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EVENING LEDGEB-PHILADELPniA, THURSDAY, MAY 27, 1915:
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WORKING WITH THE
iER
One of the most common fallacies is the belief
among manufacturers that if they establish their
own brands they will lose the support of the jobber.
This is the story of the way in which one manu
facturer established his own advertised brand and
still kept the private brands and the good will of big
jobbers.
The General Roofing Manufacturing Company
of St." Louis, established eleven years ago, up to 1911
sold its goods to jobbers under private brands.
There was a brand of "General" roofing for every
jobber that bought.
But the heads of the company saw that a
change was inevitable. Originally there were large
profits in the roofing business. But as the industry
developed, price competition became keener. The
jobber was compelled to buy as cheaply as he could,
and manufacturers were tempted to cut the quality
in order to obtain the large orders.
The General Roofing Manufacturing Company
concluded that it would be possible to get the
business of the large jobbers and at the same time
to maintain the quality, if there was something
distinctive about the product something to make
the consumer and retailer call for it by name.
A plan was therefore adopted of putting two
marks on the product one, the jobber's private
brand, as before; the other, the trademark of the
manufacturer.
The word "Certain-teed "was coined and adopted
as a trade mark. The company continued to put
out its second and third grade products under private
brands. But the Certain-teed label was put only on
the highest quality, and with it the private brand
of the jobber, so that there were many brands of
Certain-teed roofing, but all of the same high
quality.
Since 1911 the General Roofing Manufacturing
Company has spent approximately $750,000 in
promoting and advertising the Certain-teed label.
The company states that it would not sell the
label for far more than it has cost.
Today, large jobbers have been known to refuse
carload shipments of the first quality goods labeled
with the jobber's own brand, because, through some
oversight, the "Certain-teed" label was not put on
each roll. The labels have had to be sent by
messenger and pasted on before the jobber would
accept the goods.
The growth of the General Roofing Manu
facturing Company has been remarkable.
While the roofing industry as a whole fell off in
1914, the General Roofing business showed a very
substantial increase. Just after the outbreak of the
European war, this company put $150,000 into a
remarkable campaign of advertising. The result
was that while non-advertising manufacturers were
feeling depression, the "General" opened up 1915
with an increase of 19 per cent, for the first two
months. Not one of 1600 employees has been laid
off since that campaign started.
The consumer is today paying 60 cents per
square less for Certain-teed roofing than he paid for
the same quality when the company first started in
a small way and before the brand was advertised.
Mr. George M. Brown, president, is a firm advo
cate of the economy of advertising. He says :
"The manufacturer the General, for instance says to him
self, 'I can reduce my manufacturing cost greatly by producing
in larger quantities but how do I dare produce in larger quantities
when there is no market ready to take this larger volume of pro
duction off my hands? I must find or make a broader market
to take this increased production. How? By advertising.'
"So he puts out a strong advertising campaign widening his
selling radius, finding a broader market already waiting for his
goods and creating demand among consumers not yet ready. This
increased market not only greatly reduces his cost of selling
his goods, but enables him to operate his mills to full capacity,
greatly reducing his manufacturing cost. Thus he is able to put
a lower selling price to the consumer on his goods, giving himself
and his jobbers and his dealers the same percentage of profit per
unit sold as formerly and a much greater volume of profit (manu
facturer, jobber and dealer) on account of the greatly increased
business done.
"And the consumer gets more for his money than he has ever
been able to get before."
The result of the advertising of the General
Roofing Company, therefore, has been
(1) To build up a trademark and good will
worth far more than its cost.
(2) To bring about a notable increase in sales.
(3) To reduce the cost to the consumer.
(4) To retain and increase the support of the
jobber.
On this point a quotation from the General
jxoonng company risen :
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"The jobber is a necessary part of modern, up-to-date, econo
mical business, and the only requirement is that he follow the lines
of up-to-date business himself in giving service, distribution and
credits, backed by a clean-cut business policy of truthful repre
sentation of goods."
Determination and ingenuity will solve the
private brand problem of the Philadelphia manu
facturer who wants to control his own market but
is afraid to try.
THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, INDEPENDENCE SQUARE, PHILADELPHIA
s The Ladies' Home Journal The Saturday Evening Post The Country Gentleman
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