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EVENING LtiD&EE-PHIKAPEKPHIA, MONDAY, MABCJH 22, TDTS:
Educating a New Market Through
Advertising
During 1914 railroad construction, cement man
ufacturing, mining and quarry work, upon which a
large part of the sales of powder depends, were
much curtailed.
The Atlas Powder Company, of Wilmington,
however, showed an increase in gross sales of nearly
$100,000 during the year.
A considerable part of the credit for this show
ing is ascribed in the annual report of the stock
holders by W. J. Webster, as president, to- "an in
creased demand for Atlas farm powder, which is
being extensively advertised for agricultural pur
poses." The advertising materially made up for
losses in other departments.
This is a notable showing for a company which
has been in existence only a little over two years.
Its advertising has been necessarily very largely of
an educational nature teaching the farmers to use
powder for such peaceful purposes as making ditches,
post holes, foundations, roads blowing up stumps,
ice jams, boulders subsoiling and preparing ground
for crops and tree planting, killing ground hogs,
loosening logs, etc. It is said that in two years
more than one million fruit trees have been planted
in holes blasted by explosives.
Education of the consumer to new uses through
advertising is usually thought of as a long process,
requiring several years. The swift success of adver
tising in this case is therefore all the more notable.
The Atlas Powder Company entered upon ad
vertising with its eyes wide open. It began by
making a study of the subject and conducting ex
periments, through which it collected sufficient
data to justify a wide, strong campaign. In 1914
the company carried in The Country Gentleman a
quarter-page advertisement in every issue in Feb
ruary, March, April and May, and also additional
advertisements through" the summer and fall. Other
farm papers and The Saturday Evening Post were
also used extensively.
The success of the advertising last year is re
flected not only in the gross business of the com
pany, but also in its even greater campaign planned
for 1915. This company began its second season in
The Country Gentleman last month with a full
page, and is continuing with much more space than
last year. Its 1915 campaign will appear in farm
papers with a total circulation of 3,000,000, in The
Saturday Evening Post reaching 2,000,000 and in
newspapers reaching 750,000. When an advertiser
increases his investment like this, it must mean
thorough conviction that advertising is profitable
a conviction based on experience.
The Atlas campaign has depended not merely
on the advertisements in the papers, but also on close
"follow-up" to farmers and country stores. folder
was issued and sent to the stores showing in advance
all the advertisements of the year. Another folder
was issued designed to whet the interest of the
farmer. Quantities of this latter folder were supplied
to the merchants. They mailed these out, inclos
ing a postcard (also supplied), on which the farmer
could indicate his interest and name a date on which
he would call at the store to receive an elaborate
64-page booklet, entitled "Better Farming With
Atlas Farm Powder." This book was well worth
while for the farmer, as it contained complete expla
nation of the uses of powder for many farm pur
poses, with plentiful illustrations. The whole plan
resulted in bringing farmers to the dealer's store in
person, thus making it possible for the dealer to cash
in promptly on the advertising by making direct sales.
9JC l(S )fC lp (
Philadelphia is making products for sale which
are no more difficult to advertise and. which would
require even less educational work on the con
sumer than powder.
These products can be successfully sold even in
the face of adverse conditions if the manufacturers
will do as the Atlas Company did investigate care
fully, plan the campaign scientifically and then ad
vertise systematically, courageously and persistently
The Ladies Home Journal
The Saturday Evening Post w The Country Gentleman
THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, INDEPENDENCE SQUARE PHILADELPHIA
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