120 



TWENTY-EIGHTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



ADVERTISING CALIFORNIA FRUIT PRODUCTS. 



By W. D. CURTIS, of Los Angeles. 



I recently saw a statement to this effect: That the young man of 

 to-day must know twice as much as his father did, or he would not be 

 able to make one half as much money, or stand one half as well in the 

 community. To my mind this statement will apply with equal force 

 to the fruitmen of this State, for I believe that the California fruitmen 

 of to-morrow must be twice as well informed as the fruitmen of yester- 

 day, or they can not make one half the money, and their products will 

 not receive one half the recognition in the markets of the world. 



It has always seemed to me that the growers and packers of Cali- 

 fornia fruit products were in a sort of comatose state. They listen to 

 the story of their possible greatness in a half-awake condition, and then 

 when that story is told they go to sleep again. 



Before taking up the main subject for consideration I want to touch 

 very briefly upon the duties that devolve upon the advertising man, and 

 some of the principles that underlie all successful advertising. 



I find many men to-day who still believe that an advertising man is 

 simply a man who prepares, in an attractive way, advertising copy and 

 places it in one or more periodicals. This is in reality but a small part 

 of the work actually performed by an intelligent advertising director. 

 The real student of modern-day publicity probes deeper than that. He 

 is constantly endeavoring to get at the very root of the matter. He 

 studies advertising much as the lawyer studies law, or the doctor 

 medicine. He must be familiar with merchandising in all its phases. 

 He is often called upon to shape the entire advertising campaign and 

 business policy, and to fix the price. He must not only know the relative 

 value of space in newspapers and magazines, on billboards and dead 

 walls, and of the last space left on a programme — I say he must not 

 only be familiar with all of these, but he must also know how to frame 

 an advertisement that will be productive of results, and then after 

 designing the label, and selecting the package or bottle, and preparing 

 the follow-up letters, booklets, catalogues, and other literature, he has 

 to see to it that the plan as a whole is carried out; and it is this last 

 work that often means so much to the future success of an enterprise. 



An advertising man is a sort of sponge; he absorbs ideas and methods 

 from the brightest and brainiest men in every walk and vocation, and 

 then allows himself to be squeezed by this client and that client who 

 comes to him for help, until sometimes he feels that he has been 

 squeezed very dry. 



So much for the man. Now as to a few of the underlying principles. 

 Advertising will probably never become an exact science — there is too 



