The Belding banner-news., 1921-12-21
DIVINE SOUNDS WARN
ING NOTE ON BUS|.
NESS CONDITIONS
FORMER LOCAL BOY HEAD OF
BIG CHICAGO COMPANY
TALKS ON ADVERTISING

Much but When?" the Kiwanis Mag
azine, of Chicago, publishes the fol-
lowing article whitten by Vem C..
Divine, son of Mrs. Eva Divine Of
this city, and formerly in the cloth
ing business in this city. Mr.. Divine
is at present at the head of the
Standard Advertising Co., of Chica-
go and is considered an authority on
the subject of advertising and bus
mess matters in general.
(By Vern &. Divine)
1t is often very much easier to say
eyes" than it is to mean "Yes" in
answering question concerning the
advertisement Of the interests of a
business institution. Before there is
place for good advertising, or very
much of it, in the promotion plans of
any business, everything else must
be right-or the advertisement won't
prove more than temporarily prSft-
able, st most.
Therefore, the question, els your
BUSINESS ready for more and better
advertising" cannot as readily be
answered in the affirmative as one
might at first be inclined TO suppose
Advertising is the last thing to
be done, although many seem to
think it comes first. No concern has
a right to do good advertising until
il is sure the goods and service are
all they will be advertised to be.
That may appear to some as too
"strait-laced" an idea. No 6oubt it
will. But it is more than that. It
is rule which, violated, leads to
certain failure.
Twenty years ago when | first be-
70 oft 10 DO,
ing problems, the advertising of a
stores merchandise looked like a
very simple matter to me-merely a
question of finding words, after the
fashion of Barnum and Bailey. that
would sound big and promise much.
But now after several years of ex-
perience in building a business of
my own, followed by many more
years in the advisory service of 9TH
ers, it is perhaps quite needless to
say that this light-headed viewpoint
of advertising has long since disap-
peared
For twelve years now, | have been
IN constant, intimate touch with the
advert sing problems of retailers
large and small department stores,
general stores, clothing stores and
shoe stores, in every nook and cor
ner of the United States and Canada
to say nothing of some little work
for stores in such far-away points
az New Zealand, Australia and South
Africa. And the longer | work with
these problems, the more imposing
they become 10 me. | see in the
wonderful efficacy of good advertis
ing giant power so enormous that
it charges the man or institution,
who does it, with a tremendous re-
spons bility. 1t is responsibility to
the public, which, if overlooked, In
the beginning, is certain to rebound
later, to the detriment and even de-
struction of the bus ness. SO ad-
vertising, having become a mighty
power, has become-or should | say
is becoming-also a tremendous re-
sponsibility.
Not all Kiwanians, of course, are
retailers, but nearly all are assured
ly interested in advertising of some
kind for some kind of business. What
| shall have to say here, while drawn
from experience with retail adver-
tising, should also have a close ap-
plication to other advertising. I
shall write of those underlying things
upon which successful advertising
must be founded, rather than adver-
t;sing itself.
A great many mercantile estab-
lishments exist for short periods of
time on exaggerated advertising, or
advertising that the establishment
doesn't deserve. But sooner or later
all such institutions either die out or
sell out. A business institution
simply must be right from within
before its advertising will "pull"
from without Few, if any firms,
are doing anywhere near the amount
of advertising that could be made to
pay if the plant warranted it, pro-
vided, of course, that the advertis-
ing was done exceptionally well. On
the other hand no company does it's
advertising as we'll as it might be
done. Moreover, it is very significant
that those whose advertising most
nearly approaches perfection are the
firms which realize most fully and
which admit most frankly the i'm
perfections that exist. Those are
the ones which are constantly striv-
ing after higher standards and high
er ideals in their advertising.
The other extreme is equally true;
those whose advertising is poorest
and is most unworthy are the busi-
nesses which do not realize this fact
and who honestly believe that their
advertising is good enough.
But the dominating, progressive.
forward-looking institutions-no mat
ter whether they are located in small
towns or large cities realize that
they can profitably do more adver-
tising in direct ratio to the rapidity
with which they learn how to co bet
ter advertising; and that there will
be more and better advertising than
was done this year than last-more
Continued on Page Nine)
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