Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1859-08-05
Grlettc0 4flistrllanp.
The Results of Advertising Lesson
to the EntePprising Men of the Day.


The annals of Newspaper history af-
ford no instance so remarkable of the ex-
tent to which judicious advertising can
be successfully carried, as is furnished
by Robert Bonner, of the New York
Ledger. He is well entitled to the APP
pellation of the Napoleon of Advertisers,
for no other man in the country ever CON
ceived, or perhaps was capable of con-
ceiving, of the practicability of such
stupendous enterprises in the regions of
type and printers ink 1t demonstrates
the fact that the art preventative of
art' is alike omnipotent in the creation
Of wealth.
A great many people thought Bonner
either fool, a knave, or lunatic, when
they beheld the seeming absurdity of his
style Of advertising, and the sublime au-
dacity and utter recklessncss of expense
which he manifested A still greater
numbnr regarded him as rash and fool
hardy adventurer, whose sole aim was to
"eut few high fantastic tricks" to the
amazement of the gaping public, and
who, after a brief meteoric existence,
would suddenly explode and "be heard
of no more" We confess ourselves, with
all our confidence in advertising, to being
staggered at witnessing such incredible
temerity, and would not have been sur
prised at any moment to hear Of the
bursting of this swelling newspaper
bubble" But in this immense sensation,
both among the press and public, was
laid the foundation Of his success and
fortune; the Ledger was ridiculed, ira
vested, read about, talked about, and
laughed about; and everybody's curiosity
being excited about it, Of course every
body bought and read it. We now give
him credit for having been far-reaching
enough to foresoe all this, as we believe
he hid, and to have SO accurately cstina-
ted, at the outset, and so nicely adapted
to each other, the extent and variety Of
the means required to bring about the
magnificent ends at which he aimed, as
to render failure exceedingly improba-
bic if not impossible. What then seemed
folly now turns out wisdom; the Ledger
is literally, in its own phraseology, 'sold
by all respectable news agents egegy-
'chere," and if its proprietor is not, or
does not soon become, rich, he certainly
has it in his power, which is all that per
tains to this argument.
He has penetrated further than any
other man into the science Of advertising,
for it is science, capable of unlimited
application, and in which men will attain
different degrees of proficiency according
to their natural endowments, labor and
study expended, &c. He has displayed
a fertility, ingenuity, originality, and
correct appreciation of human nature,
especially Of the class whom he wished
to address, equal to his boldness, perse-
vorance, and steadiness Of purpose. -
The very righteousness Of, and appa-
rently useless repetitioas Of the same
words or lines, in his advertisements.
constitute one Of the chief secrets Of
their success, rivcting, as they do, at
once, the attention and stamping them
selves indelibly upon the memory.
lie never occupied a column in news
paper to better advantage than when it
contained nothing but New York Ledg-
err" or "Cobb's Great Story" in flaming
capitals, hundred times repeated. The
unthinking reader would inyoluntarily
exclaim to himself, "what in the worlds |
the use Of saying tho Same thing over so
often and in so many different ways. as
il space or money was nothingw But
the shrewd advertiser understood him
better than he did himself; he knew that
the interest and curiosity aroused by the
novelty and yet unsatisfactoriness Of the
advertisement, would not abatc, nor his
victim be able to FREQ himself from the
everlasting mental repetition of those
words, nor his minds eye" from the
counterfeit ?rosentlnont' Of those big
played head lines, continually starting