Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
From a Traveler's Note Book.
THE SHAW PIANO CO. S CLKVKR ADVERTISING
KFFECT1VK
AN])
ATTRACTIVE—HLASIUS
PER-
SO-VAL ORGAN—CHARLES FAHR AN ORIGINATOR OF A NEW STYLE OF
ADVERTISING.
* *
*
the same firm reached them in regular
channels they always read and studied
them.
Now, there is Blasius & Sons, of Phila-
delphia. They undoubtedly h a v e ex-
pended a considerable sum of money in
their "Monthly," but I question whether
this has benefited them one quarter as
much as if they had expended the same
amount of money in legitimate journals of
a varied circulation.
Blasius & Sons, however, have been for-
tunate, inasmuch as they have secured a
line of advertising patronage from some of
the firms from whom they have purchased
goods, supplies, etc. This, of course, is
reciprocity in its truest sense, but I ques-
tion seriously if any of the firms who take
an advertisement in "Blasius' Monthly"
count it of any real benefit to them other
than the fact that it shows a willingness on
their part to assist Blasius & Sons in their
literary efforts.
*
Sohmer & Co. are a firm who years ago
saw the vast benefit which might be de-
rived from legitimate advertising, and have
expended large sums of money for that
purpose. They were the first firm in the
music trade who branched out to any extent
in advertising in the paper covered novels.
Charles Fahr, who is one of the cleverest
advertisers in the trade, began to place for
Sohmer & Co. advertising in an original
manner. The millions of copies of the
"Seaside Library," which has contained
the advertisement of Sohmer & Co., was.
perhaps one of the cleverest advertising
schemes ever followed by a piano manufac-
turer. Since then that special way of
clever advertising has been carried on
largely by others, but at the time when Mr.
Fahr first placed the Sohmer advertisement
in that particular manner, it acquainted un-
told millions with the fact that the Sohmer
piano was manufactured.
The result was, the business of Sohmer
& Co. began to receive a tremendous im-
petus, and the Sohmer piano moved rapidly
to a front position. This mcve showed
the keenness of Mr. Fahr in the placing of
his advertising.
Another thing that I cannot overlook in
Mr. Fahr's line of advertising, is that he
used the same block letters,
There are firms "in the music trade as
well as out of it who have expended con-
siderable sums of money in what ma)^ be
termed "personal organs." I have always
been a non-believer in the efficacy of this
style of advertising. I have been in the
offices of business men frequentl)' when
this class of periodicals came to hand, and
I have noted invariably that they quickly
found a resting place in a convenient waste-
basket, while if a page or two relating to
in every advertisement. No matter in
what magazine or novel the advertisement
of Sohmer & Co. appeared there was the
word Sohmer in block type across the top
of the advertising page.
How many times in traveling all over
America have I seen, while sitting in a
parlor car, travelers reading novels upon
the back cover of which I could read the
HE Shaw Piano Co. are inde-
fatigable in their efforts to
cleverly keep before the trade
and public the merits of the
instruments which they man-
ufacture.
Their methods of advertising have been
original and effective. They have departed
from the old-time beaten paths and have
cut a clean swath in a new field. They
seem to have been actuated by the idea
that advertising should not be spasmodic,
but that in order to produce effective re-
sults it should be steady and constant—that
the intelligent placing of their advertise-
ments before the purchasing masses would
bring good returns.
The result has been that during the com-
paratively few years which the Shaw piano
has been manufactured it has won a posi-
tion which places it well alongside some
of the older makes of instruments, ahead
of some, and running a close race with
others. Such a course must cause one to
think, who studies the particular situation
intelligently, that advertising pays.
Of course, in the case of the Shaw Piano
Co., they manufacture good instruments,
therefore all of their advertising has been
well substantiated by the pianos which they
manufacture. Still, they could have made
for several decades, magnificent instru-
ments, as good as the best, and without
the medium of printers' ink their blushes
would have remained unseen, and their
musical fragrance would have been wasted
in the damp air of Lake Erie.
Their course surely must be stimulating
to those who are endeavoring to build up
a business on an enduring basis. It is,
after all, such progressive firms as I have
cited above, who make the piano trade
known distinctively before the world as a
trade. Take from the piano trade a num-
ber of its prominent advertisers, and indeed
the result would be a downward tendency
in the way of publicity and a contraction
and narrowing of business rather than a
broadening and extending of the lines by
making instruments better known to the
trade and to the world. The persistent ad-
vertiser reaps a reward more than commen-
surate with his investment.
SOHMER,"
word "Sohmer" the entire length of the
car. Thus, through the medium of print-
ers' ink, the business of Sohmer & Co. en-
larged, and the piano became widely
known.
Of course, I can name many other firms
who have been extensive advertisers in al-
most every channel, yet I am only making
a point of Charles Fahr's advertising,
because he created an original field, and
he adhered closely to one line of advertis-
ing. Mr. Fahr evidently did not believe
in a multiplicity of purposes. He had a
fixed idea, stuck to it, and won.
Naturally there is a great deal in the ar-
ranging and draughting of an advertise-
ment. Some firms seem to consider when
they purchase a space it is to their benefit
to crowd in that space all the matter that
it will possibly admit. This is a mistake.
A well-balanced and displayed advertise-
ment should have plenty of white space.
The main points desired emphasized should
be brought out plainly in bold relief so as
to at once attract the attention of the
reader, but the matter of filling up every
bit of space with some reading matter or
cuts is an absurdity, as it oftentimes des-
troys the entire effect desired by the ad-
vertiser, and the reader passes it by in
disgust.
The ordinary reader to-day must catch
something that interests at once. He does
not care to spend his time in reading over
some long drawn out statements by an in-
efficient advertiser. Advertising to-day is
a science, and the men who study it from
that standpoint are the men who succeed in
obtaining a great big dollar's worth for one
invested.
*
Of course, the summer will be a quiet
one, but let me ask, What summer has not
been quiet for the past four or five years?
More and more trade is being concentrated
in a few months of the year. I think,
however, that in some of the factories
there will be considerable activity straight
through the dull season.
In my travels all over the country I
never saw piano stocks as low as they have
been for the past few months. Three
years ago, when the bottom dropped out of
business, so to speak, dealers began taking
back pianos on which the installments had
failed to materialize. These were polished
up and rejuvenated, and used as second-
hand pianos; so for many months dealers
all over the country drew upon their old
stock rather than upon manufacturers.
Their old stock has been pretty well ex-
hausted, and not only that, but new pianos
have been bought in comparatively small
quantities. The result is that the average
small dealer throughout the country when
he sells an instrument of a certain make
and style, he mui-t at once replace it, hence
a rush order is sent in to the factory. I
think, taking that as a basis, what orders
come in during the next three months will
be rush orders. Of course, there will not
be any great activity, neither is it antici-
pated, but according to some of the best
financiers in the country, business will im-
prove immediately after the coming Presi-
dential nominations have taken place.