Evening star., 1935-02-10
Advertising Brought Success,
Saws London Merchant Prince
Washington Star Cited
as Example Of Aid
to Merchants.
Liberal Use of Press Is
Held Needed by
Seltridge.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

WpeClal DlSpdtCn 10 nc oldI
LONDON, February 9 (N.AN.A)
Gordon Selfridge, American, who
came to London to build the great
department store business which
bears his name, startling British
merchants by his lavish newspaper
advertising. believes his knowledge
and use of such advertising were at
least as great a factor in his success
as his expertneSs in merchandising.
without newspaper advertising l
could not have gone very far" he
said. II had learned its value while
was with the Marshall Field store
in Chicago. I was the first merchant
to give the Chicago Daily News, at
the beginning of its marvellous
growth, a full page advertisement.
and this attracted wide attention.
IF I am not mistaken, the Chi
cago Daily News was the first or at
least one Of the first, newspapers in
the world to print full page, two,
three and four page advertisements
of department stores. And we all
know the success of Chicago mer-
chants and of that city as a whole.
Markets in Advertising.
"The advertising pages of the lead
ing newspapers of America constitute
q market place for every housewife.
for every man. And during the last
several years the great newspapers
of the United Kingdom have presented
more of a family market place in
their pages than formerly.
tYva he
I thought that when we appropriated
seven-eighths of per cent OF our
receipts for advertising it was quite
liberal. Last year l spent 2l2 per
cent Of our receipts in newspaper ad-
vertising. We will probably spend
more than that in 1885.
I'm the United States every impor-
tant city has at least one and some
times two advertising mediums nols-
pensable to business men, if they are
to succeed. The New York Times
ranks at the top in New York City
Any firm or commodity appearing IN
the advertising columns Of the New
York Times wins distinction.
Washington Star Cited.
Among other newspapers of class
in the United States is The Washing
ton Evening Star and The Sunday
Star. Undoubtedly, The Evening Star
is by far the first in advertising value
in it's section. The same can be SAID
of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin,
Baltimore Sun. Cincinnati TimeS-Star,
Cleveland Plain Dealer, Detroit News.
st. Louis Globe Democrat, Kansas
City Star. Omaha World Herald, Port
land Oregonian. San Francisco Chron-
icle and the Los Angeles Times"
Mr.. Selfridge was asked if adver-
tising rates were higher in the United
States than in England.
"The contrary" he replied. Il
paid $1,000 for one page, one 1nser-
ton, preferred position, in London
daily. The rate for an inside page Is
S4,5o0 an insertion, or $40 an inch
of IA agate lines. There is no dis
count for yearly contract or bulk
space. And this is true Of all London
papers.
when an advertiser buys space in
o newspaper Of one to two million cir
culation he is bound to have far
bigger percentage of waste circula-
tion than If he advertised in a news
paper Of one to five hundred thousand
circulation that has become estab-
lished as an institution.
Page Cost Low.
1.-The cost of one page, for example,
in The Washington Evening Star, for
one insertion, is about $468. But with
1H
tract, the lowest net cost per page is
about 1855. against $4,000 to $1,000
page, one insertion, or 313 insertions
at the same rate each day in the Lon
don Daily Mail. And The Washing
ton Evening Star has a compact cir
culation in its territory, most impor-
tant for Washington merchants or
any national advertiser who wishes to
do business in the District of Colum-
bia and its suburbs.
1.-THE same applies to the high-class
advertising mediums in the other
American cities I have mentioned.
There is little if any waste circulation
in this class of newspapers, while
in daily papers that get into the
million circulation class the adver-
tiser is paying for a large percentage
of circulation, scattered over distant
sections that is a dead loss in de-
partment store advertising at least.
Notwithstanding the high cost of
advertising space In the United
Kingdom, could not continue busi-
ness successfully without the liberal
use of the advertising pages of the
leading daily newspapers"
what do you think of radio ad-
vertising, Mr.. Selfridge?"
No Radio Advertising.
"There is little, practically no ad-
vertising over the radio in England
Here each radio is taxed 10 shillings
($2.50) a year, while in the United
States radios are tax free. But the
broadcaSting companies there can