The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1943-10-08
. BEHIND THE SCENES
IN WASHINGTON .

us AAAAVA pa bkA hlil 10
unquestionably the biggest adj
vertising and publicity job that
the country has ever seen And
IL is being put over because Owl
has, in addition 10 wise direc-
ton. the hearty and enthusiastic
assistance of every international
medium in the country.
The press, radio motion pic
lures, magazines. the advertis-
ing agencies, and of course the
advertisers, have given invalu-
able voluntary cooperation.
This is rather surprising, for a
not inconsiderable segment of
business doesn't like Owl or
OPa or WPB or the the way the
administration generally is run
Ming the war on the home front.
But The Owl program people re-
port that reluctance is almost
non existent, and that the re-
mark they hear most often from
business is, How else can we
help
Their help begins after the
SpadeWork on campaign is
done. Each campaign COR "in-
formation program, as Owl
prefers TO call IT'D begins with the
request from some agency for
decentralization, conserva-
ton, OF some other civilian acti-
witty.
DOPE SHEET
owl first has TO know the
identity and nature of the prob
lem and what's to be done about,
before il can pass along the in
formation SO il asks the agen-
cy FOR a detailed memorandum.
This is expanded by Owl re-
searchers and writer's into a
campaign platform
It's a complicated job Owl
may have as many as 40 cam
paigns going on at once. Each
agency wants everything done
immediately-even though oc-
casionally the agency can't agree
on policy for the campaign.
and sometimes is not prepared
10 follow through with its own
part after the civilians job is
done.
Some time before or just after
the media conference, the War
Advertising Council is called in.
This is a volunteer, non profit
organization made up of repre-
sentatives Of the country's lead
ing advertisers, advertising ag-
encias. and advertising medium
firms. II has a skeleton staff of
paid workers who get their mon
ev from a chipped-in fund from
Council members But the ma
iorlty of the work is done for
free
Tie Council appoints a task
fore" of co-ordinators and copy
writer's for each campaign. They
think up advertising TO match
the campaigns central theme or
slogan usually created by OVID
and. on all major car>Daigns,
send out so-called formula hold
erS, from which advertisers may
adapt for their own use.
FREE ADVERTISING
The patriotic campaign adver-
Using you see in your newspaper
or magazine may have got there
at the suggestion Of the publish
err, the advertiser. or even the
services that manufacture mat
rices for printing them. But IT
added up to conserVatiVcly
estimated S2,00O,000 worth Of
free advertising space for the.
government in the past year
II is true, and il is also fair,
that tins sum is deductible from
the advertisers tax, but that
fact is obviously not the only
reason for the ads. To match
this contribution, 428 magazines
have pledged Owl a free page
of advertising each month. And
the country's newspapers have
supplemented advertising with
columns Of free publicity for
various campaigns whose value
can't be measured
All down the line, from In
telligent planning through vol
unteer assistance 10 public re-
Spouse, Owls information pro-
gram is one of the best home
front accomplishments 10 date.