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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



March, 1915 



Apple Ad vertising : How the Movement Started 



AT the Dominion Fruit Conference held 

 in Grimsby, Ont., last summer, Mr. 

 W. Grant Border, the secretary of the 

 apple advertisers of America, was to 

 have spoken on the subject, "AdvertisinR 

 the Apple." Unfortunately he was unable 

 to be present. Since then The Canadian 

 Horticulturist has obtained the following 

 definite information regarding the move- 

 ment from an article by Mr. L. 3. Nolley, 

 of New York, and other sources. 



The campaifirm to extensively and sys- 

 tematically advertise the apple which is 

 bcinjr wasred by the Apple Advertisers of 

 America is one of the most novel and most 

 powerful ever brought out for an American 

 product. For this reason a brief resume 

 of the apple advertising- movement may be 

 of interest. 



In early December, 1911, a roug-h draft 

 of an article calling- attention to the im- 

 portance of advertising the apple was re- 

 ceived by R. G. Phillips, secretary of the 

 International Apple Shippers' Association. 

 The name of the sender and writer have 

 now been forgotten. In fact, so novel was 

 the proposition at that time the writer 

 himself, in a letter accompanying the 

 manuscript, stated that he was merely 

 passing it on, and did not know whether 

 or not it possessed interest. 



Perhaps if made lat another time the 

 suggestion would have attracted little at- 

 tention. Fortunately, however, it was made 

 at the psychological moment, for it so hap- 

 pened that George Walding, now dead, Mr. 

 Phillips, and several other active members 

 of the Association had been talking of 

 advertising for some time before it was 

 received, especially in connection with that 

 year's crop, which was large and moving 

 slowly at low figures. 



The manuscript brought things to a head. 

 It made this little band of men feel that 

 they were on the right track and that the 

 time and conditions were opportune to 

 "start something." Accordingly, the ar- 

 tirle was published, and the apple adver- 

 tising ball was started rolling. 



Certain portions of this letter are worth 

 quoting here, as comment which they called 

 forth ultimately led to the formulation of 

 systematic plans of advertising. The 

 writer states : 



"Advertising the apple is a half-century 

 behind the times. Yes, a century behind, 

 because it has never even started as a sys- 

 tematic enterprise. About the only ad- 

 vertising the apple has received is the 

 wrong kind. In the summer and fall the 

 press is usually full of scare headlines on 

 how short the crop is amd how high the 

 price will be, and in the winter, if anything 

 is said in the press, it is usually along the 

 lines of how poor the fruit is and how 

 the middleman is robbing the people and 

 cheating the grower, doing no work and 

 growing rich in idleness. 



"The way (to advertise properly) is 

 plain. The trail has not been only blazed, 

 but it has been beaten down ,dug out, bal- 

 lasted and covered with asphalt, and down 

 its broad lighted course the wise merchant 

 rides in his automobile, free from care and 

 enjoying the cool of the day. But the 

 apple men, where are they, growers, 

 dealers? Why, part of the time fighting 

 about the size of the crop and cursing out 

 whether the contract calls for a half-bushel 

 of cider apples to every package or only 

 a peck and a half. We spend the rest of 

 the time hoping that Providence will in 

 some way bring it to the minds of the 

 people that apples are a good thing to eat. 



Providence doesn't do it, and then we have 

 a set-to with Providence." 



Several replies to this article wCTe re- 

 ceived. The most enthusiastic, however, 

 say these gentlemen, was that of Mr. U. 

 Grant Border, of Baltimore, who was ac- 

 cordingly asked to contribute an article on 

 . the same subject. Mr. Border consented, 

 and his article was duly published. 



A PLAN ADOPTED 



Herein, for the first time, was actually 

 suggested a definite, tangible, workable 

 plan for advertising the apple and placing 

 the industry on a basis worthy of its great 

 importance. It was the plan which was 

 later adopted by the International Apple 

 Shippers' Association. It is the plan 



which, with certain modifications, is now 

 being followed by the Apple Advertisers of 

 America. The gist of the plan was con- 

 tained in these significant paragraphs : 



"Now, we are all agreed on two essential 

 things : First, we have a commodity worthy 

 of the highest praise ; second, the need of 

 -a judicious, effective and persistent adver- 

 tising campaign. How is this to be brought 

 about ? 



"An effective advertising campaign can- 

 not be conducted without a' liberal money 

 expenditure. 



"Every apple association and individual 

 shipper or grower should be brought to 

 realize the great importance of contributing 

 to a general, fund in proportion to the vol- 

 ume of their shipment. To raise this fund 

 stamps should be issued, similar to the 

 Red Cross stamps, to be sold in quantities 

 and each shipper place a stamp on each 

 package." 



About this time the executive committee 

 of the International Apple Shippers' Asso- 

 ciation met and the question of advertis- 

 ing was brought up as offering a subject 

 for a valuable address. The committee 

 was impressed with the possibilities which 

 it offered for bringing the matter promi- 

 nently to the attention of the membership, 

 and Mr. Border was selected to make it. 

 The address produced the desired effect, 

 and the advertising movement was officially 

 adopted by the Association. An advertis- 

 iner committee was appointed, of which Mr. 

 Border was made chairman. 



This committee found itself face to face 

 with a bic problem. True, some adver- 

 tising had been done, but it had been done 

 in a scattered way and amounted to little 

 both in quantitv and results. The need 

 of a country-wide publicity campaign was 

 apparent to all anole men, but how was 

 such a campaign to be financed? Mr. Bor- 

 der's answer to this question was "The 

 Stamp Plan," which he had already out- 

 lined some months before in the article 

 nuoted. The committee agreed that the 

 plan was practical and adopted it. 



With the inception of this publicity work 

 Mr. Border sought the counsel of the Nol- 

 ley Advertising Agency of Baltimore and 

 New York, and since that time he and the 

 .Agency have been working in close co- 

 operation. While much hard work has 

 been done and remarkable progress made, 

 it soon became apparent that those inter- 

 ested in apples who were not members of 

 the Association hesitated in supporting the 

 advertising proposition because it was an 

 association affair. This inspired the for- 

 mation of am organization that would be 

 more universal in scope, and so during the 

 first week of March last, at the Hotel Im- 

 perial, New York, the Apple Advertisers 

 of America was formed. Into this new 



organization was merged the former ad- 

 vertising committee 



HOW THE STAMPS ARK ISSUED 



The stamps are issued in two denomi- 

 nations — one-cent and two-cent. A one- 

 cent stamp is to be placed on every box 

 of apples shipped ; a two-cent stamp on 

 every barrel. In addition to this, every 

 dealer or retailer when he receives either 

 boxes or barrels of apples without the 

 stamps is to place the stamps thereupon. 

 Everyone, evem those remotely interested in 

 the successful issue of the campaign, such 

 as boxmakers, nurserymen, makers of fer- 

 tilizers, etc., are asked to place stamps up- 

 on all of the letters which they send out, 

 not only to help swell the advertising fund, 

 but to popularize the idea. The entire 

 issue of the stamps is in the custody of 

 the Equitable Mortgage and Trust Co. of 

 Baltimore, which acts as a depository for 

 the fund. This company, through the 

 many banks that are its agents in various 

 parts of the country, sell the stamps to 

 every grower, shipper, or dealer who ap- 

 plies for them. The stamps may be bought 

 in person or by mail. 



The advantages of the plan are manifold. 

 In the first place, it will provide the means 

 for carrying on a continuous, country-wide 

 advertising campaign, through newspapers, 

 magazines, printed matter, and other 

 media, that will acquaint the masses of the 

 United States and Canada with the great 

 food and health-sriving value of the apple; 

 with the fact that it is open to a wider 

 range of uses than any other product, eas- 

 ily prepared, easily digested, and appetiz- 

 in"- to all ; and with the further fact that, 

 when bought in substantial quantities, is 

 one of the most economical of foods. 



It settles equitably the question as to the 

 amount it is proper for any one individual to 

 contribute, since it provides that each man 

 shall contribute in proportion to the size 

 of his output. Thus, the man who has 

 fifty packages of apples to market buys 

 fifty stamps, while he who has 1,000 pack- 

 ages, buys 1,000 stamps. In this way the 

 largest and smallest cooperate in the move- 

 ment according to their ability, and share 

 equally in the benefits. 



Rough Handling by Railways 



G. E. Mclntoth, Ferett, Ont., Traffic Expert for tke 

 Onttrie Fmit Growers' Aisociatios 



Rough handling of shipments by employ- 

 ees of railway, steamboat and express com- 

 panies, is causing heavy losses to nearly 

 every shipper of fruit in the Dominion, and 

 he has absolutely no redress except through 

 the rough and dangerous channel of a claim 

 against the carrier. It is another griev- 

 ance over which the Railway Commission 

 has no jurisdiction, and no provision is 

 made in the criminal code for punishing the 

 guilty ones. 



I have seen barrels of apples utterly ruin- 

 ed by rough handling at Montreal before 

 they reached the boat. I have had barrels 

 opened after they were permitted to fall 

 the height of three or four tiers of barrels, 

 and have taken from such barrels, apples 

 burst in halves. Five carloads of British 

 Columbia boxed apples in one shed alone 

 were piled on the bilge. Barrels were piled 

 two high on end in the shed, and when 

 loading on the boat the top barrel turned 

 over and dropped to the cement floor, while 

 in the hold of the boat the sling carrying 

 six barrels very often is permitted to drop 

 heavy enough to slack the barrels. I 

 understand there are cargo inspectors at 

 export points, but apparently there are not 

 enough of them to do the work thoroughly. 



