18.4 TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 



That is one of the secrets of good advertising. You can't talk to 

 everybody on all kinds of subjects in any one ad and get any results from 

 it. 



About this same time we distribute through the railroads, to every 

 railway station in the state of Iowa, a series of hangers and cards bear- 

 ing the dates of the fair, some attractive pictures of horse racing or live 

 stock. Along with these quite frequently we send out heralds and hand 

 bills which are hung up in the railroad station where people can jerk 

 them off, put them in their pockets and read them on the train. Through 

 all this literature is an effort to show these people where they, directly, 

 will profit by and enjoy attending the state fair. 



About the first of August we start our display advertising in the farm 

 papers. That advertising runs for three weeks, talking to the farmers 

 about the educational value and amusement value of the fair. About 

 the first week in August we also start advertising in the Des Moines 

 papers, following the same general outline as . above, although using 

 larger advertising than in the farm papers. We also put up 160 large 

 billboards August 1st, covering the territory from which people come 

 to the state fair. These are on main traveled roads, in towns, in cities. 

 In the city of Des Moines and near Des Moines we also put a number of 

 window cards in the store windows about two weeks before the fair 

 starts. 



In the state fair's advertising we have found that we get the greatest 

 results with our money by spending it in the territory where we have 

 the best opportunity to get people to attend. In other words, clear up 

 on the Minnesota line it is three times as hard to induce some one to 

 come to the state fair as it is at Perry where they only have to come a 

 short distance. That is the plan we follow and the bulk of our adver- 

 tising money is expended within a radius of seventy-five or a hundred 

 miles of the state fair. There is where we get the most attendance for 

 our money, and that is what the fair advertising wants to do. That 

 same principle may well be adopted by any fair anywhere. Plan your 

 advertising so you will get the bulk of it in the territory where it is 

 easiest for the people to reach the fair. 



Now to take up different appeals in the advertising. We put on a 

 survey here at the fair last year to try to find out why people came to 

 the fair. Strange as it may seem, nine-tenths of the people who answered 

 that inquiry around the fair grounds said that they came to see the 

 horse races and the fire works, and the hippodrome, or something of that 

 kind. Incidentally, of course, they would not have come to the fair if 

 it had not had all the live stock and agricultural exhibits and things of 

 that kind. But in the final outcome they made up their minds to come 

 because they wanted to see some of the entertainment features. Now, I 

 believe that in all of our advertising we should exploit the educational 

 advantages of the fair, give full play to the live stock and farm products, 

 but at all times remember that the amusement features probably will 

 give us the greatest results in the actual cash receipts at the gate. 



Another idea which we carried out this year and have promoted for 

 several years is that of arranging for special editions of the local news- 

 papers just before the fair opens. A newspaper is very prone to go into 



