The Indianapolis journal., 1895-12-22
ART OF ADVERTISING
AN EXPERT ON THE VALUE OF INDI-
vIDUALITY AND IDENTITY.
ConspicuoIsness Does Not Depend
Upon size-It Is Desirable to Main
tain n Degree of Uniformity.

II you were the only man advertising you
would have a very easy time of 1t. You
could put your advertisement in type dis
cernible only by a microscope or you could
put 1t in type so big that three letters
would bill page People would read it
all the same. It might be in the patois
OF the Bowery or 1t might be in the highest
style OF Johnsonian English which required
glossary for Interpretation; IL would be
read. But. most unfortunately. you are not
the only man advertising: everybody is ad-
vertising-this is the age OF advertising
People saw the advantage OF advertising
centuries ago. They were not slow to find
out that IL they wanted people TO know
what they were doing they must tell them
II YOU want your advertising to be seen,
therefore 1t must be individual-it must be
different from the advertising of Others
for IL you run along in the worn groove
comparatively few people will give you any
heed.
A very good rule to follow in putting oct
your advertising is to see what other peo-
pie are doing in the same medium or in
the same line and do something different
For instance. If you are expecting to put
out some advertising in your local paper
look the paper over carefully and see if
most OF the advertisements in it are very
much alike. If they are, cut yours accord
ing to a different pattern. II they run to
big type try some small type yourself-long
primer or small plea, or even BREWER. If
the other advertising is pretty densely
black, give your own plenty of white space.
If nobody else is using borders go in for
borders. II the other advertising is all
straight up and down try some of the
oblique style yourself. with your head lines
In the upper left-hand corner and your
firm name in the lower right-hand corner.
If no one else is using illustrations by all
means illustrate your advertisements. That
will give you marked individuality; and
If others are advertising in broad generali-
ties be specific. very specific
The conspicuousness Of an advertisement
does not depend upon its size. II you have
large department store with five hundred
bargain to advertise you will need a page to
do it, but il you have just one thing to ad-
vertise-suppose 1t Is cough medicine
don't take page. You can do
much better with the same outlay
by advertising on a half or a quarter page,
for IL you have a whole page people will
skip that page entirely. II you have a
quarter page and the rest is reading matter.
they will read all around your ad and neces-
sarily absorb quite little of it simply from
proximity.
DRAWING THE LINE.
But while individuality in advertising is
very desirable thing. there must, of course,
be some bounds placed upon ones individu-
ality. For instance, We all admire indi-
viduality in dress but if man were to
walk down Broadway in pink overcoat
and a pair of vermilion trousers. he would
be very likely to call down upon himself
quite a good deal of unfavorable comment;
and in advertising it is the same way. While
II is most desirable to be original and in
dividual, it is certainly not desirable to af-
feet eccentricities in bad taste. Don't, for
instance, attempt a weird and bizarre style
of English, thinking that people will I'm
agine it clever. Here is an illustration
taken from recent copy of a weekly
trades journal, of what mean by bizarre
English:
You can have no doubt of the doubtless
quality of our undoubtable boots. shoes and
rubbers, without doubt always promptly
delivered. Shoes of doubt make doubtful
profit customers" etc.
DOUBTLESS quality of our undoubtable
boots,' 1t is advertising of this kind that
fills a man with sorrow that he did not live
back in the days of Shem, Ham and Japhet,
before advertising was.
Don't affect such an individual style of
setting that it will be difficult to read-as
one style that have occasionally noticed
that is particularly unreadable, and which,
unless man is very hard pressed for
something to occupy his time he will never
stop TO decipher. That is the perpendicular
style, having a sentence run down col
umn with only word on line, instead
of running across from side to side. In
striving after individuality don't give your
competitors any advantages. Don't avoid
good things because they have them. Make
your advertising different from your neigh
boris, but be sure that the difference is al
ways in your favor. In word, while 1T is
most desirable to be as Individual as possi-
BILE, never let your individuality run to the
extreme of bad taste. 1t is better to be
commonplace and in good taste than TO be
original and offend.
IMPORTANCE OF IDENTITY.
Having secured an individuality, the next
step is to establish your identity. Have
something about your advertising that will
enable the regular reader of the paper to
recognize it on the fly so that even If he
doesn't read a word OF it he will say, "Ah,
there is Tompkins's ad. Great advertiser,
Tompkins. Must be doing a big business.
I'll have to get in there some day and see
his place." Let your advertisement always
have certain marks of sameness, a certain
similarity of manner, though you keep the
matter constantly on the change. Sameness
and change-these two must go hand in
hand in effective continuous advertising.
You keep the same store year after year
and the same firm name, but your goods are
changing every twenty-four hours. and your
counters present new bargains-or ought to
every time your customers come in. You
are very careful to preserve the identity Of
name and location, and you are equally
careful to have your offerings continually
new and fresh. Carry out the same idea in
your advertising. Change the matter daily,
and yet keep your advertisements so much
the same that anybody who has ever seen
one of your advertisements will always
recognize them.