, the distingiiisbing additional feature of the Greek publicity method was the welldefined existence of private advertisements in writing. On the exterior of private residences was a piece of whitened wall, the luchoma, and it received inscriptions relative to the affairs of the family residing therein.

Roman advertising in its general institutions resembled that of the two preceding nations. The public crier obtained, and the various means of disseminating news and information differed only in the elaborated details which an ever-increasing experience was bound to beget. The ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum disclosed many houses and buildings to which were affixed on the pillars thereof, taheJlw, whereon public announcements were written, such as the formal dedication of a public bath. Police regTilations, too, claimed their share in the details of advertising media, as for example the attempted prohibition of nuisances by the painting of two sacred serpents on a sign suspended from the wall. Streets in Pome were also known bv

4 INTIIUDUCTION

painted signs. Written private advertising in Rome assumed, wlien viewed in the light of the same kind of advertising antedating it, a diversity of forms. Bills named libelli were used to acquaint the public with sales of estates, absconded debtors, and things lost and found. Booksellers solicited the attention of the prospective reader bv having the titles of the new books neatly inscribed on a placard j)laced prominently in the shop window. Shows, exhibitions, and sales were given extensive eminence at the public baths thru the medium of libelli and by means of promiscuous writings on the walls ; while premises for sale or rent Avere usually advertised by inscriptions on the piece of whitened wall commonly designated as the album. Xor was the sign board lacking in conspicuousness ; indeed, out of the Roman pot-pourri of this species of advertising media came the precursor of the famous medieval rebus.

Some signs were painted, but generally they were made of stone or terra cotta relief and set in the pilasters at the front of shops. The Roman custom of sculpturing on the tomb the tools and implements typical of the deceased artificer's trade — the classical example being the pickax and the lamp engraven on the tomb of Diogenes — suggests the probability of these same insignia being used over the workshops and residences during the mechanic's lifetime. Certain it is that the use of the insignia on the tombstone had lost tlie inhibiting effect of a sacred posthumous rite, for on the headstones of a later period the practice of " punning " on the name was not infrequent. The grave of Onager was embellished with a wild ass, and that of Umbricus was decorated with a shady tree.

The decay of the Roman civilization deflowered art and science. As the vast hordes of Teutonic tribes inundated Western Europe a gap was opened in the forward movement of the human race. Letters, learning, sculpture, painting and science — all were snuffed out by the flood of semi-barbarism. Advertising met the same fate, and throuo-hout the dark ages of illiteracv it remained dormant.

Advertising, however, again w^ent round its previous cycle of evolution. The public crier of the Middle Ages betokened its resuscitation ; ouly this time there was an unusual strength and solidarity of interest manifested by this institution. As early as 1258 the public criers of France were organized and incorporated into a body which procured special j)rerogatives from the Crown ; and similarly in England they constituted a national organization of no small repute. Of course, the cardinal duties of this functionary were intermingled primarily with matters of State, but this in nowise minimized his importance as a business transmitter from the merchant to the public at large. Tersely, the public crier became an advertising force. The Assizes of Jerusalem, which contained a code of the civil laws of the whole of civilized Europe during the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries, practically made it obligatory on people having things to sell to make an announcement thru tlie crier. Moreover, the crier was granted the exclusive right of proclaiming all sales by auction, and judicial sales of real and personal property. The obligation thus imposed upon the individual merchant desirous of gaining an audience for his goods was in no way a hardship. As yet the percentage of literacy was small, and therefore the oral announcement was really the only effective method of securing the precious publicity. At first the crier^,^ vocal efforts concerned all kinds of goods, wares and merchandise, but his activities gradually extended until his announcements amounted to a verbal miscellany — things lost and found, sales, weddings, christenings and funerals were included therein. It was only a matter of time until the touter for the individual trader came, — pacing to and fro before the shop and shouting with the mature vigor of a vernacular expert, " What d'ye lack, sir ? What d'ye lack ? " The touter's energy eclipsed his picturesqueness. He vitalized the community.

Economic necessity created the rebus. Toward the close of the fourteenth century numbers for the houses did not exist and, hence, for the traveller, the sole means of identifying the household was the family coat-of-arms. Meanwhile the custom had arisen for the families, when moving from one residence to another, as the seasons of the year changed, to let the vacant country house as a hostelry, which likewise maintained its indivi duality principally thru the coat-of-arms. At length the coat-of-arms was imitated by the less pretentious inn-keepers who, though lacking the pedigi'ee essential to a coat-of-arms, yet possessed the universal tendency to simulate that which gave distinction to the upper strata of society ; and especially so in this case, since clever simulation meant more gold in their coffers. Red lions and grean dragons all played their part in tho scramble for public favor. Furthermore, so long as competition continued inoffensive a few s^Tiibols typical of the trade, so manipulated as to form an insignia, sufficed to establish the identity of the trader's shop. Here was the counterpart of the Roman signs. Thus a knife for a cutler, a hand for a glover, and a scissors for a tailor are instances in point. A more rigorous competition, segregation of traders to one locality, and the fact that the ability to read was still a rare acquirement, — these were the paramount factors in the arisal of the rebus. Animals, vegetables, portraits of great men, names of towns, and articles of dress, — all were used to serve the purpose. Incidentally, some neat quips were achieved: a hare and a bottle stood for Ilarebottle; while two cocks represented Cox.

The advent of the printing press about 1-4.50 gave a further impetus to advertising as a science, which was just wakening unto its o^^^l power. The opportunity for augmenting the percentage of literacy was immediately enlarged ; a broader, more comprehensive horizon opened on the advertiser's field. The printing press first turned out posters and handbills, and later, pamphlets and small books of news, which latter gave premonition of the coming of newspapers. However, it must not be as-sumed that the advent of printing garnered into the printing shops the complete production of the posters and pamphlets, for though the art of printing had become established and was daily decreasing the labor of the scribes, writ'ng remained the supreme advertising media for two centuries longer.

Heralds of bill-board advertising of modern days, the posters, both written and printed, were used for all conceivable purposes. Usually these posters were called siqiiis, since the great proportion of them began with the words "' if anybody," in Latin, si quis. William Caxton was the pioneer printer of -England, having set up his press in Westminster Abbey in 1471 ; and nine years afterward he published one of the first siquis printed in the British Isles, the "' Pyes of Salisbury Use," containing a collection of the rules as practised in the diocese of Salisbury. The original copy of this bill is still extant, being in the possession of the Bodelian library at Oxford. Books as well as the theatre sought to obtain the attention of the public thru the instrumentality of the siquis; tutors and companions, managers of boxing shows, and a host of other entrepreneurs of self, used the same means in their quest for notoriety. The siquis were nailed and posted wherever there was a recurring concourse of people, as for example on churches, — old St. Paul's Cathedral most famed of any, — in taverns, or at the town hall.

Meanwhile the crier and the touter were not extinct. They performed their customary activities with the same ardor and zeal. But a noticeable contraction was occurring in the field of their industry. Printing was gaining an ascendency.

jSTearly two centuries of printing lay in back of the first so-called newspaper. As intimated previously, after the use of posters and handbills had become fixed, there came into existence small pamphlets and news-books, which in turn foreshadowed the newspaper. The limited means of communication, a comparative lack of a general system of public education, the scant facilities for printing rapidly and in volume, the inability to secure any widespread circulation on account of poor transportation, the heavy expenses involved in the procurement of paper, type and labor: — all of these afi^ected newspaper development and confined its influence to a narrow sphere. Characteristic ■publications assumed the form of belated purveyors of newsgleanings, — some English papers even copying verbatim the contents of co-existent weeklies published on the Continent, — or of tracts giving vent to the individual convictions of its publisher in his essay to gain an audience sympathetic with his interpretation of the times.

Authentic records indicate that the first bona fide attempt at newspaper work in England was begTin in May, 162'^, under the direction of Xicholas Bourne and Thomas Archer. The paper was called the '^ Weekly Xews " and openly professed on its first page to be a transcription from the news books of Germany, France, Hnngarv and Bohemia. In August of the same year l^athaniel Butler, who was the first to try to establish a weekly newspaper on a permanent basis, founded an unnamed publication. Butler's idea was to collect and summarize weekly the news items from the Venetian gazettes, as a means of satisfying the unusual demand for news created by the Ciyil War. His scheme was at once subjected to all sorts of raillery and adverse criticism ; and though his venture failed within a short time, nevertheless it had the effect of stimulating interest in a new form of enterprise. Many news-sheets sprang up, consisting only of a single sheet of paper, on which were printed detached and miscellaneous scraps of news.

It was not until half a century later that newspapers began to assume the form by which Ave recognize them to-day. Strangely enough, the turmoil of the Civil wars of Charles I. and Cromwell engendered the desire for news, and at the same time provoked the leaders of the various factions to publish partisan organs to aid their side. The Dutch Speye, Scots Dove, the Parliament Kite, Screetch Owle, are typical and suggestive names of some. Host of these publications were weekly.

From the outset it was- obvious that newspapers and advertising were interdependent. Simply to state the fact that advertisements Avere inserted in current news publications of the early times gives no adequate idea of the importance of advertising to the newspaper world. iSTaturally, this dependence was not emphasized at the outset, principally because newspapers had not attained a size of any importance and because very little advertising was being done. In fact, it was not until the approach of the daily paper that the deep-rooted dependence of the news- )aper on advertising became fully appreciated ; then it was that adA'ertising doA^eloped into a business power, overcoming the prejudices of custom and tradition by demonstrating that wide- I spread publicity increased the quantitA' of sales and profits. So IX was quite ordinary to find entire newspapers dcA'oted exclusively to publishing advertisements; in England there was the " Publick Advertiser," founded Mav 19, 1657, while in France the ''Journal d'Affiches " was printed October 14, 1312. The printed sheets whose chief function was announcedlj the dissemination of news, found it to their advantage financially, in order to arouse a larger interest among their readers, to allow considerable space for advertising. Frequently more advertisements than news items were to be seen on the front p?ge. Moreover the fluctuating fortunes of the newspapers themselves were to some degree modified by the factors affecting advertising. With advertisements bearing an exorbitant tax, the advertising revenue of the newspaper was curtailed, and the news interest appertaining to the advertisement likewise decreased.

About 1600 printed advertisements were concerned chiefly with the exploitation of books or of articles kindred to the publishers' business. Indeed as far back as 1591, in a German newsbook the title of which is unkno^\m, there appeared a paragraph approaching the nature of an advertisement, which advised the purchase of a Dr. Laster's monograph explaining the secret medicinal properties of a newly discovered plant. To i^athaniel Butler, however, is to be attributed the first genuine newspaper advertisement, the subject-matter being books. The commencement of miscellaneous newspaper advertisements dates from ]^ovember 21, 1626, when a collection of them occurred in a Dutch black-letter newspaper.

Certain personalities stand out pre-eminently in the early advertising world. Sir Roger L'Estrange was the first man who attempted systematically to convince the public of the vast possibilities of advertising. His genius created three publications: the " Intelligencer," started August 1, 1663 ; the " ISTewes," September 3, 1663 ; and the " ]\Iercurv, or Advertisements Concerning Trade," 1668. ISTearly twenty years later, in 1682, the astute, shrewd John Houghton founded a weekly paper entitled, " A Collection for the Improvement of Husbandry and Trade," consisting of mere bulletins and prices current in various trades. This paper is signiificant for two reasons : first, its columns contained advertisements from a great variety of trades, and secondly, in it the personal recommendation by the editor, of certain advertisers, first came into vogue.

The first daily paper in England was the " Daily Courant," 1702 ; in the United States, it was the " Boston Xewsletter," established 1704. Soon the daily paper was the predominant advertising medium. On account of greater news value, it had the advantage of a wider circulation ; the advertisements themselves could be made alive with current opinions ; and continual repetition had an effective opportunity. Patent medicine vendors, and those to whom dishonest methods seemed justifiable when conducted by indirect and remote means, seized eagerly upon newspaper publicity to further their ends. These constituted the only well-defined group of advertisers until approximately 1850 ; to-day they are practically extinct. The inadequate transportation facilities limited circulation, and this combined with the dubious attitude which most merchants entertained with respect to the ethics of advertising, acted as a restraining influence on other businesses. In England tliere was the added burden of a direct tax on the advertisements, and a stamp tax on newspapers, both of which continued until 1853 and 1855 respectively. Before the Civil "War the largest expenditure for an advertisement in the United States amounted to $3,000, and came from E. & T. Fairl)anks Company, the standard scales manufacturers.

The decade from 18-10 to 1850 was notable for two things. Bill posting had progressed to such a stage that it actually became a public nuisance. Unscrupulous bill-posters insisted on covering every available inch of space with the bills of their particular customers, and the rivalry between competitors resulted in hideous conglomerations of paper and ink. Walls of houses and fences v:ere defaced by the repeated pasting of one bill over another; and so both the advertiser and the public were injured. During this decade, also, the advertising agent .came. Without the semblance of the system which characterizes the better agent of to-day, his two-fold function was first, to induce the manufacturers to advertise, and second, to place their advertisements with newspapers. The pioneer agents in the United States were W. B. Palmer, S. M. Pettingill, and George P. Rowell.

As in the case of early newspaper advertising, the magazine during this period contained very little more than announcements of books issued by the publishers. Godey's " Lady Book " and " Peterson's " were the two exceptional magazines which carried back-page advertisements of commercial products. Kot until IS 64, when J. Walter Thompson entered the field, determined to become a general advertising agent, did magazine advertising, as we know it to-day, really start ; and it was not until the decade between 1870 and 1880 that a general use was made of the magazines to advertise miscellaneous trade products. Manufac--^ turers were only beginning to be convinced that advertising was ^ p-n inve?tm.ent. It was Frank A. Munsey in 1893 who boosted the circulation of his magazine by reducing its price to ten cents. Other magazines copied his example. As a consequence, ten years later it was not an unusual .thing for magazines to have a circulation of 500,000. The volume of advertising in the magazines increased proportionately with th3 circulation. The gradual expansion of the railroads, combined with this wider circulation of the printed medium, made possible the marketing of articles on a national scale. To-day there are 6,000 national advertisers and an approximate estimate of their advertising expenditure is said to be $616,000,000 annually.

At the present day, national advertising has attained gigantic proportions. By reason of its control over the outlay of a tremendous amount of money, it influences, and, in a measure, directs the character and form of advertising media which heretofore were accepted without question in their natural existing state. Magazines, newspapers and bill-boards have rasponded r to the advertiser's persistent efforts to secure neater copy, a ■* more effective arrangement, and in general, to raise the aesthetic standards both of the publication and the advertisements appearing therein. As a consequence, the advertiser and the publisher have profited. Then, too, the incidental effects of these influences have usually reacted favorably to the public. Ther demand for greater circulation has sent into homes an educational V force in the shape of magazines and newspapers; the insistence j on variety and nicety in typoi>Tapliy, and attractive illustrations, has created to some dei>rce critcrions in artistic taste.

The future of advertising is an unknown ({uantity. But this much is certain : judi;ed hy the tendencies which it has exhibited within the past two decades, the advertising of to-morrow will be a decisive factor in the moulding of more things than desires and in the creation of things more fundamental to our civic and economic life than a vogue. The chief reason for this is the change in the attitude of the advertiser toward his profession. Equivocal and dishonest methods have been eliminated, and in their stead has arisen the significant motto, inscribed on the shields at the national convention of advertisers, " Truth." With such a point of view as a foundation, the possibilities for the promotion of the general good are manifold. Thru delicately adjusted publicity the conspicuous antagonism between capital and labor may be mitigated ; by means of a fair-minded receptivity and an honest, candid-printed-word, may be destroyed the public's misunderstanding and misinterpretation of corporations' methods ; the investment field may be widened ; and the growth of communities balanced. Advertising is the inspiration of the

future.

1. How old is advertising? Jii what form did it first manifest itself?

What economic change necessitated advertising?

2. Wliat are tlie sviccessive stages thru which advertising has developed?

Was there any strong need of advertising in primitive times?

3. Was there any relationship between advertising and the government in

early civilization? Name some of the advertising media during this development.

4. Wlieu did the second cycle of evolution in advertising come? What has

it produced ?

5. To what purpose did the rehus serve? Discuss the relation between

siquis and the bill posting of to-day.

6. Mention the factors that retarded early newspaper development? Did the

discovery of printing give immediate rise to the newspaper?

7. When did the value of advertising become fully appreciated ?

8. Why is the advertising world indebted to Natlianiel Butler and John

Houghton? During what period was the advertising agent born?

History of Advertising, Henry Sampson.