ADVERTISING 



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ADVERTISING 



advertising revenue to the magazines a publi- 

 cation now selling at ten cents or fifteen cents 

 per copy could not be bought for less than 

 twenty-five cents, and in many cases fifty cents. 

 Some magazines now reach the reader for a 

 less sum than the cost of the blank paper used 

 in their manufacture. A great metropolitan 

 Sunday newspaper sells for five cents, and 

 nearly always the paper on which each copy 

 is printed costs more than that sum. 



The growth of advertising as measured by 

 expenditure has been rapid in recent years. 

 It has made the most notable advance in the 

 United States, which leads all other countries 

 of the world, with an annual expenditure esti- 

 mated at $700,000,000. In Canada it is be- 

 lieved about $50,000,000 is thus invested yearly, 

 a sum somewhat lower than in the United 

 States in proportion to population. 



Some Heavy Expenditures. In certain lines 

 of business advertising is more heavily em- 

 ployed than in others. Manufacturers of food 

 articles and household conveniences contribute 

 largely to the total. One particular article of 

 prepared food has been advertised for several 

 years to the extent of $750,000 annually, and a 

 cleaning compound has been advertised to a 

 like extent. A chewing gum, where each sale 

 is only five cents, has received publicity which 

 costs $500,000 annually; a certain brand of 

 cigarettes has had a like advertising appropria- 

 tion; a five-cent cigar has been advertised to 

 the extent of $250,000 a year. A set of books, 

 a correspondence course of study, a brand of 

 hosiery, a watch, one make of table cutlery, a 

 talking machine, various brands of soap, each 

 has been advertised in excess of $100,000 an- 

 nually. The advertising of patent medicines 

 and curative devices once provided very large 

 incomes to papers and magazines, but this has 

 in recent years been excluded by all the 

 better magazines and many newspapers; this 

 is also true of alcoholic beverages, and to a 

 leaser extent, of cigarettes. 



The automobile industry has set a new mark 

 iv< rtising volume. A single manufacturer 

 of an automobile is said to have spent in 1016 

 for this purpose not less than $2,000,000. It 

 is a noteworthy fact that as the amount of 

 money invested in advertising this particular 

 make of automobile was increased each year, 

 tli-- >< II mg price of the machine decreased, 

 while its attractiveness and service value was 

 said to have been improved. Although the 

 total amount of money employed in advertis- 

 ing by the entire automobile industry has in- 



creased each year, the average price of cars 

 has decreased. The effect of advertising com- 

 modities in other notable instances has been to 

 improve the quality of the goods and reduce 

 the price to the consumer. This seeming in- 

 consistency is explained by the fact that adver- 

 tising aids selling so effectively that it performs 

 economies in the commercial transaction. 



The above particular cases must not incline 

 the reader to believe that all advertising appro- 

 priations are invested profitably. Many mil- 

 lions of dollars yearly are vainly spent the 

 response to the public appeal is slight. Some- 

 times the thing advertised, if not one of the 

 necessities of life, does not catch the fancy 

 of the public ; if a necessity, some other equally 

 necessary commodity is presented more at- 

 tractively or more vigorously and eclipses its 

 rival. The choice of advertising mediums 

 weighs heavily for or against success, also. To 

 cite an extreme case, it would invite failure to 

 advertise tobacco products in a woman's mag- 

 azine, although for obvious reasons a good 

 advertisement of smoking jackets in such a 

 publication prior to Christmas has proved a 

 good investment. 



The firm that places its announcements before 

 the public and then believes its work is done 

 invites failure. If it seeks direct sales to pur- 

 chasers it must have printed matter describing 

 its wares and a system of "follow-up" letters, 

 variously phrased and convincing, to complete 

 the work the public announcement started. All 

 this subsidiary material is a very real part of 

 advertising. 



Advertising Agencies. Advertising as a busi- 

 ness with a professional skill in it dates back 

 to the latter half of the nineteenth century, 

 when facilities were at hand for the spread of 

 knowledge and the rapid distribution of goods 

 over a wide area. The advertiser then began 

 to take into account the greater need for expert 

 knowledge. This developed the expert who 

 could prepare advertisements with skill and 

 who could supply information as to the char- 

 acter and circulation of publications in differ- 

 < nt localities. In handling the space he was a 

 l-rnk. r. making the best terms he could with 

 the publisher on one hand and the advertiser 

 on the other. Later on, publishers and owners 

 of various kinds of advertising space fixed 

 prices for their space and made a special rate 

 to the advertising experts. These experts be- 

 came known as advertising agents, and their 

 business grew into institutions of large financial 

 responsibility with complete equipment for 



