5. What the opposition says.—Those who oppose advertised goods say that national advertising is no proof of quality—that brands originally of good qual ity deteriorate after the public has been made familiar with them. It is unfortunate that this criticism is sometimes justified. A few manufacturers have made the mistake of thinking that when the demand has been created, it will continue even tho the orig inal high quality of the goods may be shaded a trifle. This is exceedingly poor policy. Advertising alone never has made and never can make a permanent suc cess for any manufacturer; but aclvqrtising plus qual ity is a winning combination. Most advertising manufacturers thoroly realize this, and the few who do not, suffer for their folly.
The opponents of advertised goods also maintain that many unadvertised goods are just as well-known and just as high in quality as advertised goods. They are right. Advertised goods have no monopoly in quality, nor even in public favor. There is at least one firm of non-advertising wholesalers and manu facturers of men's furnishings, for example, whose name on goods means just as much to buyers in gen eral as the name of some advertising manufacturer. But in comparison with the advertised goods that are known to the public the number of unadvertised brands that are equally well-known is exceedingly small.
Finally, the critics of advertised goods say that the handling of such goods is not the chief thing in estab lishing a good reputation for a store. When the peo ple of a community have had an opportunity to ob serve the conduct of a store during a considerable period of time this is quite true. Right dealing with out advertised goods will hold trade, just as wrong dealing even with advertised goods will bring failure. When a store appeals to transients, however, and when it tries to attract new customers, advertised goods give it a decided advantage.
6. Value of the manufacturer's name.—The mer chant who handles advertised goods is apt to find that the prestige of the manufacturer helps him sell the goods. The trade paper, Melt's Wear, recently quoted the following statement of a store owner: Three years ago I sold $700,000 annually. Today I am selling $1,000,000. Part of this, not all of it, is due to the fact that I sell and advertise Blank's clothing. My name on my store in my town is worth a lot more than theirs ; I could sell it for $250,000. But their name on their clothes is worth a lot more than mine. My customers know that I do
not make clothes, and the name of Blank on the clothes an swers every question any man might be inclined to ask. The combination of my name on my store and their name on my clothes in my town cannot be beat.
Some store owners, on the contrary, maintain that their own names on the goods are worth much more to the public than the names of manufacturers. This belief is responsible for many of the private brands carried in retail stores. If a store operates strictly on a "satisfaction or money back" basis, and if the public has become familiar with this policy, that store's name without question is sufficient guarantee of quality to the old customer. To the new customer, however, it means little or nothing. In seeking new trade, the owner's name is less potent in establishing public confidence than the names of the manufactur ers of nationally advertised brands. In the past many of the largest stores have refused to push ad vertised goods, preferring to establish their own brand name. There now seems to be a movement away from this attitude.
7. Volume of sales.—More sales, it is claimed, can be made of advertised than of non-advertised goods. People are attracted to the store not only by the dealer's own advertising, but also by the manu facturers' advertising. Assume that there are two stores in a town in the same line of business, both of them operated with equal intelligence and ability, and both of them equally prominent and equally favored by the public. If one handles nationally advertised goods and the other does not, it is fair to assume that the former would do the larger business, simply be cause both the dealer's and the manufacturers' adver tising would be working for it ; while the latter would be aided only by its own publicity. Advocates of non-advertised goods contend, on the other hand, that the effectiveness of national advertising is over estimated ; that in some towns few people read the general magazines, and that the "demand thru national advertising" idea is largely a fiction. This is a question of fact. Poor, scattered, half-hearted advertising by a manufacturer of course does not cre ate much demand for his goods. But if goods are advertised effectively, persistently and widely in mediums circulating in the dealer's community, there is no denying that a tremendous demand can be cre ated.