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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Retail Piano Advertising.
MR. J. R. HARTPENCE, OF THE EMERSON PI-
ANO's LOCAL BRANCH, TALKS INTERESTING-
LY OK T H E E M E R S O N ' S A D V E R T I S I N G .
The home of the Emerson Piano Co. is
at Boston, but the New York branch at 92
Fifth avenue, under the management of
Mr. J. R. Hartpence, is such a lively repre-
sentative, and that gentleman, who by the
way is said to be the youngest man in such
a responsible piano position in New York
City, has such decided views on the sub-
ject of advertising, that the following in-
terview will prove of much interest:
"The talk on this subject," said Mr.
Hartpence, "ought properly to come from
Mr. P. H. Powers, of the headquarters of
our concern, for I do not control more than
about one-sixth of our whole appropriation
directly, though, of course, most of the ex-
tensive magazine advertising of the Emer-
son inures more to the benefit of the local
end than to any other territory."
"What do the Emerson people appro-
priate for advertising purposes?"
"At least $30,000 is set aside each year;
$20,000 of this amout is put out from head-
quarters, $5,000 is expended in Chicago,
and this branch disposes of the remainder.
The Boston outlay covers the general field,
and Consequently Boston claims and gets
credit for every bit of business which does
not clearly belong to New York or Chi-
cago. These two centers are supposed to
cover only a radius of fifty miles."
"Then they might merely be classed as
local retail dealers?"
"That is about it, save that they deal
only in one single specialty."
"But to a layman the term 'retailer'
seems somewhat incongruous in connection
with an article that runs into so much
money as a piano does."
"And yet the distinction is as clear as on
clothing or shoes. A large piano factory
like ours, which turns out 5,000 high-class
instruments each year, does as distinctive-
ly a wholesale business as it commensurate-
ly would do in any other line. At the
main office, although they would not turn
down an order for a single piano, they de-
precate such and would like to refer the
sale to a branch. 80, too, only the con-
sumer—the individual who wants an in-
strument for family use—is referred to the
dealer. From the main place they send
out travelers, and these, of course, deal
only with the dealers—they couldn't waste
time looking for consumers—if that classi-
fication be permissible. An order for as
many as fifty pianos is not unusual. Yet
remember one fact, in the large cities the
dealers are usually exclusive—only handle,
say, one kind—but elsewhere they handle
many or all, usually making a special fea-
ture of three or four—one each of various
grades. That is, say, a Waters piano for
the cheap grade, a Mathushek for a me-
dium and an Emerson for a high."
"What mediums do you favor?"
' 'As premised, Boston covers the general
field and places the ads in the magazines,
the musical trade journals and all the rest
of the national media which we use. These
embrace some of the musical journals and
music trade journals, most of the fashion
papers and one religious publication, which
has done us much good, the Christian Her-
ald."
"Do you key your ads?"
"We could easily do so, but have not
felt the necessity. When we get an in-
quiry, in addition to sending the informa-
tion, we personally interview the people.
If the inquiry comes from outside our ter-
ritory—and in this branch that is often the
case—we refer the matter to the dealer who
covers that ^territory, and he makes the
personal plea."
"Does your advertising literature do you
much good?"
"Not nearly so much as it used to. It
is the personal work that counts. We keep
catalogues and similar media now to sup-
plement mainly. No agent would think of
going out without a supply, but the results
lie mainly with himself. We only send
catalogues now when specifically asked for."
"Do you use the cars?"
"We tried the street cars in Hoboken for
one year, that's all. We traced but one sale
to them."
"What agencies seem to be most effective
in creating business for you?"
"The recommendations of others to
whom we have sold, and as far as the local
branch is concerned, simply our being here
on the spot. You'd scarcely believe how
many sales we've made to shoppers passing
our show windows. Since the business
depression of the past four years we have
been untiring in following up possible
chances, and by our added energy have
somewhat offset the poor trade we might
otherwise have expected."
"How?"
"In spite of decreasing our advertising
expenditures, we have increased our sales
traceable to advertising; but the cause and
explanation of this is due to the fact al-
ready stated of following up chances so en-
ergetically. Yet I don't believe in limited
advertising. The $5,000 accorded to us is
very aggravating. I can spend it as I
please—all in a lump sum in one medium
for one time or stretch it out thin over
the twelve months, dividing it between
newspaper space and agents at $4 a day—
and I know the amount is thoroughly inade-
quate. It doesn't pay to go in half-heart-
edly. I feel now that with that figure I
haven't been able to do anything thorough-
ly. I believe I would, on the whole,
have had more benefit if I'd changed the
sum into $1 bills, and placed a man at the
corner to distribute them to passers-by in
the name of Emerson."
"Do you advertise in the papers?"
"Last December I spent $1,000 that way.
We got a number of applications for prices,
and naturally presumed they came from
the ads, but on interviewing the senders,
only one admitted that his was prompted
by the advertisement. The rest were all
irrelevant to that expenditure. However,
if times had been good, I am morally sure
we would have had better results. I think
that this money would have been better
laid out on good hustling agents. This
may sound contradictory, but the deduc-
tion is clear to my mind. Such a limited
amount was lost in the papers unless it had
been preceded and followed consistently.
It would have done better to hire hustling
agents, although even there it wouldn't
have gone far."
"What is your proportion of sales to ap-
plications?"
"It varies. In good times I should say
one sale ought certainly to be corralled out
of every two applications. In bad times
it would be hard to make a just estimate."
"Speaking of catalogues, you say they've
fallen into desuetude?"
"They're not called for often. Even in
good times we sold more, pianos, I think,
than we sent out catalogues."—Printers'
Ink.
The Conn Conservatory of Music.
The first term of the second academic
year of the Conn Conservatory of Music,
Elkhart, Ind., will begin September 15th
and close December T5th. The faculty is
an eminent one, consisting of Jules Levy,
cornet and wind valve instruments; E. A.
Lefebre, saxophone; Henry Geiss, clari-
net; H. A. Davis, flute and piccolo; Fred-
erik Ingersoll, violin; C. A. Peterson,
mandolin and guitar; Madame Stella
Costa-Levy, vocal; Jas. F. Boyer, piano,
harmony and instrumentation. Readers
of The Review knowing of friends desir-
ous of perfecting themselves in any of the
"above branches, would do well to advise
them to correspond with C. G. Conn,
founder of the Conservatory.
English Styles for Fall Trade.
Our esteemed contemporary, the Piano,
Organ and Music Trades Journal of London,
has favored us with a special supplement
containing new models of instruments is-
sued by the English trade for the autumn
season of 1897-8. A number of designs
which are largely English—with the excep-
tion of the Doherty organs—are illustrated
in colors.
It must be confessed that those shown
do not compare favorably with the superb
line which American manufacturers are
introducing to the trade this fall.
Meanwhile the enterprise of our London
contemporary in producing such an artisti-
cally conceived supplement is to be admir-
ed and commended.
"What would be your policy if you could
follow it?"
"I would be satisfied that I could force
justifiable results if I were allowed to ex-
pend about $25,000 a year, provided head-
quarters kept on as it does. Half the
amount should go to daily papers and the
other half to paid agents. These would
Leo Heerwagen, the Western represen-
supplement each other with, I believe, tative of the Votey Organ Co., is spending
splendid success."
a short vacation at West Baden.