M Y L I FE
C HOP KINS
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HA R P E R 0
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VIII Mr
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81 2 4 9 8
T
/ 1 68
E
E
R
H I S book is not written as a persona l history
but a s a business story I ha ve tried to a void
tr ivia lities a nd to confine myself to ma tters of in
structive interest The chief object behind every
episode is to ofier helpful suggestions to those who
will follow me A nd to sa ve them some of the
midnight groping which I did
One night in Los A ngeles I told this story to
B e n Ha mpton wr iter publisher and advertising
man He listened for hours without interruption
beca use he saw in this career so much of value to
beginner s He never rested unti l he h ad my promise
to set down th e story for publication
He wa s right A ny man who by a lifetime of
e xcessive a pplica tion learns more a bout anything
tha n O thers owes a sta tement to successors The
r es ul ts of resear ch should be recorded
Every pio
neer shoul d bla ze his trail Tha t is all I have tried
to do
When th is autobiography was announced as a
ser ial many letters of pr otest ca me to me
Some of
them ca me from the hea ds of big businesses which
I h a d served Behind them a ppear ed th e fear tha t
I would cla im excessive credit to th e hurt of Other s
pride I ree te some of the chapters to elimina te
every possible ca use for such apprehensions
N o ; my only claim for credit is tha t I ha ve prob
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P RE F
AC E
bly worked twice as long as anybody else in th i s
field I have lived for many years in a vortex Of
Nat ura lly I learned more from e x
a dvertising
ri en
e t ha n those who h a d a lesser ch ance
e
c
w
N
o
p
I want tha t exp
erience so fa r as possible to h e l p
I set do w n
Oth ers a void the same di fi cul t climb
these findings solely for the purpose of aiding Other s
to start far up the heights I sca led There is nothing
to be gained for myself save that satisfaction H a d
some one set down a record like this when I bega n
I would ha ve blessed him for it Then with the
efiorts I here descr ibe I might h a ve atta ined some
pea ks in advertising beyond any of us now M ay
I li ve to see Others do tha t
CLA UDE C Hor m
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M Y LI FE
I N A D V E RT I S I NG
te r Om
Cb a p
I NFL UE
EARL Y
fiQ s;
grea test event in my ca reer occurred a year
b efore I wa s born My fa ther selected for me
a Sc o tch mother
She typified in a high degree the
thr if t and caution the intelligence ambition and
e ner g
say ga in most Of
r ra ce
of
Boys
they
h
e
y
their qua lities from their mothers Certainly I in
h er i te d from mine conspicuous conserva tism
The
lac k Of that qua lity h as wrecked more advertising
men more business men than anything else I know
Th a t fact will be empha sized a gain and a gain in
this book I stress it here in tribute to the source of
"
my prudence
Safety first h a s been my guiding
star A Scotch mother is the grea test a sset a boy
Then
ca n h ave who desires a career in a dvertising
economy and ca ution are instinctive with him
They are fundamwta ls Success sa ve by accident
is impossible without them But the lack of these
qua lities ma y be partially corrected by studious
cultiva tion
M ost business wrecks which I have encountered
ar e due to over rea ching
TO reckless specula tion
on a hidden chance To tha t haste which la ughs at
conserva tism To racing a hea d on unblazed trails
in fear tha t some riva l may go farther or get higher
There are exceptions in business but not in a d
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I
LIFE
MY
verti si n
g
ADVERTISIN G
IN
dvertising disasters are due to
r ashness n
e edl ess and inexcusa ble
I do nor mean
r es
Al l of us in th is line attempt
a d Vem smg fai l u
r
a
h
a
e
i
c
ot
be
done
We
de
ling
with
s
c
t
hin
a
W
n
n
g
h
hum
a n n a ture
ith wants prejudices and idio
No
syn
cr a si e s which we ca nnot mea sure up
a mount of experience ca nguide us correctly in even
the ma jority of cases That is why inca ution is an
In every advertising ventur e we
a dvertising crime
are dealing with a pig in the poke
But ordinary failur es mean little They are ex
ry a dvertising venture i n its initia l
E
ve
t
ed
e
c
p
stage mea ns simply feeling the public pul se If
people do not resp
ond the fa ult often lies with the
product or to circumstances beyond control The
loss is a trifle if anything in ventures which are
rightly conducted
Hopes and idea s which fail to
an out are mere incidents
p
I refer to ca ta strophes to the cra sh of wild sp
ecu
la ti ons
I mean advertising men who pilot some
big a nd costly ship to the rocks Those men rarely
recover
Pilots who prove reckless are forever
feared I have seen scores of promising men in this
line wreck themselves with their ships just be ca use
they ventured with all sails sprea d on some un
charted course SO far a s I remember nOt one of
them ever came back The Scotch blood in my
veins h as for thirty five years kept me from such
disa sters
Because of my mother a dime to me h as alwa ys
.
Al l
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ARLY I N EL UE N ca s
3
looked as big as a doll a r Not my dimes only but
the other fellow s dim es I ha ve spent them care
fully b O th as Owner and trustee I have never
ga mbled in a large wa y whether acting for myself
—
So the fa ilures I ha ve made and
or for O thers
—
they ar e many ha ve never counted strongly a ga inst
me I ha ve esca ped the distrust engendered by con
st
s i cuo us disa ster
When
I
lo
I
lost
little
in
p
money a nd nothing in confidence When I won I
Often g a ined millions for my client a n
d a wea lth of
prestige for myself Tha t I largely owe to my
E
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mO th er
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owe h er va stly more She taught me industry
I ca n scarcely remember an hour night or d ay
when mother was na at work She was a college
rea t intellectua l powers
r
du
te
with
g
The
e
a
a
r
g
ca me a time when a s a widow she h ad to support
h er chil dren by tea ching school
Before and after
sch oo l she did the housework In the evenings she
—
wr ote books kindergarten books for schools
When vaca tion ca me she tramped from school to
school to sell them She did the work of three or
four women She developed th ree or four careers
From my earliest years under h e r direction and
incentive I did likewise I ha ve supported myself
since the a ge of nine Other boys wh en they went
to school as I did counted their school work a da y
It was an incident to me Before school I opened
two school houses built the fires and dusted the
sea ts A fter school I swept those school houses
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MY
L
I
F
E
I
N
A D V E x ne
O
4
Then I distributed the Detroi tEveni ng Nem to s ixty
five homes before supper
On Sa turdays I scrubbed the two school house s
an
d distributed bills On Sundays I was a church
j anitor which kept me occupied from early morning
until ten o clock at night In vaca tions I went to
the farm where the working th e was sixteen hours
'
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a
day
.
When the doctor pronounced me too sickly for
sch ool I went to the cedar swamp
There work
in the morning We milked th e
started a t
cows an
d fed the ca ttle before brea kfa st A t
we drove to the swamp ca rrying our lunch with us
All d ay long we cut poles and hewed ties A fter
dinner came another milking ; then we bedded the
ca ttle for the night A t nine o clock we crept up
a la dder to t h e a ttic and our bed
Ye t it never oc
curred to me that I wa s working hard
In after years I did the same in business I h ad no
working hours Wh en I cea sed before midnight
tha t was a holiday for me I often left my office at
two o clock in the morning
Sunda ys were my
best working days beca use there were no inter
ru ti on
s
r
F
r
r
sixteen
ye
s
ft
ente
ing
busines
o
ar
e
a
s
p
I rarely h ad anevening or a Sunda y not occupied by
work
I am nor advising Others to follow my example
I would nor a dvise a boy of mine to do so Life
holds so many Other things more important than
success that work in moderation
roba bly br ings
p
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E A RL Y
mo r e joy
INF L U ENC ES
But the man who works twice as long
a s h i s fellows is bound to go twice as far especia lly
i n a d vertising
O ne ca nnot get around tha t Th ere is some d if
fer e nce in brains of course but it is nOt so impor
t a nt a s the difference in industry Th e man who
d o es two or t h ree times the work of another learns
He ma kes more mis
two or three times a s much
ta ke s and more successes and he learns from bo rh
If I h a ve gone higher than O thers in a dvertising or
done more the fact is not due to exceptional a bility
but to exceptional hours It mea ns th a t a manh as
ro
s a c rificed all else in life to excel in this one p
fes si o n It means a man to be pitied ra ther than
envied perhaps
Once I said in a speech I figure tha t I have
spent seventy years in advertising The time is only
th i rty five years by the ca lendar but mea sured by
ordinary working hours and amount of work ac
Fru
complished I ha ve lived two years in one
r
l
r
a
i
a
i
c
a
u
ion
kept
me
om
dis
st
but
t
a
n
f
n
d
t
e
g
y
d ustry taught me a dvertising and made me what
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a
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Th rough fa ther I gained poverty and tha t was
ano ther blessin
g Father wa s the son of a clergy
man His ancestors far back h ad been clergymen
b red and schooled in p
overty so this was his
na tura l sta te
I owe much to that condition It took me among
the common p
eop
le of whom God made so many
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MY e
6
I N ADVERTISING
E
came to know them their wants and impulses
their struggles and economies their simplicities
Those common people whom I know so well be
ca me my future customers When I ta lk to them
in print or in person they recognize me as one of
their kind
ress th e rich for I
I am sure that I could not imp
do nor know them I ha ve never tried to sell wha t
they buy I am sure I would fail if I tried to ad
verti se th e Rolls Royce
Tiffany 8: Company or
Steinwa y pianos I do nOt know the na ti ons of
the rich But I do know the common people I
love to ta lk to la boring men to s tudy housewives
who must count their pennies to ga in the confi
dence and learn th e ambitions of poor boys and
girls Give me someth ing which they want and I
will strike the responsive chord My words will
be simple my sentences short Scholars may ridi
cule my style The rich and vain ma y la ugh at th e
factors which I fea ture But in millions of hum ble
homes the common people will rea d and buy They
will feel that the writer knows them A nd they
in advertising form 9 5 p
er cent of our customers
To p
overty I owe ma ny experiences which taught
me salesma nship Had it nor been for poverty I
would never ha ve been a house to house canva sser
an
d there I learned th e most I know a bout human
nature as a pplied to spending money Canva ssing
is a wonderful school One of the grea test ad ver
tising men this country h as developed always went
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A RLY I N B L U ENCE O
7
rint
erson before he tried to se ll in p
o u t to se ll in p
I h a ve known him to spend weeks in going from
I
fa rm to farm to learn the farmer s vi ewpo int
h a v e known him to ring a thousand door bells to
an s an
the
wom
gle
i
n
a
g
T o poverty I owe the fact that I never went to
I spent those four year s in th e school of
co ll ege
I know
s tea d of a school of theory
e rience in
ex p
no thing of value which an advertising mancan be
ta ug ht in college I know of many things taught
th e r e which h e will need to unlea rn before he ca n
r ed uca tion
r
r
p
c
ic
l
cou
s
e
Th
e
n
highe
a
t
ste e r an
a
y
rs to me a handica p to a manwhose lifetim e
a
ap
e
p
ealing to common people
wo r k consists in app
O f cour se we h ad no a dvertising courses in my
sch o ol da ys no courses in salesma nship or journal
i sm I am sure i twould be better if we did not have
them n
I have rea d some of those cour ses
ow
They were so misleading so impractica l tha t they
e x as pera ted me
Once a man brought me fi om a
r
r
r
i
s
t
t
chnic
a
l
chool
th
e
i
cou
se
n
a
dv
tising
r
e
ea
e
g
and a sked me h ow to improve it
W
henI rea d it I
“
sa i d
Burn it You ha ve no righ t to occupy a
young ma n s most impressive years most precious
year s with rot like tha t If he spends four years
to lea rn such theories he will spen
d a doz en years
to unlearn them
Then he will be so far behind in
th e ra ce tha t he will never a ttempt to ca tch up
A s I said I was exa spera ted
I left a bad im
n
i
u
e
l
s
a
s
B
o
l
m
e
how
college
p
ofes
o
who
t
r
r
t
e
s
p
E
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,
I N A DV
T
ER
ISIN G
8
h as lived his life in an e duca tional Cloister ca n be
fitted to teach advertising or practical business
Those things be long to the school of rea l business
They are learned nowhere else I ha ve ta lked with
hundreds of men on this subject I h ave watched
th e vagaries of men who for la ck of educa t i on
pla ce a halo on men who have it I ha ve gone to
college s entered their cla sses listened to their lec
I went with respect for I belong to a college
tures
family I was born on a college ca mpus Fa ther
and mother were bOth college gra dua tes my gra nd
father was one Of the founders of a college My
sister and my da ug h ter ha ve college educa tions
I am weighi ng my words I ha ve watched count
In an advertising
less college men i n business
a gency of which I wa s h ead we employe d college
men even as ofi ce boys M any a client Of m ine
—
h as adopted th e same policy to employ none but
The whole idea was to employ men
college men
with training which th e employers lacked and of
which they kee nly felt th e lack But I cannot
remember one of those men who ever ga ined a
m
ace
enwho spent those college
r
ominent
pl
The
p
years in practica l business h ad an overwhelming
As far as advertising is concerned one
a dvanta ge
can learn more in one week s ta lk with farm folks
than by a year in a ny cla ssroom I know
To Will Carleton I Owe the influence wh ich di
I was destined
rooted my course from the minis try
to be a clergyma n
I came from a clerica l ancestry
MY
L I FE
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MY LI FE
10
he stop
ped
IN
ADVERTISIN G
home and he found there the
ul tra religious atmosphere nOt plea sa nt for a boy
A fter one of h is visits he wrote a ballad ba sed on
l
l
B
a
a
d
s
tha t experience It was pu blished in his Ci t
y
“
There Wasn t A ny Room for
an
d the title was
His Heart
It recited the tale a young man told
the sh erifl on his way to prison The tale Of a
Scorch Pres byterian home where religion was fa na t
The boy through this repression was
ici sm
dr iven into crime Will Carleton in that ba lla d
ma de me the victim of tha t religious tragedy and
sent me a copy of the book
Th at b alla d h ad a greater influence on my career
th an a ll my family tea chings I admired Will
Carleton I wanted to be when I grew up a famous
manlike h im His attitude on my home l ife a greed
with mine of course A nd when such a managreed
with me he gave my opinions weight Ever after
that Will Carleton beca me my guiding star Hi s
attitude on religious fana ticism showed me for the
first ti me that there was another side
I went on studying for the ministry I was a
preach er at seventeen I preached in Chica go at
eighteen But the course of thought which Will
Carleton started eventually made a religious career
impossible for me
A nother event h ad a grea t eflect My sister and
I h a d been ill M a th er h ad nur sed us and cared for
us During our convalescence she read to us Uncle
Tom s Cabi n A li ttle later I learned tha t the play
at our
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ARLY INFL UENCE S
11
was coming to town so I ma de arrangements to
distribute the bills and earn some tickets for it
A ft er much per suasion mOth er agreed to let us see
th e pla y
The time was a week ahea d and the days passed
with leaden steps On the morning of the great day
I arose a t four O clock The d a y seemed endless
A t seveno clock in the evening my sister and I were
unab le to wait longer so we induced our mother to
st a rt with us for the town ha ll
On th e way we met the Presbyterian minister
He was a n old bachelor who h a d forgotten his
youth Children insti nctively shrank away from
h i m so I sensed in his appro ach a ca lamity
“
He a ccosted us and said : Well si ster I see you
I love to see a mOth er and h er
are out for a stroll
ch ildren in such p
erfect harmony
“
M other replied
Yes broth er we are out for a
stroll But for more than tha t I feel I should tell
you something These children have be en ill
During their recovery I read them Uncle Tom s
Ca bi n They beca me intensely interested Tonight
the play is coming to town and this boy h a s ea rned
I ha ve agreed to take the children
th e tickets
to the play It cannot be worse than the b ook and
the book h as certainly been a grea t factor for good
The bachelor clergyman replied :
I see your
logic sister and I sympa thize with your desire
The book did prove itself a factor of tremendous
r this :
ren will
r
ood
But
emembe
Those
child
g
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ADVERTISIN G
M Y LI FE I N
11
omet ime go out from your ca re They will see the
lights of the devil s pl ayhouses urging them to
enter Wha t will they sa y whenthose tempta tions
come ? Will they say tha t their mother took them
"
to thei r first pla y so they should not hesita te P
M Oth er replied : You a re right I must nOt set
this b a d example : A nd she turned and took us
home I n one moment I lost all respect for wha t
mother typified and I never re ga ine d th a t respe ct
A nother ma n exerted a remar ka b l e influence on
my impressive year s : He wa s a ra ilroad section
er day
He
bossed
foreman working for
p
several men whose wa ges were
er d ay
p
Upto the a ge of six or seven I was surrounded by
college students at pla y I knew nothing of the
serious side of student life but I saw all the college
pranks Thus I ga ined a rather firm idea that all
life wa s a playground
This section foreman reversed that idea He i m
pressed me with the difference between him and his
helpers The helpers worked from necessity They
did as little a s possible They counted the hour s to
quitting time then on Saturday nights they would
go to the city and spend a ll they h ad earned in th e
week
The foreman worked with enthusia sm He said
Boys let us lay so many ties toda y Le t us get
t h is stretch in fine shape
The men would go at
it stoica lly and work as though work wa s a bore
B ut th e foreman made the work a game
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ARLY INFL UENCES
13
That man built his home in the evenings aft er
He cultivated a
ten hour da ys on the ra ilroa d
ga rden around it Then he married th e prettiest
gi r l in the section and lived a life of bliss Even
n
ost
b
ut
tua lly he wa s called to some higher
Ot
p
until I learned gr eat lessons from him
Look a tthose boys pla y ba ll he sa id
That s
wh a t I call har d wor k Here I am shingling a roof
I am racing with time I know what surface I must
cover before s unset to fulfill my sti nt That s my
idea of fun
“
Look a t those fellows whittling discussing
ra il r o a ds
talking politics The most tha t any of
them know a bout a rai lroa d is how to drive a
spike They will always do that and no more
Not e wha t I ha ve done while they loafed there thi s
—
evening b uilt most of the porch on my home
SoonI will be sitting there in comfort ma ki ng love
to a pretty wife They will a lways be sitting on
those soap boxes around the grocery stove Which
"
is wor k and which pla y P
“
I f a thing is useful they call it wor k if useless
they ca ll it pla y One is as hard as the Other One
I n b Oth
can b e just a s much a game a s the O ther
there is rivalry Th ere s a struggle to excel the
"
rest
All th e difference I see lies 1nattitude of mind
I never forgot those tal ks That man was to me
wha t James Lucey was to Calvin Coolidge I ca n
“
say to him now a s Coolidge sai d
Were it not for
you I should nor be here
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MY Li r a m o nnnsm o
In later year s I W e a director of the Volunteers
d ma de a study of life s derelicts I
of A ma i ca an
studied them in the soup kitchens in prisons and
on par ole Their great tr ouble was nor laziness
but too much love of pla y Or ra ther a wr ong
idea of pla y Most of them h ad in their youth
worked every wa ki ng hour But some worked at
ba ll th rowing while Others hoed the corn Some
pocketed balls while Others pocketed orders Some
of their home runs were recorded in chalk while
O thers
wer e carved in stone Al l th e difference
lay in a d ifferent idea of fun
I came to love work as Other men love golf I
love it still Many a time I beg 06 from a bridge
game a di nner or a dance to spend the eveni ng in
my ofi ce I stea l away from week end parties at
my country home to enjoy a few hours at my type
writer
So the love of work can be cultiva ted just like
the love of pla y The terms are interchangea ble
What Others call work I call play and vi ce versa
We do best wha t we like best If that is chasing a
polo ball one will probably excel in tha t If i t
means checkma ting competitors or getting a home
runin something worth while he will excel in th a t
So it means a grea t deal when a young man can
come to regard his life work a s the most fa scina ting
game tha t he knows A nd it should be The ap
The
ppl
u
l
a use of a thletics dies in a moment
a
a
s
e
p
of success gives one cheer to the grave
14
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ter Two
Cb a p
L E S S O N S I N A DV E R T I S I NG A
ND
S E L L I NG
A THER
owned a newspaper in a prosperous
lumbering city The people h ad money to
We smile now
spend so advertise rs flocked th ere
as we remem ber th e a d s of those da ys
b ut we
smile at th e hoopski rts too
Most of th e a dvertisements were pa id for in trade
Our home beca me a wa rehouse of a dvertised mer
I remember that a t one th e we h ad
d i se
ch an
six pianos an
d six sewing machines in stock
One of the products which fa ther a dvertised was
Vinegar Bitters
I afterward learned its history
A vinegar ma ker spoiled a ba tch throug h some
queer fermenta tion Thus he produced a product
wei rd in its oflensi veness The people of those
da ys believed tha t medicine must be horrible to be
“
efl ecti ve
We h ad oils and ointments for man or
We used
b ea S t which would ma ke either wild
“
”
sna ke oil and skunk oil presuma bly beca use
of their na mes Unless the cure was worse than
th e disea se no one woul d respe ct it
So we h ad all sorts of bitters Vinegar Bitters
was th e worst of its ki nd and therefore the most
popular Fa ther accepted tha t wretch ed stuff
—
dozens of b Ottles i n payment for the a dvertising
People came to us fOr pianos organs sewing ma
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M Y L I FE
16
ADVERTISING
IN
hines etc but nor for medicines So our stock
of Vinegar Bitters a cc umula ted
M Oth er being Scorch could nor tolerate wa ste
She was bound to use up that medicine and I
being the sickly one of the fa mily was th e victim
I took Vinegar Bitters morning noon and night
If the ma kers of tha t remedy a re still in existence
I can testify tha t since th en I ha ve ha d remar ka ble
hea lth
Fa ther in his newspaper ofi ce also printed bills
I used to study them ; sometimes I would set them
Then I would go to the advertiser and solicit the
job of distributing There were one thousa nd
homes in our city I would offer to place one bill
in each home for $1 It meant traveling some
thirty five miles Other boys oflere d to do the
same job for
b ut they would place several
bills in a home a nd would skip all the far away
h omes I a sked a dvertisers to compare the resul ts
d I soon obtained a monopoly
an
That wa s my first experience with traced results
It t aught me to sta nd for known and compared
returns a n
d I have urged them ever since In no
O ther way ca n rea l service revea l its a dvant a ge
Doing a nything blindly is folly
When I wa s ten years old mother was left a
widow From tha t time on I h ad to support myself
d contribute to the support of the fa mily I did
an
t
this in many wa ys but the only ways which co un
r
r
a
he e
e those which aflecre d my after ca reer
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MY L I r E IN A D VE RYI sI NO
tion They showed in some dramatic way wha t
the product they sold would do It is amazing
how ma ny advertisers know less tha n those men
a bout sa lesmanship
I shall deal with this further The subject is
very nea r to my heart I touch on it here to show
where I learned the rudiments of coupons Since
then I have sent out in magazines and newspapers
hundreds of millions of coupons Some were good
for a sample some were good for a full sized pack
r
a
sto
e
M
y
n
me
is
identified
with
a g e free at a n
y
this system of advertising I ha ve sampled every
sort of thing Nothing else h as done so much to
ma ke me a factor in advertising Yet how simple
it is a nd how natural Doing what every salesman
must do every ca nvasser and fa ker N one but
those who regard advertising as some magic dream
land will ever try to sell without sampling
A nother way I found to ma ke money was b y sell
ing books The profit was 1 00 p
t and the
er c en
field appea red inviting One da y I rea d that A llen
Pi nkerton the grea t detective h ad written his life
history N0 need to say that A llen Pinkerton was
So I induced
th e her o of all boys of those times
mother to invest our little capital in a supply of
A ll en Pinkerton s books
I remem ber when the books came in I spread
them over the floor I was sure tha t all people
were waiting to get them I was anxious to rush
out an
d supply them
18
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IN
A DV
ERTISIN G A ND sE LL I NO 1 9
"
M other sai d : Get the lea di ng menfirst They
will bring in the others
So I went up tha t mom
—
—
ing to the ma yor Mr Resigne before he left his
home He received me very cordia lly I was a
widow s son I h ad the cordial support of all our
bes t people in my efl orts to ma ke money A nd I
have learned since that every young person h as
A ma nwho has made a success d esires to see others
ma ke a success A manwho h a s worked wants to
I am that way Countless young
see O thers wor k
people now flock to my home but the welcome ones
are those who wor k whether young menor young
women A boy having a good time onhis fa ther s
money h as alwa ys been ofiensive to me So to a
degree a young woman If there is to be any
equa lity between the sexes there should be equa lity
in efiort People of either sex m ust justify existe nce
Some through circumstances may not fully earn
their way but they should strive to do so I a bhor
drones A nd I believe tha t my influence h as driven
ma ny men and women to grea ter ha ppiness
I realize now why M r Resigne received me so
a t morning
w
a s a town boy strug
olitely
th
I
p
gling to succeed Never in my busiest hour ha ve
I ever refused to meet such a boy or girl myself I
have spent many precious hour s with them financed
Th ere is nothing I admire
them and advised them
more than the spirit to win one s way
But I struck a snag that morning Mr Re signe
was a deeply religious man He h ad some ex treme
LassONs
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LI F E
A DV
ERTISIN G
One idea of his was that a
an
d exacting ideals
detective dea ling with crimi na ls h a d no place in
polite society He h ad outgrown the hero sta ge
He listened to me until I brought out my book
Then he ga ve it one glance and threw th e book i n
my lap He said You are welcome in my home
but nor your book One of you must depart You
may sta y here as long as you wish to but your
book must go into the street I consid er tha t an
A llen Pinkerton book is an offense to all I sta nd
MY
IN
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for
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That was a revela tion I have seen it exemplified
Hundreds of men have
scores of times since then
discussed their pet projects with me Boards of
directors have gravely decided that the world must
be on their side I have urged them to ma ke tests
to feel out th e public pulse I ha ve told them tha t
ra l could never be judged by our
eople
in
gene
p
Some ha ve listened and profited some ha ve
selves
Sometimes those who de
scorned my opinions
cided to judge the world by themselves succeeded
Four times in five they fa iled I know of nothing
more ridiculous than gray ha ired boards of di
rectors deciding on wh a t housewives want
In the particular case which I recite the odds
were in my favor I went home from the ma yor s
house discouraged I never dreamed th a t such
Opinions a bout detective stories my loved stori es
could exist
M other encouraged me She sa id : Go among
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LESS ONS
ADVERTI SIN G
IN
S E LL IN G
A ND
‘
’
arn
usine
L
e
ss men ; go down to the Big Store
b
wha t th ey say a bout it
I did so The ma na ger
bought a book Then he took me around among
h i s ofi ce force and sold six more books for me I
ma de a big clean upon A llen Pinkerton s book
Th a t taught me another lesson We must never
a nity by ourselves
a
udge
hum
The
things
we
w
nt
j
the things we like ma y appeal to a sma ll minority
The losses occa sioned in a dvertis ing by venturing
a y the na tiona l
on persona l preference would ea sily p
debt We live in a democracy On every law th ere
So in every preference every
are divided opini ons
want Only the obstina te the bone hea ded will
venture far on persona l opinion We must submi t
all things in a dvertising as in everything else to
th e court of public opinion
This you will see is the ma in th eme of thi s
book I own an ocean going yacht but do you
suppos e I woul d ventur e across a n ocean withou t
If I ha ve no such records I
a chart or compa ss ?
ta ke soundings all the wa y
We are influenced by our surroundings Th e
r
e rous mingle with the prosperous so do thos e
osp
p
The higher we
of cer ta in li kes an
d inclina tions
a scend the farther we proceed from ordin ar y huma n
ity Tha t will nor do in adverti sing
I ha ve se en hundreds of a ttempts and thousands
ro cots which h ad no cha n ce wha tever
of p
Jus
t
j
beca use some bigoted men judged the many by the
few I ha ve ta ken part in such enterprises but
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MY LIFE
IN
ADVERTISIN G
nly because of some business requirements Men
coul d nor be convinced They were going ahead
on their limited conceptions whether they were
wrong or right I ha ve done my duty by showing
them the way or showing them th e rocks at th e
lea st possible expense
Let me di gress here to say tha t the roa d to success
lies through ordinary people They form th e vast
ma jority The ma n who knows them and is one
of them stands the va stly better chance
Some of th e grea test successes I ha ve ever known
in advertising were ignorant men Two are now
heads of agencies One of them h as ma de much
—
money in advertising a man who can hardly sign
his name But he knew ordinary people and th e
ordinary pe ople bought what he h a d to sell
One of th em wrote copy whi ch would induce a
farmer to mortgage his barn to respond But hi s
every sentence h ad to be edited for grammar
Now college men come to us by the hundreds and
"
“
sa y
We ha ve education we have literary style
I say to them tha t borh those things are handicaps
Th e grea t m a jority of men and women cannot ap
recia te literary style
r it
a
I
f
they
do
they
f
e
p
They fear over i nfluence when it comes to spending
money A ny uni que style exci tes suspici on A ny
evident efl ort to sell creates corresponding resist
ance
A ny appe al which seems to come from a
high er cla ss arouses their resentment A ny dicta
tion is abhorrent to us all
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LESSONS
x
I N A D vn
nsI N O
A ND
SE LLIN G
a;
time we are see king in advertising men
with th e impul ses of the ma jority We never ask
th eir education never their literary qua lifica tions
Those la cks are ea sily supp
lied But let a manprove
to us that he understa nds human nature and we
welcome him wi th op
enarms
Let me ci te two or three examples
One day I
received a letter fr om a man who h ad eviden
tly
He sa id There is a grea t
addressed me a trandom
demand for rea dy made mea t pies and I ma ke them
I have named them Mrs Brown s Mea t Pies be
cause people like home cooki ng I have crea ted a
considera ble demand and I know th ere exists a
much larger demand I want capital to expand it
I saw in tha t man primeval instincts His mea t
s d i d not a ttract me
r
r
a
ie
but
his
e
nsight
to
i
p
human nature did So I sent out a man to investi
gate He found tha t the writer was a night coo k
in a shabby restaurant at $8 p
I brought
er week
r
him to my ofi ce and I oflered him
w
ek
to
e
e
p
learn advertising He came with me and he is
now one of the lea ding advertising men of th e
country
A nother mancame to Ch icago from Manitowoc
Wisconsin He ate brea kfast at a Thompson re s
ta ura nt
He found there a ba ked apple whi ch re
minded him of his home He said to h imx lf
“
There are thousands of men who come as I do
from th e country to Ch icago Two thirds of th e
All th e
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s
E
A
D
n
I NO
I
N
V
x
MY
L
I
F
E
14
I sh oul d tell them a bout
ci ty consists of th em
th ose ba ked apples
He wrote upa page ad on ba ked app
les and sub
mitred it to John R Thompson M r Thompson
d th e pa tronage of his resta urants
agreed to runit an
i ncreas ed at once Tha t was the beginning of an
g campa i gn which mul ti pli ed th e pa tron
a dvertisin
ch rooms an
d made their
age of th e Thompson lun
owner many times a milli onaire
Most young men and most be ginners think tha t
My experience i s
th e older men overlook th em
Tha t
tha t menin business are looking for capa ci ty
i s th e crying dearth The more we know the more
we realize the volume of work to be done The
r
n
e
line
few
look
a
d
ll
a
a
r
a
e
a ble worker s in an
y
ing for relief and help A ll who see th e rea li ties
are anxious to find Others who ca n see them
That first Thompson a d was published on Sun
day morning I wa s hea d of the copy department
I was seeking for
in a l arge a dvertising agency
ne w tal ent Tha t very morning I found the man
who wrote that ad and brought him to my hotel
—
r
r
r
e
a
a
m
a
n
I oflered him
ye
f
om
sm
l
a
a
l
p
town in Wisconsin who h ad never earned one fifth
I saw in him one of th e few men who knew
tha t
e
ple
a s I know them
o
p
He did nor accept for he saw in hi s first ad th e
He went on and
chance to indepe ndent success
won it He pictured to the country boys of the
own at home Dough
ci ty th e foods they h ad kn
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MY L I F E I N A D V E R rI sI NO
humble pe ople They came from hum ble peop
le
and they know them
Those people are canny economi cal thrifty sus
i
i
u
s
are not ea sily fooled on ordina ry
They
c
o
p
purchases The hi ghl y educa ted man the manwho
h a s lived in a d ifl erent environment cannot under
stand them !
We see toda y that the heads of large enterprises
They know
are men who arose from th e ranks
their a ssocia tes all the way up the men they com
mand and infl uence Yet there is no line in which
such knowledge is more important th an in adver
So the lowly experiences I ha ve cited here
rising
ar e indicative of the chief requirements in adver
ris ing in business or in politics
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te r lTb r e s
Ch a p
M Y S T A R T I N B US I NE S S
P TO my gradua tion from high school my
ambition wa s the ministry
I was anearnest
Bible student The grea test game we h ad in our
house was repe a ting Bible verses We took turns
a s in a spelling bee going a round the circle until
a ll dr opped out s a ve one
I was always tha t one
I h ad memorized more verses th an anyone I met
r
r
s
ften
the
ministe
d
opped
in
but
he
no
w
a
!O
competitor of mine in a Bible competition I knew
severa l times as many verses A t the age of seven
I wa s writing sermons and setting them in my
Often in prayer meetings
father s printing ofi ce
I spoke a short sermon Thus all came to regar d
me a s a coming pulpit ora tor I was ma de vale
My gra dua ting
d i crorian of my cla ss a t school
es sa y was on ambition a nd I still remember how
I denounced it how I pleaded for poverty and
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During
the following summer I preached every
Sunday in a country school where I ta ught The
school wa s twelve miles from my home but I
walked there with my luggage I found tha t no
one on the school board could rea d or write The
head of the school board and lea der in his com
munity gained his distinction th rough a barrel of
.
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.
37
MY L IF E
IN
ADVERTISING
whisky which stood in the corner of h is living
room
It h a d floa ted a shore from a wreck on La ke
Mi chi gan The man was generous with it so h is
home W e the headquar ters of the community
The onl y other furniture in th e room consisted
of a woo d stove and three soap boxes Sitting on
one of those soap boxes I s truggled to convince
the illitera te man th at I was qualified to teach I
did so at la st by rea ding a joke from an almanac
Tha t pamphlet constituted his entire library and
my reading of it was a revela tion to him Tha t
was another lesson NOt tha t I have dealt largely
with illiterate pe ople but with very simple p
eople
I love and know their natural
A nd I love them
instincts and reactions
ay
Then came the question of p
They were plan
ni ng two months of summer school We went to
th e home of the trea s urer a nd counted th e district
resources
They amounted to
and I was
ofiere d th at sum for my tea ching
I found a farm home which h ad a new organ and
two girls who wanted to play I offered to give
them music lessons plus one dollar p
er week for
my board My savings that summer amounted to
r
e
s
r
t
a
mon
h
It
long
long
t
me
ft
w
a
i
e
a
$35 p
en
tering business before I saved as much
I was the teacher in th at community on week
da ys and the minister on Sundays A nd I learned
there every day new lessons about peop
le That
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MY STA RT I N
ESS
B USIN
will rea lize as you go along is th e most I have
ever learned
When tha t summ er was over I went to Chicago
Mother wa s visiting at th e home of Doctor Mill s
i nBrighton Par k and I joined h er The day after
my arrival wa s Sunday Inthe afternoon th e min
ister came to call He was ill The next day he
wa s lea ving for an extended va ca tion He told us
how he dr eaded to preach that night so mOth er
suggested tha t I should relieve him I was a
student for the ministry
I recognized tha t a s a crisis I h ad be en growing
a wa y from mother s st rict idea s of religion
I knew
that she could nor approve of me if she knew me
as I wa s
She wa s a fundamenta list She believed
in a persona l devil in hell fire and in all th e mi r
To h er the Bible was a history inspired by
acl es
its writers and to be ta ken litera lly The eart h
was erea te d in six days Eve wa s derived from
A dam s ri b
William Jennings Bryan would ha ve
been mother s idol
I h ad beengrowing a way from h er orthodox con
It would
cep
ti ons but I h ad not dar ed to tell h er
mean the destruction of h er fondest illusions But
during th e summer I h ad prepared a sermon based
on my ideas of religion It countenanced the harm
less joys of life which h ad been barred to me I t
ar g ued a ga inst hell fire a gainst infa nt damna tion
It even questioned
a gai nst the discipline I knew
th e story of the crea ti on an
d of j onah and th e whal e
u
o
y
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MY
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L I FE
ADVERTISIN G
IN
I resolved to deliver th e sermon that nigh t and
face the consequences I was eighteen then Never
since then ha ve I dar ed to face a crisis like that
Unless I entered the ministry I felt tha t my school
days were ended I h ad come to Chicago to decide
on my course and this was the test
That evening in the pulpit rem ains one Of my
clearest memories
There were eight hundred
people in the audience a veraging twice my age
But I forgot them all M Oth er wa s the only a u
d i tor whom I h a d in mind I knew that the mi n
ister who sat behind me was mother s friend His
orthodox idea s agreed with hers So I felt myself
N ever since ha ve I
a ra dica l of the deepest dye
faced to my knowled ge such una nimous oppos
iti on Tha t sermon I consider the most
event of my life
A s the sermon progr ess ed the minister grew rest
less Mother s face was an enigma The audience
When I fini shed the minister
a ppea red appa lled
pronounced a trem bling benediction The a udience
fil ed out in silence NOt a man or woman came to
greet me Then I knew myself anoutcast from the
flocks I h ad hoped to lea d
M Oth er walked home in silence She said no
word to me that night but I knew that I h a d
brought myself to the parting of th e wa ys The
next d ay she asked me to lunch wi th h er down
town A t a ta ble on Dearborn Street she opened
the subject by stating tha t I no longer was h er son
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S TA RT
ESS
!
3
I waited for nothing further but arose and walked
out on the S treet There I closed th e door forever
on a clergyman s career
Mother was never the same to me again She
coul d not forgive my delinquency We rarely met
after tha t da y
She lived to see me successful in
Oth er occupations
but she never di scussed them
with me I h ad blighted h er ambitions But if
a dvertising h a d ever been ma de to me a s oppressive
as religion I wo uld ha ve a bandoned that
I have
in fact quit ma ny a big account beca use of some
what similar rea sons I believe every man should
do so NO man can succeed in any line where he
finds himself in disagreement and where unh appi
ness results I consider business as a game and I
a t is wh y I ha ve be en and
a y it a s a game
l
Th
p
still am so de VOted to it
On that fateful day out on Dear born Street I
felt in my pocket and found onl y three dollars Th e
I
rest of my sa vings h ad been left in Michigan
thought of Spring Lake where my uncle h ad a
fruit farm It was fruit picking time so I resolved
to get there and pick fruit
I went down to the harbor and found several
lumber vessels from Muskegon The captain of
one of them let me work my way across as chore
boy in the kitchen From Muskegon I walked to
Spring Lake and arranged to pick fr uit for my
r da y
rnings
a
e
Those
e
uncle and O ther s at
p
with my sa vings as a school teacher gave me over
MY
B USIN
IN
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3
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$
1 00
LIEE IN
MY
But I
.
A DV
ERTISING
for a course at busines s
needed
college
Grandfather who lived at my uncle s home ad
mired the way I worked He called me Mr Stick
to itiveness There were two of us boys on the
farm cousins of the same age I wor ked sixteen
hours a da y my cousin worked as little as he could
So grandfa ther decided to back me All he h ad in
the world wa s $ 1 00 saved to bury him He oflered
that to me on condition that I a ssume the burial
Of course I did
expe nse wh en it ca me
Tha t was another crisis in my care er There were
So far as anyone
two grandsons of simil ar a ge
knew there was no choice in a bility I being a
back slider h ad to face considera ble disapproval
But I h ad sa ved $ 1 00 and I worked The Other boy
h ad saved nothing and he did nor like to work
SO I wa s the one who secured the help which
ch anged the current of my life The other boy
became a locomotive fireman So it h as been in
many a juncture I have witnessed since The saver
an
d the worker get the preference of the men who
control opportunities A nd often that preference
proves to be the most importan t thing in life
With
I went to Grand Rapids and entered
Swensburg s Business College It was a ridiculous
"
“
Professor Swensburg wrote a fine
i nstitution
Spenceri an hand With that single qualification he
became a business tea cher but he taught us nothing
His whole conception of business as we saw it was
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TI SIN G
MY
L
I
F
E
ADV
ER
I
N
34
Still h e rightly estimated us I think Anyone who
a id more to a Swensb urg gra dua te pa id too much
p
I was nearing the end of my course also of my
I began to contempla te going back to
re sour ces
‘
Then one morning Professor Swens
th e farm
burg brought a posta l card to his h em e and used
“
tha t as his subject He sa id I ha ve often told
you boys tha t positions awaited you a t
r
e
p
week somewhere Now I ha ve the actual evidence
It come s on a postal nor in a letter to sa ve posta ge
A business ma nin Gra nd Ra pids writes me tha t he
r week for
e
h a s a bookkeeping position a t
p
on
e of you an
d he asks me to send him a candida te
Don t all of you a pply a t once but whoever among
you wants tha t position should come to my ofi ce
after the l ecture and I will give him the name an
d
a ddress
The Other boys laughed It was a new joke on
their worthlessness But I edged toward th e door
"
“
When the Professor finished his lecture and
started downsta irs I was only one step behind
He ga ve me a letter to E G Studley and I went
to interview him He was interested in the Grand
Rapids Felt B OOt Company The young ma n who
h ad kept the books h ad been a dvanced to sup
erin
tendent They wanted some one in his place If
that superintendent considered me qual ified I coul d
have the position
I went to him and secured it The bookkeep
ing
was a minor item I was expected to sweep th e
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MY su n IN B USINESS
3;
I was also to be
floors and wash the windows
errand boy The chi ef condition was tha t I was
never to wear a coa t The superintendent was very
”
“
democra tic He wanted no dudes a bout him
In the ofli ce and on errands downtown I was always
to appear in my shirt sleeves I could qua lify for
tha t position beca use I h ad two shirts left
Then came the question of living on
r
e
p
week I found a sma ll room with a widow who
wanted a man in the house That cost me one
dollar p
In a restaurant over a grocery
er week
r
store a dingy man served dingy meals a t
e
p
week They were beyond my reach I h ad to con
sider my laundry So I arranged with him to miss
two meals a week and get board for
I was a young man active and ever hungry A l
ways the great question was what mea ls to mi ss
I tried brea kfast but morni ng found me starving
I tried luncheon but tha t lost meal would spoil my
My only way was to race by the res
aft ernoon
d go to bed A nd that I co uld
ta urant a t nigh t an
n0t do unl ess I crossed the street Th e smell of the
food would tempt me to forget th e shirt sleeves
which formed so grea t a h am in my wor k
That sounds rather pitiful but it wasn t It was
a grea t a dvance over my cedar swamp ex eri ence
p
I slept alone in a bed instea d of on a h ay mow with
railroad section men
So long as we are going up
ward nothing is a hardship But when we start
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MY LI FE IN ADVERTISING
down even from a marble mansion to a ch eap
er
pa lace that is hard
The Felt B00 t Company comprised some of the
lea ding business men of Grand Ra pids Our sales
came in winter only so all summer long we bor
The
rowed money to get ready for those sales
directors indorsed our notes One of my duties was
to go around and secure indorsements and renewa ls
In tha t way I met M r M R Bissell pr esident of
th e Bis sell Carpet Sweeper Compa ny
He was a geni a l man and I saw in him my cha nce
to a higher salary One day I wa ylaid him on h is
way to lunch I pictured the di fii cul ti es of a young
re was no need
r week
e
The
man living on
p
to exaggera te There on his way to lunch I told
h i m of the two meals weekly I wa s obliged to miss
ic I knew a
A bove all I pictured my drea m of p
i c at dinner but the
resta urant which served p
r week
rea test ambition
board wa s
M
y
g
e
p
ic
at that ti me was to get tha t p
From him I learned another ki nk in human na
Struggle and poverty did nor appeal to him
ture
He h ad known th em well and he considered them
good for a fellow But he loved pie and h ad never
been denied it So he invited me home to ea t pie
A nd he arranged for a salary of $6 p
er week so I
coul d have pie every da y
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ter F our
Cb a p
HO
WI
G O T M Y S T A R T I N A DV E R T I S I NG
contact with Mr Bissell led to frequent
contacts Soon we entered the cold weather
sea son wh en my duties became hea vy
"
I hear you are worki ng hard Mr Bissell said
to me one day
I rep
lied I should work hard for I have so
”
many ea sy months
He insisted on the deta ils and he learned that I
was lea ving my ofii ce a t two o clock in the morning
Li ke a ll big men
and a ppearing aga in a t eight
whom I ha ve known he was a tremendous worker
He h ad always done the average work of three men
So the hours tha t I kept gave him interest in me
cc force
an
d he urged me to join his cm
In the early stages of our careers none can judge
us by results The shallow menjudge us by likings
but they are nor men to tie to The real menjudge
us by our love of work the basis of their success
They employ us for work and our ca pacity for
work counts a bove all else
er Com
I started with the Bissell Carpet Sweep
pany in February as assistant bookkeeper at $40 a
month By November I h ad advanced to $75 I
was head bookkeeper then and my position ofiered
no chance to go farther
HA T
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V
MY LI FE I N ADVERTISIN G
I began to rea son in thi s way : A bookkeeper is
an expense
In every business ex penses are kept
down I could never be worth more than any Other
man who could do the work I did Th e big sal
aries wer e pa id to salesm en
to the men who
brought i norders or to the men in the factory who
reduced the costs
They showed profits and they
could command a rea sona ble share of those profits
rofit earn
I saw the difference between the p
i ng and
the expense side of a business and I resolved to
gra duate from the debit class
Just at tha t time Mr Charles B Judd our man
a ger brought to our a ccounting ofii ce a pamphl et
ritten by John E Powers Powers was then the
dean of a dvertising which meant really a wet
nur se A dvertising was then in its infancy He
h a d bee n a dvertising writer for John Wanam a ker in
Philadelphia and there he created a new conception
of advertising He told the truth but told it in a
rugged an
d fa scina ting way Wan ama ker pa id him
a year which in those da ys was considered
He h a d become the model a nd
a fa bulous s a l ary
i dea l of all men who h ad a dver tising ambitions
The principl e s
A nd so in some respects today
for which John Powers stood are still among our
a dvertising funda mentals
John Power s h ad left Wanama ker s and gone out
for himself The Bissell Company s Ea stern man
a ger Thom a s W William a was one of his great
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now I
MY START IN ADVERTISIN G 39
Through hi m I h ad heard a great deal of
a dmirers
Powers and his d rama tic advertising
One incident which I remember occurred inPitts
burgh A cloth ing concern was on the verge of
bankruptcy They ca lled in Powers and he im
mediately m easured up the situa tion He sa id
“
There is only one way out Tell the truth Tell
the people tha t you are bankrupt and th at your only
way to sal vation lies thr ough la rge and immd i a te
sa les
The clothing dealers argued that such an an
nouncement would bring every creditor to their
“
doors But Powers said : No ma tter Either te ll
"
the truth or I quit
Their next day s ad read someth ing like this
We are bankrupt We owe
more than
ay
we can p
This announcement will bring our
creditors down on our necks But if you come and
buy tomorrow we sha ll have the money to m eet
If not we go to the wall Thes e are the
them
rices we are quoting to m eet this situa tion
p
Truth was then such a rarity in advertising tha t
this announcement crea ted a sensation People
flocked by the thousands to buy and th e store was
sa ved
A noth er time he was asked to advertise mackin
toshes whi ch could n
or be d isposed of
“
What is the matter with them Powers a sked
“
The buyer replied : Between you and me they are
GOT
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MY L I F E I N ADVERTISING
Th at is norh z 1 g of course to say in the
rott en
a dvertising but it is true
The next day ca me an ad sta ting We ha ve
They are a lmost worth
ro rtenmackintoshes
less but S till worth the price we ask Come and
If you find them worth the price we ask
see them
then buy
The buyer rushed up to Powers rea dy for a fight
What do you mean by advertising tha t our ma ck
"
“
How canwe ever
intosh es are r0tten? he cried
hope to sell them ?
“
That is just what you told me said Powers
I am simply telling people the truth
Before the
buyer h ad a chance to calm down every mackint osh
was sold
It was then atthe height of his fame he submitted
a pamphl et to the Bi ssell Carpet Sweeper Compa ny
b y request of Mr Williams It was written on
butcher pa per One of Powers ideas was tha t
manner shoul d never becloud matter I well remem
“
—
A ca rpet sweeper if you
ber the fir st sentence
—
get the right one you might as well go without
matches
But he knew nothing about carpet sweepers He
He
h ad given no s tudy to our tra de situa tion
knew none of our problems He never gave one
moment to studying a woman s possible wish for a
car pet sweeper
I said to Mr Judd That cannot sell carpet
ers There is not one word in that pamphlet
swe ep
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MY L I FE I N ADVERTISING
an
d our cards I ofiered bOth free for Christm a s
Nor then or ever
um a s a gift but as a reward
since ha ve I asked a purchase That is useless I
ha ve simply ofiered service I required a signed
a greement from the d e aler to di spla y the sweeper s
on the rack with the cards I furnished Thi s made
him solicit me
I sent out som e five thousand letters They
brought me one thousand order s almost the fir st
orders we h ad ever received by ma il That was the
birth Of a new idea which led me to gra dua te from
the expense account to the field Of money earners
Even then I h ad no courage
I did nOt dare to
enter the business getting field without an anchor
to windward That again was due to mother So
I decided to devote my days to these new ad ven
tures and my nights to work on the books Th us
I continued for long Rarely did I lea ve my ofi ce
before midnight and I often l eft at two in th e
morning
A s a boy I h a d studied forestry I ga thered sam
Of all the woods around me an
d
les
sent
them
t
o
p
Thus I accumul ated scores
O ther boys for exchange
This little hobby of mine
of interesting woods
led directly to my next merchandising step
I conceived the idea of ofiering Bisse ll Carpet
Sweepers in some interesting woods If my Christ
ma s idea ha d excited ridicule this excited pity I
a sked them to build Bissell ca rpe t sweepers in
twelve distinguished woods one in each wood to
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I
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S TART I N ADVERTI SI N G 43
I wanted them to runfrom th e wh ite of
GOT M T
the dozen
the bird s eye maple to the dark of the walnut and
to include all the colors between
Tha t aroused real opposition A s I have sa id
all the dire ctors of the compa ny were ex sa lesmen
One was th e inventor of some new devices and was
"
He sa id : Why not talk
a power to be regarded
broom action patent dumping devices cyco bear
ings and the great things I have crea ted ?
“
I am talking to women I replied
They are
not mechanics I want to talk the things wh ich
they will understand and a ppreci ate
They fina lly let me do that as a concession Since
I h ad done wha t they deemed impossible and sold
sweeper s by letter they could h ardly refuse me a
rea sona ble l a titude
They a gree d to build
sweepers twelve woods to the dozen for me
While they were bui lding the sweepers I ar
range d my pla ns
I wrote letters to dealers in
e ffect as follows :
Bissell ca rpet sweepers are toda y
—
offered twelve woods to the dozen the twelve
finest woods in the world They come with displ ay
racks free
They come with pamphlets like the
one inclosed to feature these twelve woods They
will never be ofiere d again We offer them on
condition tha t you sign the agreement inclosed
Y ou must display them until sold on the racks and
with the cards we furnish You must send out our
pamphlets in every package which leaves your store
for thr ee weeks
I ofiered a privilege not an in
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MY
L I TE I N ADVERTISIN G
44
d ucement I appeared as a ben efactor nor as a
salesman 80 dealers responded in a way that sold
sweepers in thr ee weeks
our stock of
That was my
Let us pause here for a moment
begi nning in advertising It was my fir st success
It was ba sed on pleasing people like everything
e lse I ha ve done
It sold not only to dealers but
to users It m ultiplied the use of carpet sweepers
A nd it ga ve to Bi ssell sweepers the practical monop
oly which they m a inta in to this da y
“
r
Other men will still say ; I have no such op
o
p
tun
i ty
My line is not like tha t
Of course it
isn t but in all probability it offers a thousand ad
vantages N o man is in any line tha t is harder to
sell th an ca rpet sweepers were in those da ys
I care
not wha t it is The usual a dver tising wa s imp
os
A carpet sweeper would last ten years The
sible
profit was about one dollar Never h as anyone
found an ordinary way to advertise profita bly an
article of th at class
No young man finds himself in any field with
smaller opportunity A ny manina bank a lumber
office a tire concern or a grocery h as a far better
opportunity than I h ad The only d ifierence lies in
his conceptions I felt that cler kship was an ex
pense and expenses would always be minimized I
rofit earning
was struggling to gra dua te into the p
class where no such limit exists
My success with the twelve woods gave me great
prestige Then I sought Other unique ideas I
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now I
S TART I N ADVERTISIN G 45
went to Chicago and saw a Pullman car finished in
vermilion wood It was a beautiful re d wood I
went to th e Pullmw factory and asked them a bout
it They told me tha t the wood came from India
GOT M T
.
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.
,
tha t all the forests were owned by the British
G overnment tha t the wood wa s all cut by convicts
then ha uled to the Ganges River by elephants The
vermilion wood was heavi er than wat er so a log
of ordinary wood was placed on either side of ea ch
vermilion log to float it down the river
Tha t gave me the idea of an interesting picture
G overnment forests convicts elephants the Gan
ges On the way home I visualized tha t appeal
But I returned to realities in Grand Rapids th e
next morning My employers there h ad no con
ra j a hs
ti on of government forests
elephants
cep
They h ad perfected a new dumping device
etc
So I argued long and loud I a sked them to order
a cargo of vermilion wood
They l aughed A gain
they said that sweeper users were not buying woods
tha t they wanted broom action efi ci ent dumping
devices pure bristle brushes and so forth Wha t
folly ! One might as well discuss the Einstein th e
ory with an Eskimo
But my successes h ad brought me some prestige
an
d I finally induced our people to order for me th e
re
single cargo I desired While waiting for it I p
pared my campaign I h ad letter heads litho
graphed in vermilion color My envelopes were
vermi lion addressed in whi te ink I printed two
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MY LI FE IN ADVERTISING
million pamphlets with vermilion covers and a
ra j ah s hea d on the front
The pamphlet told a
S tory intended to arouse curiosity to bring women
to see that wood No Other activa ting factor com
pares with curiosity Pictures showed the forests
the convicts the elephants the Ganges River and
th e Pullma n car One hundred thousand letters
wer e printed to Ofl er this wood to dealers
A fter some weeks the wood arrived in th e shape
of rough he wn timbers A few hours la ter Mr
Johnson the factory superintendent came to me
“
with tears in his eyes
We tried to saw that ver
“
milion wood he said and the saw flew to
pieces The wood is like iron It cannot be cut
That whole ca rgo is wa ste
I sa id : Brace up Mr Johnson We all ha ve our
problems to solve They told me I could not sell
carpet sweepers by letters but I did Now you as
a factory expert cannot afl ord to fall down
He cut up the logs in some way with a cross cut
Then he came with a new complaint He
sa w
co uld not drive a brad in the wood so he saw no
way to build a sweeper with it
“
I sa id : Johnson you annoy me Come ta ke
my desk and try to sell those sweepers and I will go
Bore holes for y our brads
and m a ke them
But the storms were ga thering for me Manu
The cost of the
facturi ng h ad almost stopped
sweepers was mounting So I h ad to ma ke the con
cession of oflering only three vermilion wood
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W
ADVE RTISIN G 47
sweepers as part of each dozen and the rest in
ordinary woods
Soon I was rea dy to ma il the letters They did
not urge dea ler s to buy the sweepers They oflered
the privilege of buying Three vermi lion wood
sweepers would come in each dozen if orders were
sent a t once The dealer could sell them at any
price he chose But never a ga in could he obtain
Bissell sweeper s built in vermilion wood The
only condition was that the dealer must sign th e
a greement inclosed
He h ad to di splay the sweepers
until sold h ad to display the cards we sent him
an
d h a d to inclose our vermilion pamphl et in every
package which left his store for three weeks Thus
a ga in I placed the dea l er in position where he was
soliciting us
The response was overwhelming Th e Bissell
Carpet Sweeper Company made more money in th e
next six weeks than they h ad made in any year be
fore
They h ad vastly increa sed the number of
dealers handling carpet sweepers A nd they h ad
multiplied the interest of women in a device which
was then in but limited use
A fter tha t I ga ve up my bookkeep
ing and de
voted my time to selling I sold more carpet sweep
ers by my one cent letters than fourteen salesmen
on the road combined A t the same time our sales
men increa sed their sa les by ha ving new fea tur es to
ta lk Thus Bissell ca rpet sweepers a tta ined the
position which they hold today They came to
HO
GOT M Y
I
START
IN
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I
n LI TE I N ADVERTISING
control some 9 5 p
The adver
er cent of the trade
The demand grew
rising wa s done by the d ea ler
a ny beca me I be
d grew until the Bissell Co mp
an
lieve the richest concern in Grand Ra pids
My business wa s to devise three selling schemes
They all referred to finishes and woods I
a year
found a man for instance who h ad patented a
method of coloring veneers The coloring liquid
was placed on the under side It came through the
veneer wherever the ends of the gra ins showed on
top creating a weird and beautiful efl ecr I gave the
resulting wood a coined name an
d inclosed samples
in my letters
A gain I oflered to supply dealers three gold pla ted
sweepers as a par t of ea ch dozen ex actly the s ame
as we exhibited a t the World s Fa i r in Chica go
Thus I placed thousands of World s Fair exh ibits i n
windows the country over
But in two or three years I found myself running
out of schemes There are distinct limitations to
exciting varieties in carpet sweeper finishes New
ideas came harder and harder I felt that I was
nearing the end of my resources so I began to look
for wider fields
Just at that time Lord 8: Thoma s of Chicago first
They h ad a scheme man
ofl ere d me a position
named Carl Greig who was lea ving them to go
with the I nter Ocea n to increa se the circul ation
Lo rd 8: Thomas who h a d watched my sweeper
selling schemes offered me his place The salary
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ter F i ve
Ch a p
L A R G E R F I E L DS
O W I approach a tragic epoch in my life I
was close to my limits in Grand Ra pids The
offer from Lord 8: Thomas ga ve me wider recogni
tion A mbition surged within me because of my
mother s blood I became anxious to go higher
But I h a d built a new home in Grand Ra pids
There I
A ll the friends I knew were a b out me
I knew that in a larger field I
enjoyed prestige
would ha ve to sa crifice the things that I loved most
I suppose I was right in my desires according to
general S tandards A mbition is everywhere ap
a ve often returned to Grand Ra pids
u
l
But
I
h
ed
a
d
p
to envy my old a ssociates They continued in a
quiet S heltered field They met no l arge demands
Success and money came to them in modera tion
But in my turbulent life as I review it I ha ve found
no joys they missed Fame came to me but I did
nOt enjoy it Money came in a mea sure but I could
never spend it with pleasure My real inclination
h as a lwa ys been toward the quiet pa ths This S tory
is written in gardens near Grand Rapids where the
homing instinct brought me Whenmy old friends
and I get together here it is hard to decide who
took the wiser course
Swift 8: Company packers of Chica go advertised
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3
LARGE R FI ELDS
1
5
for anadverti sing ma na ger I looked them up and
I found tha t their capita l at that time wa s
I inquired a bout them and I learned tha t they
r year
e
T
a
intended to spend
h
t
would
p
place them attha t time among the lar gest A m u i oa n
I could nOt see in th e Bissell line one
a dverti sers
tenth the chance they offered 80 I resolved to
obta in that Chicago position I h ad no doubt of
my a bility to do S O In my Michigan field I was
king and I never drea med tha t Other potenta tes
might trea t me a s a slave
I went to Chicago then out to th e S tockyards
an
d was referred to M r I H Rich He was hea d
of the butterine department and the manwho h ad
urged them to a dvertise
”
M r Rich I said I have come for that posi
tron
He smiled at me benevolently and asked for my
name and address Then he wrote my name down
on a sheet which held many names before mine
"
”
What are all those names ? I asked
s
aid Mr Rich
an
l
i
Why they are oth erjap
t
s
c
p
There are one hundred and five of them Your
”
number is one hundred and six
I was astounded One hundred and S ix mencon
si d er ed themselves fitted for th at high position
What efirontery !
I turned to Mr Rich and said : I came here
ma inly to learn where I S tood in advertising I did
nOt really desire this position
My heart is in
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MY L ITE I N ADVERTISING
Grand Rapids and I feel that my happiness lies
there But thi s is a cha llenge I am going to prove
myself best fitted for this place
Mr Rich smiled and said : Go ahea d and God
bless you We are wa iting to be convinced
Then
after a brief ta lk he dismissed me
I knew all of the lea ding advertising agents of
Chicago They h ad solicited my business SO tha t
"
Please write
d said
afternoon I went to ea ch an
toda y to I H Ri ch care Swift 8: Company Union
Stockyards Chica go and say wha t you think of
Al l promised to do tha t a nd I
Claude Hopkins
knew that some of them would write very fla ttering
things
That night I returned to Grand Rapids It h ap
pened that I h ad lately been employed there by the
Board of Tra de to write a history of Grand Rapids
The members were delighted with it Writing that
book h ad brought me into conta ct with all the
leading business men I started out the next morn
ing to see them First I called on the bankers then
on the fur niture ma kers then on the wholesalers
then on other business men I spent several da ys
"
in this quest To each one I said Plea se write to
I H Ri ch care Swi ft 8: Company Union Stock
Yards Chicago and say what you think of Claude
Hopkins as a writer and a nadvertising man Tha t
started a flood of letters
Then I went to the Grand Ra pids Hera ld and said
I want to write for you a daily two column article
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LA RGE R FIE LDS
53
on advertising It will cost you nothing and it will
educate your advertisers Al l I ask is tha t you let
me S ign the articles and tha t you publish my picture
in them
They a greed so every evening after ofi ce hours
—
I wrote tha t two col umn ar ticle Then I took it to
the ofli ce on my bicycle to reach the paper before
midnight Every article wa s a ddressed in reali tv
to Swift 8: Company to Mr I H Rich It was
written to show what I knew a bout advertising
eared I mailed them to M r Ri ch
A s the articles app
A fter thr ee weeks of tha t da ily bombar dment I
received a telegram from Swift 8: Company a sking
me to come to Chica go I went but with little idea
of accepting the position I h ad come to rea lize
more than ever that I would be lonesome away from
Grand Rapids But I h a d to complete my conquest
t
so I wen
—
We h ad not discussed salary tha t was too te
more So my idea of escape was to ask a sal ary
ay
higher than they would p
I did so and Mr
L F Swift now president of the company refused
to consider it He h ad rea d none of my letters or
I h ad ma de no impression on him ; all he
articl es
considered was my salary demand
Mr Ri ch thenasked for another conference in th e
aftern
oon and took me out to lunch A t the table
he talked like a father He pointed out the narrow
sphere I h ad and always woul d ha ve where I was :
Swift 8: Company were offering me one of the grea t
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TE I N ADVERTISIN G
MY
L
I
54
Th ey h a d a score of lines
est positions in my line
to advertise
There I would have an unlimi ted
He pictured the folly of refusing such an
scope
opportuni ty and I yielded to his persua sions A fter
lunch I went back and accepted the sala ry offered
promising to start in three weeks
The next morning in Grand Rapids I went up to
my home and saw the family on the porch There
were shade trees in front and many flowers in th e
a
r
h
a
d
I
cont
sted
th
t
setting
wit
the
tocky
ds
r
a
r
S
a
y
where the outlook covered only dir ty pens filled
with ca ttle and hogs The way to the ofli ce led
thr ough a ha lf mile of mud Then I regretted my
ay
a ction
The price seemed too great to p
Ha d
I not givenmy word I would have turned back that
morning to quiet insignificance A nd now after
looking back thirty years I think I would turn
back this morning
In three weeks I went to Chicago I secured a
room on Forty thi rd Street because the cars there
The room wa s a small one
ran to the S tockyar ds
da rk and dingy I h ad to climb over my trunk to
get into bed On the dresser I placed a picture of
my home in Grand Ra pids but I h ad to turn tha t
picture to the wall before I could go to sleep
The next morning I went to the S tockyards and
r wor k
l
ented
myse
f
M
r Ri ch wa s awa y
f
r
o
es
p
so I was referred to M r L F Swift now president
of the company He did n0t remem ber me
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LARGE R FI E LDS
55
I said Three weeks ago you employed me as
a dver tising man a ger
”
”
Is that so ? he replied
I h ad entirely forgot
ten If you are really employed here go out and
talk with Howes
Consider that reception for a lonely man a lrea dy
half discouraged For a proud man who considered
hi mself important For a man from a sma ll ci ty
where everybody knew him hi s importance and
his pl ace
But I was more unwelcome thanI supposed M r
G F Swift then hea d of the company wa s in
Europe when I was employed It was his first va
ca tion and he could not endure it so he hurried
back A t o nce he asked what I was doing in his
When told tha t I was there to spend his
ofli ce
money he took an intense dislike to me and it
never changed
He set out atonce to ma ke my position untenable
The business he hea ded ha d been built without the
use of print He catered to nobody a sked nobody s
patrona ge He h a d gained wha t he could by sheer
force He h ad the same contempt for ana dvertising
man tha t a general must ha ve for a poet
He made my way very hard I h a d come from
gentle surroundings fr om an Ofli ce fil led with
fr iends
There I entered the atmosphere of war
There every conception of business was conflict
inside and outside the ofli ce We ha ve nothing left
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MY L ITE I N ADVERTISING
acki ng
in big business toda y to compare with the p
business of thirty years ago
M r G F Swift was a deeply religious man I
But he was
am s ure he did the right as he knew it
an autocra t in the da ys when business wa s much
like war No one gave quarter or a sked it That
was the attitude which l a ter brought business into
bad repute
Mr Swift was a fighter and I became one of hi s
targets I typified a foolish outgo I h ad been
installed in his a bsence to waste his hard earned
money So I suffered the consequences A mong the
many who trembled at his word I always trembl ed
most
tion of a dvertising referred in
M r Swift s concep
rticul ar to si gns on refr igera tor ca rs
They
went
a
p
everywhere Good a dvertising there consisted of
light letters I could never get them light enough
Nex t came the annual ca lendars He h a d very
deci ded ideas a bout them and they never agr eed
with mine Nor could I carry out his ideas to his
satisfaction
One da y he asked me to photograph a side of beef
for h anging in his beef houses I recognized this as
a cr uci al test so I ca lled in a ha lf dozen photog
ra h ers
ra ge were
The
b
est
sides
b
ef
in
sto
o
f
e
p
brought out for photographing The next morning
I sent him some dozens of pictures and a sked him to
ma ke his choice
Soon I saw Mr Swift charging from his Ofi ce
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MY LITE IN ADVERTISING
sta rted whenMr L F Swift came to my desk one
“
d ay He said : Father is very nervous a bout this
money spent in advertising He considers it an
utter wa ste The results so far are not very encour
a ging
Y ou ha ve been here nearly six weeks but
our s ales on CO tosue t have h ardly incr ea sed a t all
I h a d no need to explai n to him He knew that
But I saw th at I
a dver tising h ad ha rdly star ted
h a d to help him out by ma king some quick show
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mg
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Tha t night after dinner I paced the S treets I
tried to analyze myself I h ad ma de a grea t success
in Grand Rapids ; I was ma king a fizzle here What
were the reasons ? Wha t was there I did in the old
field which I could apply to Swift 8: Company s
problems ?
A t mi dnight on Indiana A venue I thought of an
idea In Grand Rapids I cr eated sensations I p
re
sented enticing ideas I did nOtsay to people Buy
my brand instea d of the Other fellow s
I ofle red
them inducements which na turally led them to buy
Why not apply those principl e s to COtosuet?
Rothschild 8: Company were then completing a new
store They would ha ve anopening in two weeks
I knew Charles Jones the a dvertising mana ger and
I decided to go to him and ofler a sensation for his
opening
The next day I did so His grocery department
was on the fifth floor and it included a l arge bay
window I urged him to let me have tha t window
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LA RGE R TI E L D S
59
I will build ther e I said
for a unique exhibit
"
the lar gest ca ke in the world I will a dvertise
the ca ke in a big way in the newspapers I will
ma ke tha t I promised the greatest feature in
your opening
My idea was to ma ke a ca ke with COtosuet in
place of butter Then to argue that a product be tter
than butter was certainly better than l ard
Mr Jones accepted my proposition Then I went
nex t door to H H Kohlsaa t 8: Co ba kers and
I told them to ma ke
a sked them to ba ke the ca ke
the speci al tins whi ch were necessary to decora te
the ca ke in a magnificent way and to build it a s
high as the room They did so
A t the time of the opening I inserted half page
nouncing the biggest ca ke
ad s in the newspa pers an
in the world That was on Saturda y and that
night the S tore wa s to open A fter di nner I st arted
down to see the ca ke myself but the ca rs stopped on
Sta te Street long before they reached the S tore I
d saw before me a perfect sea of
stepped out an
people Af ter a long time of struggle I rea ched
the doors A t every door I found a policeman
The authorities h ad closed the doors beca use the
crowd was too large to a dmit
During the next week
people climbed
The elevators
four flights of stairs to tha t ca ke
could n0t carry them There I h ad demonstrators
to offer samples of the ca ke Then we h ad prizes
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ADVE RTISIN G
to offer to those who guessed nearest to the weight
but every guesser h a d to buy a pail of COtosuet
A S a result of tha t week COtosue t was pl aced on
rofit paying ba sis in Chi ca go
We
g
a ined many
a
p
thousands of users
Then I organized a group to carry our pl an thr ough
the Eastern sta tes The group consisted of a ba ker
an
d decorator three demonstrators and myself We
went to BO S tonand arranged anexhi bit at the store
of Cobb Bates 8c Yerxa but they threw us out th e
first forenoon The crowd was so great that it
d estroyed all their chance to do business
We went along the New Y ork Central and in
e very ci ty we learned new wa ys to increa se the te
We went to t he leading baker
sul ts of our efl orts
ing
of
wh
t
we
an
d s howed him newspaper clip
a
s
p
h ad done elsewhere We offered to let him build
the ca ke and be advertised as its creator on con
dition that he bought a carload of COtosuet Some
times two carloads We went to the lea ding
grocery and proved the results of our ca ke show
Th enwe oflered to place the ca ke in hi s store if h e
ordered a carload intins
as Wherever we wen
t we sold enough COtosuet to
insure us a profit in advance Then we hired boys
"
on Ma in Street to cry out with their papers Eve
”
merg News A ll a bout the Big Ca ke
As a resul t
we mobbed the S tores where the ca ke was on dis
play A nd in every city we esta bli shed thousands
of reg ular users
M Y L I FE IN
60
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LA RGE R F IE LDS
61
A t last we came to Cleveland where t hey h ad a
re sell a ca rload
blic
m
We
could
not
the
u
ar ket
p
to a grocer But we arranged with the market to
give us their band for a week also their newspaper
space A s a result half the policemen in Cleveland
were called there to keep the crowd moving Ropes
were stretched through the mar ket I doubt if th e
sta lls sold much tha t week but we certai nl y sold
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COtosue t
When I
.
turned to Chicago Mr L F Swift
“
That is the grea test a dvertising S tunt I have
sa id :
ever known Y ou ha ve ma de good bOth with
fa ther and with me
any
Thus I won out with Swift 8: Comp
That many say was not advertising A dverti s
ing to them is placing some dignified phra ses in
print But commonplace dignity doesn t get far
Study salesmen canva ssers and fa kers if you want
to know how to sell goods No argument in the
world can ever compare with one dramatic demon
re
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stra ti on
.
I have no sympathy with those wh o feel that fine
langua ge is going to sell goods a t a profit I have
listened to their arguments for hours They mi ght
as well sa y th a t full dress is an excellent diving
No dilettantes ha ve any chance in prying
sui t
money out of pockets The way to sell goods is to
sell them The way to do tha t is to sample and
demonstrate and the more attractive you canma ke
your demonstration th e better it will be for you
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MY L ITE I N ADVERTISING
The men who succeed in a dvertising are act the
hi gh ly bred nm the men ca reful to be unobtr usive
an
d polite but the men who know wha t ar ouses
enthusia sm in simple people The difference is
the d iflerence between Charlie Chaplin and Robert
”
”
"
Mantel! or A fter the Ball and The Moonlight
"
Sona ta
If we are going to sell we must ca ter to
the millions who buy
67
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te r S i x
Cb a p
PER SON AL S ALE S M AN S H I P
my success there came a time with
Swift 8: Company when my a dvertising ap
peal lost all its persua siveness Cottolene cut prices
One of our largest fields wa s with ba kers They
knew COtosuet to be identica l with Cottolene and
they refused to p
a y a higher price
Swi ft 8: Company s business h ad been founded
and developed on competition
They met any price
tha t was oflered So they could not conceive of a
product of theirs demanding a price a bove market
I h a d fixed a price on COtosuet one half cent a
pound a bove COttolene That price was essential
to profit I could obta in it from consumers but the
bakery tra de formed a large part of our business
We h ad a branch ofli ce in Boston for instance
costing
e r month
Six
s
alesmen went out
p
from there and M r Al dric h was in charge
We
ga ve them little credit for sales ma de to grocers as
a result of the dem an
d we created A nd their sales
to ba kers at our higher price became almost ml
One day M r Swift ca lled me to his ofli ce He
"
said : Here is a letter from Boston I a gree with
it entirely They are nOt ma king sales and they
cannot ma ke sales at the price you have fixed on
our product
ES P ITE
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MY LITE I N ADVERTISING
They are wrong I replied
Rea l s alesman
shiph as no regard for price I am selling to con
sumers ar our over price Why can t they sell to
ba kers ?
Mr Swift said : Can you do it ?
I replied that I could I could sell to ba kers just
a s well as consumers on the principles I a dvised
Then he asked when canyou go to Boston ?
”
“
I can go in two weeks I said
I have much
”
work to clean up
“
This
Can you go this afternoon ? he asked
is anurgent matter We are losing much money in
Boston I want to know the right and wrong be
fore we go much farther
“
I will go this afternoon I said I wal ked out
to my desk and found it piled high with importa nt
matters I told my assistant to care for them Then
I picked up the proof of a street car card which h ad
—
i e and placed
just beensubmitted a picture of a p
it under my arm
WhenI arrived in Boston I met Mr Al drich dis
d cynical
He told me what he h ad
coura ged an
told Mr Swi ft I was a theorist in business No
one could hope to sell COtosuet at a price above
Cortolene and no s alesman did
”
I sai d Tell me some one you can t sell
“
They are all a bout us
Mr A ldrich replied
We can t sell anyone
Tell me one concern I said
64
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L I FE
MY
66
IN
ADVE RTISI NG
proba bility h ad he been a sked to appear in the
role of a dviser
He like all of us enj oyed the new
situation
Finally he insisted tha t the pie card represented
a
i
a t its best
c
r
N
othing
could
be
done
to
imp
ove
p
it He would ha ve the whole trade of Boston if
he could ma ke pies like that
Then I urged him to ha ve it I said : How many
”
stores in Boston are selling Fox Pies ?
“
A bout one thous and
he replied
”
I said : I wi ll furnish you a car d like tha t to go
in every store Y ou have been good to me Let
me do something to reciprocate I must a dvertise
C O tosue t on those cards
Let me say on ea ch that
nothing but Swift s COtosuet is used in the shorten
ing for Fox s p
i cs I will furni sh you 1 5 0 of those
cards with every car load of COtosuettha t you order
now
He a ccepted that ofler and ordered four carloa ds
to get one thousand cards
Then I went to Providence and at Al tman s
ba kery made the same arrangement Then to New
Haven then Hartford Springfield and all big New
England cities
In not one did I fail to sell the
lea ding ba ker a large supply of CO tosue t He pa id
e but he secured a
a higher price than for Cottolen
grea t a dvanta ge
I returned to Boston with more orders for COto
suet than six salesmen h ad sold in six weeks But
Mr A ldrich was scornful
all
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TE RS O
NAL SALE SMANSH I P
67
You have nor been selling COtosuet he sa id
Y ou ha ve simply sold a pie card Now let me
see wha t you can do where you ha ve no such ad
vantage One of our largest customers is Mans
field Ba king Company Springfield Mass There
i c card
you ha ve given exclusive rights to your p
I would like to see wha t you can do with ordinary
salesmanship
I went a t once to Springfield and reached there
l ate Saturda y afternoon I went to the Ma nsfield
ba kery and found Teddy Mansfield in his shirt
sleeves wor king I waited until he wa s done
"
Then I sa id ; Teddy I ha ve an invita tion to the
Commercia l Club banquet tonight I am lonesome
They will let me
an
d I don t want to go a lone
bring a guest I want you to go with me
Teddy rebelled He said he h a d never been to a
banquet He h a d no suita ble clothes I told him
tha t I was wearing just wha t I h ad on then So
he finally consented
Tha t was a grea t night for Teddy Mansfield He
met for the first time with the lea ding men of h i s
city He enjoyed himself and when we parted he
wa s very friendly to me
Tha t night at the hotel door I sa id ; I am coming
to see you Monda y morning to present someth ing
”
of gr ea t interest to you
“
Please don t come he sa id You ha ve been
so ki nd tonight that I can t refuse you anything
But I am loaded with COtosuet I ha ve forty
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ADVE RTISI NG
tierces in my cell ar and I cannot aflord to use them
I sha ll be glad to see you but don t
as you know
”
a sk me to buy CO tosuet
On Monda y morni ng I found Teddy Mansfield
“
I said :
Teddy I
a s usua l in his shirt sleeves
don t want to talk COtosuet to you but I ha ve a
I
am a dvertising man a ger of Swift 8
:
roposition
p
Company I can do in some ways wha t no one else
You are known inSpringfield but nobody
cando
knows you outside I want to suggest a way to
sfield s pies all the way fi om h ere to
a dvertise Man
Chicago
Then I unfolded my plan If he would order two
carloa ds of COtosuet I would place a S ign on both
Tha t S i gn would announce that
sides of the cars
sfield s
i
cs
all th at COtosuet was to be used in M an
p
“
Nor on one side of the
in Springfield Ma ss
I sa id but on both sides so everyone for
car
nine hundred miles on bOth sides of the tracks will
know you
That idea appealed to Teddy as like idea s ha ve
d since
appealed to countless a dvertisers be fore an
It was folly some say but no more folly than all
the ideas of keeping your name before the people
Teddy typified the a verage a dvertiser of those da ys
in his desire simply to spread his fame He accepted
my ofler and in one week the cars arrived I wa s
there to greet them with him I have rarely seen
a man so plea sed as was Teddy Ma nsfield when he
saw t h ose cars wi th signs which h ad a dvertised
MY
68
LI F E
IN
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P E RSO
Mansfield
’
s
NAL SALE SMANSH I P
69
ies
e nine hundred mi les from
h
all t
p
Chica go
I h a d sold
sal esmen h ad
.
more COtosuet in one week than six
sold in six weeks Nor one buyer h a d
compla ined a bout th e price Mr Swift wired me to
fire the whole Boston force but I asked him to wa it
until I returned and expl ained my methods to him
“
When I met Mr Swift I said : I did nOt sell
COtosue t did nOt talk COtosuet I sold pie cards
d schemes and COtosuet went with them
an
Then I wish you would teach out Other mento
do that
“
It cannot be taugh t I replied A nd I am sti ll
of that opinion The d iflerence lies in the basic
conception of selling The a verage salesman openly
seeks favors seeks profit for himself His plea is
“
Buy my goods nor the Other fellow s
He ma kes
eal to selfish peop
le and of course he
a selfish app
meets resistance
I was selling service Th e whol e basis of my ta lk
was to help the baker get more business The
advanta ge to myself was covere d up inmy efi orts
to plea se him
I ha ve always applied that same principle to ad
verti sing
I never ask people to buy I rarely even
say th a t my goods are sold by dea lers I seldom
quote a price The ads all offer service p
erhaps a
free sample or a free p
They sound al
acka ge
ruisti c
But they geta readin g and get action from
t
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MY L I TE I N ADVERTI SING
people seeki ng to serve themselves No selfish
a ppea l can do tha t
Toda y tha t same principle is widely applied to
house to house canva s sing Sellers of brushes call
to ofler the housewife a brush a s a gift Sellers of
Sellers of coffee call
aluminum wa re present a dish
They
a tfirst with a ha lf pound free packa ge to try
The housewife is all S miles
a re al wa ys welcome
d a ttention Then in the na tural rea ction S h e
an
strives to find a way to reciprocate the courtesy by
buying
Ma kers of vacuum sweepers offer to send one for
Ma kers of electric
a wee k s use in housecleaning
motors offer to send one to run the sewing machine
Ci gar ma kers send out
or the fan for a week
boxes of cigars to anyone who asks They say ;
“
Smoke ten then return the balance if you desire
A ll sorts of things
The test will cost you nothing
Nearly everything sold is
are sent on a ppr oval
sold subject to return Al l good salesman ship in
print or in person is ba sed on some appealing ser
0
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Good sa lesmen study to ma ke their appeals in
“
vi ti ng
One sa ys ; Send me the money a nd I will
”
A nother
return it if the a rticle is not sa ti sfa ctory
“
says ; Se nd no money Let me send the article for
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tria l then remit or return it just as you desire
I buy many books by mail In nearly every issue
of certa in m a g azines I see descriptions of books I
“
may want The ad s do nOtsay Send the money
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TE RSO
NAL SALES MANSH I P
1
7
If they did my purchases would be few My ch eck
book is at the ofi ce By the next da y in all pro b
the book would be forgotten But they
a bility
I simply
ofler to send me the b ook to e xamine
ut it inmy
ma il the coupon I tear it out at once p
pocket and mail it t he next morning
In my early years in advertising th ose ideas of
ew
I was I believe among
sal esmanship were n
the first to apply them No doubt I originated many
of their applica tions I never tried to sell anything
even in my retail store advertising I always offered
rofit plea s ure
Now I talk of service p
a favor
gifts nor any desires of my own
Th e house to h ouse canvasser must ap
ly
thos
e
p
rinciples else his sales are limited
So
must
the
p
ma il order advertiser whose results are known
But the advertiser who procee ds without knowing
results often ignores t h ese principles
Everywhere
we see advertisers m erely crying a name They say :
“
Buy my brand
Be sure to get the origi nal
Their whole evident desire is some selfish ad van
tage Such advertising may someti mw p
ay to an
extent but it never can p
ay like appeals whi ch
a pea r unselfish
5
p
But Swift 8: Company refused to give anyt h ing
awa y
I could never sample their products
We
advertised wool soap wa shing powd er br ea kfa st
sa usage ha ms and bacon and butterine and we
were reasonably successful But I came to realize
that un
der their restrictions any real success was
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M T L I TE
3
7
.
ADVERTISING
IN
impossi ble Al l the years since ha ve confirmd my
opinion The packers ma ke many lines which can
be profita bly advertised But I do nor know of an
a dvertising success m ade by a pa cking house with
the possible exception of Cudahy s Dutch Cleanser
There were special reasons for tha t Al l their ad
verti sing opportunities ha ve been lost through sel
fish ness They were bred in the idea tha t business
is a fight that s ales must be forced that competi
Those idea s have been
tion must be undersold
modified materially but never so much as to ma ke
a n a dvertiser
r
r
p
ke
Th
a
t
is
no
dve
tising
a
an
a
c
y
success in the packing line that I know of matches
the opportunity
In my da y in the S tockyards a bout all my con
I saw tha t
ti ons of selling in print were ta boo
cep
I h a d to escape those res trictions to accomplish my
So I began to look a bout
s
arubi ti on
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T
MY
L
I
E
I
N
ADV
ER
T
ISIN
G
74
have done The only lines toda y which so try men
in the fire are some forms of mail order advertising
Medicines in those da ys domin ated the a dvertis
ing field The best magazines accepted them
A lmost nobod y questioned their legitim acy
No
more th an they questioned railroa d rebates or
pa sses to employees in my packing house ex p
eri
ence We must remember in reviewing medic ine
a dvertising how experience an
d education changes
idea s and principles
Every evil of the pa st h ad its logica l defense
Th e medicine ma kers included ma ny high minded
men They felt that they were serving humanity
by oflering good remedies for common conditions
a t very modest cost
They were a iding those who
could nOt afiord physicians There wa s much
rea son in thei r arguments
Every medicine ma ker
received thousands of testimonia ls
A nd I S till
believe that those medicine ma kers did far more
good than harm Even though the good ca me
largely through menta l impressions
B
r
t
a
a
medic
l
science
dv
n
ed
D
octo
s
t
h
em
a
c
j u
selves turned largely awa y from drugs We ca me
to realize that ailing people should ha ve a diag
nosis The rea l trouble should be located instead
In a large percentage of
of quelling symptoms
cases it was unwise to a dvise self medication
I came to that conclusion ma ny years ago I
have nor advertised a medicine save for simple
a ilm ents for seventeen year s or over
I would not
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ME DICAL ADVE RTISI NG
75
do so under any circumstances Just a s I write
this I am refusing anappropriation of
to
I stand as str ongly as anyone
a dvertise a medicine
toda y aga inst advertising anything which opposes
public good as we see it now
So plea se remember that what I recite here oc
curred many year s ago It a ccorded with existing
principles and practices I ha ve never known higher
minded men tha n those who engaged in these
enterprises I am dealing with a dvertising as it
What
applies to all conditions an
d all times
should be advertised for the common good forms
a nentirely d i flerent question
While with Swift 8: Company I e te an article
on patent medicine advertising It reached the
He
a ttention of Dr Shoop in Ra cine Wisconsin
was selling medicines through agents He h ad no
drug store tra de The agency business was dying
so he was seeking a way to place his line on the
drug store shelves He wrote me to come and see
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I was discouraged with food products advertised
under packing house restrictions I knew that
medicine oflered the greatest opportunity to an
a dvertising man So I went to Ra cine t alked with
Dr Shoop and fina lly a ccepted wha t he Offered
I found a line of remedies sold thr ough a gents
only NOt a bottle was in drug stores The or
d i nary a gent could a ct survive so the business was
dying fast My duty was to crea te a demand which
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I N ADVERTISI NG
M Y L I TE
6
7
would bring the sales to drug stores Nor one man
in a million could have met tha t test without the
experience in retail selling which I h ad attained
Night after nigh t Dr Shoop and I discussed the
situation I told him all I h ad done by ta lking
ideas not connected with the product Then we
evolved the idea of a druggist s signed guaranty
People were nor buying medicine they were buying
Many anadvertiser a thousand miles awa y
res ults
oflere d to gua rantee res ults but the guarantors were
strangers
I conceived the idea of ha ving a neigh
b orh ood druggist to whom people paid their
money sign the guaranty
First I tried this plan out on a cough cure It
brought enormous results Here wa s one cough
cure which anyone could buy without risk If it
brought the results we promised it was worth
many th es its cost If it failed it was free N o
cough cure on the market then could compete with
tha t
Later I tested the same plan on Other remedies
on Dr Sh oops Restorative on his Rh euma tic Cure
It worked like magic Others made cla ims but we
offered a certainty A nd we secured most of th e
trade
Our guaranties were based on a purcha se of six
b Ottle s for five doll ars Few users purcha sed tha t
a mount
But the guaranty ga ve them confidence
in every one bOttle purchase Nobody inour field
had any chance to compete with us
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M E DI CA L ADVERTISIN G
77
We were very cautious in those days We did
not venture into newspaper advertising We di s
tributed books from house to house in cities of over
We secured ma iling lists of
I 5 OO popula tion
heads of families in every village or haml et below
that Those were the da ys before rura l delivery
I h ad complete ma iling list of all hea ds of families
in some
post ofi ces of the United States and
Canada
The methods we used then have little interest
now Conditions ha ve cha nged We have learned
that newspapers ofler the cheapest distribution of
r
f
r
a
o
f
f
e
we
wish
to
m
ke
But
o
ye
r
s
we
m
i
d
an
a
a
l
e
y
books p
an
d distributed some
e r da y
Later we gradua ted from tha t and gOt into th e
newspaper s We secured results at one third our
former Cost We ca me to spend
ye
r
r
a
e
p
in newspaper advertising and the results at tha t
time ma de me the lea der in proprietary advertising
What I wish to emphasize here is that my p
ro
sa ls were always altr uistic
w
I
lw
ys
o
e
ing
r
as
o
a
a
f
f
p
service A nyone could try what I oflered without
risk
It either brought results beyond what I
promised or th e con was ml There was nothing
in the field in those da ys to match any ofier like
that
In advertising and merchandising that is some
thi ng alwa ys to consider One must outbid all
Other s in some way
He must ofier advantages in
qualities service or terms or h e must create a
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M T L I TE I N ADVERTISIN G
8
7
seeming advantage by citing facts which Ot hers
fa il to cite Crying a name or brand is nOtsufi ci ent
Urging people to buy from you instead of Others
goes against the grain One must know hi s com
petition know wha t O thers ofler know wha t
people want Until one feels sure tha t the ad van
tages are S trongly on his side it is folly to risk a
battle One m m long fool pe ople who are care
ful ly spending money Never p
ay the price to get
them unless you see clearly how you cankeep them
Don t under estima te the intelligence and the in
forma tion of people who count their pennies
I spent six and one half year s in Racine Ofi ce
‘
h ours began at seven o clock in the morning We
knew that extra hour s gave us an extra advanta ge
A nd we were competing in one of the h ardest fields
tha t advertising ever knew
But my da y never ended at the ofli ce I ha d a
typewriter in my home I consider ed medicine as
but one item though a supreme test of advertising
skill So I devoted the a n of my wa king hours
to outside enterprises
The J L Stack A dvertising A gency hand led the
Dr Shoop advertising I arranged with them to
write all of their advertising Racine was a manu
fa cturing center
So I set out to develop after
a dvertising enterprises there
ofi ce hours
A nd
from each I learned a great d ea l
One of the clients of J L Stack was Montgomery
Ward 8: CO I wrote and directed their a dvertisi ng
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M E DI CA L ADVERTISING
79
Many new merchandising plans were inaugurated
.
gument was a ga inst dealing with
people in the ma ss For instance a woman wrote
in a bout a sewing machine She h ad tha t and
nothing else on h er mind The general pla n
then was to send a catalog trea ting all inquiries
I urged th a t every inquirer should be treated
alike
like a prospect who came to a store We h ad a
special ca ta log on sewing machi nes showing every
style and price We sent every inquirer the names
of a ll in h er vicinity who h ad bought our sewing
ma chines We asked h er to see the mac hi nes and
7
to talk with their owners
There I learned another valua ble principle in
In a wide reaching ca mpa ign we are
advertising
too a p
We try to
t to regar d people in the m ass
broadca st our seed i nthe hope that some par t will
ta ke r00t That is too wasteful to ever bring a
profit We must get down to indi viduals We
must trea t people in a dvertising as we trea t them
Center on their desires Consider th e
i n person
person who stands before you with certa in ex
pressed desires However big your business get
down to th e units for those units are all tha t
ma ke size
Schlitz Beer was another advertising campa ign
which I handled for J L Stack Schl itz was then
in fifth place A ll brewers at tha t time were crying
”
“
Pure
They put the word Pure in large
ut it in
letters Then they took double pages to p
My everla sting
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MY LI FE I N
ADVERTI SI NG
l arger letters The cla im made a bout as much im
pression on people as water ma kes on a duck
I went to a brewi ng school to learn the science
of brewi ng but tha t helped me na a t all Then
I went through the brewery
I saw pla te glass
rooms where beer was d ripping over pipes an
d I
They told me those
a ske d the rea son for them
rooms were filled with filtered a ir so the beer could
be cooled i npurity I saw great filters filled with
They explained how tha t
white wood pulp
fil tered the be er They showe d how they cleaned
every pump and pipe twice daily to avoid con
How every bottle was cleaned four
ta mina ti ons
t imes by machinery They showed me artesian
wells where they went
feet deep for pure
water though their brewery was on La ke Michigan
They showed me the va ts where beer was aged
for six months before it went out to the user
They took me to their labora tory and showed
me their origi nal mother yea st cell It h a d been
developed by
ex p
e rimm ts to bring out the
utmost in fla vor A ll of the yea st used in ma king
Schlitz Beer was developed from that original cell
I came back to the office amazed I sa id : Why
don t you tell people these things ? Why do you
m erely try to cry louder than Others that your beer
is pure ? Wh y don t you tell the rea sons ?
”
Why they said the processes we use are
just the same as Oth ers use No one canma ke good
"
beer wi thout them
h
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m
81
LI TE I N ADVERTISING
to a dvertise you There are few advertised product s
which ca nnot be imitated Few who dominate a
field have any exclusive advanta ge They were
simply the first to tell certain convincing facts
Mr Cyrus W Curtis of the Curtis Publishing
Company told me an interesting incident con
necred with tha t Schl itz campa ign He h a d never
drunk beer h ad never ad mitted the word beer or
wine to the columns of the La d i es H ome j ourna l
But he took into the diner on a tra in a copy of
The ad
Life conta ining one of these Schlitz ad s
so impresse d him tha t he ordered a ho rd e of
Schlitz He wanted to taste a product ma de under
such pur ity ideals
A mong my friends in Racin e was Jim Rohan
He was a cler k on small salary
He was in love
with a school teacher whom his salary did nOt
permit him to marry But he h a d an idea a bout
incubators A nd he felt that exploita tion of that
idea would give him money enough to marry
I told him that I would ex ploit the idea and I
did I read something like seventy five incubator
catalogs a nd ad s They were much al ike A ll the
ma kers were fa wning salesmen trying to urge a
preference I analyzed the situation and tried to
find a unique method of attack
I found a practical chicken raiser and I asked
permission to write a book in his name He was
an independent fell ow who car ed nothing for m ere
opinions So I characterized him in my book
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ME DICA L ADVE RTISI NG
83
Writing in this man s name and on facts which h e
gave me I a sked nobody to buy Ra cine Incuba tors
I simply told his experience He h ad tried all sort s
cuba tors and he knew their fallacious cl a ims
of in
He h ad settled down to practical money ma king
an
d these were the methods he used
He would
help and encoura ge those who wished to follow
him but he h ad no sympathy for those wh o
followed every will o the wisp
roved a winner
That plea p
Most see kers after
incubators wrote for five or six ca talogs Th ey
a ll rea d al ike
except mine Here was a rugged
d practica l man who cared more for servi ng than
an
selling and the practica l people who wer e seeking
for profit naturally followed hi m
But Ra cine Incubators were hig h priced A
great many converts paused when they compared
the lower prices offered 80 I urged Mr Rohan
to start another company ca lled the Belle City
Incuba tor Company and there to offer incu ba tors
a t much lower prices on other inducem ents
We followed up inquiries on th e Racine line for
Then when we saw too great a re sist
ten da ys
we ofiere d the Belle City line Thus we
ance
secured a double chance on incubator buyers
Otherwise with our best efl orts we could never
rofit
have earned a p
A s it wa s we built a business
which today is quite extensive A nd I know of
no rival of the old times who survived
We organized and advertised numerous Oth er lines
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MY LI TE I N ADVERTIS ING
inRa cine One was the Ra cine Ba th Cabinet on
e
was Ra cine Refrigera tors Those were excellent
beca use there were no
advertis i ng exper iences
uncerta inties no repea ts
The Racine Shoe Company manufac tured ex
They were in the center of the
cellent shoes
leather region between Chicago and Mi lwaukee
Their shoes at that time sold a t ana vera ge of
rga nized wha t I ca ll ed
r pa ir a t wholesale
I
o
e
p “
the Racine Club
It sold Racine Shoes to club
memb ers only at a dvanta geous prices I quoted to
er pa ir del ivered an
d I ofl ered
club members $3 p
the choice of six styles The shoes cost me an
r pa ir
e
r
The
a
ve
a
ge
exp
e
s
a vera ge of
r
s
p
er pa ir
rate was 35 cents p
So my d ear a vera ge
profit was 5 0 cents p
er pair
But a members hip
cost 1 5 cents and no one could buy without ha ving
The cost of my advertisi ng was
a members hi p
pai d by my membership fees Then with each
pa ir of shoes I sent twelve memberships with
ca talogs etc A nyone who sold those twelve
memberships could o bta in his shoes at 1 5 cents
rshi p entitled the bear er to buy
r pa ir
membe
A
e
p
a pa ir of shoes a t $3 wi th twelve more certi fica tes
worth 1 5 cents each
I was offering shoes at $3 whi ch would cost
to $ 5 at the stores But I offered them to a
limi ted clientele None but club members coul d
buy them Every buyer if he chose could sell
If he
th e mem be rship certifica tes a t 1 5 cents each
34
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ME DICAL ADVERTI SING
85
di d so h i s shoes would cost hi m only 1 5 cents
When my a dvertising secured a few buyers they
beca me salesmen for me So a li ttle a dvertising
created for me an overwhelming trade It soon
ex ceeded the ca pacity of the Ra cine Shoe Company
d orders were much delayed
an
The fly in thi s ointment was the fact that shoes
did nor alwa ys fit and I guaranteed a fit The
returns a bsor bed most of my profits
But I learned
I learned how customers
a new angle in selling
whether in direct selling or Otherwise could
influence future returns
A ll tha t time I was continuing to a dverti se reta il
I experimented locally
sales the country over
with every sort of sale Whenever I found a plan
which brought large returns I told oth er dea lers
This was all night work I never thought
about it
of sleep My whole ambition was to find wa ys to
lea d people to buy and I found them in plenty
Wha t I found then h as been th e founda tion of all
th e success I ha ve gained
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nr E i g b t
C l mp
M Y L I Q UO ZO NB E ! P E R I E NC E
in Ra cine gave me unique ex p
eri
ence in advertising proprietaries and brought
me wide reputa tion My methods were new
Testimonials h ad been almost universal in those
lines I published none Reckl ess claws were
“
My a d s s a id in efiecr Try this cough
common
remed y ; wa tch the benefits it brings
It cannot
harm for no opiates are in it If it succeeds the
cough will stop If it fails it is free Y our own
druggist signs the warrant
The appeal was overwhelming a lmost resistless
Ever since then my chief study h as been to crea te
a ppea ls like tha t
When we ma ke an ofier one
cannot rea sona bly refuse it is pretty s ure to gain
A nd however generous the offer how
acceptance
ever open to imposition experience proves tha t
very few will chea t those who ofier a square deal
Try to hedge or protect yourself a nd human na ture
likes to circumvent you But remove all re stric
“
tions and say We trust you and human natur e
likes to justify that trust A ll my experience in
eople in general are
a dvertising h a s shown tha t p
honest
A certain man in Chicago h ad made a small
fortune out of the Oliver typ
ewriter but th e l i ne
Y YEA RS
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MY
L I QUOZONB
was not to his liking
Ex
pE mE NCE
87
He wa s a na tural advertiser
d h ad long been searching for the product
an
While he was build i ng a factory in Montreal
umber of men came to tell him of a germicide
a n
made in Toronto It was ca lled Powley s Liqui
Many institutions in Cana da were
fie d Oz one
indorsing and employing it A nd with out any
countless people h ad learned of it
a dvertising
d used it with remarka ble resul ts
an
Final ly this man was induced to go to Toronto
He found a gas made
to investigate the product
germicide harmless for internal use He inter
viewed hundreds who h ad tried it including
hospita ls and Ca tholi c instituti ons and bea m :
enthused
He bought th e product for
then
changed the na me to Liquozone Then he started
to advertise and market it He sought out an a ble
advertising ma n and ma de a year s con
traCt with
hi m The next year he selected another man In
four years he tried out four a dvertising men who
h ad convinced him of their a bility but the result
was utter fa ilure A ll the money invested in the
business h ad been dissipated The company was
hea vily in debt Its balance sheet showed a net
worth of some
less than nothing Which
shows how rare is the experience and the ability
to a dvertise a proprietary product
Still thi s determined a dvertiser remained un
discouraged He beli eved in his product and h e
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88
E
m
a
nvnnnsm o
some man somewhere knew how to ma ke
“
He said We will try it one year more
time we ll find the man
On the la st da y of the fourth year he called on
all the lea ding advertis i ng a gents of Chica go and
h e asked each one to name th e best man th ey knew
of for a product of that kind A s I was at that time
the particular star in th at field I believe all of
them na med me
Hi s la st ca ll was on J L Stack and he p
ut th e
same question to him
Just then a telegram came
in from me accepting an invita tion to dine with
Mr Sta ck tha t New year s Eve Mr Stack showed
“
th e telegram and sa id : Tha t is the man of course
No doubt Others ha ve told you But his employer
is my client I cando nothing to harm his 1nterests
Hopki ns is my friend and I never could advise
h i m to consider your hopeless proposition
If Hopki ns is the
Th e advertiser replied
re of hims elf
r
u
a
a
o
sa
h
e
p
ob
bly
t
ke
c
a
c
a
n
L
e
t
y
y
me dine with you tonight and meet him
Tha t was my first contact with Liquozone Its
promot r was a cha rming ma n Hi s powers of
e
rsua s i on were almost resistless
a ga inst my
8
e
0
p
wishes h e induced me to stay over and meet him
th e next day
Tha t was New year s Day I wanted to be a t
The Li quozone ofi ce where we met was
h ome
a dingy afi air
The floors and the desks were rough
n
i
e
Th
e heat ca m e from a rusty round wood
p
felt th a t
it win
an
d this
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MY
0
9
LI FE
ADVERTI SING
IN
pine desk on Kinz ie Street I was to leave my
I was to
friends and go out among s trangers
exch ange my a par tments in a hotel on La ke
Michigan for a dingy $45 p
er month flat 1nChicago
where my wife h ad to do h er own work I was
to walk to the ofli ce to sa ve street car fare so my
served I h ad a steam auto
sa vings might be con
mobile the first inRacine and the joy of my leisure
I h ad to lea ve tha t
Friends gave me farewell parties but the con
versa tion at all of them centered on my foolishness
A delegation was sent to ride with me to Chica go
d to argue aga inst my folly all the way
My
an
closest friend repudiated me entirely He said
th at good sense was a prime requisite in a friend
I am sure that few men ever entered a busines s
But I want to sa y
a dventur e under d ar ker s kies
h ere th a t every grea t accomplishment of my life
h as been won a gainst such opposition
Every
move tha t led upward or to greater happiness or
content h as been fought by every friend I h ad
Perhaps because they were selfish and wanted me
to stay with them
I have met other great emer gencies more im
rta nt t han money or business
o
I
h
ve
alwa ys
a
p
h a d to meet them alone I have h ad to decide for
myself and always a ga inst tremendous opposition
Every grea t move I have made in life h a s been
ridiculed an
d opposed by my friends The gr eatest
winnings I ha ve made in happiness in money or
a
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MY L I QUOZONB Ex pE nmNOE
1
9
content ha ve been accomplished amid almost
universal scorn
But I have rea soned in this way : The a verage
man is nOt successful We meet few who attain
th eir goal few who are really ha ppy or content
Then why should we let th e majority rule in
ma tters afiecring our li ves ?
Success h as come to me i n sufi ci ent mea sure
h appiness in a bundance and a bsolute content
Nor one of those bl essings would ha ve come to
me h a d I followed th e advice of my friends
A s a result I never give advice
We have our
We
own lives to live our own careers to m a ke
have no way of measuring Others desires and
capaci ties Some are wea k A discouraging word
ge their entire
at a critica l moment ma y chan
course Then the one who gives tha t word incurs
the responsi bility I court no obligations of tha t
kind A dvertising teaches us how falli ble a re our
judgments even inthings we know best We ha ve
nowhere near an even chance when we a ttempt to
give advice
I went into Liquozone under the circumstances
st a ted
I was pla ying a desperate game Four
men in four years h a d failed utterly Y et on thi s
dubious ventur e I was sta ki ng a ll I h a d
Night after ni ght I paced Lincoln Park tryi ng
to evolve a plan I held to my old conceptions
Serve better than Other s offer more t han Others
an
d you are pretty sure to win
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an
1
u
m
a
nvnnnsm o
'
One morning I came to th e omte and sai d : I
ha ve the winning idea Let us buy the first fifty
cent bOttle Then to all who accep
t let us ofier
a guara nty on six dollar bo ttles
We p
a y for th e
first bOttle If tha t test lea ds one to con tinue we
ta ke the risk on the rest
My associate was appalled He said : We are
bankrupt now Your propositi on will throw us
into cha os
But I obtained hi s p
ermi ssion to try my plan in
We offered a fifty
a doz en sma ll Ill i nois citi es
cent bOttle free To each inquirer we sent anorder
ona certa in loca l druggist for the bOttle an
d sa id
“
We will p
ay the price
Then we sent to each inquirer a guaran ty ofleri ng
six dollar bOttles for five dollars The druggist
would sign the warrant If resul ts from those six
bOttles proved unsa tisfactory every penny would
be returned
roposition
Consider how irresistible was such a p
A fifty cent b Ottle free
Then a five dollar lot
“
under warrant
Just say to your druggist that
you are dissatisfied and your money will be re
turned without arg ument
I h ad a proposition which no reasonable person
could refuse A s most people are rea sona ble I
knew that most p
eople in need would accept it
My ofier was impregnable
We found in those test cities that our inquiries
for free bottles cost us 1 8 cents each We wai ted
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vn
an
MY
I
N
94
towns We received in the next year over
er
The a verage cost p
requests for the free bottle
just as it was in our test
request was 1 8 cents
cities Th e a verage sale p
er request was 9 1 cen
ts
or j us t a tri fle more than in test cities
We had
I went with Liquozone i n Februa ry
ay our rent
no money sa ve enough to p
In our
first fiscal year commencing July 1 our net profits
were
The next year we inva ded
We esta blished a London om
Europe
te where
we employed 306 pe ople We built a factory in
France and fitted out one of the finest Ofi ces in
Paris In two years we were advertising in seven
teen langua ges and were selling Liquozone in
nearly every country of th e world
Germicides are uncerta in propositi ons
New
ones come to supplant the Old We recogniz ed
that so we moved rapidly In three years we
bought for people nearly five million fifty cent
bOttles We made h ay while t he sun shone But
that li quozone business still exists and it still is
profi table
Wha t was the secret of t hat success ? Just th e
daring which led me to aba ndon safety for nu
certainty Then to buy a fifty cent bOttle for
everyone who sent a coupon
Then to guarantee
resul ts
We had confidence i nour product we ha d
confidence in people Al l the way along every
man consulted told us we were reckless Every
director every adviser qui t us indisgust
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E! P ERI ENCE
95
There are Other ways I know to win in selling
But they are slow and un
an
d in advertising
certa in A sk a person to ta ke a chance on you
Ofier to ta ke a chance on
and you ha ve a fight
him and th e way is easy
I have always ta kenchances on th e Ot h er fell ow
I have ana l yz ed my proposition until I made sure
Then I
that he h ad th e be st end Of the barga in
had something pe ople coul d nor well neglect
I have been robbed in plenty but th e ro bbery
cost me ten times less than trying to enforce any
Now most leading merchants
sa fe propositi on
have come to the same conclusion
A nythi ng
bought in a lea ding store is subject to return
A nd countless
5 0 with goods ordered by ma il
advertiser s send out goods to stranger s on approva l
"
"
They sa y Try for ten days or Examine these
"
"
"
books or Smoke ten of these cigars atour risk
Th e man who tries to play safety against thi s
almost universal trend finds himself handicapped
A nd the cost of his sal es i s doubled or trebled
with the be st that he can do
MY
L I QU OZONE
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Ni n
ter
Ch a p
T H E S T A R T O F M Y S E V E N TE E N Y E A R S
WI T H A N A D V E R T I S I N G A G E N C Y
S P E N T five years with Liquozont five
strenuous years I tra veled from ofi ce to Ofi ce
resented new
here and abroad Every country p
ro blems
p
One night in Pari s I called in a famous doctor
“
He told me I was a nervous wreck He said
The
d
only th ing th a t can sa ve you is to go home an
re st
I have no home
I said
I live in a h Ote l
This h Otel is very much like it I might as well
sta y here
But he insisted Then I thought of a fruit farm
on Spring La ke Michigan which I h a d so often
plowed as a boy I remembered one name there
Robert Ferris
I h ad heard he h ad bui lt a b owl
So I cabled him for accommodations
I received his reply in New Y ork
The h a d
h ad been torn down but he had cOttages nea tly
"
furnished with all one coul d desire
Al l you
"
need to bring is your trunk
So I sent him a check for the cOttage and I
came on with my trunk For thr ee months I
ba sked in the sunshi ne sleeping pl aying and
drink ing mi lk
Then I went to Chicago ful ly
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a
o
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o
m
MY
8
9
Mi chigan A venue to selecr any car on the s treet
d h a ve it charged to me
an
So far as I know no ordinary human being has
He h as commanded
e ver resisted A lbert Lasker
what h e woul d in th is world Presidents have
al
made him their p
NOrb ing he desired h as ever
bee n forbidden him
So I yielded as all do to his p
I
ersuasivenes s
went to Indianapolis that night The next day I
sta rted investiga tors to learn the situa tion i n
respect to pork an
d beans
I found that 94 p
er
cent of the housewives ba ked their own pork and
beans Only 6 p
er cent were amen a ble to an
y
canned bean argument Yet all the advertisers of
"
pork and beans were merely crying
Buy my
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started a campaign to argue aga inst home
ba king Of course I ofiered sa mples of factory
ba king I told of the sixteen hours required to
ba ke bean s at home I told why home baking
could never ma ke beans digestible I pictured
h ome ba ke d beans with the crisped bea ns on top
the mushy beans below I told how we selected
our beans Of the soft water we used of our steam
ovens where we ba ked beans for hours at
degrees Then I Offered a free sample for com
result wa s an enormous succ ess
rison
The
a
p
A fter a while when Others followed us we
Our rivals tried to meet it
sufl ered substitution
by in sisting on their brand They sa id in efieCt
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M Y S E VE NTE E N
YE A RS
99
Give me the money which you give to Oth ers
eals fell on deaf ea rs
A nd such app
"
I ca me out with headlines
Try Our Ri vals
”
I urged people to buy the brands suggested
Too
d compare them with VanCamp s That a ppeal
an
won over Others If we were certa in enough of
eople
our adva ntage to in vite such comparisons p
were certain enough to buy
Tha t s another big point to consider A rgue
anything for your own a dvanta ge and people will
resist to the limit
But seem unselfish ly to consider
your customers desires and they will naturally
flock to you
The greatest two faul ts in adverti sing lie in
boa sts and in selfishness The natural instinct of
a succes sful manis to tell wha t he h as accomplished
He ma y do tha t to a dinner par tn er who cannot get
But he cannot do that in print Nor can
awa y
he put Over at a reasona ble cost any selfish under
ta king People will listen if you talk service to
them They will turn their backs and always
when you seek to impress an advantage for your
self This is import ant I believe tha t nine tenths
of the money spent in advertising is lost because
of selfish purposes blazonly presented
The majority of advertising even today is based
"
”
on the plea Buy my brand
Tha t plea never
a ppea led to a nybody an
d it never will No grocer
“
would say Come to my store nm the next store
Even in hi s simplici ty he is too wise for tha t He
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MY
L I FE
IN
ADVE RTISI NG
offers some advantage Yet countless advertisers
ding fortunes to ma ke tha t attempt in
are spen
.
p
r1nt
“
.
Mine is the original
Be sure to get the
genuine
A ll those are simply vari ations of the
plea Give me th e money which you give to
It h as no efiecr whatever Al l of us have
O thers
too many selfish purposes to consider those of
A man nOt willing to b id for pa tronage
Others
on an altruistic basis h as no place in a dvertising
Y ou and I would not ced e an ad
or in selling
se Then don t
vantage to anyone a t our expen
expect tha t Others are so d ifierent
Permit me to use this Van Camp example as
Several
evidence of very common shortcomings
able advertising men cr ea ted impressive arguments
But not one of them knew the situa tion Ha d they
gone from house to house and interviewed house
wives they woul d ha ve reached different conclu
But that wa s too much trouble They
si ons
were dealing with a man who knew as little as
Their
they did a bout the existing conditions
whole idea was to impress tha t man with some
interesting copy They never got by A D Lasker
He was practica l He knew that unless he sold
th e goods no temporary a dvanta ge could count
80 he sought out to the be st of his a bility th e
manwho coul d sell the goods
Let me pa use here to emphasize the fact tha t
favor does nOt count Plea se th e manwho knows
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LI FE I N ADVE RTIS I NG
ared them with h ome ba ked bea ns
comp
with
op and mushy beans below We
when ba ked in home ovens
to di gest A nd how we
ba ked in seal ed conta iners so no fla vor could esca pe
We told j us t th e same story that any rival could
have told but all Others thought the story was
too commonplace
Then I noticed that men at their noonday
luncheons downtown Often ordered pork and beans
These dishes were factory ba ked A pparently these
menliked factory ba king better t han home ba king
as did I
So we sent out men to supply Van Camp s to
restaur ants an
d lunch counters Soon we h ad th ou
sands of places serving them at noonda y We
announced the fu r
told the number of places
e stima ted how ma ny men were every day going
And tha t set women
some wh ere for Van Camp s
thinking
Housewives were ready to quit ba king beans at
home It was a long hard ta sk We went after
—
—
er cent
th ose housewives the 94 p
an
d told them
how to qui t easily We told and pictured th e
Told them how many of
d ifierence in results
their men folks were buying ba ked beans down
town
There we h ad th e arguments on our side We
could ba ke better beans than any woman coul d
ever ba ke at home But we could not ba ke better
MY
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sE V E N rE E N
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beans than our rival s So we centered our attack
on th e wea k spots ma de Van Camp s seem the
one way out A nd we crea ted an enormous
demand Not only tha t but the Van Camp brand
comma nded a much high cr price than our rivals
Then Van Camp began producing eva pora ted
milk First in one plant later in seven or eight
He wanted to advertise that but we advised him
Evaporated milk is a standa rd product
aga inst it
It must be made to certa in standards to meet
government requirements One cannot esta blish
or cl a im an a dvanta ge on n a tural or stand ard
products One might as well say buy my eggs
"
because they come from Hillside Farm
Or my
butter or my lard Ma ny millions of dollars ha ve
been wasted in trying to tie pe ople to some certa in
brand of a staple ; to brands of flour or oatmeal
an
A bout
d to many sta ple products like those
Give me the
all one can sa y is :
B uy my brand
money that you give to Others Insist tha t I get
it
Those are nOt popul ar appeals
I anal yz ed the situation on evaporated milk
I
found that certa in brands regardless of a dvertis
ing dominated and controlled certa in markets
Some they h ad held for many years against all
efiorts to displace them
Th e only rea son seemed
to be a familiar brand Housewives na tura lly
continue on th e brands they know
SO I devised a plan for ma king VanCamp s Milk
fami liar In a page ad I inserted a coupon good
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MY
ADV
R
ISI NG
m
1 04
We pa id the
at any store for a ten cent can
grocer his reta il price For thr ee weeks we
A t the
nounced tha t this ad would appear
an
same time we told the story of VanCamp s Evap
or
a ted Milk
We sent copies of these ad s to all grocers and
told them tha t every tustomer of theirs would
It was evident t hat
receive one of these coupons
they must have Van Camp s Milk Every coupon
meant a ten cent sale which if they mi ssed it
would go to a competitor
The result was almost universal di stri bution
and at once
We proved out this plan in several cities of
moderate size Then we undertook New Y ork
City Th ere the market was domina ted by a rival
brand
Van Camp had slight distri bution
In
three weeks we secured largely by letter 97 p
er
cent distribution Every grocer saw the necessity
of be ing prepared for tha t coupon demand
I nthe meantime we announced in the newspa pers
We told house
th e coupon tha t was to appea r
wives wha t to expect in this milk A nd we tried
to convert them from bottled milk to evapora ted
Then one Sunday in a pa ge ad we inserted the
coupon This just in Grea ter New Y ork A s a
resul t of tha t a d
000 coupons were presented
We paid
to th egrocers to redeem them
But
homes were trying VanCamp 3 Milk
after rea ding our story and all in a single day
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MY 1 e
IN ADVE RTISI NG
The time came when rivals used our sample plan
an
Mill ions
d we h ad to i nvent something else
of homes h a d by that time bee n converted to
evaporated milk The sale h ad reached
ca ses annua lly The main question th en was to
esta blish a familiar brand
Then in new cities which we tried to capture we
offered a secret gift We Ofiered to ma il the house
wife a present if she sent us the la bels from six
Van Camp cans Or we piled wrapped presents in
th e grocers store windows without telling wha t
A ny woman could get one by buying
they were
six cans of Van Camp s
Curiosi ty is a strong factor in human na ture and
De scribe a gift and some
e specia lly with women
will decide tha t they want it more will decide
th at they don t But everybod y wants a secret
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Th ere are things to consider in such an ofier
Th e gift must nor be di sa ppointing It should be
somewhat better than women are led to expect
Then the ofier must be treated in a rather insi d uous
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way
.
The result of this offer was to induce countless
women to buy six ca ns of Van Camp s Mi lk They
paid regular price but they received a gift whi ch
ma de the bargain attractive The gift cost more
than our profits on the sale But milk is in da ily
consumption There is hardly a limi t to wha t
one can p
The
ay to get a new user esta blish ed
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MY sE VE N rE E N m a ns
1 07
six cans ma de Van Camp s a familiar brand The
user h a d rea d a ll about Van Camp s She was
So she asked for Van
rea dy to find it superior
Camp s when she needed a new supply We
ca ptured and held many a big mar ket in tha t way
The reader ma y sa y this is sampling it is sch em
ing a nd merchandising not dignified a dvertising
I have no sympa thy with dignified
as we know it
We are in business to
an
d orthodox a dvertising
get results The finest pala ver in the world if it
reds of millions of
a
ss
fails to p
is
usele
Hund
y
dollars every year are being wa sted on it
I want to sell wha t I ha ve to sell and sell it a t
I want the fi g ures on cost and result We
a profit
d as geniuses for o nly a little
ca n pose a s a rtists an
while Business men find us out Those who ha ve
—
tried tha t plan ha ve perished every one I know
But a rea l result getter never loses his cha rm
We meet men sometimes whose idea s are centered
on the non essentials They want to boa st of
thei r accomplishments A nd they a re often big
men in some ways One can easily please them if
he wishes to sacrifice a ll practica l idea s for ad ver
to
them
is
a ma ze
But
do
th
a
t
a
n
d
you
a re
ti si n
g
bound to lose The ultima te object of business is
profit Cater to any other side and you will
shortly find yourself discredited
I ha ve lost many an account beca use I refused to
featur e an institution
Or to foster some persona l
pride But I ha ve always found tha t the seekers
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m a nvnx nsm o
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for profit were in the vast ma jority
Men are
crying for new wa ys to ma ke money
r omOte them an
d
those ways find out how to p
you will have offered ten times the work one man
Not literary work not work which
ca n ever do
"
lea ds your lady friends to say Tha t s wonderful
But practical selling No man save a dilettante
will ever try for anything else
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MY
I IO
LI FE
ADVE RTISING
IN
to shorten our walk back home There are
pleasanter experiences than sitting on a boiler on
a gloomy night wa iting for it to explode
an
d
contemplating the long muddy roa d ahead
But that experience made me an automobile
enthusiast In the th e since then I ha ve written
successful automobile ad s a bout some twenty cars
In my early da ys with Lord 81 Thoma s Hugh
Chalmers bought out the Thoma s De troit car and
he ca me to consult me about it Mr Chalmers
was a remar ka ble man He h ad been it was said
the highest paid sales manager in the Uni ted States
with the Na tional Ca sh Register Company I
learned much of salesmanship from him A nd I
was gra tified to now that in all our yea rs together
he and I never disa greed
The problems in automobile advertising then
were different from the problems now For year s
like a
th e situa tion wa s constantly changing
kaleidoscope One h a d to keep well informed to
strike the responsive chord
I featured Howard E Cofi n then chief engineer
Y ou will nOte that
for the Cha lmers Company
wherever possible I inject some personality into
This h a s always proved
an a dvertisi ng ca mpaign
itself an impressive idea People like to deal with
men whose names are connected with cert ain
They would rather do that I
accomplishments
have found tha n deal with soulless corporations
Naming an expert in an a dvertising campai gn
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A UTOM OB I LE ADVE RTISI N G
II 1
indicates a man of unique a bility and prominence
He may be unknown to the public He generally
is at the start But when a manufacturer fea tures
him people accor d him respect He soon becomes
famous then his name becomes anexclusive fea ture
Howard Coffin was unknown
of grea t value
when I fir st fea tured him A dvertising gave him
such prominence tha t he was ma de hea d of th e
A ircraft Board in the war
For somewha t simil ar rea sons an individual s
name is usually better than a coined na me on a
product A nd far better than a trade mar k It
locates the sponsor as a man proud of his crea ti on
It is far easier to m a ke a man famous than an
institution Consider how much names count in
theatrical productions in the movies or in auth or
ship They are often names created for the purpose
It is also so in merchandising
In those early days Cadilla c and Cha lmers cars
—
sold at a bout the same price a round
Ca dillac h a d anolder reputation and it was a much
handsomer car But the fea turing of Howard E
Coffin gave to the Chalmers a distinction which
brought it grea t success
We met Other conditions as they ca me up We
found a growing impres sionth at automobile profits
were excessive We met the situa tion with hea d
lines announcing
Our Pr ofit is 9 Per Cent
Then we sta ted the actual costs on m any hidden
parts The tOtal was over $700 and it omitted
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LI F E I N ADVE RTISI NG
like the body up
all the conspicuous parts
h olstery etc
Tha t brings up another point in advertising
Pla titudes and
th e a dvanta ge of being specific
generalities ma ke no more impression than water
” “
"
on a duck To sa y Best in th e world
Chea pest
"
“
in the long run
The most economi cal etc
d oes not crea te conviction Such claims are ex
pee red Th e most carefully censored ma gazines
accept them a s merely expres sions of a salesma n
trying to put his best fOOt forward They are not
cla ssed as falsehoods but as mere exaggerations
They proba bly do more harm than good beca use
they indica te a looseness of expression and ca use
people to discount wha tever you say
But when we ma ke specific and defini te cla ims
when we state acrual figures or facts we indicate
weighed and mea sur ed expressions We are telling
either the truth or a lie People do not expect big
concerns to lie The y know that we cannot lie in
the best mediums So we get full credit for those
cla ims I shall ha ve Other occa sions to cite the
i te specific claims
a dvanta ges of d efin
The Hudson Company was an ofish OOt of the
Cha lmers Company Mr Chalmers was interested
The Hudson Company was organized beca use the
Cha lma s Company was over manned in the selling
end Howard E Cofil nwent with the Hudson and
I fea tured him there But we went further We
pictured and named our board of forty eight
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MY
owed some
more than they coul d p
ay
Mr Willys could nOt return his deposits so he
sought for a way to O btain the cars
"
He said : If you are bankrupt you cannot con
ue the business
tin
"
"
No
they replied : we a re quitting
Then suppose I can continue it Mr Willys
“
Will you turn it over to me debts and
said
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They told him they woul d Th e defaul ted p
ay
roll wa s $45 0
Mr Willys set a bout to raise it
He borrowed some money from the h Otel cler k
He h ad a little of his own The next morning he
called the workmen together and paid them the
wages due Then he sa id : Get together a car
Find parts enough and quickly We must raise
more money
They did put together a car and Mr Willys
With it
shipped it to a friend in A llentown Pa
he sent a letter somewha t a s follows : Dear A lbert :
I ha ve shipped you an Overland car sight draft
with bill l ading a ttached It is necessary tha t you
d ha ve
accept it for I ha ve ca shed the sight draft an
used the money
"
"
Dea r A lbert did accept it
Then they m ade
up Other cars and shipped them in the same way
The demand
A bout four in five of them stuck
came for more cars and the problem of financing
beca me acute
Mr Willys went to the creditors with his famous
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A UTOM OB I LE a nvnnnsm o
115
inimi ta ble sm ile He said : You will get nothing
if you close us up for we ha ve nothing t h ere B ut
give me a chance and I will try to pull through
d p
a y you every doll ar we owe
The creditors
an
a ccepted tha t proposition
because they saw no
Other way out
—
Mr Willys raised some more money a very
littl e and went on Soon the factory ca pacity
was oversold There was no time to build more
plants so he erected tents A nd in those tents
he ma de tha t sea son I believe
I do not vouch for all th e figures I am telling
the story from memory But the essentials are
correct and indica tive
Then M r Willys decided to go back to Elmira
an
d build a factory there Th a t was his home town
While he wa s shaving one night to ta ke th e tra in
his agent in Toledo called him up He told of a
—
—
plant in Toledo th e Pope Toledo plant which
“
was closed and bankr upt He sa id : Come and
see it Y ou will find it wonderfully equipped A nd
you will find steel enough and parts enough to p
ay
”
the price they ask
A s a resul t M r Wi llys stopped 05 at Toledo
He walked through the plant the next day then
went on to New Y ork and bought it The next
d ay he sailed for Europe
When he returned he
found tha t his people had sold the steel alone for
far mo re than the cost of the pl ant
A s I sa id before t hi s story may nor be qui te
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MY L IFE I N ADVE RTISING
accura te
but it ill ustrates the point I bring out
The essentials are there
The next sea son I took up th e Overl and ad ver
—
rising
the first a dvertising they ever did I
a n a lyzed the situa tion to find its most appea ling
But nothing in all the da ta I gathered
fea tures
a ppea led to me like the r oma nce
So my first
The Wonderful Overland Story
a d s were hea ded
I told how demands from users h ad led John E
Willys to underta ke to supply them How that
demand h a d grown and grown until it was
necessary to erect a plant of tents
A ga in tha t limelights a principle in a dvertising
People are like sheep They cannot judge values
nor can you and I We judge things l ar gely by
impressions by popul ar fa vor We go
O ther s
with the crowd So the most effective thing I
have ever found in advertising is the trend of the
crowd
That is a factor nor to be overlooked People
follow styles and preferences We rarely decide
for ourselves because we don t know the facts
But when we see the crowds ta king any certa in
direction we are much inclined to go with them
I showed in my advertising how the crowds
were going to Overland automobiles I told how
th e demand h a d forced a bankrupt concern into
solvency Then how it crea ted a tent city Tha t
presentation set people th inking A nd they fol
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MY
I N ADVE RTISI NG
prod uct to thousands is proba bly the best wa y to
sell Other thous a nds
Every a d in my opinion shoul d tell a complete
story It should include every fact and argument
found to be va lua ble Most people I figure rea d
a story but once as they do a news item
I know
of no rea son why they should rea d it a gain So I
wish them to get in tha t one rea ding every con
1 18
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A ny
complete story told over and over is bo und
to gr ow monotonous to the man who rea ds all
It bores the man who writes it Both the
ad s
writer and reader come to long for a change
I S tudied the Reo situa tion then went awa y to
consider it The car was built by Mr R E Olds
one of the original motor car bui lders I considered
tha t fact the existing misfortunes and all com
petition tha t afie cred the case The di fficult con
di ti ons ca lled for efie ctive mea sures
In a few da ys I went back and told Mr Olds
tha t I woul d underta ke the advertising on three
conditions The first was that he name the new
model Reo the Fifth That to give a distinctive name
d to empha size the fact tha t we h a d a new model
an
The next condition was that Mr Olds sign the
Tha t to gain full effect from his great reputa
ad s
tion I told h im I woul d wr ite ads he would be
proud to sign and he agreed
Then I stipulated tha t he call it My Farewell
"
Car
Tha t to signify a degree of fina lity and hi s
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A UTOM OB I LE ADVE RTI SI NG
1 19
satisfaction with it
But he replied I don t
intend to retire
I said th at was unnecessary
Sarah Bernhar d t ma de seven farewell tours He
could ha ve two or thre e Every farewell is subject
to reconsidera tion
So we came out with ads hea ded My Farewell
"
”
“
R E Olds Designer
The
Car and signed
a d s were wr itt en to typify the man the man of
The man who
rugged honesty of vast experience
knew The man who scorned to do anything but
the best that was possible regar dless of its cost
Th e manwho put his reputa tion far ahea d of profit
The campaign from the start was a sensationa l
succes s Reo the Fifth became a t once the most
conspicuous car of th e year A new era dawned
for the Reo Company and th at era h a s continued
until tha t concern is one of the soundest and most
successful in the field
The most successful automobile a dvertising I
ever did resulted in disa ster due to Other causes
Tha t was the Mi tchell advertising I was called
A s alwa ys I ga ve an
there to meet an emergency
enormous amount of study to the a utomobile
situation to current idea s and trends I concluded
Efi ci ency
tha t the best key note was e fi ci en
cy
was then a popular subject with men in all lines
of business
The Mi tchell Company h ad an a ble efi ciency
expert They h ad a very efi ci ent plant So I came
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LI EE I N ADVE RTISI NG
“
out with ads headed John W Ba te Efi ci ency
an
d I told of the man and his methods
Expert
That campaign was also a sensation I never
knew any automobile advertising to bring so many
inqui ries Sales started a t anamazing rate I h ad
struck the popular chord
Buyers of motor cars
wanted a bove all else economies due to efi ciency
Soon the company wa s on the road to great success
It was recapitalized in a large way But the car
was a fizzle Its engineers h ad skimped in every
detai l Hundreds of cars came back and every
The larger
car sold blight ed the name Mitchell
the sa les th e worse became the ruin The very
success of the adver tising with the car tha t was
We pla yed too high
ofie red led to destruction
a n
Ote for the pr oduct we h a d to sell The ba d
reputa tion was so widely spread tha t recovery
proved impossible That formed another lesson
i n advertising
In
I was called on to advertise the Stude
ba ker car For several years I h ad been out of the
I h ad to educa te myself in
a utomobile field
Tha t is always essential
ex isting condi tions
One can never S trike the right chord until he
knows the trend of popular opinion
I studied the situa tion for weeks Studeba ker
The multiplying
h ad been a tremendous success
sales incr ea sing assets and profits h a d become a
stock mar ket sensa tion I concluded that those
facts al ways encoura ging to men watchin g th e
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LIEE I N ADVE RTISI NG
from being influenced by the ad It indicates lack
It suggests an efiort to sell A nd we
of sincerity
are all on our g ua r d when somebody apparently
is trying to get our money away
The only way to sell is in some way to seem to
offer super service It may be ofiered in a crude
way The ma jority of advertising successes h a ve
been accomplished in crude ways They struck
They seemed to
a hum an chord in a huma n way
“
Offer wanted service
That is why so much fine
"
fails to bring results People ar e
advertising
wary of it A nd why so many successes are m ade
in ways that seem crude They are ma de by super
sa lesmen who forget themselves
MY
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T I R E A DV E R T I S I N G
T WA S also my IOt to pioneer tire advertising
Tires h a d been a dvertised somewhat since
bicycle days but with scarcely more th an a name
Th e G oodyear Company h ad for many years been
I believe tha t their
customers of our agency
r year
expenditure never exceeded
e
N
0
p
body suspected that tires could be popularized
One da y it occurred to us that we could incr ease
our advertising busines s by increa sing accounts on
Thereafter that became our dominant
our books
rinciple
rew to be on
A
long
those
lines
we
g
of
e
p
th e largest agencies in the world
Commissions to advertising agents are paid by
th e publishers
Not for changing accounts from
one agency to another but for increasing th e
ay
volume of a dvertising We should earn our p
One way is by seeking and developing new ad ver
r
r
ti sin
u
A
n
a
oppo
t
nities
othe
is
by
m
king
it
g
possible for ex isting advertisers to mul tiply ex
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di tures
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I have rarely ta ken an account from another
a dvertising ag ent
I have never tried to do so
sa ve where a big opportunity wa s being spoil ed
by wrong methods Nearly all my large accounts
have been of my own creation I ha ve started
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MY e n I N ADVE RTI S I NG
with small sums sometimes and made the ad ver
tising grow out of earnings Such develop
ments
form the rea l satisfactions of a dvertising
Th e G oodyear people after much persua sion
were induced to enlarge their expe nditure For
the first sea son they ga ve us
It seemed
to them a reckless amount
Th ey were then pioneering what they ca lled th e
I h ad heard a bout it but did
straight side tire
nOt know what it was A d s a bout it h ad fre
quently come to my desk I was interested bOth
in tires and in advertising but was never enough
impressed to learn wha t stra ight side meant
I asked them a bout it and they showed me th e
di fference between straight side and clincher tires
I a sked the rea son for that difierence Th ey told
me the straight side would not rim cut A nd
that type of construction h ad size for size 1 0 p
er
cent grea ter air ca pacity
“
Then why I a sked don t you emp
hasize
those results ? R esults are what men are after
Th ey care nOt how you get them
Tha t was a new idea to them They were manu
fas turers interested ma inl y in a type of construc
tion Being interested in manufacturing details
they na turally ta lked them to the public
Th ere lies the chief reason wh y no manufacrurer
shoul d ever conduct his own advertising Few
a ttempt it now
The advertiser is too close to hi s
factory Hi s own interests tend to blind him to
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MY LI FE IN A DVE RTI SI NG
the name imply it So the name told our main
story It formed anad in itself Our main purpose
then was to induce motorists to use this type of
tire on all wheels in all weathers Th at h as since
become the custom largely thr ough th at influence
Th ere is a great a dvant age in a n ame tha t tells
a story
The name is usua lly displa yed Th us the
right name may form a rea son
a bly complete a d
which all who run may read Coining the right
name is often the ma jor S tep in good advertising
NO doubt such names often double the results o f
expenditures Consider the value of such nam es
Dyansh ine 3 inOne Oil Palm
as M ay Brea th
olive Soap etc
A nother problem we h ad to solve was to get
dealers to carry tire S tocks Few of them did so in
those days Th ey bought from the Goodyear
branches as they sold We prep
ared a large news
paper campaign and ofiered to name in each ad
the dealers who S tocked
Th e minimum
a ll
stock In a few months
requirem ent was a
we induced some
dealers to stock Goodyear
tires on that basis A nd tha t campa ign did much
to change the whole complexion of the tire
business
This naming of dealers in local advertising is an
Few
a lmost
i rresistible inducement to stock
plans are more efiecti ve NO dea l er likes to see hi s
rivals na med in a big campa ign and his own name
omitted Th e more who join in the plan th e
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T IRE
ADVE RTISI NG
117
easier it is to get Others I have often secured on
new products almost uni versa l distribution in thi s
.
way
.
The Goodyear campaign was one of my greatest
successes It pl aced Goodyear tires in th e lead
Never have I met ch anging situa tions in more
efieCti ve wa ys
Th e advertising grew from
r
r
to nearly
ye
a
e
p
Still I lost it Th ere developed a desire for
institutiona l advertising which I never could
It is na tural Great success brings to
approve
most men a desire to boa st a little But boasting
is th e last thi ng people want to hear Men like
to picture thei r plants to tell how they grew and
to preach a little on methods and policies Tha t
may be satisfying but it isn t s alesmanshi p N o
man in advertising or in anything else can afiord
to ofiend his own principles The moment he
compromises for money s sa ke he is lost N ot as
a success per ha ps but a s an artist
A s a manwho
contributes to his profession or ca lling and brings
it to higher levels
Th ere lies the ca use of most conflicts in ad ver
The layman pays the bills He na turally
rising
He is not ap
a ssumes the right to dicta te
t to
exercise that right in the early stages Th e scheme
is too new to him But ther e comes a time when
he feels that he is also an advertising expert It i s
curious how we all desire to excel in som ething
outside of our province
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LIP E I N ADVE RTISI NG
That leads m any men astra y Men ma ke money
in one business and lose it in many others They
seem to feel that one success ma kes them super
business men
Th ese men would nOt venture to di cta te to a
surgeon
Or tell a lawyer how to win a certain
ca se Or an artist how to paint a picture They
s like
re cognize technical knowledge in voca tion
those But nor in a dvertising which seems so
simple to them beca use it aims at simple pe ople
They do not realize that no lifetime is long enough
to learn much more than the rudi ments
The situa tion
l a ter I advertised Miller tires
h ad changed entirely Buyer s i n general h ad come
to regard good tires as a bout alike It was
neces sary to upset tha t impression and to secure
a prefer ence in some wa y
Mi ller tires were largely used on bus li nes on
the Pacific coast I secured the data and the records
The figures on buses using Miller tir es were i m
pressive The mileage records were surprising
Th e trend toward Miller s in commercial uses was
significant
I ma de those facts the key nOte of my campaign
The ordinar y tire buyer ma kes no comparisons
He rarely keeps track of tire mileage Wh en he
does so it is not done in a scientific way But he
knows tha t l arge tire users do nOt adopt a certain
ma ke on g uess I played on that knowledge I
sta ted in exact figures the resul ts of compariso n
s
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MY LI F E I N ADVE RTISI NG
There is one of the greatest questions in merchan
dising A n unadvertised line without consumer
demand must depend on distributors A nd they
demand a big toll But however large you ma ke
it somebody else will bid higher The margin
soon diminishes to insignificance
If you are an advertiser creating consumer
demand you must ignore to some ex tent th ese
intermediary factors Treat them fairly but do
a y them for wha t they ca nnot do
not p
The jobber
will ch arge you if you let him hi s expense of
competition
The dealer will compare your
allotted profits with profits On lines he owns
They do nOt figure tha t in one case you do th e
selling ; in the Other they do it all
Most lines which I ha ve advertised have never
employed a salesman The whole idea h as been
to win consumers and let them sell to dealers and
to jobbers Those who have tried to sell to con
sum ers then to dealers and jobbers have attained
prohibitive expense One must choose Margins
in selling are nOt sufi cient to accommoda te both
factors
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ter Twel ve
Ch a p
O F P A LM O L I V E
E A R LY H I STOR Y
O R G A N I Z E D in our agency an ad
"
visory board over which I presided We
announced tha t anyone could bring there ad ver
d receive
ti si ng problems in person or by letter an
without Obligation the advice of the best men in
Some sixteen able advertising men
our a gency
sa t around the ta ble
They offered an inviting
opp
ortuni ty to adverti sers existing or prospective
Some hundreds of men with dubious prospects
ca me th ere and we advised nineteen in twenty of
them nor to proceed The men who hesita ted
were large advertisers who h ad most at sta ke
That is generally so in this line
Our object in these mee tings was to foster good
advertising to warn men a gainst mista kes and to
try to di scover in the ma ss Of suggestions some
jewels of advertising opportunities Under the
same policy we published numerous books offering
a dvice ba sed on our many experiences
We felt
tha t our Own interests depended on the prosperity
of advertising as a whole Mista kes and disasters
hurt advertising One conspicuous success may
encourage many ventures No doubt our helpful
an
d unselfish policy was a large factor in th e
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1 31
MY LI F E I N ADVE RTISI NG
growth of advertising during the past twen ty
year s
One morning there appeared at our meeting
Mr B J Johnson of the B J Johnson Soap Co of
Milwaukee With him ca me M r Charles Pearce
a newly appointed sales m ana ger who wa s seeking
They came to discuss
a way to m a ke good
—
A fter due con
Galvanic Soa p a l aund ry soap
sidera tion we advised them against entering tha t
It is too d ifi cult too hard
a dvertising field
fought to offer encoura gement to a new a dvertiser
On the facts we cited the owners soon came to
a gree with us
Then we a sked if they h ad anything else Th ey
sa id th at they h a d a toilet soap cal led Palmolive
made with palm and olive oils It h a d slight
d istribution ; they h a d nOt considered it as an
a dvertising possibility
A t tha t time the men around the ta ble only
dimly recognized the strength of the beauty appeal
We wer e destined to later develop on that line
some of the greatest advertising successes There
is no stronger appeal to women One man sug
gested that Cleopa tra used palm and Olive oils
A nother reminded us that Roman be auties did
likewise Gradually we came to recognize the
germ of an advertising opportunity and we asked
the soa p ma kers to let us ma ke an experiment
We suggested a trial in Grand Ra pids Michigan
d we estimated that it could be made for a bout
an
1 31
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MY LI F E I N ADVE RTISI NG
for a prod uct which ca me to them first as a g ift
But when we ourselves buy the article just as the
consumer does we S how supr eme confidence in
the belief that the article will plea se
We Will
“
Buy is a much better headli ne than I o Cent
”
Ca ke Free
Then th e buying method forces dealers to stock
the product you Offer No salesmen are needed
Simply ma i l a proof of the coupon a d to dealers
Point out the fact that practically every home will
receive it
A lso tha t the coupon is as good as a
M e Women will nOt throw it away If one
dealer fails to redeem it another dealer will We
gain by this plan universal distribution immed i
a tely a t modera te cost
That is of course the
first essential in advertising
Run in any communi ty a few ad s announcing
y general
a buying offer an
d you are sure of a prett
Then when the page
rea ding of your proposition
appea rs with the coupon a ll who are inter
ad
Thus we
ested in your product wi ll present it
gain in two weeks a general understanding of our
prod uct and users by the th ousands
I ha ve never found tha t it pa id to give either a
sample or a full size packa ge to people who do not
request it
We must arouse interest in our product
ro
before it h as value to anybody I consider p
mi scuous s ampling a very b a d pl an indeed Prod
ucts handed out without a sking or thrown on the
doorstep lose respect It is di fierent when you
1 34
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A RLY H ISTORY OF P ALMOLIVE
1 35
force people to ma ke an eflort or when you buy
the product at reta il price on request
Such was the plan we used in Benton Harbor on
Th e cost including
the initial Palmolive ad s
the redemption of coupons was $700 I believe
A s a resul t several thousand women were started
on t hi s soap with full knowledge of its qualities
Then we waited to see the efiect
an
d pur po se
Wha t would users do when they tried the soap ?
The answer to that question is the most vital
factor in a dvertising
N ow I come to some figures which may not be
exact This ca mpaign was S tarted in 1 9 1 1 My
memory may be somewhat but not seriously at
fault Th e repea t sales in Benton Harbor paid for
the a dvertising before the bills were due We
knew then we h ad struck a responsive chord We
knew we h ad a winner
We tried the same test ads in numerous Other
ci ties a lways with like results I believe tha t
they spent a bout
in local advertising to
prove th at our appea l was efiecrive A lways th e
a dvertising pa id for itself as we went along
Then
we went into magazines and gained na tiona l dis
tri buti on and sale in wa ys I S h all describe
Let me pause for a few remar ks
In the tales I
recite in this history there is no desi re to over
empha size any parts I played Our a gency was a n
Organiza tion of experienced men who worked
together
Th e hea d of the agency often said tha t
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LI EE I N ADVER TISIN G
we never succee ded for any body who could not
ha ve succeeded without us I do nOt agree wi th
him On most of our succe sses we were the ones
or
to di scover and develop th e a dvertising op
p
itics That was naturally so beca use tha t was
ta n
Th e plan the theory and th e
our business
h e advertising all were our crea tio ns
strategy of t
But one necessi ty was an accepta ble product
That depended on the ma kers Ano ther necessity
was good business ma na gement I consider th e
Palmolive success as particularly d ue to tha t after
The leadi ng factor was
th e route was discovered
th e Ch arles Pearce who came to us tha t fa teful
morning in 1 9 1 I
Th e purpose of this business b iography is nor
It is to point out to
to cla im personal credit
ciples which I
th ose wh o follow me certain pri n
discovered by hard work I ha ve no wish to
minimi ze any Other person s part or hurt anybod y s
u
r
ide
N
o
b
sine
ss is crea ted by one man
p
A fter those local news paper tests on Palmolive
i t was decided to atta in nationa l di stribution
re we followe d the same lines as in
u
ckly
Th
e
i
q
We contracted for a pa ge in the
our local efforts
es
ome j om a l
er
P
n
i
H
L
a
d
l
a
d
S a turday Eveni n
g
There we inserted a coupon good at any drug
store in the country for a ten cent ca ke of Palm
olive We sent a dvance proofs of tha t pa ge to
d ruggists everywhere giving figures on the circul a
tion by local ities an
d po inting out th at the coupon
1
MY
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MY LI F E I N ADVE RTISI N G
than in Old days Both p
ersonal salesmanship
an
d a dvertising are more Costly than they were
Quick volume is more profita ble than slowly
roves th a t a plan
developed volume When one p
is right and s afe the great object is qui ck develop
ment A ttain the maximum as soon as you can
Th e simple things ea sily understood striking
popular chord are the appeals which succeed
with the ma sses They often sound to the intel
lectual like excerpts from Mother Goose Dutch
Cl eanser chases dirt Ivory Soap floats Gold Dus t
Twins do your work Children Cry for Castoria
—
lexion such things
Keep Y our Schoolgirl Comp
win the nine tenths
I once knew a manwho was advertising business
books
They were instructive based on ex cep
books that any business man
ti onal experience
should read But the publisher coul d nOt sell
rofit
them at a p
He consulted an advertising
expert in our Ofi ce A bout all the expert did was
”
to suggest the announcement Your name will
be printed in gilt on each book
We might
na turally say tha t such an announcement to a
business man would not prove importa nt But it
made t hat set of books a success It gave the
books some distinction some p
ersona lity that
won beyond all the logical arguments
A life insurance company solicits business by
mail from men considered wise The usual argu
ments would stir few men to action But this
1 38
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ALMOLI VE
1 39
company sta tes that a leather covered memo
ra n
d um book with his name in gilt is waiting for
his acceptance Simply tell them wh ere to send
it A t the same th e tell them the date of your
—
birth etc facts on which to present an insurance
proposition
This offer I believe goes only to men of affai rs
Men who are supposed to be a bsorbed in large busi
ness problems But it gains a reply from a very
lar ge percenta ge Those men of affairs dislike to
think that some little book which belongs to
—
—
them perhaps a tencent bo ok is being over
looked Such is human nature
Now back to the Palmolive Company The suc
cess of Palmolive Soa p led these good people into
many advertising adventures Most of them wer e
fizzle s as with the majority of such undertakings
Neither they nor we h a d the magic to do the im
possible things
One was Palmolive Shampoo They h ad on tha t
no unique cla ims It wa s simply a good shampoo
“
The appea l presented wa s Buy my brand instea d
an
d such appea ls never go
of the Other fellow s
EA
RLY
H I STOR
Y
or
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far
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In an island near Japan there grows anoil famous
for growing h ai r I have before me photograph s of
Japanese women standing on chairs with their hair
floa ting on the floor The whole supply of the oil
h ad been contracted for ye ars by French ha ir tonic
ma kers The contracts h a d expired I urged the
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MY LI F E I N ADVE RTISI NG
Palmoli ve people to secure tha t oil and argument
but the cost was hi gh
I do not know what h a s been done on Palmolive
Shampoo by merchandising methods But I ha ve
h ad much experience with Other shampoos A nd I
know that nobody zin a hard fought field h as ever
succeed ed without some exceptional cla i ms
On the Other side let me recite the experience with
Palmolive Shaving Cream
That was a logica l
a d apta tion of the fame of Palmolive Soap
But
cer ta in facts h ad to be considered Practically all
the users of shaving cream were wed ded to certa in
brands Perhaps most of them h ad used those
bra nds for years and they liked them Our prob
lem was to win users from one brand to another
One can hardly claim in a s having soap ex cep
ti onal eflccts
That is not logica l Some of the
greatest soapma kers in the country ha ve studi ed
shaving soaps for years But they ha ve never stated
in exact terms their accomplishm ents
I sent out some research men to interview menby
the hundreds I a sked them what they most desi red
i na sha ving cream Then I took those answers to
M ilwaukee then the home of Pa lmolive and sub
mitred them to V C Ca ssidy chi ef chemist I sa id :
”
These are the factors men want They ma y get
them in Other sha ving creams but no body yet h as
told them Give me a ctual data on these results as
lied to Palmolive Sha ving Cream
app
u
rove d
a
n
a
er
a
n
n
t
d
b
d
t
l
th
C
ssidy
p
e
a
n
e
w
a
M
L
1 40
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MY LIFE I N ADVE RTI SIN G
nOt go into a well occupied field on th e Si mp
le
can
"
“
a ppea l
buy my brand
That is a selfish appeal
repugnant to all
One must offer exceptional service
to induce people to change from favorite brands to
your s The usual advertiser does not offer tha t ex
a l service
It cannot be exp
ected But giving
ce p
ti on
exact figures on tha t service which Others fail to
supply may esta blish grea t a dvantage
Ta ke the example of Mazda lamps or tungsten
lamps in general The claim tha t they give more
light than carbon lamps ma kes S light impression
Everybody expects one sell er to cla im a dvanta ge
over Others But when you S ta te tha t tungsten
lamps multiply efi ci ency three times over tha t is
something for all to consider
Back of all of which lies the principle of personal
salesmanship Al l advertising S hould be ba sed on
that Meeting a woma n at h er door is much like
meeting h er around h er evening lamp The same
principles of sal esmanship apply A nd advertising
is salesmanship imprint
1 41
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ter Th i rteen
Cha p
P UF F E D G R A I N S A ND
A
E
R
A
S
U
K
O
T
Q
N E of my grea test successes came a bout
through advertising Pufled Whea t and Pufied
Rice A nd it came a bout in this way
'
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Mr H P Crowell the president of Th e Qua ker
Oats Company was a friend of an Old a ssocia te of
mine Tha t a ssoci ate urged Mr Crowell to learn
wha t I could do to help him So one day Mr
Crowell called me to h is ofi ce and said something
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like this : We have our long esta blished advertis
ing connections and they are sa tisfactory But we
have many lines nOta dvertised If you canfind one
whi ch ofiers opportuni ty we will experiment with
rove out
you We will spend
or over to p
your ideas
I looked over the line and I found two ap
l
ing
a
e
p
roducts
w
One
a
s ca lled P uffed Rice ; the other
p
was ca lled Whea t Berries The Rice wa s selling at
1 0 cents then an
d the Whea t was a dvertised a t 7
cents The sales h ad been declining The ma kers
were convinced tha t the products could not succeed
I selected those prod ucts beca use of their unique
appeals
I urged th em to change the name of Whea t
Berries to Pufled Whea t so we could a dvertise the
two p
ufle d gr a ins together I asked them to change
t
R
1 5 cen
s an
rices
d
a
so
th
t
ice
s
old
t
P
u
fl
e
d
a
p
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MY L IF E IN ADVE RTIS I N G
This added an average
PuEe d Whea t at 1 0 cents
r billi ng price
ra
r
of
c
e
to
t
h
ei
T
h
a
t
ex
t
e
a
s
p
gave us an a dvertising appropriation I was sure
tha t extra price would nOt reduce the sale in view
A nd it gave us a fund to
of our a dvertising eflorts
develop new users
I went to the plants where these puffed gra ins
were ma de Professor A P A nderson the inventor
During ni ghts
ufi ed gra ins accompanied me
of p
on th e tra in and da ys in the factories we studied th e
possibilities
ufi ng I t exploded ever y
I learned the reason for p
food cell I proved tha t it multiplied the grains to
eight tima normal si ze It ma de every a tom a vail
a ble a s food
I wa tched th e process where th e grains were S hot
fr om guns A nd I coined th e p
hrase Foods sh OI
from guns
That idea aroused ridicule One of the grea test
food advertisers in the country wrote an article
a bout it
He said tha t of all the follies evolved in
food advertising this certa inly was the worst The
”
idea of appealing to women on a Food sh Ot from
guns was the theory of animbecile
But tha t theory proved attractive It aroused
curiosity A nd tha t is one of the grea test incenti ves
we know in dea ling with human na ture
The theories behind this puffed grain campaign
a re worthy of deep considera tion
It proved itself
the most successful campai gn ever conducted on
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MY LITE I N ADVE RTISI N G
grains So we finally proved tha t magazine ad
as
u
r
only
possibility
w
verti sin
o
g
Then we distributed millions of samples promi s
The samples themselves did not win many
cuously
user s
We had to fir st esta blish an interest a re
sp
ect
So we S topped giving samples to uninterested
people Then we published ad s in tens of mi llions
of ma gazines each with a coupon good at any
grocery store for a p
a cka ge of M ed Whea t or
Pufled Rice
The people firsr read our story If
they cut out the coupon it was beca use our story
h ad interested
Those people welcomed the pack
a ge an
d they found wha t they looked for in it
Tha t is so in all sampling It never pays to ca st
samples on the doorstep
They are like waifs Give
samples only to people who ta ke some astion to
Give
acqui re them beca use of an interest crea ted
the product an a tmosphere Otherwise it will
never ma ke a lasting impression
A nother thing we l earned was this : We pu blished
tens of millions of a ds which offered Puffed Whea t
free to anyone who bought Puffed Ri ce The o ffer
was ineffective as all such ofiers are It meant
S imply a price reduction
It is just as hard to sell
a t a half price a s at a full price to people not con
verted Al l our millions of ads on those lines
brought us few new users
So advertisers always find it A coupon good for
half the price is small inducement A coupon which
1 46
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D GRA INS AND QUA x E R OATS 1 47
requires ten c ents for a sample appe als to a sma ll
percenta ge Remember that you are the seller
You are trying to win customers Then ma ke a
tria l ea sy to the people whom you interest Don t
ay for your efforts to sell them
a sk them to p
Economy on th is point multiplies the cost of sell
ing Inquiries for free samples may cost
cents
ea ch A sk 1 0 cents for the sample and the inquiries
ma y cost you
or more
To gain that 1 0 cents
you may be losing one dollar A nd you may sta rt
only one fifth as many users for the money that you
spend That is one of the grea test foll ies in ad ver
TU TTE
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ti si ng
.
ra ins led t h e Qua ker Oa ts
g
p
Company to ask me to S tudy their Other proposi
tions gTh e ma in one wa s Quaker Oats There I
ma de one of the grea test mista kes of my life
I figured that The Qua ker Oa ts Company con
trolled a large percenta ge of the oatmeal busi ness
If we could increa se the consumption of oa tm eal
we would reap most of the benefits So I planned
my first campa ign on those li nes
I sha ll not describe the methods They were far
reaching an
d effective so far as they could go
I
employed hundreds of men to gather da ta for me
but I was wrong The eating of oatmeal h a s for
centuries been regarded as important Everybod y
knows th e value of oa tmea l Those who do nor
employ it ha ve a rea son ha rd to overcome
I ranan ed uca tiona l campaign on a new and ap
ufled
'
My success on
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MY L ITE I N ADVE RTI SI NG
ay
pealing line But it did nOt p
We found that
converting new users was a very ex pensive proposal
a y us in hi s lif etime th e cost
No new user would p
of his conversion
That is so in many lines For insta nce convert
ing people to the tOOth brush to secure new tooth
pa s re us ers New converts I figure cost at lea st
No tOOth paste ma k er could get tha t cost
back in deca des
Ne w habits are crea ted by general educa ti on
They are crea ted la rgely by writers who occupy free
space I have never known of a line where indi
vidual a dvertisers could profita bly cha nge ha bits
If tha t ca nnot be done on a big sca le it cer ta inly
cannot be done on a small scale Every line every
word directed to that end is a was te No one can
profita bly change ha bits in pa id print The ad
ve rti ser comes in when those ha bits are ch anged
”
He says ; Here is th e right method
Many millions of dolla rs have been wa sted by
a dvertisers who do not recogn
ize tha t fact They
ai m a t people not yet school e d to use the products
which they offer The idea is fine and altruistic
but it never ca nbe ma de to p
ay
A ll my la ter a dvertising on Qua ker Oats was
I never tried to win new
a imed at o a tmea l user s
I simply told existing users the a dvantages
users
we Ofiered A nd we gained la rge results on those
lines
Our grea test resul ts came dur ing the war when
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m L IEE I N ADVE RTISI NG
1 50
test Lea rn wha t the housewives sa id We named
it Quick Qua ker Oa ts
So we ma de a test in a few towns We oflered to
buy the fir st pa cka ge to try We told every user we
did not care whether they preferred Qua ker Oa ts or
Quick Qua ker Al l we wanted to know was their
r cent of those user s voted
reference
Some
0
e
p
9 p
for Quick Qua ker A nd now Qui ck Qua ker gives
to Qua ker Oats a decided advanta ge
Al l of which teaches us lessons of vast impor
tance
Our success depends on plea sing people By
an inexpe nsive test we can l earn if we plea se them
We can guide our endeavors accordingly
or
or n
Two minute Oats fa iled because the unique fla vor
did not appeal to most people But Quick Qua ker
gave to the Qua ker Oa ts Company a new hold on
the oatmea l business The difference was decided
by submi tting the question to a few thousand house
wives at small expe nse Tha t canalways be done
One can a lwa ys learn what is wanted and wh a t is
nOt wanted without any considera ble risk
That is a bout the only way to advertising suc
cess Perhaps one time in fifty a guess may be
right
But fifty times in fifty an actua l test tells
you what to do and a void
a
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ter F ourteen
Ch ap
P E P S O D E NT
grea test success of my career so far h as
sod en
tTooth Paste
ro
been made on Pep
Its p
moter h as been a ssociated with me for twenty two
years We have ma de millions together in ad ver
When I went with Lord 8:
ti sing enterprises
Th oma s he was quite despondent He oflere d me a
large sa lary to idle and wait for him to find some
mutual opportunity
He beca me involved in irrigation projects in
Tucson Ar izona There th e nights are long and
lonesomeness omnipotent So he courted the ac
quaintance of the health seekers there and one of
them h ad evolved this toorh pa ste
Wh en he brought it to me I tried to di scourage
him It wa s a technical proposition I did not se e
a way to educa te the l aity in technica l tOO th pa ste
theories He insisted on a fifty cent price when
twenty five cents ha d been the usual price for a
tooth paste
But he was persistent So I fina lly agreed to
underta ke the campaignif he gave me a six months
option on a block of stock which he did
I read book after book by dental authorities on
sod en
t wa s ba sed
the theory on which Pep
It was
dry rea ding But inth e middle of one book I found
HE
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I !!
MY LI FE IN A D V E E I I sI No
a reference to the mucin pla ques on teeth which I
Tha t ga ve me anappeal
afterwar d ca lled the fil m
ing idea
I resolved to advertise thi s tooth pa ste as a creator
of bea uty To dea l with that cloudy film
The na tural idea in respect to a tooth paste is to
ma ke it a preventive But my long expe rience h a d
u
ta ught me that preventive mea sures wer e nOt p
op
lar People will do anything to cure a trouble but
little to prevent it Countless advertising idea s
have been wrecked by nor understanding that pha se
of human nature Prevention oflers slight appea l
to humanity in general
Th en I wa s urged to present the results of neglect
the nega tive side of the subject But I h ad learned
tha t repulsive ideas seldom won rea ders or converts
People do nor want to read of the penalties They
"
want to be told of rewards
Laugh and the world
laughs with you weep and you weep alone
Peopl e want to be told the ways to happiness and
che er
This p
oint is important Every advertising cam
r fa il ur e
n
o
dep
nds
on
its
psychology
Success
i
a
e
pg
is determined by the right or wrong appeal Scores
have tried to scare people into using a certa in tOOth
a s succeeded
h
f
ar a s I know
ste
N
ot
one
so
a
p
save where they appealed to troubles a lready
crea ted Folks give little thought to warding ofl
di sa sters
Their main ambition is to a tta in more
re cheer
in
mo
ess more bea ut
success , more hap
y
p
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MY L I FE I N ADVE RTISI NG
lines like food products the word free was ap
peal ing It multiplied the rea ders of our ads The
ofl er of a s ample seemed a na tur a l wa y to sell
But when we came to something perta ini ng to
hygiene the psychology was different We were
professing to offer people benefits of vast impor
tance When we fea tured a gift like a brea kfast
food it mini mized our importance It ma de us
tra ders s imply see king to sell not scientists seeki ng
to benefit When we fea tured a free ofler at the top
of our a ds we divided our results by four
Such things are n0t ea sy to discover When we
d fea ture a free package it
a dvertise a dessert a n
harmoni zes with human na ture When we offer a
“
"
hygi enic help and ma ke the word free a chi ef
appea l we di scredit a ll the factors which can bring
us converts
I spent much th e to learn this I wasted some
money But I always knew immed ia tely by my
keyed coupons the efi ects of my every appeal !I
learned my mista kes in a week I never spent much
money on any wrong theory I discovered quickly
the right and the wrong
Here we are dealing with one of the greatest suc
cesses in advertising A tooth p
a ste which despite
a ll opposition came to rule the world
Toda y it is
sold in 5 2 countries It is advertised in 1 7 lan
gua ges including the Chinese and in each our ap
a l h a s proved equa lly efiecti ve
e
p
We came into a field well occupied During all
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P B P S OD B NT
1
55
of our advancement we h ad countless competitors
sod e n
t in a few
We won over them all and ma de Pep
short years the star dentifrice success Thi s was
no accident
The Pep
soden
t Company was organi z ed on a
Most of the investment went into
sma ll ca pital
A ll men connected
office fixtures and ma chinery
were old a dvertisers They woul d never ha ve i n
vested much in trade creating without a ssurance of
qui ck return
We secured that quick return In our first test
city we spent
which came back with a profit
before the advertising bills were due We tried
Then
Other cities and they panned out in like way
our backers a dvanced l arge sums of money on a pl a n
that h ad proved a certa inty Thus we esta blished
in one year a na tion wide demand and a world
wide demand in four years
Consider this underta ki ng I know of nothing in
all advertising so successful in a big quick wa y
One series of ad s which I prepared would ha ve
wrecked it in three months Y et I h ad a t th a t time
spent nearly thirty years in a dvertising I h ad
learned from hundreds of campa igns
—
I caught my mista kes by the coupon caught
them quickly I reversed my stra tegy at once De
fore we went very far I h a d found the way to qui ck
an
d sure success simply by watching returns
A hundred tooth pa ste ma kers might S tart out
as a hundred have an
d fall down Simply beca use
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MY LIEE I N ADVE RTISI N G
they were wedded to some theory whi ch human
na ture fa iled to approve They did n0t learn their
mista ke beca use they did not qui ckly check results
So they wrecked themselves on rocks whi ch could
ha ve been a voided
soden
I ma de for myself a million dollars on Pep
t
—ona proposition which at fir st I refused to under
ta ke Just beca use by countless teS ts I learned the
right human psychology
Wha t is the lesson ? It is that none of us canaf
ford to rely on judgment or experience We mus t
feel our way New problems require new ex p
eri
We must test our underta kings in the most
ence
exact way possible Learn our mi sta kes and cor
re ct them
Wa tch every appealing lea d
A fter this experience I can cite a hundred ways
to a dvertise a tooth paste wrongly A nd I can
prove the mista kes But a hundred men might
follow each to the rocks if they h a d no gauge on
res ul ts
so
A hundred men ha ve done so So P ep
dent oflers the best argument I know for being
guided by actual data
156
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1
MY
8
5
I N ADVE RTISI NG
L I FE
border You will get anad which looks more
a ttractive but you will double th e cost of replies
an
d sa les
This fact should be accepted for this economy
principle after thousands of tests on hundreds of
lines h as become practica lly universal A nd it
proves that waste of space is folly in any line of ad
arge type or borders or
l
a
Th
t
inc
udes
l
verti sin
g
pictur es that don t help to sell Al l ad s woul d be
set like good mail order ads if th e same rigid tes ts
were applied
Tha t is the hardest fact for anad writer to learn
The na tural in
or an a dvertiser to comprehend
a ttractive
One must
sti n
Ct is to m a ke the a d
however ads are not written to
remember
And to sell a t the lowest cost
amuse but to sell
possible Ma il order advertising ba sed on ac
curate figures on cost and result shows th e best
ways known to do that
A nadvertiser who once came to our agency was
selling a five dollar articl e by ma il His replies
were costing 85 cents ea ch his sales a bout
each The advertising wa s becoming unprofita ble
re
so h e sought a way to lessen cost of sales We p
pared an ad which the advertiser rej ected it
seemed so unattracti ve Another agency prep
a red
which the advertiser
a l arger more a lluring a d
tried But hi s cost p
er reply was
on an
Then he tried our ad and
ar ticle whi ch sold for $ 5
the Cost p
So we secured the
er reply was 42 cents
or a
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DE R E x pE RI E NcES
159
er reply kept around 42
d our cost p
a dvertising an
cents for years We cut his old cost in two A nd
replies p
e r year mea nt a very big
tha t on
item to him But countless advertisers without a
trace on cost are judging ads by appearance And
they are losing as heavily as this mandid on anad
r
r
e
which cost him
eply
Th
t
is
why
so
a
p
much money is wasted in a dvertising People do
not know their costs and they will not be guided
by those who do So I ha ve alwa ys done some ma il
order a dver tising to help me keep my feet on the
round
g
A t one time I took up the a dvertising of house
furnishings by ma il on insta llments While I was
doing this the business developed to
r
e
p
a t ta ught me countless things
e
a
r
Th
One
le
ns
r
a
y
a grea t dea l a bout human na tur e in s ellin
g goods on
credit by m ail
The problem does nOt end with the first sale to a
customer The ca talogs are expensive Landi ng a
customer in this line cosrs money A percentage of
ay as a greed
the customers fai l to p
SO profit depends
on making the most of customers who are honest
Selling them aga in and again Ma iling bulletins on
special Offers Watching accounts to sell something
ayments ar e completed
more when p
Induci ng one
customer to interest Others
One day when I ca lled on this concern I nOted a
big buildi ng next door I asked a bout it and they
told me it belonged to a firm tha t sold womens
S OME MA I L
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MY L I TE I N ADVERTISIN G
r
a
a
a
ments
by
m
il
on
inst
llments
just
we
sold
s
a
g
“
fur ni shings I said : Why do you let such a con
cern grow up next to you ? Why dont you sell th eir
"
line ?
That led us to organi ze a similar concern I
urged them to give it a woman s name
We se
lecte d a ca p
a ble middle a ged woma n and pictured
h er in every ad We h a d h er S ign the ad s and we
made our appea l from one woman to anoth er
These ads did nOt mention i nstallmm ts ) They
dealt with the subj ect of credit They appea led to
young women who desired to appear at their best
They pointed out wha t it meant in a woman s
career Then this woman Oflered to help them out
by giving them six months to p
ay for spring clothes
The Offer was fla ttering nOt humilia ting It
showed symp
d understa nding The evident
a thy an
desire was to serve In reality our offers were the
same as those ma de by the people next door but our
t
We ma de our six months
a ttitude was di fleren
credit seem like the thirty day credit which richer
women get at their stores
A s a result we dom ina ted tha t field from th e
start Before long the business next door was
closed Cold commercialism could not compete
with the a tmosphere we created Nor coul d boasted
benefactions appeal like the offer of fai r trea tment
from one woman to another
Just that change inpresentation created an enor
I
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MY LI EE I N ADVE RTISI NG
Any woman who receives such a fla ttering Ofler will
try to find some wa y to utilize it
So wi th the garment seller She m ore like letters
i shing customers She told them
to the house furn
they h a d with h er an open credit account They
could order whatever they wished without sending
money Just order the garments sent on approval
A nd those house furnishing customers by the thou
sa nds bought women s garments from the woman
who wrote them so politely
We started a like business on men s clothes Then
by ma king a customer in one line a buy er of anoth er
we multiplied the ordinary res ul ts Nobody on a
single line could compete with such a combina tion
Such are the ramifica tions of advertising Sa les
—
—
manship in print in principle is just the same a s
salesmanship in person The store offers a bargain
to tempt people there The object is to try to sell
An
Other things and right salesm anship will do it
a d writer must never forget th a t he is a simple
sa lesma n an
d the more he sells the better he will
prosper
One more ma il order experience will i llusrrate
a nother pha se
I took up the advertising of a con
cern which for thirty years h a d sold garments for
women and children by ma il on credit This
field is well occupied It h a s been profita ble The
annua l s a les of some concerns in this line run into
M
millions
y
A ll Ofle r a cosd y catalog Some ads Ofler specia l
16
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S OME MA I L
DE R Ex pERI E NC E S
16
3
—
—
barga ins perhaps cer ta in articles a t cost to in
duce people to write for the ca talog A s a result
the woman who writes for one ca talog is ap
t to
write for three or four
—
Then comes the main d ifi culty the problem of
inducing women to buy from your ca talog rather
than from Others
cents to induce a woman to write
Say it costs
for your ca ta log Th e ca talog with its pictures in
colors costs 35 cents at least Thus you ha ve an
investment of 60 cents in each inquirer Th e res ults
depend on the sa le p
er ca t alog
The woman who writes to one advertiser in this
line usually writes to three or four Wh en she
comes to ma ke a selection she h a s four ca ta logs
before h er A ll present attractive appea ls The
one from whi ch she orders depends largely on
cha nce or fancy
re
One must recognize tha t Your cost of p
senting th a t ca talog to h er is 60 cents perhaps
If four advertisers are presenting such ca talogs to
The avera ge sale as
h er the tOta l cost is
a dvertisers
is
8
the
around $ 1 0
0
e r experience
p
r cent to ma ke that
e
combined are spending
p
a vera ge s ale
The profit d epends on swinging your way more
tha n the a vera ge sa le Tha t wa s the problem
which brought those advertiser s to me
I devised this scheme : When a woman wrote for
our ca talog I went to our card file and discovered
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MY L I FE I N ADVE RTISIN G
whether she was a new or old customer If she
wa s a new customer the sales mana ger wrote h er a
“
letter to this efiect: We are very glad to ha ve your
inqui ry We welcome new patrons to our fold I
w ant to extend you tha t welcome in a practical
way I inclose my card On it is written instruc
t i ons to refer your order to me I want to s end
with that order with my compliments a little
present for you I will not sa y what it is but I am
sur e it will delight you
To Old customers he wrote this : I am gla d to
The whole
a gain receive an inquiry from you
profit in our business is ma de by the customers who
stay with us year after year It costs money to get
new customers but the Old ones who remai n cost
us nothing
So I wish to Offer you a token in
apprecia tion of the fact th a t you continue wi th us
When you send your order inclose this card of
mine It instructs our people here to refer your
Then I will include a little gift to
order to me
”
S how our a ppreci ation
Wha t was the resul t ? A ll inquirers for the
ca talog old or new customers received tha t card
It did nOt mention the gift beca use curiosity
ma kes a S tronger appeal than description But
every inquirer h ad tha t card before h er If she
ordered from one particular ca talog she could send
that card and receive the gift So she tried h er
best to order from that ca talog The sales p
er
ormously increased
ca talog were thus en
16
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L I FE
ADVE RTISI N G
been less than 3 p
er cent
So I advertised tha t
—
r cent
rofit a profit of
romised not to
I
p
e
p
3p
exceed it We were content with tha t profit and
our prices were fixed on tha t ba sis
Here was one of the oldest ma il order concerns
in this line one of the largest
The prices they
er cent profit must be pretty close to
quoted on 3 p
minimum One could nor expect to ma terially
decrease them So those quOta tions despite all
Others guaranties were a ccepted a s bottom prices
That is another illustra tion of how actua l figures
count
Claim s are always discounted
Sa y
Lo west prices in existence and people ignore
you Many may ma ke like cla ims But say tha t
you sell at 3 p
d most people
er cent net profit an
believe you They do nOt expect you to lie in
rega rd to definite figures
They know you m e t
li e in the better publications
Th ose are some of the plans whi ch I evolved to
increa se mail order sales They meant little to
me directly Ma il order advertising is nOt worth
th e efl ort from the S tandpoint of the a d writer
But it kept me facing the fact tha t all sorts of
We
a dver tising is ba sed on ma il order principles
must always sell our goods at a profit We must
A ny ad writer
alwa ys outsell O thers to succeed
who proceeds on any Other theory is doomed to
quick defea t
MY
16
6
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te r S i x
Cb np
te en
R E A S O N S F O R S UC C E S S
OW let me try to summarize the rea sons for
my success for the benefit of those who will
art s I pla yed in devel
follow By success I meanthe p
oping grea t ad vertising enterprises most of which
continue A dvertising men are expected to do tha t
In advertising we serve th ree interests a ll of
th em a llied but distinct First comes the publisher
who pays us our commissions He pays to the
a gen
cy an average of 1 5 p
er ce nt on the amount of
the advertising Tha t is pa id for expected service
The best ser vice we can render lies in the develop
ment of new advertising opportunities He expects
us to increa se the general volume of a dvertising by
starting new proj ects or showing the way to
profitably increase the old
Publishers learned tha t I served t hem well
I
m om for instance the first ad I ever read on
a utomobiles
I did much of the pioneer work in
tha t line including the first ads on Cha lmers
Hudson and Overland Publishers regarded me
t The first important
as a lea der in tha t developmen
tire advertising was the campaign which I evolved
on No Rim Cut tires for Goodyear Its ama zing
proved to all tire makers that this line
needed advertising
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LI FE I N ADVE RTISI NG
Tooth paste advertising was ra ther insignificant
sod ent ca me into the field
before Pe p
Tha t quick
success was one of the ma rvels of a dvertising and
now many millions are spent every year to foster
dentifrices NO doubt the success Of M ed Whea t
an
d P ufled Rice ga ve impetus to cerea l advertising
The remar kable success of Pah oli ve created much
soa p a dvertising
My help in creating business for the m aga zines
d newspa pers led the publishers to help me
an
They ha ve opened for me many fine opportunities
rvice in ad
a
e
ust
be
use
they
believed
th
t
my
s
a
c
j
writing would increa se thei r revenues
A nother interest we s erve as a d writers is th e
Ma ny of the best accounts in
a dvertising agency
agencies are the accounts developed from sma ll
beginnings there
Nearly all the accounts I
handled were of tha t sort Often much is a t sta ke
on these advertising possibilities A mista ke may
ruin a fine prospect
Mediocre service may resul t
i n a sma ll account where a big one might ha ve
been Tha t is why competent ad writers are paid
such large incomes
In my ca se I started with Lord 8; Thomas at
r week
a greed tha t the
But
we
soon
e
p
Then the
right plan was a commission ba sis
l y for ser vice which proved
agency pa id me on
rofita ble to them
On
the
Other hand I received
p
wha t I earned Under that plan I earned in com
mi ssions as high as
ina year A ll earne d
MY
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MY LI FE I N ADVE RTISIN G
During th ose two yea rs I accepte d no account for
myself By tha t I mean an account On which I
obtained commissions I wanted no one to say
tha t I used my position to secure revenue for myself
A s a result my own revenue dr opped severely
But Mr La sker always knew tha t his interests
would come ahea d of mine He trusted me im
a te he ga ve
i
l
A
t
one
time
to
help
comp
e
ns
l
i
t
c
p y
me a check for
for writing S eesntefir
1 70
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—
Tha t was one grea t factor inmy career th e con
I engendered That was due to my Scorch
A t one time Mr Lasker ma de me a
a ncestry
trustee under his will A gain and aga in I refuse d
to acceptfrom hh more th a n I felt I ea rned When
my contract called for one third the commission I
refused to a ccept it on accounts where I did n
Ot
A bout the only dis
a ppe ar to be a vita l factor
a greements I h a d wi th Mr Las ker referred to hi s
d esire to overpay me
That a ttitude I consider a vital factor insuccess
One on the crest of
A n a bsolutely fa ir division
the wave may Over play his hand for a little time
but nor for long Business is money ma king a nd
d a way to elimina te anyone who
a ssoci ates will fin
cla ims too large a share
The third element in a dvertising is th e advertiser
h h se lf I put him third beca use he se ems to come
third in my conception of advertising We cannot
serve the publisher or the advertising agent with o ut
fid ence
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ASONS F OR S UCCES S
1 7;
But the p
ublisher pays our com
ser ving him
missions the advertising a gent selects and employs
us The advertiser who is a beginner ma kes a slight
specula tion on us Old advertisers who change
from one a gency to another are not very valua ble
clients They ha ve failed in their ambitions In a
large percenta ge of cases the reason for fa ilure
cannot be corrected So they usua lly switch again
The a dvertisers I value most are nOt those who
come with large appropri ations I could list
scores of such advertisers who have no prospect
Ea ch succeeding agent
of a tta ining thei r desir es
loses reputa tion and prestige when he attempts the
RE
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h
p
ossi ble
.
The most valua ble clients are those who come
to us with new opportunities in a dvertising They
But the opportunity consists of a test
are many
campa ign costing under
The agency com
mission on such a campa ign is $75 0 The cost of
developing a test campa ign rarely runs under
i f a competent manis employed The men
in ch arge may spend wee ks in reading and in
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The sta ke in such ca ses is la rgely with the
agency
The advertiser usua lly gets his mon ey
back wh a tever the outcome The real sta ke i s
ma de by the agency
Fa il ur e means tha t the advertiser loses a trifle
Succe ss ma y mean millions
th e agency loses much
to the advertiser To the agency it means 1 5 p
er
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I N ADVE RTIS I NG
MY
;
7
cent commission on the advertising just so long as
he holds the advertiser s good will and approval
SO I feel no Obliga tion to ana dvertiser who permi ts
me to ma ke a test M ine is the specula tion
lace advertisers last in this
Tha t is why I p
ca tegory But on the success of the advertiser
depends everything else We owe O bliga tion to th e
a y us our commissions
publishers who p
We owe
obligation to the agency which gives us our chance
Our lea st obligation is to the advertiser yet every
thi ng depe nds ou his attitude
Success in advertising depends on these three
elements Thr ee interests must be sa tisfied and
The only way
all of them are cryi ng for profits
to plea se all of them is to profita bly develop what
you underta ke
I have devoted myself to the advertiser Through
h is success must come my success wi th the others
I forget the rest The advertiser who fails in a
large way becomes forever a denouncer Of adver
I know tha t failur e is inevitable in a large
ti si ng
percent age of ca ses
So I never involve the
rge ext ent before we are sure
a
l
a dvent ur er to an
y
If he fails the fault lies in the product
Of a profit
Hi s loss i s
um the advertising
or conditions
little or nothing If he succeeds his winnings may
run into millions
How have I been able to win from this situa tion
Simply because I made
so many grea t succes ses ?
y mista kes in a small way and learned some
so man
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LI TE I N ADVE RTISI NG
should econom ize Sh e demands wha t the best
pe ople use
Many people around me working atsmall wages
consider cost far less th an I do A woman who
does our washing and who arrives in h er own ca r
h as a fad for antiques She picks up many pieces
—
of value pieces we are glad to buy from h er when
sh e becomes involved
roudest pe ople I kn
The p
ow are th e people wh o
work on my country place Suggest a thi ng to
d you ar ouse
them beca use it is economical an
Y ou hurt thei r pride But dir ect your
oppositi on
appea l to those who do n
d they
sider cost an
Ot con
like to be included
That is a single example of th e things we learn
by contact from the people who form 9 5 p
er cent
of our customers A ma ica is a land of equali ty
Every campaign th a t I devise or write is ah e d
a t some indi vidua l member of this va st ma jority
I do nOt consult managers and boards of dir ectors
Their viewpoint is nearly always distorted I sub
le folks around me who typ ify
mit them to the sh p
A merica
They are our customers Their reactions
l y ones tha t count
are the on
There is another field a bly occupied It is
typified by the advertising of Cadill ac cars People
But th ose
Of sm a ll incomes ean well be excluded
are n
m the grea t a dvertising fields I ha ve confined
"
“
ea ls to the
my app
common p
eople to the prod
m m which they buy
MT
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ter S e ve nte e n
Cb a p
S C I E N T I F I C A DV E R T I S I N G
H R O UG H
a
b ook I wrote my name h as
become connected with Sci entific A d ver
"
r tising ba sed on fix ed
r
a
a
Th
t
is
dve
in
ti sin
g
p
les and done according to fundamm tal la ws I
ci p
learned those principles through thirty six years
of traced advertising Th rough conducting cam
s on some hundre ds of difleren
l
i
nes
T
ough
a
n
r
i
t
h
pg
comparing on some lines by keyed returns thou
sands of pieces of copy A lways since I sent out
my first thousand letters to the th e when $5
yearly was being spent on my copy I ha ve h a d to
face records on cost and result So I ha ve naturally
proved out many fundamental s whi ch should
a lwa ys be a pplied
I h a ve little respect for most theories of ad ver
tising beca use they h a ve nOt been proved They
are ba sed on limit ed experiences
on exceptional
conditions Some lines seem to succeed on methods
of advertising which every tra ced return proves
Th e reasons for success ha ve little to
h p
o ssi ble
do with the advertising The l ine may ha ve suc
Many un
cee d e d in spite of the a dvertising
advertis ed lines be come hi ghly successful beca use
of some wanted qua lity which pe ople soon d i s
cover Or because dealers are in some way induced
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x 75
MY LI TE I N ADVE RTI SIN G
Or beca use of a name which in itself
to feature it
tells an appea ling story
Cream of Whea t is anexample The name alone
So with Spearmint Gum A ll
tells the story
successful g ums ha ve succeeded through fortun
a te
names There is almost no story to tell There
The very men who
are n
o grea t distinctions
e na me fail ed aga in an
d again
succee ded wit h on
with Others
A ny conclusion s drawn from such ex periences
The ca ses where
are bound to lea d Other s a stra y
they apply are rare Safe principles are evolved
only by those who know with rea sonable exact
ness wha t the advertising d oes and who compare
results on many lin
es with thousands of pieces of
copy
Mail order advertising gives the most
exact ba sis but most a dvertising can be so con
d ucted as to give an approxima te guide
To a pply scientific advertising one must recognize
One must compare them
that ads are sa lesmen
d hold them
e by one on a sa lesman s basis an
on
responsible for cost an
TO advertise
d result
blindl y teaches one nothi ng and it usually lea ds
to the rocks
I ha ve descri bed in this book some of the methods
b y which we trace results But we find tha t some
methods which succee d in one line cannot be
We find that some methods
applied to another
which are profitable are nOt one fourth so efl ecti ve
as Oth ers
80 regardless of principles we must
1 76
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L I TE I N ADVE RTISI N G
Forget yourself entirely Have in your mind a
typical prospect interested enough to rea d about
your product Keep tha t prospect before you
ressi on
Seek in e very word to increa se your good h p
Say onl y wha t you thi nk a good salesma n should
say if tha t prospe ct stood before hh
Then if
you could sell in person you could sell in print
Do nOt boast
Nor a bout your plant or your
Not a bout anything more inter esting to
output
you than to your rospect BoaS ting is repulsi ve
p
Your reader is pe rusing a
A im to get act i on
ma gazine or newspaper She h as paused beca use
your subject or your hea dline attracts h er But in
a moment she will be inter ested in h er rea ding an
d
will usua lly forget you In some way in your
cli ma x inspire immedia te action in those interested
A coupon is the usual wa y
People cut it out
They do nOt lay aside their magazine or newspa per
but they clip the coupon to remind them of some
th ing they decide to do A woman lays it on h er
desk a ma n slips it in his vest pocket Then on
some convenient occ asion it turns up for action
It is sent in for a sa mple or for further informa tion
Then you ha ve a chance to follow up that interest
Countless tests h ave proved that coupons multiply
returns
I have seen many tests ma de by mail order
houses oflering ca ta logs Some a ds h a d coupons ;
some did nOt The difference in re turns was
enormous
People are dila tory They defer action then
MT
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ADVE RT ISI NG
1 79
forget Many ana dvert i ser loses in t hat wa y most
of his half ma de converts One cannot afl ord tha t
"
“
There are Other ways to get action Th e week
sa les have that in View Th e retail oflers which
a pply to a certain da y or hour
Lh i ted Oflers of
every sort Something to induce prompt action
rocrastina tion
to avoid p
is always an h p
ortant
factor
Frivolity h as no place in a dvertising Nor h as
humor Spe ndi ng money is usually serious busi
ness Th is does not apply to amusement ad ver
ti si ng
but it does to all other forms Money
It is highly respe cted
represents life an
d work
To most pe ople S pending money in one direction
i ng in another
means skh p
So money spending
People want full
usua lly h as a serious purpose
val ue
They want something worth more to them
tha n the sa me amount spe nt in Other ways would
buy
Such su bj ects should nor be trea ted lightly N o
writer who really knows the average pe rson will
ever trea t it lightly Money comes slowly and by
sacri fice Few pe ople have enough The avera ge
person is constantly choosing be tween one way
to spend and another A ppea l for money in a light
“
”
some way and you will never get it Sunny Jh
"
proved tha t so did Spotless Town
So did
ma ny Others whi ch are long forgotten Nobody
ca n cite a permanent success built on frivolity
People do not buy from clowns
SCI EN TI TI C
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LIFE I N ADVE RTISI NG
Never seek to amuse Tha t is nor the purpose
People get their amusements in
of a dvertising
the rea ding matter columns The only interest
rofita bly is something pe ople want
you ca n Ofler p
Do nOt try to compe te wi th the S tories or the
news columns with the pictures or the cartoons
in their field Y ou may win a ttention but nOt
valua ble attention
Most of the pe ople you
a tt ract in this way ha ve no inter est in your subject
The ad columns and the readi ng ma tter ha ve
their separate pur poses Y ou cannot fool people
by any resemblance None should a ttempt it if
he could Wh at does it profit an a dvertiser to
a ttract a rea der who h a s no interest in his subject ?
re
A ny product worth a dvertising if rightly p
sented h as more interest than a story It mea ns
—
economy or help or plea sure perhaps for years
to come A musement is transient Why sacrifice
your grea t appea l to secur e a moment s fickle
attention ?
A dvertising means sal esmanship to millions
Because of its big field it is very expensive In
nationa l a dvertising the a verage cost i s at least
r
r
1
0
wo
d One must figure tha t Ma ke every
e
$ p
word count to the limit Cut out every word which
is not worth tha t $ 1 0 Never repe at This should
be done without stilted efl ects but it must be done
A salesman who wa stes his time who sa ys us e
less things and repeats may cost $ 1 p
e r hour
But an ad whi ch does like things is was ting $ 1 0
MY
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LITE I N ADVE RTISIN G
Thi s ma y nor be a se vere handica p but it is al ways
a detrimen
t Wh y not follow th e usual and
natural
MT
18
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dvertising Th e incl ina tion is to use pictur es
The tendency h as grown until many advertisers
r
r
e
a
f
om
to
d
wing
r
a
py
p
No test tha t I know of proves s uch exp
en se
r do I know of a ca se where colored
r
ofit
ble
a
o
N
p
pictures paid better tha n black and white People
use th em more and more but rarely on traced
a dvertising
I am prepared to believe that on some lines like
ietures ma y prove
fruits and desserts colored p
ofit
But
I
know
of
no
line
as yet where on
r
a ble
p
s they ha ve warranted their extra
trace d return
A nd I h a ve ma de a good many comparisons
cost
A t one th e a grea t a dvertising journal appea led
But no
for proofs tha t colored advertising pa id
such actua l proof h as yet come to my a t tention
Tha t is a question for further ex p
e rh ent
Extra
fine art work and colored art work ha ve not yet
proved their advantages If they do so in ce rtain
lines I doubt if ever th e results ca n be appli ed to
all lines
Th e i ncentive i s nor allied to sa lesmanshi p
One ca res little how a salesma n dresse s We regar d
So with salesmanship ih
over dr ess as a fa ult
a ve never found a ca se wh ere fin
rint
I
h
ppe
ar
a
e
p
And I know of no
ce p
ai d its Cost in extra sales
an
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ADVE RTI SI N G
18
3
My idea is that fine art
e else who h as done S o
on
ly ma kes buyers
work like fine language sh p
wary
“
le taught by exp
eri ence is that
A noth er pri ncip
People do nOt rea d
ads S hould tell the full story
Th e a dvertiser who toda y a ttracts
a ds in series
them may nOt aga in get attention for months So
when you get a reading present all your arguments
In an advertising campa ign we find facts which
pea l and we reta in them We find Other facts
ap
which don t appe al and we dr op them We find
these things out by fea turing our various ela h s
in hea dlines We find that one lead brings a grea t
deal of interest while another brings little or
none SO we gauge our appea ls accordingly
Some will buy for one rea son some for another
But all appeals whi ch prove th emselves h p
ortant
shoul d be included in every ad Otherwise our
most convincing arguments fa il to rea ch our i n
terested readers
We ca nnot expect people to rea d our ads again
an
d again
Our su b ject a ttracts them and they
give us brief a ttention It is up to us then to
convince them or forever lose their interest They
will nor read another a d of ours if we fail to
present in an enticing way something they desire
We should nOt lose our opportunity Every a d
shoul d include whatever we ha ve found appea ling
to any considerable class
Then there are different w ays of sta ti ng thi ngs
S C I E NTI TI C
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MY LITE I N ADVE RTISI NG
ressi ve
Some are h p
some are nOt Superla ti ve
To sa y that someth ing i s
O t count
el ah s do n
”
“
ressi on
ma kes no h p
Th e best ins th e world
wha tever Tha t is an expected ela h
The rea der
ma y not blame us for exa ggera tion but we lose
much Of his respect He na tura lly minh izes
wha tever el se we ma y say
When we say such things as The best product
" “
The supreme crea tion of its ki nd
inexistence
we may arouse onl y a smile at our frailties No
But wha tever
re se ntment ma y be engender ed
e lse we sa y is discounted
People are pret ty well educa ted to the beli ef
tha t advertising must tell the tr uth Th ey know
th at we cannot in the better mediums deliberately
mislea d them But they do nor regard superla ti ves
a s mislea ding beca use they never ar e
On the Other hand whenyou state actua l figures
definite facts they accept them at p
ar
Such
d efini te statements are either facts or lies and
tha t reputa ble people or
eople
do
not
expect
p
concerns will lie
G ive actua l figures S ta te definite facts
Ta ke
the tungsten lamp as an example Say th at it
gives more light than Other lamps and people are
re sse d
but mildly h p
Sa y that it gives 3 times
th e light of car bon lamps and people will realize
tha t you have made actual comparisons They
ar
w ill accept your e lah s at p
r
n
h
I
l
a
e
in
ve
thi
nd
nit
e
e
fi
s l ea ve i n
o
c
S
y
g
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LI F E
MY
18
6
IN
ADVE RTISI NG
become disheartened An ointment for instance
a trea tment for asthma or h a
or a germicide
y
fever a rub for rheuma ti sm
eal s to a sma ll
On some such things one app
T
h
e cost of rea chi ng them in mediums
ercenta ge
p
of universa l circula ti on is excessive It cannot
On Others th e cost of
come ba ck for deca des
securing a customer is many years return from a
Repea t sal es are too far apart
customer
I know many products which every home shoul d
have The rea sons are convincing A large p
er
tage of homes can be sold on them but a single
cen
purcha se h as for months and some times years
The cost of securing a customer far ex ceeds th e
first sa le profit Further sales and profits are long
deferred The advertiser and the a dvertising man
become discoura ged long before the tide ca n turn
The world is full of such things Things tha t
Things tha t do not
appea l to the 1 p
er ce nt
d pa tience are exha usted
I
repea t until funds an
ha ve seen many men of grea t abili ty d iscouraged
by such underta kings
A nother thing to learn exactly is wha t sort of
hea dline most appeals A gain and again I ha ve
multiplied results from an ad by eight or ten by
le change in head line
a sh p
A hea dl ine is intended to salute th e p
eople you
desire to reach It is just like a bell boy in a hotel
calling for Mr Jones Here is a message for h h
A ll of us
01 like th e hea ding on a news article
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SCI E NTI F IC ADVE RTISI NG
1 87
depend on hea dlines to p
oint out wha t we desire
to rea d
re
Consider your ordinary readers Y ou have p
s a hundr ed times what you
sented to you perhap
h a ve time to peruse
Y ou select your rea ding by
the hea dings So it is in ads
We must discover wha t appeals are most h
pressive We learn tha t by keyed tests by com
paring one headline with another We find that
er cent of our
one sort of hea dline appeals to 1 5 p
prosp ects and another to 5 0 p
We must
er cent
use them accordingly
A ny Other method involves tremendous waste
A nyone can quickly prove tha t if he uses keyed
returns
Good ad s on any line cannot vary gr eatly
They must be complete and completeness means
similarity Th e gr eat difference lies in the hea dline
One a ttracts a certain percentage another ten
ti mes as many One must find tha t out if he ex
pects his advertising to appea l to a profita ble
audience
One person presents a subject in a way to flatter
One ba ses his
another in a wa y to humilia te
One
a nother on service
e lah s on self interest
tries to sell another tries to please These things
all a lter one s atti tud e of mind an
d tha t i s what
leads to decision
But psychology goes further
It recognizes
ride an
n
individu
ality
One
must
k
ow
how
to
d
p
a ppea l to tho se desires
These th ings can hardly
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MY LI TE I N ADVE RTISING
be ta ught They come through kind ly instincts
through love and understanding thr ough desires
to plea se and serve No man out of tune with his
fellows can be ta ught them
The best school I know is canvassing going
from home to home Many gr ea t ad writer s
spe nd half their time in that They learn by p
er
sonal contacts wha t wins and what repulses
Then they apply their findings to appeals in print
These factors must all be considered Th ey form
the founda tion of advertising Suppose it wer e
di fferent Anyone wh o can write a fa ir letter can
write a fa ir a d Suppose tha t ordinary presenta
tions without regard to the subj ect could sell
lines at a profit There would be no room in a d
writing for men of ambition
But such things can t be done Th e line i s
fiercely comp
etitive Every ad is sur rounded by
countless appea ls Every efl ort involves much
expense The manwho wins out and survives does
so only because of superior science and stra tegy
He must know more must be better grounded
must be shrewder than his rivals The only way
to tha t end is to start with fixed principles proved
by decades of experience from whi ch you never
swerve
18
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MY LI TE I N ADVE RTI S I NG
themselves largely on lines I h a d taught them
Fred Ma cey started selling furni ture by ma il In
a fe w months he h a d an Ofli ce force of ni nety to
handle the business he develop
ed Then he founded
any which ex ists t oda y
the Fred Macey Comp
A W Shaw started building ofi ce systems Th en
he founded the maga zine Sy ri a n whi ch h as been
anenormous success M y roomma te E H Stafford
left his position to ma nufacture school furniture
an
d built up the E H Stafl ord Comp
I feel
any
now as then that I was fully as well eq uip
ped as
they were save with courage I have been call ed
on to do bigger things for Others tha n they ha ve
done for themselves But I always envi ed their
independence which I spent thirty five years to
atta in
I ha ve helped a good many men to weal th and
—
—
position In many cases in most cases they
The a dver
started practi ca lly without money
rising h a d to ea rn its way
It was the chief factor
in the business often the onl y rea son for success
In most mail order li nes that is evi dent It is true
in many other lines It is nOt d i fi cult to ma ke a
brea kfa st food a tooth pa ste medicine soap or
cleanser Most advertisers at the start employ
Salesmen can aid but little
O thers to ma ke them
They a re usua lly nOt employed A bout ever ythi ng
depe nds on the advertising
I have told how such products are tested out
in a small way at the S tart The advertising man
1 90
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M Y GRE AT
MISTAK E
191
does nine tenths Of the work The owner of the
tra de mark ven tures little or nothing If the test
falls down the a dvertising man is the ma in loser
He h as spent his time and talents If th e test suc
ce ed s and the advertising extends the a dvertising
man gets a commission on the expenditures Th e
profits go to others The advertising man beca use
he is anonymous fa ils to even get due cred it
The business grows and the owners grow with
it inwealth and inpride A s it grows th e ad ver
m
a
n
r
ti sin
n
b
omes
less
les
h
ec
a
n
d
s
t
a
Th
o
t
e
g
p
business acquires a momentum The th e comes
when even mediocre advertising will keep it going
upward
A dvertising which could never ha ve
S t arted it
Th e a dvertising man clings to th e m ethod s h e
est a blished
He fears to change A s a ma tter Of
fact it is seldom wise to change Th e best way
to win new customers is usually the way tha t won
millions But the advertising becomes monotonous
to the men who read every ad They always come
to want something new $ 0 the man who b uilds
a big a dvertising account is pre tty sure to lose it
To keep up his volume and his earn
soon or late
ings he must always be star ting new ventures
ri eta ries
I gradua lly came to speci al ize on prop
an
d foods on products which people buy over and
over They Offer the grea t opportunities inadver
ti sing
One sale articles are nOt so inviting Th e
rticles of tha t
rofit must be ma d e on tha t sale
A
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MY LI TE I N ADVE RTISI N G
kind appeal to the minority Th e a dvertising
man s grea t profits come from products which
d which must be
appea l to near ly every home a n
Food products for instance
a dvertised forever
which mothers teach their Childr en to use and
which never should go out of fa vor
But such products must be developed Th e
process is often slow The advertising man h as
the ma jor share of the work and responsibility
When he works for O thers as I worked for thi rty
five years he gets no fa ir share of the profits And
h e rarely becomes a permanent fa ctor so far as hi s
work is concerned
I ha ve often figured wha t I would ha ve made
h a d I invested just my commissions in the stock
terprises which I fostered The amount runs
Of en
into m any millions The real rea son I did nor is
the h er tha t I never h ad sufi ci ent confidence in
myself But I pretended to i gnore commercialism
M y cr ea tive work lay in a hi gh er sphere So for
many years I watched Others ma ke money while
I ga ined ma inly a modicum of fame
A n ambitious wife was the One who woke me
from tha t lethargy She h a d desires for which
money counted more than fame She pointed out
how those who employed me always gained the
a dva nta ge in a monet ar y wa y
Finally I considered h er viewpoint and after
many years of working for Others I started to work
for myself I ha ve alrea dy made more by sharing
1 91
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an
u r n IN
ADVE RTISIN G
Brothers announced in the papers tha t she woul d
a ppear in person tha t afternoon in thei r bea uty
department on the fourth floor I sent an emissary
there and she found the floor crowded Every
Other depa r tment on the floor h ad to yield its spa ce
to accommodate the women who flocked to see
Miss Hopper
Ed na Walla ce Hopper h a d a ttained a grand
mother s age Many Of th e older women had seen
h er in h er prime back in the early nineties
Sh e
met them looking l ike a girl Of ninet een with
ha ir fig ure and complexion like a debutante s
Every woma n Of course was anxious to learn the
secrets of h er youth and beauty
The manager of Mandels a dvised h er to ca ll on
“
me He sa id : Y ou should ca pita lize tha t fame
Of your s
Y ou should teach Oth er women to do
"
wha t you have done
The next day Edna Wallace Hopper cal led on
me She brought with h er countless articles which
h a d been published a bout h er
A lso many pages
she h ad writt en herself on this subj ect Of youth
extension
?
r
a
a
r
Th
t
I
found
my
th
o
y
He
e
w
a
wom
n
d
e
s
a
a
I
y
th e most ta lked a bout woman in A merica
A
woman who h ad made herself a famous bea uty
thirty five years a go A woman who h ad kept
that beauty to a gr and Old age A nd all through
bea uty helps s he h a d search ed th e whole world
to discover
1 94
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M Y GRE AT
MISTAK E
1 95
I made a contract with h er She was to give
me h er formulas h er name and prestige I was to
prepare those products for Other women exa ctly
She h ad spent fortunes to secure
a s she used them
those formula s She wa s th e most prom inent
example living of wha t beauty helps could do
On those lines we have founded a large cosmetic
business
We have never h a d a salesma n We have neve?
a sked a dea ler to buy
We ha ve confined our
efforts to th e consumer
We have tried to win
women s respect for the research Miss Hopper h as
conducted Then we ha ve let those women induce
4
dea ler s to supply them
A grea t many ma kers starting out try to sell
their products two and three times over
and the wholes aler
try to sell the wholesa ler
r
a
n
toda y wants some
e
c
nt
He
do
nothing
e
c
p
for us save to fill the orders tha t we bring
He
quotes his business ex pense largely made up of
He
efiorts to get business fr om his competitors
wants us to p
ay our share though it ma tters nor
in the slightest to us from whom a dea ler buys
His salesmen can do nothing for us
The reta iler tries to profit to th e utmost from
every new adventurer Send a sa lesman to him
He
an
d he is bound to demand some advanta ge
wants a dozen free in ten or some such extra profit
A ny such concession is a handicap hard to over
come Your wh ole success depends on the con
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u m IN
ADVE RTISI NG
sumer
consumer is induced to demand
what you Ofler th e dealer will Obtain it If the
dealer wants it the wholesaler will supply it
Many of the wrecks in a dver tising come lg
om
One first sell s
trying to sell things over and over
to the jobber and he demands a large percenta ge
Thenhe tries to se ll to the retailer He wants fre e
goods and extra margins Y et all the result s
depend on the consumer All your wholesa l e
demand all your reta il demand depends on your
influence with the consumer
Never forget tha t Jobbers and reta ilers h a ve
Wha t trade they can influ ence
th eir own brands
i s never d irected toward products you control
They ar e nOt trying to give you a whip hold If
they ca n influence sa les they m a ke four times as
much on products of their own
In tha t fact li es one of the most pitiful pha ses in
Th e advertiser spends h i s
advertising a dventures
money to convert consumers Then h e pa ys s ales
men to sell his goods to jobbers and to reta ilers
He gives concessions and inducements just to get
them to supply the demand he creates A s a resul t
A nd h e must p
a y all
ther e is little left for him
th e expenses
One ca n never win out in that way It is like a
man who tries to do business with excessive over
He bears the expense the risk and the
h ea d
!f ort a nd his profits ar e dissipated
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MY LI FE I N A nvnnne o
Let t hose who can deduce from this
suggestion an
d direction
I ha ve
out the only ways to success in a dver tising
Let
deci de what is best
1 98
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poin t
Those
one
Ni netee n
te r
Ch a p
S OM E T H I N G S P E R S O N A L
ecord Of success in my p
ar
an
Of endea vor
d an urge to
O th er s
it ma y be well to set down something
r ivate life
a bout my
m
r
idiosync
sies
h
bits
a
a
y
p
and desires a s these are rela ted to wha t I ha ve
gained by success
I have always been an addicr to work I love
work as Other men love pla y It is b Oth my
occupation and my recrea tion A s a boy the
necessity for self support aft er sch ool hours kept
me from the playgrounds A s a man my desire to
learn all that I coul d a bout salesmanship h as kept
me from wa sting th e The only game I ever
learned is business To me it h a s beenall a bsorbing
I have never played baseball golf or tennis My
mother s Scorch Presbyterianism prohibited danc
ing cards and thea ters and I ha ve never in la ter
rned to enjoy them
r
a
e
s
le
I
h
a
ve
owned
uto
a
a
y
mo biles since their ear liest introduction but I
rarely drive myself
My chief philanthropy h as been teaching boys
d men to love work I h ave long beeninterested
an
in an association which ta kes delinquent boys
from th e juvenile courts and puts them to work on
a farm
It has sa ved m any hun dreds Of boys in
T H I S is
ti cular line
S
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1 99
LI FE I N ADVE RTISING
that way
Ingoing to Chi cago from my country
h ome I arrive at six o clock in the morning For
yea rs I went immd ia td y to Grant Park where
s were sl eeping on ne spa er s an
scores of tramp
d
p
I spent anhour or more in trying to interest th em
in work I am a director of the Volunteers O f
articular interest is in pr i son
America and my p
work
I have accompani ed Maud Ball ington
I ha ve
3ooth in h er l ectures in Joliet prison
h elped to supp
ort Hope House in Chicago a
temporary home for th e prisoners we get out on
ribution to tha t efl ort
r
role
a
a
incip
l
cont
M
y p
p
“
h as been a Sunda y afternoon l ecture on The Joy
MY
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I have written magazine articles to argue that
I ha ve ever
bOth boy s and girls should work
insi sted tha t my unmarried sister keepat work as
I do , for th e sake of h er hap
piness She is sti ll
teach ing in th e high schools of Grand Ra pid s I
t one Of my daughters to work on the stage
sen
Th e Other one married soon after gradua tion from
Smi th College She went to work as a moth er
.
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—
then as president of women s clubs two at one
time Thento some extent as a lecturer M y wife
works some fourteen hours a da y She is Our chief
gardener and as such h as developed the fine st
flower gardens in Mi chi gan Hundreds of people
from near and far come to view them every summer
She manages a l arge coun try home which is al ways
fill ed with guests We figure tha t we serve here
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m
m
un
m m vn m m o
n
I
t
am sure th at mencanbe
b
n
s
pg
'
a
,
as
h ap
o
n
y
p
Th e ha ppiest man I know is a nei gh bor Of mi ne
r m on
th
e
u
wh o ne ver mad e m ore than
O
t
p
of that h e sa ve d enough to build six sma ll houses
whi ch he rents Then he retire d on th e income
g i nhi s
e nds hi s summers on my la ke wor ki n
He sp
I
go
do
f
s ; hi s winters in Florida
rden
O
t
e
n
w
n
a
g
to hi s corta ge for a lesson in content
t no
Unt il th e income tax was esta blished I kep
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,
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o d of my earnings Their volume mea nt
d downs di d not afl ect
s an
nothing to me Their up
me in th e least My wife collects all my revenues
I never sign a check I
d pays all the bills
an
ha ve not th e slightest idea of the money invested
inmy coun try pla ce or the cost of any item Know
ing these costs would ma ke me unhappy beca use
of something mother bred in me But the genera l
rea lization tha t these th ings cost much money does
nOt afleCt me at all
In my personal expenses I am very e conomica l
I have alway s dressed ra th er sha b b ily Until my
wife rebelled I wore ready ma de clothes Now I
dodge expensive ta ilors A t the present writing I
have not ha d a ne w suit in two yea rs My limit
on shoes is
WhenI go to a h Otel I order in
a modest way
This is all recited to indica te that my incentive
Nor was it fame or
for work wa s nor money
r either out here i nth e
are n
t
hi
n
osition
I
c
O
g
f
o
p
rec r
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S OME
TH I
N GS P E RS ONAL
woods among simple people where I ha ve built
my home All things are handica ps which in any
way seem to place me a bove my fellows Here in
the coun try we all meet On equality
I ha ve worked for the fun of worki ng and be
cause work became a ha bit with me Then l ater
i n business beca use I realized th at somebody h ad
to do a deal of hard work to get a dverti sing out
of its swad d ling clothes
Lord 8: Thoma s first Oflered me a positionwhen
I wa s twenty five living in Grand Ra pids I went
to Chicago to discuss the opportunity with the
The agency ha d no
founder s of the business
copy writers then It was largely a brokerage
business bidding aga inst Other agencies on a fixed
The adver tisers prepar ed their
a mount Of spa ce
an
d sent electrotypes
The profitable
Own a ds
part Of the business was in developing schemes to
get advertisers to spend money The proposition
was made to me be cause I h ad proved myself a
scheme maninthe Bissell Carpet Sweeper Company
There was no thought of profit to the adver tiser
I was young and inexperienced but I h ad sense
enough to realize that such ideas Of adver tising
coul d nOt go far My trai ning h ad already taught
me the necessity for tracea ble results SO I declined
the proposition of Lord 8: Thomas with its 60
r cent increa se in sala ry
e
a
n
d
continu
d
my
e
p
str uggles to sell r oducts at a profit
w
s
It
ix
n
a
t
s
ee
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MY u r n IN A nvaa nsI NO
years thereafter when Lord 81 Thomas under
d iEerentaus pices agai n invi ted me to join them
What ha ve I ga ined by these many years Of ex
al ap lica tion ?
cep
a
ti on
I
h
ve
g
ined
wh
t
the
a
r
a
s
O
p
ga in by medical re search by spending their li ves
in a la bora tory My life work ha s been resea rch
i nadvertising Now I ha ve the p
rivilege Of settin
g
down my findings for the men who follow me I
have th e hope tha t the record will sa ve to many
the mista kes of the pioneers and the years that I
t to correct them
I ha ve gained what
spen
Thomas A Edison h as gained by h i s twenty hours
—
a da y
th e sa tisfaction Of knowing tha t I have
di scovered some enduring principles
Ma ny argue tha t advertising i s changing that
th e tim es call for something n
ew
Ce rta inly the
tempo of life in A merica is changing Fads
fancies and desires change like a ka leidoscop
e
Certain styles in advertising are changing It is
an
d always h as bee n neces sary to give to every
rs never
rent key n
i
I
a
a
n
a
di
mit
to
carn
O
t
e
f
f
e
pg
succeed
But human nature does nOt change The
u
rin
ri nciple s set down in thi s book are as en
d
g
p
a s th e Al ps
A dverti sing i s far more difi cult than i t used
to be because th e cost is hi gher and there is so
much a ble competition But every new difficul ty
increa ses th e necessity for scientific advertising
A s I write th is I look down a beautiful la ke to
which I first ca me as a boy of six A t th e end i s a
'
,
,
.
,
.
.
.
.
.
.
,
.
,
.
.
,
.
-
.
.
.
.
.
.
MY LI FE I N A D V Ea nsI N O
than I have more Of true happiness and co ntent
I tra ce t hat to the love of simple things of co mmo n
people which ma de my success in a dvertis ing
Here at our week end parties I meet many suc
I envy no ne
cessf ul men in a most intima te way
Of them
Th e happiest are those who li ve close s t
to na ture an essential to advertising succe ss 30
I conclude tha t this voca tion depending as i t do e s
on love and knowledge Of the masses Oflers ma ny
rewards beyond money
'
—
.
,
.
,
-
.
.
.
,
,
'
,
.
TE E END
A DVERTI S I NG C OP Y
en
B y Gs oaoa B Horn
x rss, MA
Chairmanof the De partment o f A d vertising and
NewYork University
.
.
Marke ting,
firs t comp
lete trea tise onthe wri ting of advertising cop
y
shows how to write a d ve rtise me n
ts th at combin
e li terar
y
me rit and pullin power The re a re a l a rge number of prae ts
i on
cal I llustrat
s rom actual ad
.
C ONS TRUCT IVE S AL ES MANS H I P
By
J OHN A S te ve nson
.
Se cond Vi ce President of the Equita ble Life A ssurance Society
of the
Unrted S tates
A n actual record of the method s ex p
e rie n
ced salesmen h ave
use d i nsecuring p
rosp
ing th e i nter view and ge ttin
e cts, ob tain
“
”
the ord e r
They are nor tri ck waya of making i nd Ivid
sales, hur are the tri ed me thod s of b uildin
g a permanent
d i entele
.
.
C OMP ET ITORS
This book sets forth the achie ve ments of trade associ ations
an
d community o rganisations i nforward ing grou ad ve rtising
b comp
eti tors an
d by loc
T e re a d er is
ized and the tech
s may be organ
on how such ca mp
aign
nique used incarrying the m
p
S CI ENT I F I C S ELLI NG A ND
A DVERT I S I NG
B y A ar rrua Dunn
oin
shi
ts of successful salesman
are h ere set
The necessary p
p
d o f ad verti si ng me n, sales
forth ona scientific b a rs for the an
h
e a uthor h a s sold
t
T
manage rs, manufacturers, me rchan
s
’
millions of d ollars worth of securi tres dri lled and e ducated
t
i
o
ns
n
r
e
d
r
e
s
o
a
o
a
z
d
l
a
s
n
d
g
a
l
r
a
n
c
u
c
t
e
salesmen
,
g
.
,
.
S ECURITY S P ECULA TI ON
Th e Dazzling A dven ture
B y Lavarmcs H Sw an
Contai ns much th atwill interestth e more
.
n
ive
co ser vat
I NDUSTRI AL CREDITS
in e
half th e b ook is di scussion,
workmanlike manner, and th e oth er
very
W TO
HO
GET A H EA D
FI NA NCIA LLY
By
Wuwur A
.
Sca m
s:
—B arr
ns
o
'
BUS I NES S A ND I NVESTMENT
FORECA STING
B y RA Y Vance
For P rofit
.
er
H a rp
8
P ublishers S i m 1 81 7
B r o th e r s
.
Anu s
B r Hans e n
B r He r “
.
“
Not only
inth e eun,
Gre eorrs
Wooowu n
t
h e ep
ic of a wornans b e ttles in New York for h er p
lace
b utit is a stud y inb usineu p
sy ch
h e b eet, th e raci eet
, t
"
I ha ve ever ree d
B enj a min e Ce ase es, New York
’
—
.
A MUS I CIA N A ND
Br
Mas Re ctum
.
MY
Br
fas cinating
HI S
WIP E
nn Kove rr
LIF E A ND TI MES
J n orm K J n on
.
th e life of th e famous
"
“
st
ory of
th e Third Floor B ack
and
Th ree
Menin
?‘
fl
full of h umani
o
B r A G Gu nma n
.
H ARP ER
.
B ROTHERS