Sbptbmbeu 6, 1917 



The Florists Review 



A State Fair Display by a Florist in tlie City in which the Fair is Held is an Excellent Means of Advertising. 



such advertising and, further, showing 

 whether or not the "good" advertis- 

 ing also was profitable advertising. Per- 

 haps the average exhibitor would main- 

 tain that there is no sure way of check- 

 ing up the results; that such exhibits 

 class as ' ' straight ' ' publicity — simply a 

 means of keeping one's name before 

 the public. If the returns cannot be 

 made to prove the profitableness of the 

 advertising, perhaps enough weak links 

 can be found in it to prove that returns 

 really cannot exist in numbers sufficient 

 to pay the expenses incurred and leave 

 something over in the till. 



The attendance at any state fair is 

 supposed to be representative of the 

 state. Each town or city sends a repre- 

 sentation according to its size and dis- 

 tance from the fair grounds. Then 

 there are the farmers and a compara- 

 tively small number of out-of-state 

 visitors. 



Prom this it is clearly apparent that 

 the retailer who exhibits at a state fair 

 is advertising to the entire state, or 

 rather to a representation of the state. 

 But what does that profit the florist 

 whose business is not state-wide, but 

 local, and confined to the territory in 

 which his establishment is situated? 



When It Is Wasteful. 



As an example, let it be assumed that 

 there were 200,000 visitors at the Illi- 

 nois state fair at Springfield last year, 

 and that 20,000 of these were _ from 

 Chicago. Now suppose that a Chicago 

 retailer, one who carries on a business 

 within the city limits, were to enter a 

 display at the Springfield fair. At a 

 glance it may be seen that, although he 

 would be advertising to 200,000 people, 

 his prospects would number only 20,000, 

 inasmuch as this was the number of 

 Chicagoans at the fair. The Chicago 

 retailer would be in the same position 

 as the medical advertiser who paid for 

 the entire circulation of a popular mag- 

 azine in order to reach a small number 

 of the readers who were medical men. 

 His advertising would be rated as 



ninety per cent wasteful, for only one- 

 tenth of the attendao^ta at the fair are 

 residents of his toHritary. There may 

 and F. T. D. orders in 



be mail order% an 

 the remainint: *i 



aini,n"g 'tiihe-tenths of the at- 

 tendance, but mail-order' flowers as yet 

 do not amount to much and the F. T. D. 

 orders would be handled by other flo- 

 rists at the receiving ends, and these 

 may prefer some other Chicago retailer 

 to the exhibitor. 



Why Go Away to Advertise? 



Then there are other points to be 

 considered by the Chicago state fair ad- 

 vertiser. What kind or type of people 

 are his 20,000 prospects? How many 

 of them are in the flower-buying class? 

 How many are men? How many are 

 women? It is certain that a sifting 

 process of this sort would make for a 

 big reduction in the 20,000 and leave 

 a small field of live prospects. Last, 

 but not least, there is the alternative 

 for the Chicago advertiser to consider. 

 Instead of leaving his territory, would 

 it not be more profitable for him to re- 

 main at home and spend his money on 

 one of the local and less expensive 

 forms of publicity? His attendance 

 then would be as large as the city, and 

 not 20,000. 



It is patent that the small-town flo- 

 rist who goes to the state fair will 

 have a greater percentage of wasteful 

 advertising than the large city florist, 

 for the small town's representation at 

 tlie fair is much smaller than that of 

 the large city. If there were two re- 

 tailers in one town, and one of the two 

 made a display at the state fair, it is 

 certain that the stay-at-home could more 

 than offset his competitor's publicity by 

 using a few inches of space in the 

 town's daily press. 



Where the Tables Turn. 



But quite another angle presents it- 

 self in the case of the florist who car- 

 ries on a local business in the city or 

 town in which the fair is held. Here 



practically the entire popu^tion goes 

 to the fair and the florist. Iio situated 

 has an opportunity to advertise his flow- 

 ers and name to his entire field, besides 

 the large out-of-town crowd. Further- 

 more, this exhibitor has little expense 

 incidental to his display — no express 

 bills, hotel expenses, etc. 



As a good e:^mple of the last-men- 

 tioned class, a state fair exhibit of the 

 State Fair Floral Co., of Sedalia, Mo,, 

 is cited. The State Fair Floral Co, 

 conducts a large business at Sedalia, 

 where the Missouri state fair is held 

 each year. As shown in the accompany- 

 ing illustration, the company had an 

 unusually good exhibit. The design be- 

 hind the wedding gates was a first pre- 

 mium winner, and the display undoubt- 

 edly was profitable publicity. Practi- 

 cally Sedalia 's entire population saw 

 tlie show and the expense incurred by 

 the company surely was much smaller 

 than would be that of a St. Louis florist, 

 who would have to send his display and 

 men across the state, and at that ad- 

 vertise to only a small portion of the 

 St. Louis people. 



Advertising First; Prizes Second, 



In arranging his exhibit at the state 

 fair, the florist should remember that 

 his kind of business,' his name and his 

 address are of more importance than 

 the prizes and first premiums offered by 

 the fair promoters. The florist who 

 hopes to make his state fair advertis- 

 ing pay dividends must feature his 

 name and address. The signs or posters 

 should be attractive and large enough 

 to hinge the display with the adver- 

 tiser; otherwise, the display is simply 

 a decoration and not an advertisement. 



A few years ago a clever state ex- 

 hibitor distributed inexpensive sou- 

 venirs to the spectators who stopped at 

 his booth. Each recipient of the sou- 

 venir was politely requested to write 

 his name and address in a large book. 

 By this method the advertiser sociirol 

 a good-sized iiuiiliiig list, which he later 



