THE BEE: O'NIAin, FIUDAV. JAXt UiY .11. 101.1.
a j
ftaverias
ig That'
thout Effort-
Is Advertising That's Read Without a Doubt!
IT seems almost incongruous to speak of advertising that requires an effort to avoid reading. But
such is the status of that one, all-powerful medium-the STREET CARS.
DO YOU RIDE?
Then just try to escape the magnetic influence of the en
ticing stories which meet you? gaze, on all sides, in irresistible,
uniform display.
You don't have to look for these advertisements, nor turn
over pages of fiction or news to seek them out,
With the absence of distraction comes a natural ease of
concentration, and you cannot fail to absorb the message of the
car cards.
The strings pull only one way tor the "ads" are not con
tinual I v fencing with other reading matter.
They stand pre-eminent in their method of appeal, com
pelling and invariably getting your attention, and holding it.
Just reason it out. It's logical to an extreme.
DO YOU READ?
The idleness necessitated by the ride, puts you in the proper
mental attitude, a receptive mood and unconsciously, but
surely, you begin to set YOUR standard by the articles adver
tised. Constant association with them through the cars- causes
you to regard them with a certain intimacy; makes you feel you
are acquainted with their merits.
Consequently, .they win your confidence! And further than
that, they win your patronage and their point. ' " '.
Daily contact with the announcement of these progressive
advertisers makes an impression such as can be created in.no
other way. Nothing else comes within range of your vision.
So if you've got to ride, you've got to read.
And we all ride. v ' ': .
What Can Be Done With Brevity
Ever stop to think how niuch you can say in a ten-word
telegram'.' THerc's no time tor speech making in every day
communication these days.
A famous newspaper editor once said to a young man who
wanted to write a" column about an incident:
"Why, .my boy, the story of the Creation was written in
WO words!"
The message of unwasted words is the one that's rend.
Don't you often hear a man say:
" f never have time to read more than the head lines in
i.v paper.'" ' That's the' 1913 ideathe spirit, of the clay to"
iirasp a uickly flashed thought. The deliberation of our
fathers amazes us.
- in the' strongest, tersest, most pointed way you tell your
story most'.cffoctivcly in the street cars.
It gets to ypur audience because all the excess baggage
lias been left behind, all the flourishes, of diction have been
crossed off arid your thought stands out like hNcled marble
on a'.black blackgrouhjl.
1 ' ''Take your own cae. , " . '
You go into a car and for a few minutes the length of
your ride you are necessarily idle.
What happens? A card across the aisle attracts your eye
and you get its message immediately. Then two or three cards
along the line draw your attention and your eye and brain ex
change a flash of recognition.
Yes, you've seen those cards before they're old friends.
The name of those products is going deeper into your
brain every lime you pay your ear ,fare.
Here's an unfamiliar card. This stranger gets your inter
estyou want to know about it you read it through, perhaps.
If you don't this time you will next or next.
After a few rides this .card goes among the stand-bys,
among the old friends,
Ever try 'to remember how many cards you've read in a
ride oT a few blocks Count off the number of products that,
have familiarized themselves to you.
Do it the next time you vide. .
Perhaps it's never occurred to you tliat this process has
been going on with you, at least twico a day ever since cards
came into the cars in your city.
In actual colors and in actual size the men and womeD who
ride, and who read wheu thevi ride because it's the natural
thing lo do, see the label and the package aa it looks on the
feliolP at the merchant's store.
Car cards give trade, marks the chance for which they
were made. They give l'lo original colors.
There '8 no limit to the possibilities here. You know? if
you'll remember, how effective the simple arrangement of one
or two colors can bo made. But the whole scale of colors is open
to yon. 4
A masterpiece can be put on a earcL
" A picture of a factory, an engraving of a bank, the po?
trait ol." an individual can -lie reproduced with every, liiie 4's
tinct. The skill of the country's best commercial artists,
printers and engravers is at the disposal of our advertisers.
You may sit down opposite the merchant's card or the big
producer's card. You'll got one story today, another tomorrow.
' You'll got them ail eventually because their appeal is
brief and explicit, because the car card spaco is flexible and
will includo a wide range of possible ideas, and because every;
card has the same prominence before the public.
It Isn't Enough for an Advertisement
to Catch your Eye
-You have a mind and you're-going-to use it.
-But all the truths in the world. may pass you unnoticed if your attention isn't attracted.
That's why the double appeal to the eye and to the mind is necessary.
That's what car cards do thpy balance the appeals. They getyourattcntiouwithout obtruding.
An effective arrangement of colors,, an attractive picture and it's done. You're drawn uncon
sciously. The appeal to youncyc has been made. J
"What about your mind? Tt dpcsn 't.tako a volume to make an argument. Listen:
Enterprising merchants in yoiir business find car advertising the most economical medium.
You are an enterprising merchant. '
yTherefore, you will find car advertising the most economical medium.
Pleuty of room for that on a car card, isn't there? Yet it's a complete argument as it stands.
Jf he best argument for the advertiser is the one that drives the nail homo with the fewest
blows on the head squarely on top of the head.
today or this week or this
t You can't be sure that.evcryono' is going to pass, your show window
.month.:-' W-t0 : - ' :
I5ut you CA'N be'sure tha'ttliousauds of people arc going to ride c
... . ,
on the street cars, not only
this mouth and this week, but TODAY. And your card .will catch them no matter w;liat ear they ; take.
Another thing, a hurried glance is the most you can expect from the average person who does
pass our show window. Wouldn't you consider your window much more valuable if you could, induce
every passerby 1q lake a chair on the sidewalk and study your display for fifteon,-for ten, or even
for three minutes?
That's what a street car does.
It puts your customer opposite your advertisement wheu nothing. will distract him, when the
restfulncss of the ride puts hinvin a receptive mood, and when he will be drawn readily to read
your argument. ;
Not just once does this occur.
But day after day, week after week, month in and month out. It's as if. he contracted , to. sit
on a chair on your sidewalk for from fifteen minutes to nn hour a day AS LONG AS YOU KEPT
YOUR WINDOWS DECOHATED. ; v
Why, you wouldn't have room on your sidewalk for the number of people in this town -who
rend your car advertisement in fifteen minutes out of the sixteen or eighteen hours a day that the
cars are comfortably filled. Ask the traction company for its figures on paid' fares for one day;
and you'll see how big your audience is.
Those of you who read this advertisement will know that every one of the cards in the cars tells the advertising 6tory of a
firm or product entirely worthy of the confidence and patronage of the public. Whatever you see advertised in the Omaha street,
cars must be as good as the advertisement saystit is. I exclude all cures or remedies, on the grounds that they carry with them
unpleasant or embarrassing suggestions, and I draw a line sharply at any advertisement that cannot be discussed in publicby a
man and woman of refinement. Y
HENRY M. BROWNING
Offices: Oify National Bank Building.
CAR AD MAN
(Street Car Advertising Exclusively)
Douglas 1553
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