The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-03
Straightforward Writing Is Best, Says Bob Murphy
 of the Parisian
FLOSSY LANGUAGE
 OF NO ASSISTANCE
Says He Maps Out Campaign for Year Ahead and in Detail for 30 Days. Honest Comparative Prices
 Strong Factor

Birmingham is one of the best adver- Using towns in the country from my ex- rerience" yesterday said Bob Murphy, advertising manager of The Parisian, women's clothiers. and incidentally the dean of the profession in Birmingham having been in the business here IS years. ITO the women of Birmingham the ad- vertisements of the merchants here is gospel and over 90 per cent of the read CTS of advertisements in this or any other town no doubt are women.
 "A good advertisement Is nothing more nor less than telling the women of this town what you have to sell In a straight forward, intelligent way. I always write ads as if talking to a woman and just as if she was sitting right before me, in my presence. The less flossy language and rhetoric you use the better: the sooner you tell her what you have to sell and how much you are going~to sell it for tho better.
 'T believe in big type and statements sufficiently sensational to comply with the truth and at the same time attract attention. There is but one difference in advertising and in talking to lady pur- chaser who is in your presence. Use the same statements in both cases, but in the case of the advertisement you are speak ing to hundreds of women instead of one 50 I say talk louder and emphasize your good ponts and the only way to talk loud and emphasize in an advertisement Is to use big type. 1 don't see there is any Use in advertising unless you have some thing to advertise. and If you have some- thing to advertise there Is no need in be- ing ashamed of saying so in big type.
 Should Emphasize Points
 Advertising is not a quiet little gum shoe tete-a-tete. An orator does not de- liver a speech without gestures or in- flections of his voice and oratory is the highest development of the art Of per- suasion. So if an orator emphasizes his points why not an advertising man for the same reason. Some preachers say they yell every once in awhile to wake up the congregation. Same way in ad- vertising. You have to wake 'em up.
 Tn The Parisian advertising we always have a campaign mapped out year ahead and in detail for about 30 days ahead. Systematic advertising in this way pays because customers learn to look for your advertisement when they intend do- ing some shopping Of course anything that might occur incidentally to cause deviation from this course is always permitted; some of this advertising un- der the impulse, as you might term it. Is often very good.
 "The Parisian makes a point of ad- vertising comparative prices. If we have $50 coat to sell for $30, why should we not say so? Tn private con- versation, if you were telling a friend of such a matter, wouldn't you men ton the fact that the coat had sold for $50? Comparative prices must be kept honest. Therein is their only danger If customer ever catches an adver- tiser quoting a fictitious comparative price he has not only lost her busi- ness but she is going to tell her friends And women shoppers know just as well as I do or anyone else connected with the store if we should quote a ficti- tious price.
 Sample of Productive Advertising
 "The backward season sale we held some few days ago is sample oi productive advertising Good advcrtis ing goes hand in hand with good mer- chandising and good salesmanship. The season was backward for the i,ianu. facturers. They had lots of stuff they couldn't sell. We bought 1t and put ov, a sha Ck Ua rd spa son' sale in Decam