Printers' Ink, May 3, 1905 (Vol. 51, No. 5)
A 64-page weekly issue of the New York advertising trade journal.
What it is
A 64-page weekly issue of the New York advertising trade journal. Its centrepiece, "More Telephone Advertising," reproduces small newspaper ads John E. Powers wrote for the Cuyahoga Telephone Company, an independent Cleveland exchange fighting Bell. Each ad makes one blunt point: Bell says competition raised rates, but its old $120 reached 3,000 or 4,000 phones and the $156 for both reaches 30,000; Cincinnati, with no competition, still pays $120; is there a doctor without a telephone? Every ad ends "Are you in the Book? have you wires enough?" Assistant manager W. B. Woodbury reports over 5,700 phones added in a year, credits the campaign in large part, and notes Bell began copying the style. Around it: George P. Rowell's memoir, a Nebraska bank writing its own ads, a Brooklyn restaurant selling through recipes, a critique of resort advertising, and R. W. Snowdon on following up catalogue inquirers.
Why read it now
Read it for the Powers ads, a compact lesson in challenger copy. Each ad carries one checkable fact, answers the market leader by name, admits the awkward part ("We are sorry to advertise Bell; can't help it."), and closes on an unchanging question that doubles as the call to action. Modern work on distinctive assets and on one idea repeated in varied executions supports the fixed tag, and research on comparative advertising supports naming a rival when the claim is specific and verifiable. The results claim is weaker than it looks: Woodbury also credits the solicitors, the service and the published earnings, and there is no control, so the 5,700 phones show a correlation, not proof. The two-network telephone argument has dated. Snowdon's case for following up catalogue inquirers is still sound lead nurturing, and the resort critique (sell the tired buyer, not the view) still applies. Use: write ten single-fact ads against your main competitor and end every one with the same short question.
Passages worth keeping
Bell had the cream of the business before we began. Bell and Boston enjoyed it. Cleveland didn’t. That’s why we began.
الشركة الجديدة تشرح سبب وجودها بجملة واحدة: الأرباح كانت تذهب إلى بل ومساهميها في بوسطن، ولم تستفد منها كليفلاند.
Are you in the Book? have you wires enough?
سؤال ثابت في آخر كل إعلان يذكّر القارئ بأن غيابه عن دليل الهاتف خسارة له، ويدعوه إلى الاشتراك أو إضافة خطوط.
The manufacturer who advertises on a large scale is apt to regard the individual consumer as too small for attention, overlooking the fact that his business is based upon individual purchases
المعلن الكبير ينسى أن مبيعاته كلها تتكون من مشتريات أفراد، فيهمل من يسأله عن منتجه بدل أن يتابعه حتى يشتري.
The human nature side of the summer resort doesn’t get into print at all, as a rule.
إعلانات المصايف تصف الهواء والمناظر وتنسى الإنسان المتعب الذي يحتاج إلى الراحة، وهو ما يبيع فعلًا.
isn’t a house more correctly sized up by its correspondence, which is its own product than by the printed matter which is the product of another shop?
الناس يحكمون على الشركة من رسائلها اليومية التي تكتبها بنفسها أكثر مما يحكمون عليها من كتيباتها التي تصنعها المطابع.
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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