The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-02-21
DOES HONOLULU
GET RETURNS
(Continued from Page one.)

posters advertising towns or com
Inunities in the railroad stations, in
railroad ofiices-and it is generally
conceded that such advertising makes
an appeal only to people who have
been determined to travel, and who,
in nine cases out of ten have come in
TO buy ticket-with their minds
already made up as to where they
are going.
such advertising is of a negligible
quality Furthermore it is in gaudy
company-there are dozens of othN,
similar circulars apt to be hanging
about q railroad station or office-and
the individual poster attracts about
as much attention as would one
soldier in regiment.
When am trying TO get people
to come to the resort I'm ADVERTISING"
said one publicity man, "the first thing
90 Is to find out who is travelling.
take last summers newspaper files
Tor instance, look in the column of
summer boarders, and find out who is
at such-and such-a-place from such
and-such-a-town. l had those names
during the summer to see if they
moved about much, noted how long
they staid at each place if | could
find out-and estimated about how
much that vacation must have cost
under ordinary circumstances. made
q similar list of the two wears nre.
I cedlng, found many names similar on
these lists, and found that a majority
didn't return to the same place year
after year"
BY the time l was ready to begin
work mind you he hadn't even be-
gun the real work yeti was on
pretty intimate terms with most of
that list. L knew where John Jones
of Oakland spent his vacation the
last three years, | knew how long he
staid at each place, l knew he had
his family with him, l knew Just about
what his outing must have cost-and
therefore knew whether he could af.
lord my resort if | could get him to
c0me-and was morally certain that
John Jones was going to BE in the
market for a trip the following sum-
| nIer.
That winter our agency got ready
our letters. We wrote personal, init
mate letters. Began by telling Jones
! where he'd been the previous sum-
mers, let him know that thought he
was just the kind of healthy Ameri-
can citizen who intended to give his
family a vacation the next summer,
then led up to the fact that he could
visit my resort for no more than 1t
mad cost to visit any of the others.
Il didn't send any lurid advertising
matter in the letter. left it for the
tolow-up. Meanwhile I had got Jones's
attention. Here was someone writ
ing him who knew where he'd been
the previous summers, that he'd taken
his family, staid SO long-and Jones
curiosity was aroused-his appetite
whetted to know where the new place
was. | told him in that second let
ter, which reached him right in the
heart OF Spring, when sunshiny days
made him want to get out in the open.
enclosed neat folder-and asked
If he wouldn't let me know if he
wanted a larger book.
The number of personal letters we
received We're astonishing. Many
asked for information which gave us
clue to what they liked best-their
summer tastes as it were. We sug-
gested several improvements to the
resort we were advertising for, as a
result of the great number of com
bined requests as TO whether the re-
sort had such and such a thing We
Iroved to the resort manager that it
would pay him to make the improve
ment Then we wrote that we had
jast what the tourist sought.
BY the time we played our last
card requests for reservations were
so great that the resort opened up
three weeks ahead of time, and staid
open a month after the usual time.
and when we found people liked the
place we found out who their friends
WIZ anu SUI alteI thell lhdL SUM
mer, and the next summer as we'll
| believe before we got through we
had more downright friends than any
resort Of its kind in that part of the
country"
Novel advertising advant.
age of some condition has played
its part in the development pf COM
munity, and this "psychological adj
yertsing was never better eXemplifed
than in the case OF a Southern town.
The Secretary of the Chamber of
Commerce, natural born booster
and publicity man, read in an after
noon paper that terrific blizzard