The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-10-01
BACK UP THE BOARD


Willis B. Powell, one, of the most
skilled publicity obtainers and retain
ers in the South, should be food for
thought to all our business men,
many of whom have in times past
bitten at all kinds of schemes to OBJ
tain publicity for Ocala. 1t may be
said here that our Board of Trade
has turned down a number of the
schemes that Powell denounces, and
,bhat it's efforts to advertise our sec
ton have been very much in har-
mony with the plans which he recon-
mends. Powell says:
"a solicitor came to Clearwater
He represented a concern which had
as a talking point $4,000 books for
free distribution advertising Tampa
and South Florida The book was to
fbe so per cent advertising and so per
cent text and to be printed on fine
book paper The advertising pages
were to sell at 500 a page. The
book would easily cost $4,000 to
produce, figuring 100 pages, and the
advertising, if all of the so pages
were taken, would produce a revenue
of $4,000. The proposition was
turned down by the chamber of COM
merce and an appeal was made to the
city. AS a final bait Clearwater was
offered ten pages for 5000, or $40 a.
page. In other words the offer was
gift of $500 to this city, provid-
ing the publishers would carry out
their contract and furnish $4,000
copies of this beautiful book. There
was something wrong some where.
"a man named Thomas offered a
page in book that he was to place
in reading rooms in IL states on an
automobile trip he was to make this
summer. It cost $240 a page for his
idea. MANY commercial body bit
on this stunt, and although the tour
has been postponed from Aug. 1st to
Sept. is and now Oct. 1st, it lis said
that he has enough money in sight
for the jaunt. He has $4,000 au-
tomobile and a pleasant time ahead
of him. In the meantime FLORIDA
communities will begin to build side
boards about their. respective towns
to contain the influx of new citizens
Thomas is to send down here-40,-
600 he told the Sun-40 900 count,
'em on your fingers as they come in
We have it, unconfirmed, that he Of
fered one community the $40 space
for SIS. SO would buy considers
bile gasoline.
We could cite a dozen instances
of towns worked already this sea-
son. and the season has not begun.
"A day or so ago ASK Mr. Foster was
in. Clearwater and wanted $500 to
establish a Foster bureau here, and
to take space in his guide books
Then there is help to aid the Frisco
fair fund, the Chicago Tribune and
Chicago Record Florida edi-
tions, and so on ad lib.
That is why Florida commercial
bodies are kept poor. They have not
learned to say no. Many of them
think 1t cheaper to put their money
in any fool advertising stunt that is
presented to them than to pay an ex-
perienced publicity man a salary tc
spend the towns money in way
that will produce results
..It is so much easier to contrac
for $500 space in some souvenir edi
ton than to spend $500 in issuing ;
neat book for the town; it is so mucl
easier to spend $500 in some o5he
foreign manner than to advertise il
a magazine and answer 5000 .inquir
les that the $500 properly spen
would bring in.
The writer krlows-he has keyer
some fool advertising that an adver
Using committee ENDORSED and i
J cost as high at $3.50 an INQUIRY
two letters received in Reply to
j $500 advertisement in souyeni
edition. And then again in chi
cago paper sass a query. Real ad
{ yertising brings queries dS&h +
to is CENTS
which is cheaper To enpIot
Commercial Nseuetary ars haTe y5u
! queries cost you + n
6 employ 4 coplana S.
) have yDlr qiiss sAE
s. $3.50 eaeh2"