34 



The Florists^ Review 



August 21, 1919. 



important service and can be profitably 

 used by anyone seeking to draw to him- 

 self direct results from the magazine 

 publicity. The electrotypes are good for 

 any length of time, irrespective of the 

 magazine advertising. 



Cooperation of Papers. 



The bureau has had the good fortune 

 to secure generous publication of the 

 stories sent out this year for the use of 

 newspapers throughout the country. A 

 judicious distribution of this press mat- 

 ter has resulted in awakened interest on 

 the part of editors and publishers in 

 matters floricultural and horticultural, 

 and in many cases regular departments 

 for the purpose have been inaugurated, 

 the material supplied by various writers 

 attached to their own staffs. It is grati- 



fying to notice that in the main the 

 material so published is beyond censure 

 as to quality, and that absurd state- 

 ments by incompetent writers, so com- 

 mon in matters of this kind so short a 

 time ago, are rarely met with nowadays. 

 Our bureau is continually called upon 

 for information on various subjects flori- 

 cultural, for use along these lines, which 

 information, and any other assistance 

 asked, is cheerfully given. 



Subscriptions Needed. 



And now a word about subscriptions. 

 In spite of the intensive work done by 

 the promotion bureau, subscriptions 

 have come in slowly and the monthly 

 aggregates have not been anything near 

 what might reasonably be expected nor 

 at all near to a ratio which might fur- 



nish a prospect for the completion of the 

 fund of $100,000. Your bureau has sent 

 official letters explanatory of the cam- 

 paign to every known florist, not onco 

 but several times, always enclosing lit- 

 erature which left nothing unexplained. 

 While these efforts were rewarded witli 

 success, it was not such as it ought to 

 have been, considering the great num- 

 ber to whom the appeal for subscriptions 

 was directed, and the fact that the cam- 

 paign experience of last year left no 

 doubt as to results. That many hun- 

 dreds of florists have not responded 

 simply through carelessness is quite be- 

 lieved, and the report of the chairman 

 of the publicity finance committee, 

 which will deal with an organized per- 

 sonal effort to obtain contributions, will 

 bear out this belief. 



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FINANCING THE PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN 



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IT is my opinion that there has been 

 no work taken up by the national or- 

 ganization that has meant so much to 

 every person engaged in our industry, 

 and that the campaign as inaugurated 

 by the society in New York two years 

 ago has brought results far beyond our 

 fondest expectations. 



To those of us who have in charge the 

 financing of this wonderful project, it 

 has seemed from the results obtained 

 the first year, that we ought to have 

 easily doubled our first year's quota, 

 of $40,000 by this time. Over half of 

 the year has passed and we have now 

 about $47,000 subscriptions to date. If 

 money is subscribed in the same propor- 

 tion up until the end of the year, it is 

 possible that we may reach the $75,000 

 mark. This may indeed seem large 

 figures, but when the results obtained 

 are considered, and in one instance the 

 profits of one firm have increased that 

 much and more in one year, it seems 

 ridiculous afi a business proposition, that 

 instead of being solicited the shrewd 

 business man should be overanxious to 

 see that publicity is one of his greatest 

 assets and not only be a big subscriber, 

 but a help to our committee in securing 

 subscriptions from others. 



It has been a difficult and an uphill 

 task to get together the fund we now 

 have. It is true we have had wonderful 

 support from the officers of the society 

 and also from some of the business men 

 throughout the country. It is not to 

 this few that I am alluding, but the 

 great majority. If someone were to come 

 along and show the average grower a 

 device where he could save ten per cent 

 on his coal bills, he would be ready to 

 invest thousands of dollars. But tlie pub- 

 licity campaign can show results that 

 are not only savings, but earnings of a 

 great many times this amount. And yet 

 where are the business men of our pro- 

 fession when it comes to supporting 

 their own advertising campaign? 



There are a number of other indus- 

 tries who have closely watched our cam- 

 paign and are so satisfied with the re- 

 sults obtained that they are copying 

 our methods in all but one thing, and 



Report of George Asmus, chairman of the pub- 

 licity finance committee, presented at the De- 

 troit convention August 19. 



that is their insight to realize what such 

 a campaign meant to their trade by the 

 starting out with sums ranging in double 

 to three times the amount of money ex- 

 pended. 



The average subscriber to the fund 

 has had to be approached, not only 

 through our mail campaign, but by the 

 paid solicitors. This is indeed a deplor- 

 able condition when the results obtained 

 are considered. 



Chairman Penn and his committee are 

 to be congratulated on having con- 

 tracted with the P. F. O'Keefe Agency. 

 It was Major O'Keefe, of this agency, 

 who recommended our slogan, "Say It 

 with Flowers," which is conceded to 

 be, by the brightest advertising men in 

 the country, the best trade slogan ever 

 known by any commercial industry, and 

 which is rapidly becoming a byword to 

 the people of the United States and 

 Canada and I may also add that they 

 are using it in Europe. I was much 

 impressed to find that several customers 

 at our retail stores when enclosing a 

 card with fiowers had used our slogan 

 as one of the best expressions they could 

 think of in connection with the gift. 

 All of this obtained with the expendi- 

 ture of about $60,000. The enormous 

 amount of advertising matter that is ap- 

 pearing in the magazines shows that the 

 advertising brains of this country are 

 unanimous in their opinion that this 

 medium ranks first. Evidently the mag- 

 azines are realizing this, as the rates in 

 most publications have advanced from 

 thirty to 100 per cent. This is another 

 reason that there will have to be more 

 money raised if we wish to have the 

 ]irosperous conditions of the trade con- 

 tinued. 



Evidence of Success. 



Exceedingly few men in our profes- 

 sion a year or more ago thought that 

 there would be any building of green- 

 houses for some time to come. And yet 

 the greenhouse builders are extremely 

 busy and behind with their work. Con- 

 sidering the high cost of material, this 

 is evidence for itself of the success of 

 the campaign. There is no branch of 

 the industry that has not shared in the 

 prosperity and when statistics show us 

 that the amount spent for flowers ])er 

 vear for each individual in the United 



States is only 57 cents, it can easily be 

 seen what the possibilities are. It per- 

 haps will be interesting to know in what 

 proportion each branch of the trade has 

 subscribed, and while the figures I now 

 give you may vary a trifle, they are 

 nearly accurate. 



Sub- 



Dlvision Amount scribers 



Wholesale florists .$4,814.00 66 



Nurserymen 450.00 5 



Greenhouse builders ' 1500.00 5 



Seedsmen 550.00 16 



Dealers in supplies 1,485.00 25 



Retail florists 17,968.00 1,220 



Growers 9,811.00 470 



Total S.35, 578.00 1,807 



F. T. D $ 1,500.00 



("lubs, societies and orRaniKii- 



tions 600.00 



Grand total $37,678.00 



There is an ironclad rule that the 

 space in the magazines must be con- 

 tracted for three months before the date 

 of circulation. The committee has been 

 hampered much by not being able to 

 make definite appropriation and have 

 lost out on some of the best publications 

 and the choice of space for this reason. 

 I point this out to the people who have 

 subscribed for one year only. I hope in 

 the near future that we shall have con- 

 tracts with subscribers for four-year 

 periods and that the total amount will 

 be at least $100,000. 



The results obtained in the coming 

 few years undoubtedly will be much 

 greater, for it must be remembered that 

 the great agitation for publicity has 

 aroused the country so that the florists 

 in all communities are banding together 

 and organizing to carry on a local cam- 

 paign that will tie up with the national. 

 Also wonderful work is being done by 

 the promotion bureau with its sale of 

 dealers' helps and articles. They have 

 been successful in getting into the pa- 

 pers throughout the country and have 

 been of enormous aid. 



Waste of Money. 



Secretary Young has had to bear the 

 burden of this additional work. He has 

 done work that is truly wonderful and 

 saved the subscribers thousands of dol- 

 lars. I wonder if the business men in 

 our j)rofession have ever stopped to con- 

 sider that the solicitation of the fund 

 by mail and otherwise has cost them 

 quite a few thousand dollars, where 



