Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-02-07
WHOLE ORGANIZATION
| LIVES UP TO SLOGAN
Unexpected Application Of Catch
Phrase Known to All
Motorists
BY E. r. BENSON
(Vice-president the Studebaker Cor
poratfon.)

(Vice-president the Studebaker Cor
poration.)
Readers of advertising the world
over are thoroughly familiar with
many Of the short, pithy phrases which
one comes to associate with various
commodities. Most of us can name
off, hand at least a dozen of the best
known. AS rule they are something
more than wellworded sentiments in
prisce of goods. Sometimes one of
them is almost Photographic in its
production of the moving sentiment
of an entire manufacturing and sales
organization. This convincing sort of
slogan is, in fact, the one that the
reader bears longest in mind.
AS otter as not, these slogans are
the result of accident. Some dealer or
some customer, by one of those happy
turns of speech, voices his belief in
a product. The wise salesman hears
of it, recognizes its value, and the
phrase becomes known all over the
world.
For some time, our advertising has
featured the phrase, Buy it because
it's Studebaker" Often / am asked
where this sentiment was first phrased
in its adopted form. And always /
am forced to admit that we don't
know. One of our dealers insists that
1t was first heard in his sales room
from the lips of a Studebaker owner
who had escorted a friend to his store
and was helping the salesman in his
proof of Studebaker superiority. There
is travelling representative on our
staff who insists that he brought such
an incident back to the factory from
one of his trips, and told it to num-
hnr of fr-tn
Studebaker headquarters there are
veterans who insist that Buy it be-
cause it's a StudebaEer-' dates back,
in Its first application, beyond the days
when automobiles were known as
horSeleSS carriages.
Whatever it's origin, we all know
that, since we have been using the
phrase in our advertising, it has be-
come q focus of Studebaker sentiment
to which every member of our organi-
zation looks often, consciously or un-
consciously, for guidance in his days
work.
The first rough sketch made by a
Studebaker engineer Is all the better
for the fact that the engineer knows
people Will be buying its embodiment
in steel Because It's a Studebaker."
The same sentiment is in the minds
of our manufacturing department, and
pride in the efficiency of his machine
the output of which commands mar
ket, Because it's a Studebaker."
In the sales organization, the slo-
gan has a still different meaning.
There 1t symbolizes Studebaker ser
vice. Men who own Studebaker cars
say Buy it because it's a Studebakern
to their friends, basing the advice not
only on the performance of their own
cars, but also on the fact that they
have themselves tested Studebaker
service and know that it is prompt
and efficient.
OF course, these sentiments had ami
mated our organization long before
the Studebaker slogan was ever set UP
in cold type. Were this not true, the
slogan would never have been born.
It's summary, however, into six crisp,
expressive words has crystallized all
this sentiment and made it an express
sion of creed for the whole Studebaker
organization, and promise which
binds us all to it's fulfillment
With our plan of advertising, sales
and manufacture all based on the
Studebaker slogan, there is one ami
mating purpose for the whole Stude-
baker organization-a purpose which
permeates all its departments of ac-
tivity and makes harmony an auto
matte adjunct.
Our slogan, Buy it because it's a
Studebaker," may have been first eX-
plotted as a sales help. 1t has proven
ever more valuable, however, as an
expression of the spirit of our organi-
zation. So long as we continue to
live up to this sentiment, we know
we can justly feel assured of con-
tinued and sustained business sue