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ADVERTISING WITH NOTHING TO SELL
One of the recent remarkable developments of advertising is its
use to tell the consumer about products which he never buys directly.
Raw products that have to be remanufactured, like iron for
roofs, stoves, etc.
Materials that disappear as ingredients in other products, like
zinc in paint
And particularly parts that enter into the interior mechanism
of an automobile
All of these have been advertised with marked success.
There are not more than 150 automobile manufacturers. The
market for automobile axles and bearings is confined entirely to
these 150 customers.
Why, then, should makers of axles and bearings spend hun
dreds of thousands of dollars in a national periodical, with a
circulation of 2,000,000, to sell their goods?
Obviously, a few salesmen, or direct mail matter, or publicity
in trade papers would call for far less money and would reach
most if not all of the 150 customers.
And beyond that.
Inevitable economic laws are operating in the automobile
industry, as in other industries, to reduce the number of manufac
turers. Instead of 150 car makers, there will ultimately, in all
probability, be 40 or less.
As a matter of fact, it is this small and decreasing number of
customers that makes widespread advertising necessary.
The fewer automobile manufacturers there are, the larger the
volume of each one that remains.
The larger the volume, the greater the aggregate sum of money
represented by each separate part of the car and the greater the
saving possible by close buying. Automobile manufacturers are
becoming closer buyers every day.
Furthermore, as the number of customers decreases each one
becomes more and more important to the parts maker and compe
tition for the large orders becomes keener.
A few years ago it became evident that as a result of these
conditions the prices of parts were being hammered down to a point
which created a condition that was far from healthy.
For the car buyer it meant a lessening of quality, perhaps weak
ening the car. For the car manufacturer it meant the danger
which always comes from lessened quality. And for the parts
maker, it meant turning out a poorer product that would not give
satisfaction, or else losing money.
One of the leading makers of axles and bearings then and there
decided that he was going to continue to put into his product the
quality that he believed was right, in spite of price competition.
The way to do this was to teach the consumer to appreciate
and expect good axles and good bearings on his car.
This meant national advertising the same method which was
being used to sell the cars themselves.
In 1912, therefore, a strong campaign was begun in The
Saturday Evening Post and other periodicals of wide range.
This advertising had not been long in progress before the auto
mobile manufacturer and his salesmen found that the presence of
these advertised parts had become an additional talking point, and
their absence a handicap.
If there, they suggested quality throughout the whole car.
If not there, the salesman had to explain why not.
Other manufacturers of good quality parts saw the logic and the
advantage of this advertising, and adopted the same method. Today
we see national advertising for many products which the consumer
does not buy directly, but which are essential parts of a car such as
springs, brake linings, etc.
The best proof of the success of such advertising is the fact that
most well-known cars today use the well-advertised parts and
that there are constantly more parts makers beginning to employ
advertising to the consumer.
Recently one of the parts manufacturers wrote to all his
customers, saying: "We spend in advertising lVfe per cent, of our
gross volume. Would you as a customer prefer that we continue
this advertising or that we reduce the price that much ?"
And practically unanimously the car manufacturers said, in
effect: "Keep up the advertising. It helps us sell our cars."
Incidentally, from 55 to 60 per cent, of this advertising has
been in The Saturday Evening Post.
The chief significance of this story is for manufacturers in
other lines than automobiles.
There is an economic law, as sure as the law of gravity itself,
which is bringing about in every industry the same change that
has marked the automobile industry.
The consumer is king.
No matter to whom you bill your goods, the person who buys
them is the ultimate consumer and that person must be sold.
The manufacturer who has the alternative of losing his hold
or meeting cheap, shoddy competition by making poorer goods
the manufacturer who has each year fewer and bigger customers
who is becoming more and more dependent upon large orders
that man is already under the pressure of this economic law.
And in dozens of industries during the next decade there will be
leaders who will do as automobile parts makers have done stepout
of the ruck into the clear road of demand from the ultimate
consumer. ...
(
- r ,'i ., "5
, THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
INDEPENDENCE SQUARE, PHILADELPHIA . . ,
Ihe Ladies' Home Journal The Saturday Evening Post The Counirri Gentleman1'
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