The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-08-02 00:00:00

THE PHILOSOPHY OF ADVERTISING

-4,---

THE reluctant assent of the CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
CHEQUER to the abolition of the daty on Advertise-

ments has attracted more than ordinary attention to the

object of Advertising,—a subject which, without s

stiamius, was deserving of far more notice than it

usually received

Mr. MECRI, the great authority on the

new lights in agricultural science, who has spent thousands
in rendering fertile a barren tract in Essex, and develop-
ing his theory, has acknowledged that almost all his

wealth was made by advertising ; and many others, of ex-
tensive business, could be mentioned, who owe their
ample resources to the same means. But they observed
the injunction, "Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian
spring." They largely advertised, and, unlike many
other enterprises, found that the more they embarked the
treater was the rate of profit. The large advertising sheet
published in London as The Times, which yields its
owners an income far exceeding the rent-roll of many an

ancient peer,offersanother proof of the immenseadvantage
gained by this mode of communication to both parties ;
for, like mercy, " it blesseth him that gives and him that
" and has become so much a matter of necessity,

that without it the civilised world would be as London
was last week, without its " cabs." Every person who is
in want of anything, searches the columns of his newpaper—
where the variety of announcements defies classification,
from their vast number—or is reminded of something
which may prove to his advantage. Every town that has
its newspaper has its advertisements general, local, and
particular; while our trans-Atlantic brethren, unfettered
by thb tax-gatherer, from which we are just relieved, have
developed the system to an extent which we are only be-
ginning to appreciate. Every consignment received,
every parcel of goods to be sold, every house, estate, or
lodging to be let, every ship, steamboat, coach, or rail-
way-train to start, everything lost or found, everything
wanted or to be had, finds its place in the advertising
columns, and therefore no one buys for more or sells for
less than he ought to do—goes without or suffers any

other disadvantage for want of that information which his
newspaper supplies him so profusely.
We as a nation have yet to experience the full benefit
to which the abolition of the duty will help us ; but if it
has proved so advantageous where there is a settled
population, how much more must it be in Liverpool, the
centre of commerce, the resort of so many strangers:
where the inhabitants necessarily fluctuate, and where,
from the constant arrival and departure of many thousands
by the numerous passenger-ships, so many wants require
satisfying at the moment without other time for inquiry
than is afforded by a perusal of the newspaper. If the
inhabitants of an inland town require to be reminded that
one of their own tradesmen has a new assortment of
goods for their inspection, how much more urgent must
be this means of publicity when the expected purchasers
are altogether strangers requiring various supplies. But
there are also announcements of ships to sail, the cargoes
for which are made up from various places ; emigrant
ships, for which theLliving freight is gathered from
mwbneauaennmayteedrsoo sought
localities ; brokers' sales of foreign and colonial
produce, for which purchasers are found in many quarters;
houses and apartments, for which occupants might have
ands
uhge
others
st
wantingin
whichv vain n
its buttwuoa would
situations
nr
sheryamusementstnewspaper;he
reader
; 4 e rt
travelling
ev al
innt
for business or pleasure; new books and music; and
par-
ticularise. All these render the advertising columns of
newspapers in Liverpool as necessary to the success of
its commerce as the docks are to its shipping, and now
that the repeal of the duty has removed all restrictions on
the full development of the system, we may look to see
this great town make more rapid strides in advancement
that it has ever yet done.

While, however, we thus draw a very faint outline of
the benefits to be derived from this slight inroad upon the
resources of the Exchequer, this paltry sacrifice of
£lBO,OOO a year to the revenue, from which the gain to
the public will be estimated by millions, we would direct
the attention of Advertisers to the necessity of considering
the medium through which they seek to make their
announcements to the public.

Some years since papers were started in three or four
large northern towns, expressly as Advertising Sheets,
containing little or no other news, and professing to give
their patrons the advantage of a large gratuitous circula-
tion. There was something very plausible in the scheme,
though a slight consideration must convince most persons
of its utter inutility for the purpose designed. The gra-
tuitous circulation was effected by transmitting the papers
through the post to the various inns and other places o
public resort through the kingdom ; but the Advertisers
received little benefit, for the papers were seldom read,
and many commercial travellers can bear testimony to
frequently seeing these papers lying unopened on the side-
boards of country inns, their sole destination being that of
other waste paper. Our attention has been called to this
subject by the recent appearance, in a neighbouring town,
of a similar publication. It professes to guarantee a
gratuitous circulation of TEN THOUSAND COPIES, but a
fair and liberal estimate enables us to form a very near
approximation to its resources and capabilities. The cost
of paper, stamps, printing, and other necessary expenses of
ten thousand copies of such a sheet as has been published,
containing twenty-four columns, would, at the lowest
calculation, without allowing anything for contingencies to
which all large printing establishments are subject, exceed
£lOO weekly. Its advertisements occupy more than a
moiety of its whole space, and admitting that they are paid
for at the full average price, the returns would not be more
than £4O, thereby involving a Loss OF UPWARDS OF £6O
WEEKLY, a loss which even the occupation of the whole
space by advertisements would not convert into a profit.
We have, therefore, the alternative of believing either that
the owners patriotically submit to a heavy weekly loss,
with no prospect of profit, for the presumed benefit of the
public, or that the professed gratuitous circulation of ten
thousand copies requires some better guarantee than the
mere announcement on the title page. We shall, how-
ever, accept the former hypothesis, and put it to any
intelligent Advertiser, whose object of course is publicity,
how far it can be gained by advertising through such a
medium. It is well known that most things are valued by
the cost, and the paper circulated gratuitously will meet
with no more attention than other waste paper similarly
distributed. To prove of any advantage to the Advertiser,

his announcement must be READ, and this will only be
done by its appearing in a newspaper which is purchased,
because it is required, and valued for the information which
it affords. The newspapers of the very least importance
in the kingdom do not publish less than Seven Hundred
copies, but WE HAVE NO HESITATION IN ASSERTING, THAT

THE CIRCULATION OF A NEWSPAPER WHICH HAS
ONLY FIVE HUNDRED PAYING SUBSCRIBERS IS OF INFI-

NITELY MORE VALUE TO THE

ADVERTISER IN ITS

COLUMNS THAN THE ADVERTISING SHEET WITH ITS
TEN THOUSAND COPIES CIRCULATED GRATUITOUSLY.
In the latter case, it is used by the first recipient for
the sake of the paper, not for the print, its announce-
ments are unheeded, and the cost literally thrown away
whereas, in the former case, every copy is carefully
perused by many, transmitted to friends and acquaintance,
by whom it is again forwarded to others, and a publicity
given to its advertisements which no amount of gratuitous
circulation would ever afford to a mere advertising sheet.
There is also this advantage in the case of the newspaper,
that it is read largely and immediately in the locality
where it is published, because it is a newspaper; whereas
the advertising sheet is generally circulated at a distance,
and seldom read at all, because it contains little or
nothing worth reading.
As the rapeal of the duty will not only tend to reduce
the cost of advertising, but also remove the restrictions
which up to the present time have operated materially to
prevent advantageous arrangements for the continuous
appearance of such announcements, we design to give the
public the f,ll benefit of the change. In addition to the
diminished charge for such insertions, we are prepared to

IsNhiPpß,lPCEro.duTc
eh: s
andwilloptrhoevre
Bro-
kers,par-
ticularly
enter into CONTRACTS FOR STATED PERIODS, AT A CON-
pHouse and Estate Agents, Booksellers and Pub-
lishers, Hotel and Innkeepers, Steampacket, Railway,
and other Companies, Tradesmen, of all descriptions, and
indeed of every class whose object is to keep their names
and business before the public at a moderate charge.
We shall thus not only give them the full benefit of the
s lR A n
advantageous v ail; aDg REDUCTION
tNo
repeal of the duty, but also enable them to obtain on the
lowest terms those great advantages which arc sure to
result from a regular system of continuous Advertising.
K

socK-DOWN ROOOERY.-A well-known character,
named Nathaniel Blake,
was yesterday charged at the
police-afice with a knock-down robbery, committed in
Neptune-street, upon Augustus Nicol, a native of Born.
bay, and a Roman Catholic. Nicol, who is a seaman, had
gone into a public-lioipe, on Friday, about twelve o'clock
at night, where the prisoner, and two other persons, were
at the time. The party asked the foreigner to treat thepti
which he did, giving , them each a glass of liqn. . her
when he rose to bid them good-bye, they set ~ t . iptia
violently put a handkerchief over his mouth, PlIV' ''. in the ribs, and deprived him of his watch, and'S vlpteCt
shillings, which he happened to have in his pock
time. Before the police were brought to tiles , , -the
vagabonds had all made good their escape. As th
.141ce
had since succeeded only in tracing Blake, the case'vras
remanded till today, when the police expect to bring up
V
the other parties concerned in the robbery. .c. ~,s,', ~"-.:_, i