Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-08-31
INGENIOUS ADVERTISING.
How IA New York Firm Has Made "a For
tune by the Judicious Use of prin-
tprs' Ink.

interview with II member OF leading |
New York clothing firm, which Is |
noted for its liberal and successful adj |
vertising. "lou want to know our
principal methods of advertising, do |
you?' said he. "Well, it Is easy |
enough To satisfy your curiosity, aud | /
think something in the way of history |
i. absut the best thing to start with. |
Up till 1874 our firm confined itself
strictly TO the wholesale business, but |
at that date we determined to unite |
the retail branch to the wholesale. |
With that idea we engaged an expert |
enced manager and opened store in I
Brcome street Well, business was fair
~ good at first, but soon began
TO drop off. We dismissed our mana
ger and engaged another, dismissed
him and tried another and 80 on
Finally sat down and looked the
situation IN the face. / said to myself |
that in view of the great and bitter |
competition in our line Of business ii
was not enough to sell good article
at a reasonable price, but ii was nee
essary also to engage the attention of
public by means of advertising: and
not &c veitising alone, but judicous
advertising. The principles Of judi
cious advertising, it seemed to me,
Were first to reach the largest numoer
OF the right class a. the smallest cost,
and secondly. to appeal to the eyes of
this class with freshness and original
ity. Those principles | have found
correct enough, but experience alone
has taught me the best methods in
which To emhcdy them.
''lu the first place, as to the mere
form OF the advertisement, / have
( found that posters, painted signs, and
the like, are OF very little account, we
( acc rdingly employ tuem spaiingly
You see, PARTED sign along rail
/ road track is all very good i'm its way.
but 1t merely tells of the existence of
/ the firm, and having done that with.
! holds further information.
/ Now, ae regards our newspaper adj
! vertising, I'll show you something
/ that will Interest YOU and he opened
o drawer and took out huge scrap
book, which, OH being opened, was
found To contain newspaper cuttings
OF all the films advertisements, begin
ming in 1874.
You will see here" he continued,
that when our advertising was in
the hands of our managers 1t was COM
monplace and conventional, attract
mentarily, on account of its size or odd
arrangement OF types. Here you see
about the first advertisement inser ed
after | took control myself. | had
SAID TO myself that novelty and OH
ginality were the primary requisites to
catch public attention, and though
this looks paltry enough now, at that
time ii performed Its duty we'll The
walk ing-match fever was at its height
and every one was interested in the
great contest in which Rowell was
victor. ! had this cut Of a figure in a
check suit made with space lett for
the head, then had cuts made of all
the contestants, and gave instructions
TO the composition to clap on the head
of the victor when the result was made
known late at night. Rowell was the
lucky man, so his features adorned
the cut, and the suit was christened
the "Rowel suit" For some time
, my illustrations were atrocious, as you
will see, the fine lines all
blurred in the printing, and
no snap or 'go' abont the drawings
young artist who caught what
wanted, aud our present series of bold
outline drawings, possessing some ar
tistic merit, was tie result. He has
been with US ever since, and does the
: major part of our work though Of ,urse
we take anything clever from any
, source. Til, II ] discovered another
fact, namely, that it does not pay to
repeat an advertisement, so | resolved
: that every day / would write out my
advertisement and embody new fac 8
/ and ideas In them, and this | have
, kept UP ever since. do not lay claim
to high order of literary skill, but i
manage TO say something OF interest
{ and something that the public will
: read. ana eDtircly frank, in the first
o place. Every morning | get q report
from the various hends of Depart.
ments, and enlbody In what | feel to
$ be a sort Of friendly note to the public
:, ! the facts they give me as to the goods in
il their several departments. Then
/, seize on any striking or amusing oc.
y currcnce. For Instance, a man came
+ IN one day and bought $50 overcoat
u the salesman by mistake charged S35
and reported the occurrence after ths
man had left. / advertised for him
u next day, and not only excited genera
n interest but got an answer from tho
II man, gave him back his s., and sc
q cared u permanent customer and his
friends.
, NOW MS to the medium In which
g we insert our advertisements, | rely
q almost exclusively on the local morn
i ing papers. We do not want all ex
y tensive mailing business, so out-of
u town papers ARE useless. So indeeC
d are many New York papers. We d,
r not so much In the afternoon papers
because cannot afford il. My theor,
Is that every one who reads an after
noon paper has already iead morn
i ing paper and If he has seen our al
L vertisement once in the day lit Il
- enough. AS 10 the hundreds andSlun
: dr.ds OF dailiss and weeklies .XAici
9 solicit us for our business and fhak,
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