A new kind of education for retailers has for its pur pose, not primarily increased sales of any given manu facturer's goods, but, rather, increased sales and in creased profits for the dealer in his business as a whole. The Printz-Biederman Company, manufacturers of women's garments, offers a complete correspondence course in retail selling for the employes of the suit and cloak departments of its dealers. The course is a broad one; it teaches the best methods of selling women's garments in general, and refers only inci dentally to the product of the company that prepared the course. A manufacturer of sad-irons formerly distributed a correspondence course in advertising for the retail dealer, covering everything from study of the market to copy-writing, methods of display and the selection of mediums. The manufacturer of In gersoll watches prepared, and distributed free to his dealers, a complete system of cost accounting for jew elry stores. Broad-minded, unselfish educational ef forts of this sort represent a long step in advertising from the days when "Force the dealer" was the slo gan. They promise much for the future of dealer manufacturer relations.
10. Campaigns to increase the sales of related products.—Strategy in advertising is expressed in a variety of ways. The advertiser who offers a free course in accounting for his dealers is a strategist of the first order. His final, and legitimately selfish, purpose is entirely overshadowed by an unselfish de sire to be of real service to his distributers. In the same class is the manufacturer of one product who advertises another for the benefit of his dealers. They both represent a broad-minded American princi ple of far-sighted, business helpfulness. They both prove the growing realization in business of the old truth that the one who profits most is the one who serves most.
The Bemis Bag Company manufactures contain ers for flour. Yet it does not advertise bags. It ad vertises to increase the consumption of flour, because its business can increase only as the business of the millers of the country increases as the number of con sumers increases. The Bemis Company publishes ad vertisements in the leading magazines and newspa pers showing the nutriment in white flour, and urging housewives to make more liberal use of it. The ob ject of the campaign is twofold. First, the obvious object is to increase the consumption of white flour, if that is possible. But the other object, and the one which is undoubtedly a great deal more definitely real ized, is to get the good-will of millers. The miller feels that the manufacturer is attempting to render him a real service. The manufacturer does not come to the miller saying, "I want your bag business." He says, "I'm going to do everything I can to in crease your flour business. Then you will have to use more bags. If you buy them from me, I shall
appreciate it. I expect to succeed only by assisting you to success." Thru advertising, the business men of the country in all lines, whether they are retailers, jobbers or manufacturers, are coming to understand one another better, and to know the real meaning of cooperation and service.
11. Three kinds of "dealer forms of advertising most generally used by a manufacturer in his effort to gain dealer cooperation are those that help the dealer to tell the public about the manufac turer's goods. These helps, aside from the educa tional work already described, are of three kinds— store signs, assistance of various sorts in the retailer's newspaper advertising and assistance in his direct advertising.
12. Dealers' newspaper advertising.—One of the first attempts of manufacturers to obtain dealer co operation was by offering assistance to retailers in the preparation of their newspaper advertising. The average retailer has had little opportunity to study advertising carefully; or he is usually busy with a multitude of store details, and he thinks he has not the time to devote to the writing of advertisements, even if he had the training to do so. As a result of these two conditions much retail advertising up to a few years ago, particularly in the smaller commu nities, was weak and ineffective. Taking advantage of this situation, national advertisers offered to help the retailer produce advertisements that would really attract trade.
The first kind of advertising help offered to the dealer was a complete advertisement of a manufactur er's goods, electrotyped and ready for insertion in the dealer's papers, with only a small place left blank for the dealer's name and address. Complete adver tisements of this sort have been, and still are, widely used. Many manufacturers prepare them and many dealers use them. This advertising is often better than the dealer could prepare for himself, and some times the dealer would use no newspaper advertising at all if it were not for the plated advertisements he receives from manufacturers. To that extent, the material is valuable.
It has the great disadvantage, however, of repre senting the manufacturer and his goods rather than the dealer and his store. An advertisement prepared for a thousand stores can certainly not reflect the individuality of any one of them. A realization of this fact is inducing many dealers to refuse to use plated advertisements from manufacturers, and it is inducing many manufacturers to find some other methods of bringing about dealer cooperation. The sincere, frank recommendation of the dealer, no mat ter how crudely expressed, is often worth much more to the readers of a paper than even the strongest ap peal of an advertisement obviously written by a man ufacturer.