The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-08
APPEALS ONLY TO
WOMEN OF HOUSE
Has Striven to Build Up an "Atmos-
phere" About the Advertisements
and the Store Advertises Bar
gains But Twice a Year


searight-Reese Furniture company.
with the single exception of the two
semi-annual furniture sales" stated Mr..
lionel, mo advertisement is ever writ
ten for Searight-Reese company with the
aim of impressing the person who reads
1t that there is waiting here for him or
her good investment.
1--WE do not as rule advertise prices,
and more seldom still do we advertise
comparative values, and then only when
we make an actual cut in a standing
price at which we have before been hand
ling a stated piece of goods. The one
and big aim of our advertising is to i'm
press whoever may read it with the fact
that this is a store of the highest quality.
We can easily enough convince anyone
who comes that we have good invest
ments for them to make. But what
We hammer at in our ads and which, in
cidentally, we have brought about very
successfully, is to convince i>eople that
above all other furniture stores this one
is the first in quality and service.
by the very nature of that aim Of our
business, Starlight Reese company has
gathered a group of customers which,
generally speaking. are of the more
wealthy people of community. We do
degrees, but I mean that to clientel we
have thus secured the price of an ar
ticle, no matter whether they may be
rich or poor, does not carry as much
weight as whether or not that article is
the best and most artistic of it's kind to
be had, and for that reason quotation of
prices or advertisement of bargains does
not come in as part of our business.
Advertise the Quality
The thing we are proud of, the thing
We have tried to make the criterion of
this store. is that we have the best and
most beautiful furniture that can be
made. That's what we advertise; not
the price at which we are going to sell it.
In our advertising, like in everything
else, we try to be little different. We
try to have an individuality that is dis
tinctive, that can be recognized that so
makes an advertisement that even if it
were printed without a name a person
who has been reading ads and is IA
miliar with them could tell whose ad it
was. For this purpose we have a border
which We use on all our ads and which is
used by no one else; also we always make
conspicuous part of every Starlight
Reese ad very artistic drawing of some
nature, of course, with furniture In it,
but not necessarily the dominating part
We pay more probably than any other
two stores in Birmingham for a high
class service of these art engravings for
reproductions in our ads. They give an
air of refinement, of quality, and of lux
ur1ousness to the ad, the thing which we
want to impress people our furniture has
also.
Our ads are written solely and only
to women. We believe that If the woman
OF a household wants piece of furni-
ture and knows where she wants to buy
ii, that is where it will be bought For
that reason the Searight-Reese company
never prints an ad except on the social
page. We cater to the women and to
their tastes. Our scheme is that the
art engraving will catch the eye of the
casual reader and then in the text of
the ad We try to carry some little ar
gument to convince the reader OF the
fact that If she Is looking for quality as
well ID reasonable price, Starlight Reese
is the place for her to find 1t.
Willing to Wait for Returns
1T is perhaps queer, but after build
ing up name and reputation in this
way, we find that it does not pay to ad-
vertise bargains. We have done so with
there being practically no response We
DO not expect to get returns from our
kind of ads the same day or the same
week or the same month, for that mat
ter, that the ad appears. We plan to
create an impression by our advertising
so that when the time comes for the
person with the impression to buy fur
niture that he or she will come to Sea-
right Reese company to buy it.
During the August furniture sale
and the February sale we do advertise
prices and bargains, actual bargains and
price reductions. AS an illustration DUR
ing our last August sale we advertised
certain suite of furniture at a reduc-
ton of $500 or $500. We didn't sell it. AS
soon as the sale was over 1t was placed
back at it's regular price and short time
ago it was sold for that regular price,
We carry most complete stock of all
kinds of furniture, but we conduct no
sales and advertise no bargains except
during the August and February furni-
ture sales.
"Our advertising pays. Searight-Reese
started about two and One-half years
ago, practically a new firm, at a new
location, and location outside of the ac-
cepted furniture store district. But
through this plan of advertising we have
established ourselves. We have I'M
pressed not only the people of Birming
ham. but the people of the state with
whom we are, where we are and what
we've got and our business has prof
tied correspondingly, the total sales for
December, 1914, being an increase over
1873 In spite of the hard times"
criticism of the advertising work of
Mr.. lionel appears In the September
Q91D issue Of the Grand Rapids Furni-
ture Record. one of the largest furni-
ture publications of the country. Tt gives
an expert appreciation of this kind of ad-
vertising and is as follows:
Lomel's Work Praised
I'm Birmingham, Ala, where Victor c.
lionel directs copy for one of the most
Sitka, Alaska, where the retail furniture
advertisers are less Numerous, even a
casual observer would instinctively recog-
nize the newspaper publicity of the Sea-
right-Reese Furniture company. In Bir-
mingham. however. where the Starlight
Reese advertisement d hailed daily by
hundreds of readers. II cannot have failed
to become more or leGN of public in
stitution. There are so many points OF
familiar repetition-not duplication. for
tCsati.ssa - Psss Ni.s)