50 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



February 



problems are the best methods of 

 making increase artificially, natural- 

 ly, or by using pound packages, 

 whether comb or extracted honey 

 should be produced in their region, 

 etc. There are 2,000 colonies of bees 

 in Lyon county and it is planned by 

 the club to secure and handle some 

 of the colonies which would other- 

 wise be neglected. Such a move will 

 not only show the owners of these 

 colonies some of the modern meth- 

 ods of handling bees, but should 

 prove very remunerative to the club 

 members. 



Manhattan, Kans. 



Another Advertising Objection 

 Answered 



By Chilton Gano 



A NATURAL doubt raised in the 

 mind of a beekeeper, when it 

 is proposed that an associa- 

 tion of beekeepers enter upon na- 

 tional advertising of a branded 

 honey, is whether such a brand 

 would fare well in competition with 

 local honey in various sections. In 

 other words, is sectional feeling so 

 strong in various localities that peo- 

 ple will prefer to patronize inde- 

 pendent producers of honey in their 

 own locality? This is a point that 

 should not be ignored, by any means. 



The experiences of a number of 

 concerns shed light on it, that of the 

 Northwestern Fruit Exchange, now 

 advertising "Skookum Apples," prob- 

 ably giving the most conclusive 

 answer. If local, unbranded prod- 

 ucts offer dangerous competition to 

 a nationally advertised product, then 

 surely "Skookum Apples" would have 

 suffered from such competition, be- 

 cause apples are known in nearly 

 every State in the Union. 



Yet Skookum went clear across the 

 continent from its home in the 

 northwest, and did its first experi- 

 mental advertising in New York City, 

 right under the noses of New York 

 apple growers, and the advertising 

 was highly successful Altogether, 

 about $15,000 was spent in advertis- 

 ing this brand of finest boxed apples 

 in New York City. The advertising 

 was unique in that it educated the 

 public as to what are the most nutri- 

 tious and highest quality varieties of 

 apple, their proper seasons for use, 

 and how to secure appetizing variety 

 in their use. Twelve varieties of ap- 

 ples, claimed to be the best varieties 

 in every way. are packed under the 

 Skookum label. The strictest grad- 

 ing rules possible insure that only 

 extra fancy apples go into the packs. 

 Such facts as these, together with 

 appetizing illustrations and the offer 

 of the recipe booklet, soon won their 

 way with the New York public, and 

 today Skookum apples sell at a 

 premium in New York and are even 

 named oti the menus of many li 

 hotels and restaurants. Today prac- 

 tically no New York apple can com- 

 mand the same price as Skookum 

 apples, in New York City. 



A little over a year ago, in the fall 

 of 1916, the Exchange, convinced that 

 national advertising would succeed as 



well as local advertising had in New 

 York, appropriated $60,000 and began 

 advertising in national magazines, 

 mainly with color advertisements on 

 cover pages. Before the advertising 

 was begun big fruit jobbers through- 

 out the country were canvassed for 

 advance orders, proofs of the pro- 

 posed national advertisements being 

 carried in portfolios by the canvass- 

 ers as a selling argument. These ad- 

 vance sheets of the campaign made 

 so profound an impression on the 

 trade that the company's representa- 

 tives were in some cases invited to 

 address meetings of retailers, while 

 actual advance orders for Skookum 

 apples totaled several hundred cars. 

 Prices were to be agreed upon be- 

 fore the fruit was ready for harvest. 

 In addition to the magazine adver- 

 tising, newspaper and street car ad- 

 vertising were used in selected cities, 

 while trade papers copy supple- 

 mented the personal salesmanship to 

 the trade. 



At the close of the first year of 

 national advertising General Man- 

 ager Gwin, of the Exchange, said: 

 "For a national campaign our fund 

 would ordinarily be called small. Yet 

 Skookum apples are today talked of 

 in America on a par with Gold Dust, 

 Shredded Wheat, Crisco, or any other 

 advertised commodity. Conserva- 

 tively estimated by advertising peo- 

 ple, the growers' investment in Skoo- 

 kum good-will represents a value 

 tremendously in excess of the cash 

 spent. This fund made for Skookum 

 a dominant position in the apple 

 world that will not be wrested from 

 it." 



The most convincing evidence of 

 success is that the apples are actual- 

 ly featured by fruit dealers in every 

 large city and that the Exchange has 

 increased its advertising appropria- 

 tion. 



This experience would seem to in- 

 dicate that Americans are not too 

 sectionally clannish, but that any- 

 thing American, whether from 

 Maine or Texas, will sell readily to 

 all Americans if attractively pre- 

 sented to them. Branded foods us- 

 ually find their first and most eco- 

 nominal markets in the larger cities 

 of the country, and in larger cities 

 the insistence on locally produced 



products is not found, which some- 

 times obtains in rural communities. 



Another experience comes to mind 

 which illustrates the truth of this — 

 that of the Blue Valley Butter peo- 

 ple. Blue Valley sells readily in the 

 larger cities throughout the country, 

 but it makes little effort to enter the 

 small country towns, because of the 

 competition of local country butter. 

 Even in this case it is the attitude of 

 the country grocer, not the con- 

 sumer, which is most discouraging. 

 These grocers buy their butter from 

 farmers whom they know and who 

 are their customers, and they are 

 afraid to offend these farmers by 

 carrying city-manufactured butter. 

 Yet this small town obstacle has not 

 prevented Blue Valley from building 

 up a most enviable reputation and a 

 most lucrative and tremendous busi- 

 ness. 



It may be said, in fine, that Ameri- 

 cans don't ordinarily ask what state 

 a product comes from, provided 

 they have been appealed to by the 

 product itself, its name, personality, 

 and the conditions under which it is 

 packed. 



In closing a word about the or- 

 ganization of the Northwestern Fruit 

 Exchange may be of interest. It was 

 incorporated in 1890, to perform for 

 local apple growers' associations of 

 the Northwest what the C. F. G. E. 

 performs for the California orange 

 growers. About twenty-five local as- 

 sociations are now within the Ex- 

 change, which has come to control 

 probably the largest apple tonnage 

 of any organization in the world, i. 

 e., between 30 and 35 per cent of the 

 entire tonnage of the four great ap- 

 ple States of the Northwest. Only 

 about one-fourth of the Exchange's 

 apples are high grade enough to 

 make the Skookum brand, and it is 

 doubtful if more than 1,500 cars of 

 Skookum will be shipped in 1917-18, 

 though the Exchange markets, all 

 told, over 4,000 cars of apples an- 

 nually. 



The Exchange has not its own 

 sales organization, but markets 

 through the North American Fruit 

 Exchange and Sales Agency of 

 America, an agency which has a na- 

 tional organization and markets fruit 

 for other associations, also. 



ATTRACTIVE SAMPLES OF ADVERTISEMENTS OF SKOOKUM APPLES. 



