June 12. 1920 



liOKT I CULTURE 



471 



Little Talks on Advertising 



A Detroit florist who believes in uii- 

 vertlsing is Mrs. Helen I). Cohan, who 

 has chosen the pretty name of Rosebud 

 Flower Shop for her business. .Mrs. 

 Cohan believes In the practice which 

 has iMJon ailvocated in this departniont 

 of advertising Saturday specials, and 

 of specifyiuK the particular plants 

 which she has to sell. In a recent ad- 

 vertismeut, for e.xaniple, she featured 

 a $1.5U box as a Saturday special, and 

 the same advertisement offered Hosion 

 ffpns at $1.UU each for Saturday <]nly. 

 This is good work and bound to bring 

 results. 



Any kind of advertising which shows 

 originality helps to bring business, pro- 

 vided it is not strained or overdrawn. 

 Some advertisers in their attempt to 

 be original go so far as to make them- 

 selves ridiculous, or at least to defeat 

 their own purpose. 



Robert H. Isbell, a prominent adver- 

 tiser of Washington, D. C, has some- 

 thing to say along this line in the 

 Retail Public Ledger, as follows: 



The Use of Good Will. 



Next to selling goods the most valu- 

 able thing advertising can do is to get 

 the store thought about and talked 

 about. Such stunts as historical and 

 patriotic adjuncts of the merchandise 

 advertising on the birth anniversaries 

 of national heroes, put your store in 

 good company and in touch with the 

 best thought of those seasons. Such 

 ads. stick in the memory. They influ- 

 ence people to come to your store long 

 after the date of publication. When 

 you put Abraham Lincoln's picture or 

 a photo of his cabin into your ad. you 

 are hitching your chariot to a star. It 

 pays to keep step with the moods of 

 the public, to take the line of least 

 resistance. 



If the weather is hot let your ads. 

 show sympathy by suggesting coolness. 

 If any great civic movement is afoot 

 let the store news reflect it. Your ad- 

 vertising is as big and as broad as you 



care to make it. When it goes outside 

 of the store for worthy material i( 

 grows in prestige with the public. 



Of late some of our best advertisers 

 are discovering that a dash of humor 

 is not out of place in store advertising. 

 Why should it be? A whimsical motif 

 now and then is relished by the most 

 skeptical readers of advertising. 



If a man can afford his little joke 

 in selling goods by word of mouth — 

 use it for the purpose of establishing a 

 sort of bonhomie as he proceeds with 

 the serious business of giving the cus- 

 tomer what he wants — why can't he do 

 it as effectively in the newspaper? Kc- 

 centric Illustrations, supplemented 

 with a grain of levity in the copy, are 

 brighft'ning some mighty good adver- 

 tising nowadays. Good examples of 

 this relaxing of austerity are to be 

 found in the men's advertising of 

 Wanamaker's, New York. This sort of 

 stuff calls for much discretion, of 

 course, but rightly done it's a safe bef 

 the public likes it. 



The advertising man who has the 

 gumption and can spare the time will 

 find his most valuable inspiration on 

 the floor of the store. There he caiv 

 often pick up at first hand real cash- 

 drawer information alxjut the way the 

 public feels toward his store, toward 

 shopping in general, toward advertis- 

 ing and toward specific kinds of mer- 

 chandise. The personal contact — the 

 final test of store service — furnishes 

 the sure key to the successful points of 

 contact to maintain in the printed mes- 

 sage. Those who have never practiced 

 this every-day, non-brilliant method 

 of getting acquainted with the outer 

 point of view will find much to sur- 

 prise as well as interest them. It's a 

 great life — this studying the public. 



FLORISTS' OUTING. 

 The Boston Florists' Association 

 will have its second annual picnic Sat- 

 urday, .lune 2fith, at Wardhurst. Lynn- 

 field, Mass. This is the same resort 



■ IOX-I(.\KBKKKY BOKDKKKU 

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MAKE A LEADER OF 



BOX-BARBERRY 



IN YOUR 1921 Cat. 



>lttn> of I lit- IfitilinK llrniN Hlr«mil.v 

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Write for ter 



It* or nee 



WALTER CAMPBELL 



111 Uif Niirsf r.i nn-n's ('on\i-nt i«>ii 



The Elm City Nurseiy Co. 



UODIIMONT M ICKKIKS. INC. 



NEW HAVEN, CONN. 



which was visited by the association 

 last year, on which occasion the mem- 

 bers enjoyed themselves hugely. The 

 party will leave Hoffman's store be- 

 tween 1 and 1.30 in the afternon and 

 as soon as they arrive at Wardhurst 

 dinner will be served. After that, 

 games will be enjoyed, suitable prizes 

 to be awarded the winners. 



The Gardners' and Florists' Club of 

 Boston is holding a field day today 

 (Saturday) at the Arnold Arboretum. 

 Follow ing the club meeting next Tues- 

 day evcninc. there will be a collation 

 and dance. 



" F-IRAIMK M. DLJNL.OF»" 



We are now catching up with our orders, and now offer for immediate delivery: 



Per 1.000 



5000 F. H. Dunlop, ZVz in. own root $300.00 



3000 " " 21/2 in. grafted 375.00 



5000 Columbia, 2V2 in. own root 150.00 



1000 American Beauty, 4 in. own root 200.00 



CHARLES H. TOTTY COMPANY 



MADISON .... NEW JERSEY 



