Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-09-26
A BUREAU OF ADVERTISING.
BY Frederic J. HakIn


Washington, Sept. 2s---Thnt II pays
| to advertise IL now one OF the leading
articles In the American credo. Yet,
| like most generally accepted facts,
! IL is not strictly true. II does not pay
to advertise unless you DO 80 efficient
Iy---that lis to say. unless you plan
your copy skillfully and place 1t wise
iy where It will produce the best re-
suits.
IT would be n more waste of money,
for instance. to advertise such articles
MS concrete mixers In wornan's
fashion journal, or 10 attempt 10
create q demand for electric fans In
Nova Scotia in winter. The import
ant thing is 10 reach the right markets
for a product through the proper ad-
vertisng medium. For the majority
OF products the daily newspaper is un-
questionably the best advertising
medium, as IT reaches the largest num-
Der Of people. but even newspaper ad-
vertisIng yields maximum returns only
when il is judiciously distributed.
Realizing the tremendous import
ance Of this factor, the American
|, l
ports a Bureau of Advertising, with
headquarters in New York, Chicago
and San Francisco. for the purpose +
helping advertisers to distribute their
advertising 10 the best advantage
To do this. n man must be in posses-
sion OF certain facts concerning
market conditions as they affect his
product, and these facts the Bureau
+ OF Advertising undertakes TO secure
/ for him.
Through its afTiliation with news
3 papers all over the United states and
: in Canada, II is able TO trail and catch
! the most elusive commercial fact in
5 any fair-sized town on this continent.
Y If prospective advertiser were 10
I walk into it's offices tomorrow and de-
e mand to know how many kinds Of
Y monographs or fireless cookers were
sold in Portland. Oregon. or Portland
? Maine, and why. the Bureau could
doubtless have the information for
3 him by telegraph within 43 hours. But
while IL is able TO obtain facts with
I, amazing speed, it's investigation
u usually are OF nationwide scope, re.
!. quiring weeks of exhaustive research
Not long ago for example the Bureau
conducted an inquiry into the stat
Of the soft drink market, for th'
= benefit OF soft drink manufacturers
: with a view 70 determining whethe
or not there had been marked in
=, crease in the sale OF soft drinks sine
the coming Of national prohibition
"a Here are some of the facts that wer
discovered:
d Money In Soft Drinks.
!" That the soft drink market is
remarkably fertile field for the manu-
" facturer, for the governments tax re
ceipts OF s51 100000 would indicat
that more than $500, ,o00, 900 worth 4
soft drinks were sold at retail during
~ period of IL months.
- That the soft drink market, and PAL
% ticulariy the ginger ale market. is
:, sectional, II not a local one. Brand
that are best sellers in one section
- the country are not at all popular 1
others. Only one brand of ginger a.
g. enjoys nationwide popularity, an
re only one soda drink may be said [
have a welI-nigh universal sale.
e That the demand for soft drinks O
the whole had greatly increased sine
e. prohibition, but that in some Iocallti.
nd the sale of ginger ale had fallen c
ch owing to the fact that IL was 7
sst longer used so extensively as a bas
at ingredient in alcoholic beverages
in The detailed results of this inquir
al contained in one of the special ira.
ne reports on file in the Bureaus office
'ly were Of great value to soft drir
OF manufacturers. who were at once All
nd to see where and how TO place the
ne, advertising. In other words, wi
Oh the aid of this information, they we
N able to direct their advertising
"a meet local market conditions. viii,
ho were shown to vary widely througho
the country.
In another instance the Bureau W
asked by a tire manufactures TO he
him gather quickly some data sho-
Ing the size and condition of ii
stock on hand in dealers shops in ii
,sr country and Canada. 1t prompt
,,,s communicated with its newspaper re
"a resentatives throughout the contine
m and in a short time had a long
red f detailed reports from which it W
H. able TO compile a valuable report
general conditions.
nd The significant discovery in Il
sb- case was that tire stocks everywhe
were exceptionally low. Dealers we
,ar found TO be buying slowly and in SIN
, 4 quantities, yet most of them We're
the opinion that business would SO
ed pick up. The publis also, il was d
av- closed. was exhibiting great reluctar
,h- in buying new tires. apparently l
lieying that if it only waited 10
enough prices would ccme down.
this connection ii was pointed {
-. that cars had been Nsed more
tensively that year than ever befC
,,,+ owing to the mild winter; that til
: :. were being patched up TO their /;
- extremity by car owners, and Il
|, even with no effort on the part of I
manufacturers to revive busine
natural wear and tear would sc
. make pressing demands on the deale
.wn Demand For Tires Seen.
, to This conclusion was based VI
s. actual figures sent in from variC
cities. The report from Fort wor
for instance. stated that there W
der only 1900 tires of all kinds in q
va community. while 10000 cars W