Jolt 13, 1916. 



■ ■^■■i v .-i» ■ 



•t.M .-^ '} .r ,■ f. 



The Florists^ Review 



11 



the consensus of opinion that only liter- 

 ature under 2-cent postage would pay 

 in the end. This, however, has proved 

 incorrect. The only requirement you 

 place on your literature, or should 

 place, is that it be read, and you may 

 claim that the extra 1-cent postage 

 obtains an audience for 2-cent liter- 

 ature that is not accorded l-cent liter- 

 ature. This is true, but only to a lim- 

 ited extent, and I will show where this 

 same audience detracts from the value 

 of the 2-cent literature rather than adds 

 to it. For instance, you receive an 

 ordinary letter under 2-cent postage; 

 you open it. Your clerk, or whoever is 

 watching you, will tell you that as soon 

 as you find it to be an advertisement, 

 a disappointed look comes over your 

 countenance, and with a fling of your 

 hand you throw it aside. It is a well 

 established fact that human beings since 

 the beginning of time have desired the 

 "square deal" policy, rather than to 

 be deceived, and evidently advertising 

 under 2-cent postage is obtaining the 

 attention of the recipient under a false 

 pretense. 



One-Cent Postage Wins. 



If you doubt this statement, I ask 

 that you take careful note of the fol- 

 lowing illustration the next time oppor- 

 tunity offers. A faker sets his stand 

 on a street corner. While opening his 

 bag, he calls his hearers by means of a 

 ballyhoo. His hearers come, but as 

 soon as he commences to show his 

 wares, the busy man, whose attention 

 has-been falsely arrested, leaves, and 

 only idlers remain. You do not sell 

 your flowers to idlers. You sell your 

 flowers to thinkers, and most thinkers 

 are busy people. 



Absolutely the best method is folders, 

 under 1-cent postage, without envelope, 

 beautifully designed, dignified and well 

 gotten up literature. When one is re- 

 ceived by the prospective customer, the 

 seasonable design and dignity of the 

 folder arrests his attention — and not 

 falsely either, because he knows it is 

 an advertisement — and with a flip of 

 the finger the folder is open and the 

 copy is instantly before him. Short, 

 snappy, well gotten up, dignified copy, 

 which the recipient will not fail to 

 read, in addition to having the recipient 

 open the folder in a satisfied mood, 

 conserves his time and furnishes your 

 most effective bid for his business. 



A Comparison in Actual Cost. 



The foregoing convincingly shows 

 the superiority of 1-cent postage, and 

 below I give you a few costs: 



TWO-CENT LITERATURE. 



Envelopps. 1,000 $ 4.00 



Literature 10.00 



Folding of literature and sealing of 

 envelopes, three operations, each at 



25 cents 75 



Postage 20.00 



Total $34.75 



ONE CENT LITERATURE. 



Well gotten up folders, with good 

 copy, the equivalent In Interest of 

 any literature sent out under 2-cent 

 postage, per thousand $1R.OO 



Postage 10.00 



Total 28.00 



Showing a saving of $ 6.75 



Apparently 1-eent literature guaran- 

 tees you superior advertising at a 

 smaller cost. 



Ad Mediums for Florists. 



You will ask, shall I use the same 

 mailing lists for all occasions, such as 



Group of Cycas Revoluta in Front of the Store of tfie Avenue Floral Co. 



autumn announcement, fall planting, 

 Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine 's 

 day, Easter, Mothers' day, Memorial 

 day, weddings and graduations? Yes, 

 with the exception of Valentine's day 

 and Mothers' day, when a list of young 

 people should be obtained, if possible, 

 and used. 



The method described advertises your 

 business to the known flower buyers in 

 a community. The question is, how 

 shall I reach the unknown flower buy- 

 ers, the newcomers in a community, 

 etc.t For this purpose, general public- 

 ity is needed, and to obtain general 

 publicity in the cheapest possible n\an- 

 ner it is necessary to use the news- 

 papers. Some florists are using moving 

 picture slides, others programs, some 

 street cars and three or four whom I 

 know, billboards. Below, I enumerate 

 a few reasons why I believe newspapers 

 are the best mediums of publicity in 

 this case. 



Your advertisement on a moving pic- 

 ture screen is thrown before the audi- 

 ence — a goodly proportion of which, 

 being children, is of little or no value 

 as far as immediate business is con- 

 cerned — which is there to be amused. 

 The spectators' minds are not in a re- 

 ceptive mood; the audience is unable to 

 grasp your advertisement. This calls 

 to mind an incident which took place 

 about ten years ago, when moving pic- 

 ture advertising was in its infancy. 



Movie SUdes Waste of Money? 



A trip of approximately 500 miles 

 was made to put before a manufacturer 

 of a highly advertised necessity a 

 proposition to show his advertisement 

 to, say, 10,000,000 people weekly, for a 

 ridiculously low price. The method to be 

 used was moving picture slides. After 

 two or three weeks of careful thought 

 on the part of the manufacturer, the 

 proposition was flatly rejected. This 

 action being unexpected*, the reason was 

 asked. The manufacturer stated that 



he had attended numerous moving pic- 

 ture shows to ascertain just what effect 

 the advertisements had on the audience. 

 He discovered that the advertisements 

 were shown against the wishes of the 

 audience, which was there simply to be 

 amused and nothing more. Further- 

 more, being in attendance simply for 

 amusement purposes, the minds were 

 not in receptive mood, and accordingly, 

 could not grasp his advertisement and 

 would not know whether Old Dutch 

 Cleanser or [Lighthouse Cleaner had 

 been advertised. If this be true of a 

 universally used article, it is more true 

 of flowers. 



Slide advertising for the florist as a 

 means of getting immediate business is 

 not of much value. One will not buy 

 flowers after the show is over. The 

 time to reach the people for this direct 

 business is prior to attending the show. 

 Of course, for some lines of business, 

 such as cafes, candy shops, etc., which 

 have something that can be sold after 

 the show, slide advertising produces 

 immediate results. 



Two Mediums Too Expensive. 



The argument against slide advertis- 

 ing also covers programs. 



Street car cards and billboards are 

 used to best advantage by national 

 advertisers in cooperation with news- 

 paper advertising and are of much less 

 value when used individually. It must 

 be borne in mind that most of the 

 people who attend the moving picture 

 shows read the street car ads and the 

 billboards. 



To use slide advertising, programs, 

 street car and billboard advertising 

 properly, the expense would be prohibi- 

 tive, as advertising must be constantly 

 changed. Street car ads and billboard 

 advertising must be changed or re- 

 painted every thirty or sixty days to 

 be of much value, and the slide adver- 

 tising should be changed daily. How- 

 ever, should you follow newspaper ad- 



