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OCTOBBB 21, 1920 



The Florists' Review 



31 



ILLINOIS AIJJES OPEN SEASON. 



A Flood of Oratory. 



Called by the announcement that 

 Henry Penn, Boston 's premier publicity- 

 ist, would be the speaker of the evening, 

 one of the largest crowds in the brief 

 history of the Allied Florists' Asso- 

 ciation of Illinois assembled at Hotel 

 Randolph, Chicago, on the evening of 

 October 14 to find there a whole galaxy 

 of stars of the business. Mr. Penn 

 is widely known as Chairman of the S. 

 A. F. committee in charge of the trade 's 

 national publicity campaign and as a 

 uioneer in the use of printers' ink for 

 the development of flower selling. 

 President Asmus introduced him with 

 the statement that last year Mr. Penn's 

 firm spent $32,000 in the newspapers 

 of Boston, almost as much as was spent 

 for all America in the national cam- 



Because of the numerous other visi- 

 tors to be heard from, Mr. Penn cut his 

 speech short, contenting himself with 

 an elaboration of the statement that 

 dignified advertising properly backed 

 up by merchandise and service will 

 build any business, but continuity is 

 necessary to preserve the value of what 

 lias been done before. Mr. Penn said that 

 in his judgment the hope for progress 

 in the national campaign lies in such 

 organization as that just getting into 

 action in Chicago and voiced the be- 

 lief that this city will be found to have 

 set the pace for the country; the trade 

 will soon be organized and at work on 

 the same lines in every large city in 

 America, he predicted. Mr. Penn also 

 said that in great part the success al- 

 ready obtained by the national cam- 

 paign is due in large measure to the 

 thought and work of Chicago's own 

 George Asmus. 



"Blrtliday" O'Keefe. 



Unannounced came Major O'Keefe, 

 the Boston advertising man who coined 

 the trade's slogan, "Say It with 

 Flowers," and who has been identified 

 with the national campaign from its 

 start. Major O'Keefe has a hobby. It 

 is birthdays. He told his audience that 

 it is a matter of official record that 

 there are 300,000 of them every day in 

 America. "Once get the public to send 

 flowers on these anniversaries and your 

 business will have increased many 

 fold," said he. 



Major O'Keefe said that in all his 

 years in the advertising business he 

 never had seen such good results ob- 

 tained for so little money as in the 



case of the campaign for flowers and 

 that he feels certain the trade will see 

 the value and flnd the means to double 

 and quadruple the scope of the work 

 in the course of the next two years. 

 Speaking of the business outlook, Ma- 

 jor O 'Keef e said he would risk his repu- 

 tation as a prophet on the statement 

 that the readjustment now in progress 

 will be completed within a few months 

 and that the flower business, in common 

 with all others based on sound princi- 

 ples, will then go ahead at a pace that 

 will insure steady prosperity and devel- 

 opment. 



How Schling Does It. 



A few weeks ago the writer of this 

 column was in conversation with a 

 senior officer of one of Chicago's larg- 

 est trust companies, a banker whose 

 name is known throughout the financial 

 world. Gardening is his hobby and he 

 knows as much of flowers as many flo- 

 rists do. In the course of that conversa- 

 tion this banker remarked that "Max 

 Schling, of New York, is the most 

 artistic florist in America; he creates 

 pictures, using flowers instead of 

 paints. ' ' Mr. Schling was present at 

 the meeting October 14 and told how 

 he does it. It was a repetition of a 

 lecture given before the F. T. D. at In- 

 dianapolis earlier in the week and con- 

 sisted of a practical demonstration in 

 the use of flowers, supplemented by 

 stereopticon views. The "lecture" was 

 a running talk as he went along. Mr. 

 Schling sought specially to bring out 

 two points: How to create artistic ef- 

 fects and how to do it with the use of 

 the minimum quantity of flowers. His 

 dexterity was a revelation to many of 

 those present and it must be that every 

 retailer gained something of value from 

 listening to him and watching him 

 work. 



Other Notables Present. 



President Asmus found difficulty in 

 providing a place on the program for 

 the numerous trade visitors who were 

 present. E. Allan Peirce, of Waltham, 

 Mass., was there, as was Charles F. 

 Boyle, president of Thomas F. Galvin, 

 Inc., Boston. From nearer home came 

 Vincent J. Gorly, of St. Louis, and C. 

 C. Pollworth, of Milwaukee. The 

 speechmaking was still in progress 

 when train time came for those whose 

 stay was brief. 



The Allied Finances. 



Before the speechmaking began a 

 brief business session was held, notable 

 because it was the first time that fig- 



ures have been given as to the financial 

 affairs of the cooperative publicity 

 campaign. Treasurer William J. Smyth 

 presented the following table of col- 

 lections received by the Allied Florists' 

 Association since the beginning of its 

 operations last spring. It was as fol- 

 lows: 



RECEIPTS. 



March, borrowe<l $ 5,000.00 



April, collections 2,603.15 



May 2,147.11 



June 5.437.53 



July 1,845.09 



August 1,900.28 



September 1,504.99 



October to 13 606.12 



Total $21,104.27 



EXPENDITUUES. 



Advertising and expenses 16,946.63 



Balance October 13 4,157.64 



The expenditures above reported in- 

 cluded the repayment of $3,000 of the 

 bank loan with which the association 

 started business. 



Big Week Coming. 



Secretary Swenson, who is conduct- 

 ing the publicity affairs of the associa- 

 tion, gave a long report regarding the 

 arrangements made for a "Say It with 

 Flowers" week, November 8 to 13. The 

 association has appropriated $3,500 for 

 expenditure in behalf of the undertak- 

 ing. Numerous "stunts" have been 

 devised to arouse public interest. An 

 airplane will be employed, carrying the 

 trade slogan on the under side of its 

 wings and dropping flowers on the city. 

 Prize contests have been arranged, 

 both for florists' window decorations 

 and for flower decorations in the gen- 

 eral stores. Arrangements have been 

 made for the advertising of flowers at 

 banquets and football games that week. 

 On Armistice 4ay flowers will be sent 

 to the military and other hospitals, with 

 the compliments of the association and 

 with prearranged publicity. A press 

 agent has been employed. Every flo- 

 rist is urged to decorate his store. More 

 about the arrangements will be found 

 in the Chicago newsletter this week. 



CHICACK). 



The Market. 



The weather has been too fine for th« 

 best interests of the flower business, 

 forcing considerable quantities of stock 

 on the market while reducing demand 

 for flowers. Nevertheless, business has 

 been excellent, nearly all wholesale 

 houses reporting aggregate sales well 

 ahead of those of a year ago. Shipping 

 trade still is relatively stronger than 

 city trade. Local retailers, as a class, 

 according to -the other branches of th« 



ADVERTISERS PLEASE NOTE 



The steadily increasing size of The Review, both in number of pages 

 and in circulation, makes it imperative that advertising copy be ob- 

 tained farther in advance of publication date. In order that forms may be held 

 open as late as possible, advertisers are urged to send instructions (to start or 

 change) to reach Chicago Thursday, Friday or Saturday, whenever possible. 

 Monday is the last day on which instructions regarding display advertisements 

 can be received for the issue of that week. 



