, 1923-07-21
EVERY DAY THE KING DIES AN
ADDRESS ON ADVERTISING VALUE

said this OF Joseph. as you Will re-
member:
swhat Shall doubt the secret hid
Under Cheop's pyramid.
= Was That tho contractor did
Cheops out of several millions,
And hat Joseph's sudden rise
To controller of supplies
; Was a graft of monstrous size
9 Worked ON Phnraoh's swarthy civil
ians."
But rhe account Of Joseph In the
Old Testament Is much more com
plete and to his credit.
You remember tina he left his
country under difficulties and. com
!. ing into n strange country, through
his diligence and intelligence, he rose
until he became the principal person
in the State. second only to the King.
Then there comes in that story what
I regard as one of the most amazing,
one of the most staggering. lines that
has ever been written IN business
history, a line that I think ought to
be engraved deep on the office wall of
every man who has anything to do
with public relations. because with no
Interruption. no explanation the ac-
count which has Just finished telling
of Joseph's remarkable career land
where his private relations had all
the good Jobs in the Kingdom. goes
on to say: And Pharaoh died. and
there arose in Egypt n new King
which knew not Joseph"
Now, gentlemen, I believe hat that
IS the greatest sermon ever written
on the subject of public relations.
When we gathered in this room this
afternoon. there were in this country.
in bed. sick, several thousand old
men. It is perhaps indicate for me
to refer to that fact. but It is a fact:
and we arc grown up and we have
got to face these things. On these
old men you gentlemen collectively
have spent q considerable amount of
time and n considerable mount of
money. It is to be supposed that you
have mad some impression upon
them regarding your service and your
rpo and your necessities; and In
this interval while we have been sit
ting here. those old men have died.
and all your time and all your money
and whatever you have built up in
the way of goodwill in their minds.
all those things have passed out with
them.
In the same interval. in the same
half hour, there have been born in
this country several thousand lusty
boys and girls. to whom o gentle
men mean no more than the Einstein
theory. They do not know the differ
ence between a Mazda lamp and a
stick of wrigley's chewing gum. No
body has ever told them that Ivory
soap floats or hat children cry for
- .-.~ hArI
ought to use II they want to have n
Skin that people would like to touch.
Nobody has ever told them any of
the other facts that are SO vital in
maintaining existence in these com
pick modern times
The whole Job of giving to them all
the things that they are going to need
in order to be able to form an intel
Ieent public opinion and to exercise
IN Intelligent influence in the COM
munity has to be started from the
beginning and one over again.
So the first very simple thing that
I would say to you (and It is so sim
pie that It seems to me It ought to
be said at every convention of this
kinD is that this business of public
violations is a very constant business;
that the fact tina you told your story
yesterday should not lead you into
the delusion of surprising that you
have ever told It There is probably
no fact IN the United States that is
easier to impress upon peoples minds
than tho fact hat Ivory soap hoats'
and yet the manufacturers of Ivory
o think It not Inconsistent or
wasteful to spend yer a million dol
lars a year in repeating that fact
over and over again.
It is a d~ny-by-day and houroy-hour
business, gentlemen. Every day and
every hour "the king dies and there
arises a new king in this country
to whom you and all your works
moan absolutely nothing.
Now, the second thing and YER
simple thing that II seems to mo /
might say to you is that in your deal
ings with the public. in what you
write and say to It. you have got to
be genuine.
When I came to New York a great
many years ago. I had a lot of trouble
with banks. I had great difficulty in
finding any bank that would be will
ing 10 accept tho very paltry weekly
deposit that I wanted to make, u I
finally found one. which was not as
closely guarded II the others, and I
succeeded for over n period OF three
years of being insulted by the teller
every Saturday. and at the end Of
three years when I anne to draw out
my money. I had an audience with
the vice-president who wanted per-
sonally TO insult me.
I said to myself. III I live and
grow old in this town. some day I
think I would like to take a crack at
this institution" And so. as the
years passed. as they have the habit
OF doing. and 1 lived and grew older.
one day a banker came IN TO IL and
said he would like to have us do
some advertising for his bank. I
said TO him. You go back TO your
office and shave on nil the side
whiskers that are in o u bank. and
you take all the high hats and carry
them out into the backyard OF the
bank. and you put them in n pile and
you light n match to the pile and
burn them up. because I am going to
advertise TO people that are human.
and II may be n shock to have them
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