(3) To further sales to the dealer by offering co operative methods when soliciting sales to the trade.
(4) To obtain the general benefits of publicity ad vertising, even tho the advertisement is addressed specifically to the consumer.
It will be noted that there are two main objects in all advertising designed to sell the consumer thru the dealer. The advertiser aims to put the pressure of demand upon the dealer and plans to identify his product with his brand. The one helps to place the line with the dealer; the other tends to tie the business created to the One of the most effective bits of this sort of ad vertising is done by the Aluminum Cooking Utensil Company. Reference the accompanying adver tisement shows that the appeal focuses on getting a sample into the hands of the consumer, either thru a call upon the dealer or by mail. Substitution is guarded against by devoting approximately one-fifth of the advertisement to particulars telling why "Wear-Ever" is the best aluminum wear.
The principles to which "Wear-Ever" advertise ments conform can be observed to advantage in prac tically all consumer advertising where the product is sold at retail. First, get a sample of the product into the hands of the consumer so as to arouse interest and create a demand. Second, divert the resulting trade to the advertiser's retailer. Third, feature the brand, emphasizing its points of supremacy to such a degree that substitution will be difficult, if not impossible.
11. Dealer products of many large concerns have become so well known that the advertising has reduced itself to little more than a display of the trade-mark. Under such conditions dealers generally carry the line as a matter of course; their cooperation consists merely in selling what is asked for. But a new product is usually compelled to fight its way to the dealer's shelves thru the in sistence of the consumer. Growers of fruits, makers of breakfast foods and similar products, attempt to increase consumption by constant suggestion, appe tite appeals and, educational copy, and then induce the readers to ask their dealer for the specific brand advertised. The value of the trade-mark, slogan or catch phrase is very great in aiding the memory of the- prospect.
The advertisement of the Perfection Heater illus trates copy which combines the trade-mark, a direct and well-selected appeal to protection against cold, with educational copy and specific directions by which the reader can supply himself. The suggestion, "Ask your dealer about it today" gives added em phasis for a class of prospective customers—women —who often prefer following that suggestion to wait ing for information.
12. ranges all the way from a legitimate sales talk down to outright cheat ing, and the advertiser must meet this obstacle from the beginning to the end of his business career. The branch store, the sole agency, the distribution of sam ples, the store demonstration, canvassing, the pre mium offer—all bear more or less directly upon the question of substitution. The necessity for control
ling substitution enters into many of the business policies connected with marketing; no business can rely solely upon its advertising to overcome substitu tion.
If the advertisements of various companies are studied, it will be noticed that they vary much in the relative amount of space given to picture and other display and to copy. As a rule, the older houses with well-established brands' use a preponderance of dis play and make little effort to direct the reader to a dealer. An example of this is seen in the Palmolive advertisement on page 160. The somewhat newer houses or those pushing a new product are prone to allow educational copy to predominate and to make the copy for directing the reader moderately con spicuous, as in the case of the Cleveland Foundry Company's "Perfection Heater." But a third class of advertisers, because of the newness of their product or the unfamiliarity of their trade-mark, must meet substitution face to face.. They must send their readers to the dealer with a prejudice in favor of their wares, strong enough to "demand the goods asked for." Firms of this class do much advertising based on educational copy, but they often force the question of substitution into the foreground.
The consumer usually depends upon the retailer's judgment. However, there has arisen a tendency to resent any attempt on the part of retailers to put a customer off with "something just as good." The general confidence of the public in trade-marked goods gives the advertiser a strong weapon even tho he must use it at long range. An evangelist, a labor agitator, a political orator, an ad writer or any per son whose business it is to lead a crowd, can measure his success by the ability first to arouse the enthusiasm which leads to action, and second, firmly to fix that determination by an appeal to prejudice. If the sug gestion that one is being tricked, whether it is in re ligious belief, in labor adjustments or in buying goods, is put in a man's mind, there is little hope for the cause, or its supporters, toward which this suspi cion is directed.
It may take time to arouse enthusiasm, but sus picion lies ever ready to crop up. The advertiser who constantly exhorts the reader to ask for such and such a brand and to take no other, appeals to a general prejudice, which looks upon trade as, a trial of wits where caveat emptor plays a ruling part. This warn ing directing a buyer to beware starts him to a store with his prejudice aroused by a suspicion that he may be tricked; and as a consequence, the moment that the dealer attempts to explain the merits of another brand, he is met with indignation which hardens into stubborn opposition as the dealer's argument pro gresses.
There are various shades of suggestion by which prejudice may be aroused. The character of the firm, the nature of the business, the extent of the sell ing campaign, etc., all bear upon the nature of appeal to be used.