December 15, 1917 



HO KTI CULTURE 



621 



THE S. A. R PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN 



A joint meeting of the Publicity 

 Committee and the Publicity Finance 

 Committee of the Society of American 

 Florists and Ornamental Horticul- 

 turists was held at the Hotel HoUen- 

 den, Cleveland, Ohio, on Friday, Dec. 

 7th, with the following in attendance: 



Henry Penn, Boston, Mass., chair- 

 man of the Publicity Committee; T. 

 H. Joy, Nashville, Tenn.; Joseph Hea- 

 cock, Wyncote, Pa.; George Asmus, 

 Chicago, 111., chairman of the Pub- 

 licity Finance Committee; Herman 

 Knoble, Cleveland, Ohio; F. L. Atkins, 

 Rutherford, N. J.; Wallace R. Pierson, 

 Cromwell, Conn.; John Young, New 

 York, secretary; and Chas H. Totty, 

 Madison, N. J., president-elect of the 

 Society. 



The meeting was called to order at 

 10 a. m., and the session lasted prac- 

 tically throughout the day, with the 

 exception of a short recess for lunch. 



It was decided, by motion, that at 

 all joint meetings of the committees, 

 the president of the Society, or the 

 president-elect, act as chairman, con- 

 sequently Mr. Totty presided. 



Some time was occupied in a general 

 (Jiscussion of plans covering procedure, 

 and it seemed to be the general 

 opinion that the publicity work be 

 placed in the hands of a first-class ad- 

 vertising agency, and that the cam- 

 paign be started at once. It was 

 thought that the trade papers could 

 lend material aid, and committees 

 were appointed to wait upon the dif- 

 ferent editors and request that a page 

 in each issue be devoted to the work of 

 the campaign, with a view to stimulat- 

 ing among the trade a proper interest 

 in the project, aand urging subscrip- 

 tions toward the e.xpense. The Secre- 

 tary was instructed to notify the 

 editors that the committees would call 

 upon them within a few days. 



Mr, Heacock expressed his very 

 great interest in the campaign, and 

 volunteered, if at the end of a year It 

 could be shown that the proposed pub- 

 licity had been of benefit to the florist 

 business in general, to increase his 

 contribution from $500 to $1,000 per 

 year. Wallace R. Pierson announced 

 that he was ready to do the same. 



The committees regretted an ap- 

 parent lack of interest in the campaign 

 in some of the large flower centers, 

 and discussed ways and means to 

 arouse a better understanding of the 

 importance of the work. Fred Cow- 

 perthwaite, secretary of the Florists' 

 Club of Philadelphia, having intimated 



his desire to be relieved of his appoint- 

 ment as chairman of the local pub- 

 licity committee tor Eastern Fennsyl- 

 vania, his request was granted, and 

 Mr. A. A. Niessen of Philadelphia was 

 appointed by Chairman Asmus of the 

 Publicity Finance Committee to the 

 vacancy. The chair suggested that 

 the Secretary notify Mr. Niessen that 

 he would also be appointed State 

 Vice-President for Eastern Pennsyl- 

 vania for the ensuing year, so that 

 his ofl^ce would be continuous. 



Chairman Penn of the Publicity 

 Committee requested that Patrick 

 Welch of Boston, be appointed in his 

 place as chairman of the local Commit- 



M.\.JOR P. F. O'Keefe 



tee for Massachusetts, and Chairman 

 Asmus also made this appointment. 



The slogan, "Send Flowers — Always 

 a Good Idea," came up for discussion, 

 and the meeting seemed to be of the 

 opinion that the word "plants" should 

 be used in publicity copy whenever 

 possible. 



After a thirty minute recess for 

 lunch the meeting became occupied 

 with the consideration of several esti- 

 mates and bids put in by various ad- 

 vertising agents, and as some of these 

 agencies had representatives present 

 in the hotel, it was arranged that they 

 be allowed a iieriod of fifteen minutes 



each tor a personal appearance In sup- 

 port of their respective offers, and 

 that where there was no personal 

 representation the Secretary read the 

 brief submitted. 



The Secretary presented letters from 

 the Tracy-Parry Co. of Philadelphia, 

 and a prospectus and program from 

 Mr. Eyles of the Richard A. Foley 

 Advertising Agency of Philadelphia. 



Miss Newlin, representing the Per- 

 cival K. Frowert Co., New York, wa» 

 introduced and presented the case of 

 her agency. Mr. Jennings of Cleve- 

 land followed and outlined a plan 

 which gave prominence to the "Motro- 

 politan Magazine," supplementing his 

 remarks with an address detailing his 

 experience of many years in publicity 

 work. 



L. W. C. Tuthill of the Tuthill Ad- 

 vertising Agency, New York, presented 

 a campaign plan and outlined the as- 

 sistance his house was prepared to 

 render. Mr. Burke of New York, in 

 the interests of street car advertising 

 exploited the advantages to be derived 

 from street car advertising, and ex- 

 hibited signs that had already been 

 used in cars by florists. 



Mrs. Ella Grant Wilson of Cleveland 

 outline a proposed plan of campaign 

 she was prepared to carry out, and ex- 

 hibited specimens of her publicity 

 work for florists, the excellence of 

 which was commented upon by all 

 present. The last hearing was one 

 given to Major P. P. O'Keefe, repre- 

 senting the O'Keefe Advertising 

 Agency, Boston. He presented a plan 

 in detail, and several sketches and 

 other material suitable for display ad- 

 vertising. 



After the hearings, the Publicity 

 Committee went into executive session, 

 when all the proposals received very 

 careful and conscientious considera- 

 tion, with the result that it was de- 

 cided to recommend to the Publicity 

 Finance Committee that the O'Keefe 

 Advertising Agency be engaged to con- 

 duct the campaign in accordance with 

 the terms of their proposal. The Pub- 

 licity Finance Committee then went 

 into session, when the recommendation 

 of the Publicity Committee was adopt- 

 ed, with unanimous approval. Both 

 Committees re-convened in joint ses- 

 sion, and the proposition of the 

 O'Keefe Agency was thoroughly dis- 

 cussed from a working point of view. 

 Upon motion of Mr. Pierson the pro- 

 posal was accepted, to cover such ex- 



Say It With Flowers 



