16 



The Florists^ Review 



August 28. 1919. 



lications — 5 cents per family or 1 cent 

 per person in that family. How does 

 he get it backt He does a business of 

 about $120,000,000 per year, or, on a 

 scale of $5 per family, $1 per person; 

 $50,000 wortlfatAf space per year there- 

 fore represents the average of all the 

 advertising, taking the smallest and the 

 largest advertisers, the adequate and 

 the inadequate, and altogether it makes 

 quite a striking average. In our ad- 

 vertising, we select such mediums as 

 we know will reach the family from 

 whom, on account of their environment 

 and resources, we can expect a response. 



Bulk of Opinion. 



But just while we are speaking of re- 

 sponse from advertising, remember it is 

 the bulk of opinion that really attains 

 the results. Everybody cannot afford a 

 Packard or a Pierce-Arrow car, but the 

 masses do their share in building up 

 prestige for these cars by what they 

 think of them. 



John Jones when he can afford a 

 Pierce-Arrow buys one because he 

 knows the masses will pay tribute to 

 his standing and his judgment when he 

 rides in it. He feels that they know 

 he "has the goods," to use a slang 

 expression. 



When your line is established in the 

 life and language of the people — whicli 

 means all classes, everybody — you have 

 added one more international medium of 

 exchange. Any one of us individually 

 would have the greatest difficulty in 

 making our wants known or ourselves 

 understood, but, due to advertisements 

 Mary Pickford, the Gillette safety razor 

 and Bull Durham all speak the same 

 language in any dialect, in any country 



and even to those who do not read or 

 write. 



We can and intend to make our slo- 

 gan, "Say It with Flowers," as well 

 established and embedded in the lan- 

 guage of the people as is Victrola, Ko- 

 dak or Ivory soap. 



A Good Advertisement. 



What is a good advertisement? 

 Should we make it brief and to the 

 point? Most people will tell you so and 

 most people believe they know all about 

 how good advertisements should be 

 written. Or should it tell all in one 

 letter, as the classified boys put it? 



"People haven't time to read. Make 

 the ad short and snappy, ' ' is what 

 nearly everyone will say. Mail order 

 houses that receive direct orders in an- 

 swer to their advertisements know what 

 pays and what doesn 't, what people read 

 and what they don 't read. 



And yet, strangely enough, mail order 

 advertisements are often long. There 

 was one successful advertisement that 

 proved quite profitable that had 2,800 

 words in it. People must therefore read 

 long ads, or these many-worded ads 

 would not pay. 



On the other hand. Cream of Wheat 

 advertisements often have no text at 

 all — just a picture. With no other 

 means of sales promotion, a great busi- 

 ness has been created by this pretty 

 ]»ieture advertising alone. Another 

 great business uses iiictures that are not 

 pretty ones and quite subservient to the 

 text, and makes a tremendous success 

 from that form of advertising. 



It doesn't after all matter much, you 

 see, just how. you convey your ideas to 

 tlic public. The public doesn't stop to 



Herman P. Kooble. 



1 KU-cteil Uin-ctor <if the S. A. F. at llic IVtroit »'onv«*nti<>n. 



worry over sentences. It stops, it looks, 

 it listens, and goes on its way. They 've 

 got your meaning, no matter how you 

 tell it to them, but they judge you ac- 

 cording to your own standard. Are you 

 sincere? Do you mean it? If you are, 

 if you do, the public knows and acts as 

 you want them to. I have seen adver- 

 tisements written and changed and re- 

 written, pictures made and remade and 

 made again, and in the end after all 

 the revisions, after all had stirred the 

 broth, the original and first advertise- 

 ment selected because it was the only 

 one that told the story convincingly. 



Those who contribute to this cam- 

 paign the most will by the nature of all 

 rewards reap the greatest harvest from 

 it. The automobile manufacturer who 

 does not advertise may be said to get 

 some benefit from the advertising of 

 those who boost the game along. But 

 if you look to see who is really making 

 the fortunes, who are reaping the big- 

 gest rewards, you will find it is the 

 manufacturers who contribute the most 

 in investment in advertising. Every 

 cent that any member of the S. A. F. 

 has contributed has been invested to 

 return to him ten and a hundred fold. 

 Those who have not contributed will in 

 the end by the nature of things get less 

 than nothing from it. They will be as 

 those on the outside looking in, learn- 

 ing to the full the meaning of these 

 words, "Alas, now it is too late." 



Future Prospects. 



I am optimistic for the future. We 

 are already able to see light ahead. It 

 is an encouraging sign that business is 

 calmly adjusting itself both for its work 

 in this country and abroad. The na- 

 tion which brought a world war to a 

 crashing, final finish is not to be dis- 

 couraged by the task of getting back 

 to its normal peace time pursuits. 



In spite of higli prices, or of uncer- 

 tainty as to this or that aspect of the 

 labor situation, the future, as I see it, 

 is full of promise. Should there be 

 anyone here who has any misgivings, I 

 would suggest that he run over in his 

 mind a side of the business aspect he 

 may have overlooked. Just bear in mind 

 that the value of our farm production 

 this year amounts to $25,000,000,000. 

 That figure represents the buying power 

 of American farmers for the coming 

 year. For the year ending last June our 

 foreign trade totaled $10,000,000,000. 

 One-half of the manufactures entering 

 into international trade last year were 

 the product of the shops and factories 

 of the United States. 



People Purchasing Freely. 



A survey of the country finds people 

 of all classes purchasing freely. One of 

 the best signs of the underlying con- 

 fidence among business men is to be 

 seen in the number of industrial plants 

 throughout the country that are making 

 large additions to their equipment and 

 otherwise planning for expansion. 



For the last three months business 

 men have been going ahead with in- 

 creasing confidence. In textile, leather, 

 automobile, and other lines, demand al- 

 ready exceeds supply. The starting of 

 new enterprises furnishes additional 

 evidence that the country is rapidly get- 

 ting into its right stride. The first four 

 months of this year saw the new capital 

 issues of approximately $2,500,000,000. 

 Nor is this increasing activity confined 



