ADVERTISING DAIRY PRODUCTS 297 



space is usually best purchased through local or general bill- 

 board or outdoor advertising companies which assume full 

 responsibility for painting or posting and upkeep. Electric 

 signs are very attractive, but the expense of erecting and 

 maintaining them is large. 



III. Street Railway Cards. Where city trade is sought for 

 creamery products, the street-car card is valuable. From 80 to 

 90 per cent of all adults in a city ride in its street cars and they 

 therefore have almost a perfect circulation. They are quite 

 certain to be seen by all who ride, if they are well designed and 

 printed; they are read with little effort at a time when there is 

 leisure for reading them; every card has a fair chance to be read, 

 and finally, they are usually the last advertisement seen by a 

 shopper bound cityward on a buying expedition. They are 

 especially valuable for emphasizing and repeating the trade 

 name and the main selling points of an article. Street-car space 

 is usually controlled by some large company that operates 

 independently of the street railway company. Most of the car 

 space in the United States and Canada is controlled by a single 

 corporation. Through the controlling corporation attractive 

 cards may be bought at a moderate price. The rates are fairly 

 uniform and range from 40 to 50 cents per n X 21 card per 

 month. 



IV. Circular Letters and Mailing Cards. For an intimate 

 presentation of a product to prospective customers, circular 

 letters serve a purpose that no other medium can serve. That 

 is especially true if the letters are well written and skillfully 

 printed and carefully mailed. They are not suitable for general 

 or indiscriminate circulation. To send letters to all the house- 

 wives of a trade territory would be too expensive for most prod- 

 ucts. But when through newspaper or magazine advertising, 

 or through the cooperation of retail dealers or salesmen or 

 satisfied customers, special lists of interested persons are se- 

 cured, they may be circularized to advantage and at reasonable 

 cost. General advertising brings the prospects, while the special 

 advertising of the letter goes far toward convincing them. 

 Through modern letter printing and addressing machines 



