Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1913-04-10
Advertising
Talks
Use" MAN SAYS
ADVERTISING PAYS
How an Old Negro Suggested an
Idea That Developed the
Business.

At the annual convention OF the
Southern Ice Exchange held in Bir-
mingham recently ]. P. Weinacker OF
Mobile was on the program for an ad-
dress on Does 1t Pay to Advertiser"
Mr. Weinacker Is a member Of the
firm of Weinacker Bros. and an ex-
tensive user Of printers ink. His ad-
dress before the organization was In
part as follows:
Advertising today is the mightiest
factor In the business world. an evo-
luton Of modern Industrial competi-
ton. business builder with po-
tency that goes beyond human desire.
1t builds factories. skyscrapers and
railroads. 1t furnishes excuse to
timid and hesitating ones for possess
ing the things which under former
conditions they could easily get along
without
OF course the soul OF our advertis
Ing Is our copy. Advertising space
without copy is like wooden Indian
in front Of cigar store; 1t locates
the store but does not say anything.
To make your space yield profitable
returns can only be done through copy
that Is honest, sincere and convinc-
ing and which actually tells the reader
some facts about the goods you have
to sell and their prices.
How shall we know good advertis-
ing copy when we see It! BY its
power to attract attention, to inter-
est and to convince.
to amuse, to entertain. to satisfy the
artistic taste, and quite another thing
to convince the reader and to capture
him. It is easy for the artist and the
writer to interest the reader. but un.
less the copy carries conviction the
space occupied and the money ex
pended by the advertiser are largely
wasted
Having satisfied ourselves as to
what Is good copy we come to the
consideration of the other part of the
question-how Is 1t produced? 1t de-
pends largely upon the product to be
advertised as to what device we should
employ to attract attention to 1t.
For the ice manufacturer, the prob
lem of advertising Is local one. Lo-
cal competition forces him into a lib
eral use of space. II he desires to
maintain his position he must ad
vertise. Without publicity he would
drop into the ranks of second or third
raters-for persistent. direct public
ity is necessary nowadays to keep the
ice moving from the store room, to
sell all your factory can turn out. OF
course this does not apply to the lucky
ice man who Is the only manufacturer
within radius of several miles, but
to the ones In a competitive locality.
All ice sounds alike to the consum
er, and as prices are. as a rule. uni
form in each locality. the question of
greatest Importance Is to divert the
consumers mind and make him think
of your Ice to the exclusion of all
lem confronting the Weinacker Ice
and Fuel company, and one which we
realized would be very hard one to
solve or course we advertised that
we were selling pure ice, Ice that melt
ed slowly and all that sort of thing
We also did a considerable amount
of personal solicitation. But we
wanted our ice to be an indelible
mark on the map of Mobile, and we
thought, and thought and thought,
when 10. and behold. came a sudden
Inspiration.
One Of our Ice customers was an
old negro peddler who every day
bought his three or four blocks of Ice
and retailed them to his handful Of
customers. One hot morning the old
darky drove up to our platform in his
old wagon and as it was uncovered