Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-03-25
SIGNS BLAZE.
Electric Advertising Stimulates Busi
ness For All Merchants.

Hang out an electric sign.
Every merchant realizes the necessity
of advertising. The most humble recog-
nizes the value of this by placing his
name above the doorway of his store
room or having painted on his windows
the nature of his business and the wares
he sells. This advertising modest IN
some cases, grows more ambitious as
prosperity and trade increase and it is
often steady progress from the bril-
liantly lighted display windows to the
electric sign, newspaper and other pub
licity.
1t is very seldom that any business
can be made successful without adver-
Using of some sort and the methods
adopted often depend upon their cost.
Advertising to secure results should oe
prominent to attract attention, artistic
To please the eye, persistent, individual
logical and economical. 1t should not
necessarily be costly to be effective.
Electric sign advertising is the most
economical and effective method, and
used in conjunction with newspaper
space cannot help bring bounteous re-
turns Store architecture is surprisingly
similar and monotonous and one of the
cheapest and best ways to individualize
a certain store in a block of similarly
constructed fronts is to hang out an
electric sign and make such artistic dis
play of wares in the show windows that
this store will stand out like cameo
in comparison with its neighbors. A
druggist. for instance, :. by training and
experience, has acquired the knack of
individualizmg his store, and there is
usually group of bright lights in his
windows that play upon richly colored
glass urns with the result that a dru;;
store is almost always conspicuous,
whereas hardware store. for instance,
strangely clings to old fashioned meth
DDS. seldom has display window that
is brilliantly Illuminated and scarcely
ever has an electric sign
\ little incident will show how even
the enterprising druggist does not do
enough in the way of advertising. A
well-known Pittsburger was invited the
other evening to take a walk of about
a mile with friend, but he demurred
on the ground that he had to stop at a
drug store for some medicine. The friend
exclaimed, come on. You will find six
drug stores on the way They started
and like most pedestrians, We're more
interested in the conversation than they
were in store fronts, and they were all
most to their destination before the
Pittsburger noticed an electric sign with
the simple word Drugs embiazoned
went into the store and made his pur-
chases. As matter of fact, they had
passed five other drug stores on the way,
there being no brilliant electric sign %
make them conspicuous. On the other
hand, an enterprising Liberty avenue
hardware merchant, who is one of the
few who so far has hung out an cleo
tric sign, declared the other day that ne
had many new customers who told him
they did not know there was a hard
ware store in that neighborhood until
they had had their attention called TO it
by his modest electric sign with the
word Hardware" in brilliant letters
An electric sign is a persistent medium
1t is telling the thousands who pass its
message Is hours a day, day In and day
out, for every well-constructed electric
sign, however modest, is artistcaliv
patterned, and is almost as effective in
the daytime as it is at night. 1t is con-
spicuous in that it is individual. If the