Printers' Ink, September 16, 1926 (Vol. 136, No. 12)
A New York advertising weekly, filed for "The Agent and the Advertiser" by Albert D. Lasker, chairman of Lord & Thomas and Logan.
What it is
A New York advertising weekly, filed for "The Agent and the Advertiser" by Albert D. Lasker, chairman of Lord & Thomas and Logan. Lasker says agents must state what advertising cannot do, that their value is the consumer's outside point of view, and that agencies weaken clients when they win accounts by offering surveys, sales-force advice and other extras. His cases: talking a client out of a large budget increase, moving Palmolive shampoo money out of publications, and Kotex sales rising once wrapped packs sat on the counter so women need not ask the druggist. Other pieces: banker John Poole on why lenders favour advertised brands, "Formletteritis" on a bank's careless letters, recipe booklets selling American food abroad, selling display pieces to dealers instead of bribing them with overstock, and Blue Goose fruit. The cover is an N. W. Ayer ad for Eveready batteries.
Why read it now
Lasker's main warning holds: a budget raised faster than the business can use it brings a normal result that feels like failure, and the blame lands on advertising. His rule that ads cannot rescue a business that would fail without them fits modern evidence that advertising amplifies product and distribution rather than replacing them. The Kotex case is the most useful page. A few questions found the barrier, embarrassment at the counter, and the fix was a change at the point of sale, not new copy. Removing that kind of friction often beats a creative change. The Palmolive story has no numbers. What has dated: his claim that 80 per cent of advertising is now good, his impatience with research, which he calls propaganda when pushed in every case, and the commission model behind the whole piece. He also has an agency to sell. The recipe-book article carries a direct lesson for the Gulf: translate with native speakers who know the subject. Use: before raising a budget, list what the ads cannot fix and find the one barrier at the point of sale.
Passages worth keeping
The thing that interests the advertiser the most interests the consumer the least, and the thing that interests the consumer the most often interests the advertiser the least
ما يهم صاحب المنتج نادرًا ما يهم المشتري، ولهذا يحتاج المعلن إلى من ينظر إلى منتجه بعين المستهلك.
When a man expects too much of advertising he is disappointed when he gets a normal result.
التوقعات المبالغ فيها تجعل النتيجة العادية تبدو خيبة، فيلوم المعلن الوسيلة والوكالة والإعلان كله.
most women did not buy the product because they did not like to ask the druggist for it.
لم يكن العائق في المنتج ولا في الإعلان، بل في الحرج من طلبه بصوت عالٍ، فكان الحل أن يُعرض على الطاولة مغلفًا.
No business which could not succeed without him can succeed because of him.
الوكالة تعين الشركة الناجحة، لكنها لا تصنع نجاح شركة كانت ستفشل بدونها.
The recipe book should be translated by a person who is not only very familiar with the cooking art but who speaks the language into which the translations are to be made as a mother tongue.
الترجمة التسويقية يتولاها متحدث أصلي باللغة يعرف مجال المنتج، وإلا خرجت النتيجة مضحكة وضاعت الرسالة.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
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