Printers' Ink, January 6, 1909 (Vol. 66, No. 1)
A 68-page weekly issue of Printers' Ink from the first week of 1909.
What it is
A 68-page weekly issue of Printers' Ink from the first week of 1909. The cover is Arthur Capper's ad for the Topeka Daily Capital, "Go Where the Money Is," built on Kansas's $475 million farm output. The lead article, J. George Frederick's "The Bonanza Story of the Automobile," counts 525 makers and 55,000 cars a year, notes that pictures alone stopped selling cars, quotes Winton's Charles W. Mears on long factual copy with a booklet offer, and attacks press agents whose free notices cut one maker's budget from $125,000 to $35,000. Other pieces: Leroy Fairman's "Griddle" column on weak Corn Flakes, Dubonnet and Hamilton, Brown shoe ads; Edison Portland cement selling on a sieve test; H. A. Rowley on managers buried in solicitors; George F. Wilson's "Autobiography of an Undesirable Circular"; H. M. Davis on planned appropriations; and an editorial urging publishers to state circulation.
Why read it now
This issue catches advertising at the point where copy was beating pictures and puffery. Mears's finding that a $3,000 buyer craves detail, and that his text-heavy double page in the Saturday Evening Post pulled better than any earlier spend of its size, fits later research on high-involvement purchases: people weighing an expensive item read long, specific copy. Fairman's critique still works as a checklist; an ad that gives no benefit, price or reason leaves the reader nothing to act on, however known the brand. Edison cement's sieve test is a clean case of one measurable proof point, the kind that still persuades B2B buyers. The attack on press agents is half dated, since earned media is now a planned channel, but cutting paid support after one burst of free coverage is still a common error. The editorial call for signed circulation statements led, in 1914, to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. To use it, take your most expensive offer and write the ad a serious buyer wants: specific facts, one hard proof, and a guide to request.
Passages worth keeping
the man who is thinking of spending $3,000 will not only gladly read any information you may give him on the subject of his purchase, but that he actually craves that information.
المشتري الذي يفكر في إنفاق مبلغ كبير لا يمل من المعلومات بل يبحث عنها، فأعطه التفاصيل التي يحتاجها ليقرر.
But after awhile it was discovered that mere pictures didn't sell cars.
الصور الجميلة وحدها لا تبيع منتجًا غاليًا، فالبيع احتاج إلى نص قوي يقنع المشتري.
But this advertiser is so busy claiming the universe that he hasn't time to give us any facts of value or interest.
الإعلان الذي يدّعي أن منتجه يناسب الجميع ينسى أن يقول ما هو وما طعمه وما فائدته، فلا يقنع أحدًا.
In our trade paper advertisements we never use the same piece of copy twice.
قارئ المجلة المهنية يعود كل أسبوع، لذلك تغير الشركة نصها في كل مرة وتكيف حجتها لكل فئة من المشترين.
My idea of an advertising manager is a man who is nine-tenths salesman and one-tenth buyer.
عمل مدير الإعلان الأساسي هو البيع وتخطيط الحملات، لا قضاء يومه في استقبال من يبيعون له المساحات.
What it teaches best
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