The Yale expositor., 1908-06-12


AS the inventor had guaranteed, The
Essence of Advertisement proved a
success; success SO astonishing that
within a week, and Notwithstanding
the fact that Copeland withdrew all Of
his customary heavy advertisements
from the papers, he was forced to
engage four additional buyers to keep
his stock replenished, and he and his
general manager felicitated them
selves on having fallen into a bed of
clover.
But suddenly they found burrs in
the clover While thousands daily Wis.
tied the bazaar and purchased heavily,
the astounding fact was soon discovered
that once having bought from the coun-
tiers of the emporium the patron rarely
returned.
Could IL be that the Essence, while
crowding the store with transient Gus
tom. was driving away all steady
patronage?
A letter was hastily written to Mr.. Z.
Dodge, laying the facts before him and
asking for advice Two weeks later
the advice came. 1t was as follows:
Martin Copeland,
Proprietor Copeland's Dry Goods
Emporium:
Dear Sir: The reason why patrons, once
having purchased at your store, rarely re-
turn, is to be explained by the fact that
you are using the Essence of Advertise
ment in too pure a state. l send you
herewith a recipe for its dilution; have
druggist attend to the matter at once.
There is such a thing as over-advertis-
ing. When your customers breathe the
Essence in too pure state, they are in
cited TO buy more goods than they can
use, and as soon as they quit the bazaar
and come from under the spell of the
perfume they repent their heavy pur-
chases, and, out OF chagrin. do not re-
turn. The remedy is to dilute the Es-
sence according to the recipe inclosed,
and while your sales will fall off some
what, they will show a much healthier
state. Very truly,
E. DODGE.
On receipt Of this letter of advice,
the general manager Immediately sent
out a clerk with a quart of The Es-
sence of Advertisement, instructing
him to have the stuff diluted accord
ing to directions at the nearest drug
gist. Slipping on an orange peel be-
fore a rival store, the clerk split the
vial, and the contents ran over the
sidewalk Immediately all the passers-
by in that neighborhood began to pour
into the rival store, and the unprece,
denied sales of that house, while the
odor of the perfume lasted, astounded
and mystified the proprietor.
rT-t-E Il.
diately discharged, and another was
sent out with a second bottle of the
Essence. He proved more fortunate,
or less careless, and thereafter the di-
luted perfume only was used at Cope
lands. and though sales were not as
heavy as formerly, they showed a far
healthier state, customers not fail
ing to return to the bazaar when in
need of new goods.
Copelands Dry Goods Emporium now
became enviously noted for the amaz-
ing amount of steady business that it
was doing, and for the exquisite violet
fragrance that haunted its shelves,
and counters, and other stores, hoping
thereby to attract custom, began to
initiate the latter novelty. But the
fragrance they used was merely the
ordinary violet perfume of commerce
and not the marvellous Essence of Ad-
vertisement, and of course these imi-
tators had their cost and labor for
nothing.
Six months passed, and his stock
of Essence growing alarmingly low,
Copeland wrote to the headquarters of
e. Dodge in New York city for $10,-
900 consignment of the precious fluid.
Within three weeks his order re.
turned, the envelope thereof bearing
the official stamp, Party Dead.
Good heavens!" exclaimed the
alarmed proprietor, Dodge is dead,
and perhaps his secret died with him!"
And so it proved. The little invent
or had sunk into an untimely grave,
taking with him jewel brighter than
the Star of India, for in his death was
lost the secret of that marvellous COM
pound, The Essence of Advertise
ment.
Among the scanty effects by the de-
ceased was a yellow, ragged slip of
paper, bearing the following memoran..
dunn:
emp-seed-makes men dream dreams.
Opium-dtto. Absinthe-certain (dfferenO
effects. There ought TO be-may be-
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. (try India)
en-tasted-smelt-will incte
men-women-to spend money-lavishly-
heedlessly. IL / can find this plant-min-
eral-can mix with rose-violet-perfume
sprinkle in SUBSCRIPTIONS smell-buy
heavily-freely-adv
Here the writing ended, torn away.
Copeland reflected. Was The Essence
of Advertisement the materialized
thoughts of men of advertising genius.
or something quite different, and
though less wonderful and mysterious.
not less effective and valuable?