and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



175 



INDIAN AND CEYLON TEAS ; AMERI* 

 CAN ADVERTISING FUND. 



[We have received, with the compliments of 

 the Secretary, il Thirty Committee," the follo- 

 wing report by Mr Blechynden :— ] 

 Report Season 1908-1909. 



I have the honour to submit my annual report 

 for 1908-1909, the fourth season -luring which 

 operations have been conducted by the Joint 

 Fund, and the last, as joint work will now cease. 



General Plan. 



2. My previous reports have been very full 

 and have set forth in detail the system pursued. 

 As the same lines have been followed the ground 

 need not again be traversed here, and freed from 

 the necessity of detailed explanations this report 

 can be made brief. For the sake of uniformity 

 subjects will be dealt with under the general 

 heads previously used. 



Newspaper Advertising. 



3. Towards the middle of season 1907-1908, 

 for reasons of economy, to offset expenses in 

 other directions, considerable reduction was 

 made in the area over which newspaper adver- 

 tising had been conducted up to that time, and 

 at the date of my last report we were using 65 

 newspapers in 33 towns in 4 States vis : Mis- 

 souri, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. Practically 

 all these papers were regularly used for at least 

 three years, and in a number of instances for 

 four years. 



4. During the season special work was ex- 

 tended, and as towns where newspapers are 

 published were covered, the newspaper adver- 

 tising was also extended, so that in March 1909 

 we were finally using 85 newspapers in 44 towns. 



5. As we realised that the advertising in the 

 new places could not be carried on for any 

 treat length of time, we tried to compensate 

 for the absence of that continuous and persis- 

 tent work which is recognised to be the most 

 efficacious, by initiating and finally concluding 

 our advertising, with extra large display. In 

 starting in these new places we used quarter- 

 page display advertisements for some days : 

 these were then reduced to half the size, 

 and in places where the conditions were 

 suitable, grocers' names were in due time added 

 to the regular advertisement. Later, when post 

 cards were being sent to consumers, the news- 

 paper advertisements were changed and included 

 a cut corresponding with the figure shown on 

 the post card. . Finally, during the last two 

 weeks of the season, a double-column five-inch 

 advertisement was placed daily in all the papers 

 we were using. Specimens of the various forms 

 of the advertisements referred to are attached. 

 This season newspaper paper advertising came to 

 about30per centof the total expenditure against 

 54| per cent last season and 66 : \ per cont in 

 1906-1907. 



Special Work. 

 6. The work done by our Special men has 

 been fully described under this head in the 

 reports for the last two seasons. During the 

 season we visited 520 towns and villages, and 

 tea was placed in 1,600 different stores. Those 



bought 57,144 lb. of tea giving an average of 

 about 35-7 lb. per store. Of this 23,099 lb. was 

 black tea and 34,045 lb. green tea, giving an 

 average of 14'4 lb. black and 21 "2 lb, green. 



7. Experience during the year has fully 

 borne out the conclusions previously drawn, 

 that the results obtaiued where our men accom- 

 pany the Jobbers, Salesmen justify the expense. 

 Unaccompanied Salesmen give incongruous 

 results, appear to make spasmodic efforts 

 and finally get discouraged, or confine their 

 efforts to selling green teas, a relatively easy 

 matter. These points might be clearly illus- 

 trated from our records, but I will not burden 

 this report with details. 



Stated briefly an analysis shows sales : — 



With specialty men 16 - C lb. black tea, 20"2 lb. green tea, 

 36"7 lb. per store. 



Without specialty men 7 2 lb. black tea, 24 2 lb. green tea, 

 33' lb. per store. 



With specialty men mailing lists rilled by 7571 per cent, 

 of stores. 



Without specialty men mailing lists filled by 66'49 per 

 cent, of stores. 



8. As our aim is to have our black tea well 

 distributed, so that there shall be a supply 

 immediately available to meet any demand we 

 can create, placing small quantities in a larger 

 number of stores, answers our purpose better 

 than placing large quantities in a few stores. 

 To effect our object requires continuous steady 

 work day by day, and calling at the small as 

 well as the large stores. Our advertising 

 scheme will sell tea to one class as readily as to 

 the other, if it is properly presented. 



Special Territory. 



9. During this season we have tried to round 

 off and fill up the blanks in the territory 

 with which we have been dealing, ^he f out- 

 States mentioned have together about the same 

 area as the two Bengals and Assam, containing 

 over 200,000 square miles with an aggregate 

 population of about 15 millions. These figures 

 include the City of Chicago, with a population 

 of about 2 millions, but we have made no 

 organised attempt to deal with this great city, 

 as to do this effectually we would have to devote 

 our entire efforts and funds to this one 

 purpose for a considerable period. There 

 are special difficulties in dealing with Chicago 

 into which I need not enter. We are likely to 

 get better results at a smaller cost in lesser 

 places, in the aggregate more important to us 

 than that one city. Meantime the packet teas 

 continue active there; while they cannot, or do 

 not, attempt the work we are doing, the result 

 of our work will also benefit them in due time. 



10. Maps are attached to show the places we 

 visited during the season. If these are com- 

 pared with the maps attached to previous re- 

 ports it will be seen that thoro are but few 

 places in these four States left uncovered, and 

 these not important ones. 



Post Cards. 



11. In my last report I mentioned that we 

 had just received a new (the fourth) post can! 

 entitled "A Tea Picker,'' that 153,500 had been 

 printed and some Nine thousand of these used in 

 season 1907-1908. Later another edition of 

 26,000 of this card was printed, so that allowing 

 for the number used last season we had 170,300 



