Exhibit in the column

The pattern

This still is filed under Exhibit in the column.

Define

An image is dropped into the column of type so the reader meets picture and argument in one scan.

Mechanism

In-flow exhibit. The figure is not a separate see fig. 2. It starts the paragraph. Eye and mind start together.

Verdict

Long copy must show as well as tell: a product cutaway, a before/after, a map in the story.

Why it works

The sheet is its own sample: printed in one blue ink, it carries a fine white-line leaf border, a dense chrysanthemum column, heavy blackletter and small body type in the same impression, which is the evidence a printer actually judges. The copy removes the buyer's worry before it praises the product: beautiful presswork is "not a matter of such great difficulty" if you use "the right sort of Ink". The line outside the border, "Printed With Half-Tone Bronze No. 81", names the exact ink, so admiring the sheet leads straight to an order.

The big idea

Beautiful presswork is easy with the right ink, and the sheet proves it by being printed in the very ink it sells, named by number at the foot.

The offer

Lithographic and letter press printing inks from Ault & Wiborg, Cincinnati, New York and Chicago, with the sample ink named for ordering: Half-Tone Bronze No. 81. No prices.

The proof

Demonstration: the whole sheet, fine white-line border, dense flower column, heavy lettering and small text, is printed in the ink being sold, Half-Tone Bronze No. 81.

Lines from the ad

Simplicity Itself.

It is not a matter of such great difficulty to do beautiful presswork provided you use the right sort of Ink.

Printed With Half-Tone Bronze No. 81

Steal this when

When your product is an invisible input in someone else's work, such as ink, paper, thread or film, and the ad itself can be made with it as the sample.

The emotion

Written to Frustration. It makes the Say move.

It says beautiful presswork is not so difficult 'provided you use the right sort of Ink', naming the part of the wall that moves, and the sheet itself is printed in Half-Tone Bronze No. 81.