GETTING THE ADVERTISEMENT SEEN 1. Advertising must attract attention.—It is the purpose of all advertising to create certain impres sions in the reader's mind and to secure a favorable response. Invariably,. the first. aim is to bring the advertisement to the notice of the largeSt possible number of readers. The advertisement, then, is al ways striving to be seen.
The process taking place in the mind of the reader of " an advertisement consists of a series of mental phenomena. There may be some variation in the degrees of 'intensity of the different impressions, or in the length of time that different minds give to the same one, but every mind receives more or less similar ,impressions from the same stimulus.
There are two kinds of attention, voluntary and involuntary. The advertisement needs particularly to evoke the latter as it is sustained the more easily.
The first task of the advertisement, then, is to meet the great competition for attention. With the con stantly increasing number of publications, the tend ency toward the rapid reading of only selected mat ter, together with the increase in the number of adver tisements, competition is made many times as intense as it was a few decades ago.
2. Elements that secure are cer tain elements in an advertisement that secure invol untary attention. The degree of this involuntary at tention depends on the arrangement of the copy and the illustration, color, type and spacing. Words also, in themselves, have value in attracting attention espe cially if they suggest action or call up vivid images. All these are factors in getting initial attention. Ac tion, too, in displays has decided attention value. The most important elements that secure attention are (1) variation, (2) arrows, darts, and other desig nating signs, (3) contrast, (4) illustration, (5) color, (6) position and (7) motion.
3. is the primary method of securing attention. If a hundred men of the same size and build are in line, all alike except one who is noticeably heavier than the rest, the heavy man will be brought to the attention of practically every ob server. Of any group of objects, similar in general,
those differing from the rest in form, size and color will attract the most attention.
One of the older types of variation in form, that of unusual shape, is shown in the advertisement of the Hazel-Atlas Glass Company. In this instance, the fruit jar advertised lends itself most effectively to what printers call "mortising," in which the copy is displayed within a representation of the product ad vertised. In many cases the idea of "mortised copy" is inappropriate and forced, but in this company's ad vertising, special attention is drawn to the principal selling point, the wide mouth of the jar, which is easily opened without twisting the cap or without risking breakage of the jar. What would other wise be waste space in the illustration—the body of the jar—is thus effectively utilized.
4. Arrows, darts and designating signs.—A stand and method of attracting attention to the advertise ment, or more particularly to a portion of it, is by means of an arrow-like line or lines pointing to some parts of the illustration or text. The arrows not only attract attention in themselves but they also carry the eye along to the point to be emphasized. Many of the products advertised in this, way are machines or appliances where the arrow is particularly valuable as a designating sign to indicate salient points.
The advertisement of the "Dann Insert" offers an example of a product that is well displayed by means of the arrow. The main talking points of the product are thus brought forcibly to the reader's attention.
In the Burnham and Morrill Company's advertise ment of fish flakes, the fish moving from the ocean to the can is a striking and appropriate variant of the use of the arrow idea.
the Hanes Underwear advertisement, circles are used to bring out clearly important points in the product which immediately attract the reader's at tention.