Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-26
CAESAR WAS
AN ADVERTISER
Fame and Fortune Have A..
Come to Those Who Know w'''
How to Command
Publicity

oa, maze a better mouse trap TIA, ~
neighbor, though he builds bis Ian ns
the woods the world will nsLa u'e n
track to his door. Oeatsn
If the man neglected to u.
self with a publicity agent ba ua ra.,t nlnn-
dead before the world discovered ua ,s.a ~
had cleared his own house ~ 49,. Ha' he
neighbors might know 1t, but En- tls
automatic system Of telegrsnh,, = no
communicates such informa,ioa which
from town to town. But uh.s ,spidly
ventor and the publicity expert -. 'ne IN.
partnership we have an inv,n.,S, er INTO
oination that wins fortune for soos Oou'
benefits the world. II you do not ~ h.,,. aOa
It hunt UP Mr.. Edison and asl NJ, h,s, VeneVe
Advertising is as old as ,roa.
hrst advertisements were signs or. ae
to places of business. Some OF ths ,,oeued ',e's
signs are still preserved in th, l, ,S'"an
I Pompeii. We learn from tho h,.,-ol "s Of
in Rome Itself the wine shops wsr. A |,
dicated by picture Of an amnhns. " ~
two slaves, that a picture of voo, a'o
| painted outside of dairy and a..
school was indicated by a s,pn ~.
a boy getting whipped.
But no one could see these s,vn.
cept those who went through tho s,r..
where they were. e'ssu
His Own Press Agent
The canny Romans, howevo, A.,
depend on signs or on chance pubieI,v
10 spread their fame. Caesar wrota n.
story of the Gallo wars in order ~.
his countrymen know how great Ne III.
| Every schoolboy has heard Of Csas,s
because his advertisements ara ~
served and studied to this dav r,m
earlier than Caesar, Homer set I'm hr,
ness as the press agent of Tho crs..
heroes, and full-grown men debate ,oSsr
the relative greatness of the press assn,
and the heroes whom he celebrated m.
great men of antiquity whose Reputation.
have survived are those who were eItbs,
skilled self-advertisers, after the fashion
of George Bernard Shaw, or were w..
enough toNhire others to exploit them
This sort of thing was not called "A.
vertising. 1t is only since the wurh
has begun to study the art Of publlctv
that 1t has dawned upon the student
that there are more kinds Of adyertis
ing than that which ordinarily goes hy
that name. It's development as an art Il
credited to the enterprising business
men of the United States. They spend
anywhere from S2OO,OOO,OOO to s5OOOOO.
600 year in various forms of publicity
more than $2O0,0O0,OOO of which is paid
to periodical publications. The rest goes
to pay for catalogues, circulars, bill
board display stereopticon pictures
cards in street cars and similar forms Of
specially distributed announcements.
Printing Did It
Although there has been advertising
of some kind from the beginning, what
we know as advertising really dates from
the invention of printing; for then II b.
came possible to reach a large public at
q comparatively small expense. The sign
on the shop could be duplicated and eE
panded and distributed as widely as the
advertiser pleased.
The first periodicals did not contain
advertisements. The earliest English
newspaper appeared in May, 1922 but
was not until 1647 that business an
nouncement was made in newspapa
1t appeared in a publication with the
title, not constructed for the conyen'
ience of newsboys, Perfect Occurrences
of Every Dale, Journal In Parhamsh
and Other Moderate Intelligence" and
announced the publication Of book on
llFNt,a ~
ment." For years books and medicines
were the only things advertised. In l'ss'
eleven years after the first publishers an
nouncement, an advertisement Of tea az
peared in an English paper This is saa
to be the earliest attempt to attract pup
lie attention TO the merits OF an artles
not intended to cure disease or 70 W
form the mind. Thereafter business men
gradually began 10 take advantage :
the. opportunities of broadening 'hsa
business by the use of the press
Philadelphia's Primacy
There Is now no commodity which y
not advertised, and no successiui puaf
ness man who does not devote almost =
much attention to letting the puphe fu0r
what he has to sell as to securing
manufacturing a product which ne tnnA
the people will buy. More has been o'ps
in Philadelphia to develop the art Oh -
vertIsing than in any other city o. ~
world. It was a Philadelphia merehsA
who set the example to all the Oue'
merchants in the country OF using nss
paper space to attract attention 70
bargains. II was a Philadelphia ~
chant who instituted the custom Oh Pi-.
ing the prices of his goods ana =
a Philadelphia publisher who sues.
in convincing the manufacturers
ticles In common use to advertise n,s
nationally in order to educate the pun
to ask for them by name at the i'
stores.
A trade name widely known Is h9"
of the most valuable assets OF ue
poration which owns it. The pic'uis 80
girl on the wrapper OF a popular p''
of chocolate has been caplta'lAss
81 900 900. philadelphia cigar - ~
facturer last winter began TO pu' ~
on his cigars TO identify them, e. ~
discovered that the name OF nls
was worth SO much to him that tns Il.
identifying OF it unmlstakably y
hand has increased his sales 20 ps,
~ .,,,,. 80 haan made known py