MAY 21, 1»14. 



The Florists^ Review 



21 



MAKING THE MOST jir 

 nr OF MEMORIAL DAY 



The Purpose of this Article is to get 10,000 Florists to think 

 about ways of increasing the May-end sales of Flowers and Plants 



|F the trade pushes Memorial 

 (lay with the enthusiasm 

 that was put into Mothers' 

 (lay, sales will take another 

 big jump next week. But 

 it is unreasonable to ex- 

 ye("t the business to come 

 without effort. Those days are over. 



"Mothers' day will be what you 

 make it," The Review told the trade. 

 It was. Of course the efforts of the 

 pushers did something to help those 

 who were content with taking such 

 business as might come their way, but 

 the big gains were made by those who 

 advertised; the greatest success was 

 where everybody advertised. It will 

 be so again next week. 



Our Opportunity. 



Memorial day this year affords a 

 double opportunity. Falling on Satur- 

 day, Sunday will see almost as large a 

 use of flowers for cemeteries as does 

 the day set apart for the decoration of 

 graves. It is the trade's opportunity. 



As the sentiment of Memorial day 

 finds its best expression in the use of 

 ''flowers, so does the 

 thought of florists find 

 reflection on the printed 

 page. The retailer who 

 thinks advertises, one 

 way or another, and you 

 can tell what he thinks, 

 and how accurately his 

 mental equipment works, 

 by the advertising he 

 uses. You can pick out 

 from the ad the man who 

 advertises just because 

 his competitors do, and 

 you can pick out the man 

 who has a definite idea 

 of what he wants to ac- 

 complish by his advertis- 

 ing. You can pick out 

 the man who progresses. 



Memorial day did not 

 amount to anything so 

 long as it was confined to 

 the decoration of the 

 graves of those who par- 

 ticipated in "the late un- 

 pleasantness, " but the 

 business began to jump 

 as soon as the public took 

 it up. That the public 

 participation in the dec- 

 oration of graves was of 

 great importance to 

 everyone in the trade a 

 few florists were quick to 

 recognize and to stimu- 

 late this general observ- 

 ance of the day has been 

 the chief aim of some of 

 the most effective adver- 

 tising that has been done. 



WHEN A GOOSE lays an egg, 

 she just waddles off as if she was 

 ashamed of it— because she is a goose. 

 When a hen lays an egg, she calls 

 heaven and earth to witness. The 

 hen is a natural born advertiser. 

 Hence the demand for hens' eggs ex- 

 ceeds the demand for goose eggs, and 

 the hen has 4II the business she can 

 attend to.— Andrew Lang. 



Different Styles of Ads. 



A study of the Memorial day ads 

 used last year by retailers in three 

 widely separated cities, reproduced in 

 this article much reduced in size, will 

 illustrate the point. The student will 

 recognize several distinct styles, and he 

 will note that some of the aiivertise- 

 ments carry the ear-marks of home 



The sentiment of Dec- 



oration Day finds full 



i^y 



expression with Alpha flowers 



'^" Out of the beautiful sentiment of soldier 



grave decoration has grown the habit 



.of paying floral tribute to those men and 



/j( ""^^ women heroes of private life 



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Do not forget the tllent <le«<J, 



Tbe loTeU one* gone before. 

 But mound* of green, with bloMomi nreet. 



Let ALPHA coT«r o*«r. 



Magnolia tcreatht in green and 

 bronze, with bows to match; proof 

 against weather to a large 

 extent; $^ to 



^i 



$5 



iWH SmiVE-TOPLEASr 



LRH/! 



IFloimlco. 



HWS WftlMJT- EHMER PHOMBIB06 



i(c can tlccorate stiu aravm anui/^ik..-. o. « 



few koura' notict. 



any gravt anywhert on a 



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manufacture while others bear the im- 

 press of the professional advertising 

 man. 



These sample ads were submitted 

 to an advertising man for comment. 

 He prefaced his notes with the state- 

 ment that, just as "the proof of the 

 pudding lies in the eating thereof," so 

 the test of advertising is in the results 

 it brings. An advertisement not com- 

 mendable when judged by expert stand- 

 ards may nevertheless bring excellent 

 results — only the results would be like- 

 ly to be better if the advertisement 

 were without faults. Also, in judging^ 

 an advertisement it should be consid- 

 ered that the writer of it was influ- 

 enced by facts within his own busi- 

 ness of which others have no knowl- 

 edge. Here are the friendly comments: 



A Critic's Comments. 



Alpha Floral Co. — Excellent design;, 

 would have been stronger if the ad- 

 vertiser's name had been omitted from 

 the third line, making it read ' ' The 

 sentiment of Decoration day finds full 

 expression in the use of flowers;" 

 would gain by the omis- 

 sion of the verse; setting 

 the higher price in large 

 type puts emphasis on the 

 more expensive wreath, 

 which may or may not be 

 what the advertiser in- 

 tended; the telegraph de- 

 livery sentence is plain 

 and to the point. 



A. Lange — Well worded, 

 but difficult to read be- 

 cause of poor display; po- 

 sition of the cut divides 

 the matter so that one 

 must study the text to- 

 get its sequence; liberal 

 use of costly space nulli- 

 fied by ' faulty arrange- 

 ment; "Flowers • ♦ * * 

 telegraphed to any desti- 

 nation " Tjiils to convey 

 the idea. 



George Wittbold Co.— 

 A good example of the 

 department store style of 

 advertising as applied to 

 the florists' business; too 

 much matter to get the 

 attention of the casual 

 reader, but lists a large 

 variety of stock and tells 

 the prices of it all; evi- 

 dently the work of a man 

 of experience in general 

 lines of retail merchan- 

 dise advertising; well de- 

 signed, but not a styla 

 that can be used effective- 

 ly by the florist who has no 

 greenhouses at his back. 



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