Part 1
# Poster advertising : $b Being a talk on the subject of posting as an advertising medium, with helpful hints and sensible suggestions to poster advertisers, and with thirty-two pages of full color reproductions of posters used by national advertisers ### By Hawkins, George Henry Edward
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[Illustration: G. H. E. Hawkins]
POSTER ADVERTISING
BEING A TALK ON THE SUBJECT OF POSTING AS AN ADVERTISING MEDIUM, WITH HELPFUL HINTS AND SENSIBLE SUGGESTIONS TO POSTER ADVERTISERS, AND WITH THIRTY-TWO PAGES OF FULL COLOR REPRODUCTIONS OF POSTERS USED BY NATIONAL ADVERTISERS
BY G. H. E. HAWKINS ADVERTISING MANAGER OF THE N. K. FAIRBANK COMPANY (MAKERS OF GOLD DUST WASHING POWDER, FAIRY SOAP, SUNNY MONDAY SOAP, COTTOLENE, ETC.) CHICAGO, ILL.
1910
PRICE, $3.00
“_Speed booklet! Tell thy message. How the man_ _Who could not charm with colors, henceforth can._ _This portion of its vast and fruitful fields_ _Lithography to advertising yields._”—ADAPTED.
COPYRIGHT, 1910 BY G. H. E. HAWKINS
Introduction
The trend of everything in the business world to-day is specialization. To my knowledge, there has never been a book written on the subject of posting. I believed there was room for one—that such a book would be welcome to advertisers, and that such a popular form of publicity as posting should have representation in advertising libraries. That is the only possible excuse I have for offering this volume to the advertising world.
There are so many forms of advertising to-day that have proven successful that no one would have the temerity to stand forth and say that any one medium is absolutely away and above better than any other medium. The wise advertiser has found that no one medium is “sufficient unto itself,” and that only by dove-tailing different mediums can the maximum of results be secured.
The purpose of this book is not to decry any medium of advertising, or place posting above all other advertising mediums, but to tell the truth about posting, its advantages, why it has proved one of the best forms of local advertising, and to give such information and crumbs of guidance as have been gleaned from a ten-year practical experience with posting and the expenditure of over a million dollars in that medium.
I trust that in the following pages the story I have to tell may prove of profit to some and good, easy reading to all.
I wish to thank my many advertising friends who have given me help with this book and encouraged me to issue it. May they not be disappointed!
G. H. E. HAWKINS.
_You have got to believe in your goods before you can make the public accept your advertising talks at par value. There’s something about honesty and earnestness that is catching._
Table of Contents
PAGE
WHY BILL-POSTING IS A GOOD MEDIUM 7-8
SIZE OF POSTERS 9-11
COST OF POSTERS 12-13
COPY AND SKETCHES 14-15
COMMENTS ON POSTERS 16-17
COLOR REPRODUCTIONS OF ACTUAL POSTERS _1 to 16_
VALUE AND HARMONY OF COLORS 18-19
BILL-POSTING FOR THE LOCAL ADVERTISER 20-22
CHECKING THE SERVICE 23-25
CONNECTING POSTER ADVERTISING WITH SALES 26-27
GENERAL HINTS TO THE POSTER ADVERTISER 28
GENERAL HINTS TO THE BILL-POSTER 29
OFFICIAL SOLICITORS, ASSOCIATED BILL-POSTERS AND DISTRIBUTORS 30-31
COMMENTS ON POSTERS 32-33
COLOR REPRODUCTIONS OF ACTUAL POSTERS _A to P_
COST OF POSTING BY STATES 34
OFFICIAL LIST ASSOCIATED BILL-POSTERS 35-38
Why Bill-Posting Is a Good Medium
_Repetition means reputation._
Celebrities are often credited with having said things which they never thought of. There are a hundred and one stories told on Abraham Lincoln that poor Honest Abe never even heard.
Barnum is quoted as having said: “The American public like to be humbugged,” but it is a significant fact that whatever feature the wily P. T. brought out—whether it was Jenny Lind or Jumbo—he always gave the dear public a good run for their money.
And so it always will be—you must deliver the goods in order to make good. Bill-posting is an accredited medium of advertising simply because it deserves it—it has won its spurs.
Posting has many advantages over other methods of advertising. First may be mentioned the large display which it makes possible, and its consequent conspicuousness. You simply cannot get away from it, and, consciously or otherwise, it burns its way into the mind through an ever alert vision. It appeals to masses and classes—every one who passes. The size of an eight-sheet poster is 84 inches by 112 inches, and, outside of painted boards and electric signs, it is not possible to get such a display in any other medium of advertising. The possibility of reproducing a trade-mark, figure, or the article itself, in mammoth size tends to impress it upon the mind in an uncommon way and with great force.
Another distinct advantage which bill-posting has over most other advertising mediums is the opportunity it offers for the use of colors. Colors are agreeable to the eye, they command attention, and the advertiser who fails to utilize the full possibilities of color in getting out his posters is missing his opportunity. It costs just as much to post a poorly printed sheet or an ineffective one- or two-color poster as it does one printed in bright, clear-cut, attention-commanding colors which the eye cannot pass.
Without going into the respective results to be obtained, posting is the cheapest medium for local advertising. The cost per town is less than any respectable sort of a campaign could be conducted for in any other medium.
It has been contended that poster advertising is only good as publicity advertising for a well-known product needing mainly a constant reminder to keep it before the public. I believe, however, that posting is effective and can be made profitable for even a new product, for, while a detailed story cannot be told on a poster, one single argument can be brought out on each poster, and, in time, the complete argument given.
_Advertising has made more reputations than literature—Scott’s Emulsion is better known than Scott’s Marmion, the grim pill of Dr. Munyon takes the palm from the Pilgrim of John Bunyon, while Douglas, the $3 shoe man, won fame, fortune and a governorship, while Stephen A. Douglas, the little giant and foe of Abe Lincoln, is almost forgotten._
Size of Posters
_It takes a live advertiser to swim up stream; any dead one can float down._
Posters are measured by sheets, the standard size of a sheet being 28 × 42 inches, which includes the white margin.
An 8-sheet poster consists of eight 28 × 42 sheets. A 12-sheet poster of twelve 28 × 42 sheets. A 16-sheet poster of sixteen 28 × 42 sheets. A 24-sheet poster of twenty-four 28 × 42 sheets. A 32-sheet poster of thirty-two 28 × 42 sheets.
The following diagrams will show the sizes of posters of most common usage:
[Illustration: 1-Sheet 28 × 42
2-Sheet 56 × 42
4-Sheet 8 ft. 10 in. × 3 ft. 6 in.
8-Sheet 8 ft. 10 in. × 6 ft. 9 in.
12-Sheet 8 ft. 10 in. × 10 ft.
16-Sheet 8 ft. 10 in. × 13 ft. 3 in.
24-Sheet 8 ft. 10 in. × 20 ft.
32-Sheet 8 ft. 10 in. × 26 ft. 3 in.]
The writer several years ago discovered that there was no standard size among lithographers for posters; that is, while they were made on the 28 by 42 basis per sheet, posters are pasted up in such a varied combination of sections that the lapping precludes the possibility of having a standard size. This is largely accounted for by the tendency of lithographers to save on printing. For instance, a certain sheet in an 8-sheet poster may carry four colors; another sheet may carry but two, and they will so arrange their posters as to make the printing of the largest number of colors come on as few sheets as possible. I recently took thirty 8-sheet posters, which had been used by national advertisers and measured them. Hardly any two of them were the same size; they ran from the largest—114 inches in length by 76 inches in width—to the smallest—109 inches in length by 75 inches in width. The average length of the thirty posters was 111.3 inches, and the average width 75.7 inches, while the largest one contained 8,664 square inches and the smallest 8,175 inches. This brings up a question which has apparently heretofore been overlooked by advertisers; that is, the actual amount of space to which an advertiser is entitled on the bill-boards. The space allotted by the bill-poster for an 8-sheet poster is 112 inches high by 84 inches, and the advertiser who is only getting 109 or 110 inches in length by 75 or 76 inches in width is apparently not getting the best run for his money. It would, therefore, seem that all posters should be made so that they will occupy the full quota of the allotted space when pasted up. This may add slightly to the cost of paper but it will mean an added prominence for your posters.
The following will show just the amount of space an advertiser is entitled to on the boards:
4 sheets 42 × 112 inches. 8 sheets 84 × 112 inches. 12 sheets 126 × 112 inches. 16 sheets 168 × 112 inches. 20 sheets 210 × 112 inches. 24 sheets 252 × 112 inches. 32 sheets 336 × 112 inches.
The most popular poster in vogue is the 8-sheet; the next popular sizes are the 16-sheet and the 24-sheet. These larger stands are always four sheets high, the only difference being in the width. While most campaigns are made up on the 8-sheet basis, large advertisers who believe in securing extra prominence run almost exclusively to the 16, 24 and even 32-sheet sizes. The only objection to these larger posters is that outside of the largest cities there are very few boards which will accommodate them, and the better plan to pursue is to use a combination of an 8-sheet poster and a larger size, say a 24-sheet, using the 8-sheets exclusively in the small towns, a combination of the 8’s and 24’s in the medium size towns, and an exclusive showing of the 24-sheets in the larger cities; although some advertisers even prefer to sprinkle in a number of 8-sheets with their 24’s in the largest cities, in order to secure a greater number of individual locations at a lower cost.
Smaller posters, such as half-sheets, one-sheets and two-sheets are printed all in one piece, and are used largely for indoor store display, sniping (that is, on ash-barrels, fences, barns and non-listed locations), although in many cases whole stands are made up by a repetition of one- and two-sheets. Usually, however, this is not advisable as the sheets are too small for the reading matter to carry for any great distance.
_The hare could run rings around the tortoise, but the tortoise beat him out because he kept pegging along without a halt. Be persistent!_
Cost of Posters
_The cheap sketch is the most expensive in the end._
There are all kinds of posters, just as there are all grades of printing and paper, and therefore there is a great variance in costs.
Shun the cheap poster and buy the best the lithographer can turn out. The posting costs nearly ten times the cost of the poster—and the expense of posting is just the same for a bad poster as a good one.
For the reason that one often wishes to know “about” what a certain quantity of posters of a certain size would cost, the following table of approximate costs is given. Everything depends upon the make-up of your sketch and the manner in which it can be handled. An eight-sheet poster with five colors on every sheet will cost much more than the same size poster with five colors on some sheets and two on others. These prices are based, therefore, on the average run of pictorial posters:
APPROXIMATE COST OF AN ORDINARY PICTORIAL POSTER.
First M Additional Thousands Run at the Same Time =8-Sheet=
2 colors $250.00 $125.00 3 colors 300.00 150.00 4 colors 350.00 200.00 5 colors 400.00 250.00
=16-Sheet=
2 colors 525.00 325.00 3 colors 575.00 375.00 4 colors 650.00 450.00 5 colors 725.00 500.00
=24-Sheet=
2 colors 850.00 500.00 3 colors 1000.00 600.00 4 colors 1100.00 675.00 5 colors 1250.00 750.00
Above estimates are based on paper weighing 140 lbs. to the ream—size 42″ x 56″. Stone-drawing included, but not cost of original sketch.
_Helpful Hints_
Use good paper and non-fading inks.
Better prices can always be secured by furnishing your own sketches and then getting competitive prices. Where the lithographer originates the idea and furnishes the sketch he naturally and rightly charges liberally for it.
Rain-lapped posters can be had at a slight additional expense. To “rain-lapp” a poster means to paste the upper sheet over the margin of the next lower sheet just as shingles are placed on a house. The posters are usually pasted in sections four sheets high. Where posters are unpasted, the bill-poster starts at the upper edge of the board in placing the poster and pastes the lower sheet over the margin of the next top sheet. In consequence, the board does not drain the rain as it should, and the sheets tear off much more readily than with rain-lapped paper.
It is a custom with lithographers that posters should be paid for when the edition is completed, at a specified time, but they will store and ship posters as needed for any reasonable length of time. Such storage paper is usually protected by insurance for the customer’s benefit.
It is the habit of large poster advertisers to have the lithographer make all separate shipments, a list, with quantity designated for each town, being furnished by the advertiser for that purpose. The advertiser, in such cases, pays actual cost of labor and materials for wrapping and shipment, where the size of order is large enough to warrant.
You can save money on cost of paper by ordering a number, or a season’s supply, of posters at one time, especially if the designs are similar in color treatment. At any rate, the larger quantity insures a saving in paper and press-work. The lithographer is thus saved the extra expense of rush work, for which the advertiser always pays the penalty.
The cost of shipping for entire country is about four cents per eight-sheet poster.
Make freight shipments of over forty pounds. Express shipments under forty pounds.
_A pretty poster without selling argument is like a pretty woman without brains. She compels your admiration for a time, but loses out in the end._
Copy and Sketches
_An advertising trade-mark is a great barrier to imitation and substitution._
The first essential of a successful posting campaign is to have a good poster. A bad design will spoil the most alluring campaign ever outlined.
A figure is always attractive in a poster, because it carries with it a more-than-ordinary element of human interest. As an example of the comparative pulling powers of illustrations I have understood that the news-stand sales of the Saturday Evening Post are appreciably larger when they have on their front cover the picture of an attractive woman than when the design is more general and of less heart interest. If you have a trade-mark for your product that trade-mark should _always_ appear in your poster. It may be the central figure of the poster or it may be introduced incidentally, but it should be there in sufficiently prominent form to be noticed, for it is the constant repetition of a trade-mark that makes it valuable. Such world-wide characters as The Gold Dust Twins, The old Quaker of Quaker Oats, the little Uneeda Biscuit boy, the old darkey of Cream of Wheat and the Victor Talking Machine Dog would never have been worth the millions of dollars at which their owners prize them but for the fact that they have been ding-donged into the public day after day and month after month and year after year in the magazines, in the street cars, in the newspapers and on the bill-boards. I have heard well-known advertisers remark that they did not believe in reproducing one figure constantly in an advertisement, because the public would come to recognize it, say “Oh, that is so-and-so’s advertisement” and pay no attention to the story told in the wording. I believe this to be the greatest fallacy ever advanced, and to my way of thinking, an advertiser could have no better advertisement than one in which appears a trade-mark which the public instantly recognizes and comments upon. You can ring the changes on the design, the color of the background or the arrangement, even if your trade-mark is a set one not susceptible of changes in itself.
Where you have no trade-mark, my advice would be to get one.
It is also a pretty safe rule to introduce the package itself in each poster, where the latter is not closely identified with the trade-mark. To familiarize the public with your package means instant recognition when they see it on the dealer’s shelf, counter or floor space.
If possible, have your poster made by a poster artist, and not by a designer of newspaper or magazine advertisements. The proper handling and harmony of colors, as well as that broad poster-carrying effect can only be fully realized by the artist who has specialized in that field.
The poster should be judged from a distance, and should be made for carrying effect rather than close view. People do not stand close to a poster; it is read from a distance and should be made to be perfectly clear and readable thirty to forty feet away.
The poster will not carry a detailed story. An illustration of a figure, a picture of the product itself, the name of the product, a catch phrase or a single line of argument is about all the ordinary poster will stand. I do not agree, however, with the contention that argument cannot be given on a poster. On a series of posters a whole story can be told, because one argument can be driven home on each poster. The “reason why” feature of advertising can be applied to posting by the use of this method, and in the development of posting in the coming years the tendency to limit the copy for a poster to merely the name and trade-mark will be over-ruled.
Break up your type matter, having a portion appear above the design, another portion below or at the sides. This will relieve monotony, and make it easier for the eye to read what you have to say.
Avoid defacing the design of your poster by carrying lettering across any portion of it.
A poor poster is an abomination. Get the best that money will buy. The cost of posting is in the neighborhood of ten times the cost of the paper; hence a few cents more in the cost per poster is insignificant if it represents the difference between first-class and mediocre.
Have your poster attractive—in order to catch the eye and rivet the attention.
Have some element of reason and argument in your poster—in order to create the desire to buy.
_Tell the truth in your advertising—not because honesty is the best policy, but because it is the only policy in successful business._
Comments on Posters Reproduced
(Form lithographed by The American Lithographic Co., New York.)
ARROW COLLARS (Color Page 1)—Attractive and “sketchy.” Quiet in tone and dignified in appearance.
TURKISH TROPHIES (Color Page 1)—Strong featuring of a well advertised trade-mark. Reproduction does not do justice to the original which was in more colors.
MILITARY TOURNAMENT (Color Page 1)—Simple and ordinary enough in color scheme, but strong in action. Lettering well arranged.
LOWNEY’S (Color Page 1)—Neat and pleasing, but, to my way of thinking, the subject could be treated much more attractively. A pretty girl with a box of Lowney’s and a “yum yum” expression on her face would give it cards and spades. Note reminder of Lowney’s Cocoa on same poster.
UNEEDA BISCUIT (Color Page 2)—Good strong reproduction of one of the best known national trade-marks. Poster shows name, package, trade-mark and price. The only thing lacking is argument, and I believe this poster is used in connection with other designs in which argument appears.
GOLD DUST (Color Page 3)—A “topical” poster which created a sensation, and drew a request for a sample poster from Charles R. Flint, the financial backer of The Wright Brothers. One of those ten-strikes which happen to an advertiser very seldom.
U. S. ARMY (Color Page 4)—Simplicity, strength and beauty combined. There’s something about a uniform that attracts attention and commands respect, and this poster takes advantage of that fact to the fullest extent.
COTTOLENE (Color Page 5)—A pretty poster which endeavors to pleasantly suggest to the housewife the wholesome, cleanly source of a food product. Used in connection with other posters giving more argument.
CHICLETS (Color Page 6)—One of the daintiest posters appearing on the bill-boards. Rich in coloring and truly suggestive of a high-class product.
JAP-A-LAC (Color Page 7)—A good example of the “mostly argument” poster. Rather old-fashioned and a little too much lettering. The crowded appearance of the lettering would make this poster hard to read at a distance.
U. S. ARMY (Color Page 8)—A high-grade pictorial poster that would make almost anyone wish to join the army.
GOLD DUST (Color Page 9)—_Multum in parvo._ Gives the effect of four separate eight-sheets although the poster is only a twenty-four. Showing four principal uses of the product, and argument for each.
GOLD DUST (Color Page 10)—Good example of an effective poster in three printings only.
COTTOLENE (Color Page 11)—Featuring the package and catch phrases. Another good three-color scheme.
QUAKER OATS (Color Page 12)—Strong presentation of a great trade-mark. Some Doubting Thomas of a muck-raker might say that although the Quaker denotes “Purity,” politics at Washington are not so darn pure as to warrant the association.
ARMOUR’S EXTRACT OF BEEF (Color Page 13)—Good live color scheme with strong contrasting effects, but I never did like the idea of Willie dipping his finger into the can and licking it off. That’s purely a matter of taste, however.
PABST BLUE RIBBON (Color Page 14)—A perfect poster, treating a product whose use is questioned by some, in a dainty way that will appeal to all. Beautiful blending of colors and splendid arrangement of lettering.
BULL DURHAM (Color Page 15)—A good, strong, commonplace poster. By “good” I mean in color scheme and arrangement of trade-mark and package; by “commonplace,” I refer to the artistic or pictorial effect. This trade-mark is a nightmare, even if it is successful and well advertised.
FAIRY SOAP (Color Page 16)—A prettily effective poster, with a pleasing harmony of colors, featuring one of the daintiest of trade-marks.
_You must tell why in order to make folks buy._
[Illustration: ARROW COLLARS
Reduction of 2 Sheet Poster
TURKISH TROPHIES
Reduction of 2 Sheet Poster
MILITARY TOURNAMENT
Reduction of 2 Sheet Poster
LOWNEY’S
Reduction of 2 Sheet Poster]
[Illustration: UNEEDA BISCUIT
Reduction of 8 Sheet Poster]
[Illustration: GOLD DUST
Reduction of 8 Sheet Poster]
[Illustration: U. S. ARMY
Reduction of 8 Sheet Poster]
[Illustration: COTTOLENE
Reduction of 8 Sheet Poster]
[Illustration: CHICLETS
Reduction of 8 Sheet Poster]
[Illustration: JAP-A-LAC
Reduction of 16 Sheet Poster]
[Illustration: U. S. ARMY
Reduction of 24 Sheet Poster]
[Illustration: GOLD DUST
Reduction of 24 Sheet Poster]
[Illustration: GOLD DUST
Reduction of 8 Sheet Poster]
[Illustration: COTTOLENE
Reduction of 8 Sheet Poster]
[Illustration: QUAKER OATS
Reduction of 12 Sheet Poster]
[Illustration: ARMOUR’S EXTRACT OF BEEF
Reduction of 12 Sheet Poster]
[Illustration: PABST BLUE RIBBON
Reduction of 16 Sheet Poster]
[Illustration: BULL DURHAM
Reduction of 16 Sheet Poster]
[Illustration: FAIRY SOAP
Reduction of 8 Sheet Poster]
Value and Harmony of Colors