•?■/■'■•••.. 



16 



The Florists^ Review ' 



Atbil 27. 1916. 



Sunday, May Ninth — 



MOTHER'S DAY 



For Mothers Memory Flowers White 

 For Mother s Living Flowers Bright 



fO HONOR the best mother that ever lived— your 

 own— that is the purpose of MOTHER'S DAY 



W* shall b« prepored Saiurduy. May Eighth and 

 Sundav, May Ninth with targe aiforimenis of fin*, 

 fresh floui€rt appropriate fo^ Mother's Day, offered 

 at twr usual moderate prices. 



PATRONIZE YOUR OWN FLORIST 



Anonymous AdvcrttBenunt by the Florhts of Dorchetter^ Mau* 



put a sign in the window. Anybody 

 can do that much. Since windows must 

 be decorated, almost anyone can adver- 

 tise Mothers' day by means of the 

 show-window display — it need call for 

 no greater effort than is necessary to 

 procure, in a near-by art store, a print 

 of Whistler's well known painting of 

 his mother, which can be put among 

 the flowers, where it will carry the 

 idea. 



But the best way is to advertise 

 Mothers' day in the newspapers. 



" Bright Flowers." 



The advantage of Mothers' day lies 

 in the fact that all flowers and plants 

 are salable. In the beginning the es- 

 timable lady who suggested the idea 

 designated the white carnation as the 

 official flower of Mothers' day. But it 

 did not take long to show the impos- 

 sibility of having a special flower for 

 the day. Even now, when everything 

 is appropriate and salable, the demand 

 for white carnations sends the price far 

 above the prices of other flowers. 

 Early realizing this condition, The Ke- 

 view suggested a couplet to change the 

 direction of the demand: 



For Mothers at home, flowers bright, 

 In Mother's memory; flowers white. 



How generally the day has been ex- 

 ploited along the lines suggested by 

 The Review is well shown by the 

 almost universal use of these two lines. 

 You will find them, or some variant of 

 them, in almost every piece of Moth- 

 ers' day printing everywhere in Amer- 

 ica. 



The Co-operative Plan. 



Of course the self-reliant man wants 

 to do his own Mothers' day advertising 

 independently of everyone else, but 

 there are circumstances in which it 

 does not seem possible for each flower 

 store to do individual advertising on a 

 scale large enough to create public sen- 

 timent. Appreciating this point. The 

 Review suggested that florists combine 

 to advertise Mothers' day on a co- 

 operative basis. The plan was given 

 its first thorough trial at Colujnbus, O., 

 and the success achieved was so great 

 that it since has been done hundreds of 

 times in other places. 



Reproduced in this issue of The Re- 

 view are a number of the Mothers' day 

 advertisements published in daily 



newspapers last year. Then the date 

 was May 9. This year it- is May 14. 

 It always is the second Sunday in May. 

 The individual advertisements will 

 be of leas interest than those showing 

 cooperative effort. The individual 

 plans his Mothers' day advertisement 

 along the same lines as his regular ad- 

 vertising. If it is his custom, he 

 quotes prices, an excellent method. But 

 the cooperative advertising is planned 

 to meet the views of the majority 

 rather than of an individual. 



Let the Newspaper Help. 



Usually the Mothers' day cooperative 

 advertising is worked up by the news- 

 paper in which it is to appear. Occa- 

 sionally it is done by a committee of a 

 florists' club, but most frequently it is 

 the result of a florist telephoning to 

 the advertising manager of his favorite 

 daily, just as you might do now. With 

 the backing of one or two florists, the 

 newspaper usuklly is able to work up 

 the business without much effort. 



Almost always the beginning is 

 made by taking a page or part of a 

 page and dividing it into smaller 



spaces, which then are sold, one by one 

 as florists can be found to go in on the 

 scheme. This results in more or less 

 of a hodgepodge, with a tendency to- 

 ward price cutting and the attempt to 

 outdo the rest of those represented. 



The Better Flan. 



The second attempt usually is along 

 different lines. Nearly the entire ad- 

 vertisement is devoted to the exploita- 

 tion of Mothers' day and the use of 

 flowers as most fittingly expressing the 

 sentiment of the day. A small part of 

 the space at the bottom of the adver- 

 tisement is reserved for the names of 

 those who contributed to the fund. 

 This method does not contemplate the 

 quoting of prices or the making of any 

 definite offer, but for the cooperative 

 exploitation of a special flower day, be 

 it Mothers' day or any other, it has 

 been found most generally satisfactory. 



In a few instances it has been found 

 possible to raise funds for a Mothers' 

 day advertisement that did not con- 

 tain the names of any florists. Two 

 such advertisements are reproduced 

 with this article. The one on the first 

 page was printed last year in Detroit 

 newspapers. It probably explains the 

 Mothers' day idea in pictures more 

 thoroughly than it ever has been done 

 elsewhere, but the text might be im- 

 proved. The telegraph delivery fea- 

 ture of the business is not yet well 

 enough understood by the public so 

 that the reference to it in this adver- 

 tisement would be generally compre- 

 hended. 



Telegraph D^very. 



Much better in this respect is the in* 

 dividual advertisement of Penn, print- 

 ed on the same page. This was only 

 one of a series of Mothers* day adver- 

 tisements the Boston retailer used last 

 year, • but it states the telegraph deliv- 

 ery proposition so plainly that any 

 reader can comprehend just how Penn 

 delivers flowers at a distance. This is 

 a feature of the Mothers' day business 

 that is capable of wonderful develop- 

 ment. It is worth advertising strongly, 

 but the text must be plain. 



Now that Easter is over, no time 

 should be lost in making plans for 



Mother's Day 



THIS SUNDAY 



You- v^ouldn't think of pecmitting this day to 

 pMS without fbllowing tha. bMutiful CMtom of.ac- 

 knowrfcdgin^ the debt you ewe to motherhood. 



Smi a Fktd Toiftn to the Best 

 Mother Who Eter LtveJ—Your Own 



Til* acntlment »ttach*<l 

 to Mother's £»r >■ n*- 

 tlon wide. Br1clit>4emra 

 will everywhere carry » 

 message or love to h«r. 



Oar Dollar Box 



ta thia aMUMCtion we apeak of an Umswrf Vahfe 



ITor >Ioth«r'« D«y — 

 ■th«M pepflar Woxta of 

 fresh-cut flower* — Will 

 conMIn a particularly 

 app^priate' variety .4 

 f M < ofaotcest ,. 9*toB- 

 able < howera. 



iiSuf't 



Basket 

 Detifis 



Dellfhtful eomblnatlon of cholea 

 flower, that will jo rightto the heart 

 and <• arr*a»«d th,t Aey will last 

 for many a day. . .■ . ■ .«»i 



DaatcBcd lo~'alae*-te wiiU. 



TWa STORES 



Main 5*>rr. 484 Main St. 

 Caab Branch, 411 MUn 6t. 



TdcykMC 35Q. 



The Individual Ad May Quote Prices. Making a Definite Offer. 



