5. Catalog offer. To introduce a prod uct whose general quali ties are well known may depend more upon the outside inducements of fered than upon the di rect appeals based upon the product itself. There are several coal crushers on the market. In general, their qualities are well known to the users of such machines. The Jeffrey advertisement is a good illustration in which the em phasis is put upon the book, altho to feature the vir tues of the Jeffrey Single Roll Crusher is the final ob j ective.
Little attempt is made to describe the coal crusher other than by the descriptive name on the cover of the bulletin and in the argument showing why the bulletin should be sent for. The product appeal is submerged in the free catalog appeal.
6. Free sample off variation from the style of copy used in the Jeffrey advertisement, yet one which resthnbles it, is the advertisement, on page 146,. of the Minute Tapioca Company. Here is offered not only a free book but a free sample package upon which the emphasis of the entire advertisement is put.
There is no description that can equal a test of the goods themselves. Particularly where the value of the product depends upon one main appeal, made perhaps to the sense of taste or smell, a small sample is sufficient to give a clear idea of the product. The advertiser of a new food product, for example, could spend much money in description and yet not succeed in giving so good an idea of how his product actually tastes, as could a sample costing less than a cent.
Fabric products lend themselves in most cases to sample offers. One of the most familiar advertise ments, changed little from year to year, is that of a collar company which offers a liberal supply of collars in return for the names of those who might be interested. • A manufacturer of underwear .is able to show the superiority of his fabric over others by a sample not over an inch square. "Tailoring-by-mail" firms not only supply their agents with samples of goods from which the clothes are to be made, but often furnish the prospective customer with fabric samples as well.
The advantages of an efficient sample-offer plan may be summarized as follows: (1 ) Increased number of inquiries.
(2) Increased value of inquiries thru elimination of requests of idle curiosity seekers.
(3) Since the goods are in the prospective buy er's possession they will do their own advertising.
(4) superiority of demonstration over verbal de scription, in such matters as the taste of a food prod uct, the sound of a talking machine or musical instru ment and the like.
(5) Aiding distribution, thru dealers or agents.
(6) Furnishing new names that may be used in future adVertising campaigns.
7. Booklets and samples at small cost.—Altho it is necessary to write copy that will get results in con nection with free offers of booklets and samples, some check must be put upon inquirers who are merely curious.
The copy of the Crisco advertisement on page 148 is particularly strong in its appeal to housewives and even to professional cooks. Since the purpose is not to sell directly, the advertisement strikes at a particu larly vulnerable spot by suggesting a problem in cooking in the very first phrase—"Whys of cooking." This in itself would be enough to stimulate the action of asking for a free book. Curiosity and interest are evoked at once. But those who are merely curious are usually not desirable as prospects, hence the ten cent charge. By putting in this element, the free offer is changed into an "offer at small cost"; there fore it is necessary to add more force to the appeal.
The copy speaks of the authority back of the author ship, the Principal of the Boston Cooking School and publisher of "American Cookery"; it appeals also to woman's desire to get this cooking information in the simplest form—question and answer. It stimulates the desire to possess the book by saying, "It is handsomely illustrated in colors and contains many new and hitherto unpubliShed recipes." nally, it skilfully leads up to the small cost by taking the reader into the company's confidence, for, of "this book is published to gain the good-will of our ers, and therefore further advance the sales of co, but it is a book which is worth five times at least what we ask for it." The last paragraph skilfully builds up the confidence of the reader while telling her, "The cost is but five two-cent stamps." Another excellent example of this type of adver tisement may be seen in the "Jim Henry" copy of the Gerhard Mennen Chemical Company, shown on page 150. An indication of how successful such copy can be made is the fact that one insertion of this adver tisement brought 10,0Q0 replies. W. A. McDermid, advertising manager of the company, says : No advertisement we ever ran has created so much interest as this one. We attribute its success to the headlines in the first paragraph which caught the average man's interest. It induced him to read a straight story about our product in the belief that it was a man-to-man, informal talk.