Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
DECEMBER 12, 1925
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
A New Note in Music Trade Publicity — (Gont'd fr. pg. 7)
truthfulness in talking with the buying public.
"If there is anything about your merchandise
which can't be told—it's not good merchandise
to sell," is his view. There is no novelty in
that idea. Truth in advertising has been slogan-
\7.cd for ten years now. But there is a differ-
ence—truth as Mr. Harlan sees it is militant,
aggressive truth that demands to be heard,
rather than the less positive form of truth that
is a quality of a message only.
An example of what interest people show
in truthful news about business is his adver-
tisement headed "The Truth About Radio." In
it a few simple truths that everyone has known
about radio inside the trade, but that no one
has dared to tell the public, were put forth in
plain language. Direct response was immediate
and amazing. It paid handsome dividends.
Manufacturers and merchants all over the coun-
try have known these things for months—the
public read them with greater interest because
it had wondered about these particular points
with every mention that had been made of
radio.
"Give them news," says Mr. Harlan. "If you
can't think of something interesting to tell a
prospect—save your breath in the store and
your money in the papers."
A New Twist
Even in such a simple but important thing
as the terms of a down payment, he gives a
new twist by using the phrase "What $50 Will
Do" as a caption instead of the conventional
"$50 Down."
Instead of referring to the
"sonorous tone of the Chickering"—he says,
"When the Chickering sings—" A wealth of
meaning and music is in that simple phrase.
He fights shy of "set phrases" and meaning-
less generalities. "The world's best," "leader
of the world," "supreme" and similar phrases
are disregarded.
Every instrument that is
worth selling, no matter what its class, has its
own distinctive features, and therefore there are
things that can be said about it that could not
apply to any other. "Say those things or say
nothing," is a Harlan policy.
Close contact between the advertising source
and the actual sales effort on the floor is an-
other distinctive feature of the advertising. "I
can get more good 'hunches' from a good sales-
man than I -can dig up at my desk," is the way
Mr. Harlan puts it. Because of his close con-
nection with the organization, many of the
salient points regarding his merchandise were
first brought into the limelight by actual sales
conditions—and, vice versa, the advertising
comes home more closely to the salesmen be-
cause they are encouraged to use portions of
it freely in their selling conversation. One key
advertisement was memorized by the entire
sales force.
This was only made possible by the fact that
the definite rule was made that the advertise-
ment should be from first to last in purely con-
versational style. Literary form was disre-
garded, even sometimes overridden in order to
give a convincing conversational directness to
the copy in hand.
Many of the forceful
phrases in their advertising are used by the sales
men as a matter of habit.
Merchandising Basis
There is a definite merchandising move in the
store behind any advertisement in the papers.
Each one has a reason for being. Just to ap-
pear with an advertisement, no matter how
attractive it is, has no point in the plans of this
store. It may be purely a "good-will" or "insti-
tutional" piece of.'.,copy, but behind it for that
day some move is un'der way in the sales force.
They never hesitate to repeat an advertise-
ment many times if it shows itself to be effec-
tive—even in lesser degree. "In the piano busi-
ness," says Mr. Harlan, "it's hard enough to
find an advertisement that brings immediate
action outside the 'bargain' type of appeal. A
piece of merchandise in the piano price range
does not react quickly to newspaper appeal, par-
ticularly in the high-grade lines. When we find
an advertisement that really rings the bell—
why discard it for something new, just because
it's new?"
"We keep our advertising fresh," he says,
"hut sprinkled through it all recur those adver-
tisements or phrases which have proved their
effectiveness."
Unique Typography
Probably more than all else, the thing which
has caught the fancy of the public, dominated
the field, and attracted the attention of the
advertising and -music world have been Mr. Har-
lan's unique typographical forms. The adver-
tisements need not say anything about quality.
They look it. They look like the store itself,
in which Mr. Roberts personally has achieved
an effect which is the talk of the trade and of
the town.
It is a matter of importance that Mr. Har-
lan's "set-ups" are heralded as developing a new
form of typography. And this is the secret be-
hind it: This man not only writes an advertise-
ment—he sets it in type, not literally, but well-
nigh so. He spends as much time "over the
stone" in the printer's composing room as he
does in his office.
Associated with him is the print shop of
Grabhorn Bros., of San Francisco, printers of
fine books. The Messrs. Grabhorn and Mr.
Harlan are a creative trio. Mr. Harlan has been
called a trick typographer. He frequently writes
copy at "the stone" in working out a selling
effect with type. "It takes more than a beau-
tiful advertisement to sell goods," says Mr.
Harlan, "but that is no brief for an unattrac-
tive one." The fundamental soundness of the
method and the mastery of his work lies in
his ability thus to synchronize copy and type
in the same brain and in the same advertise-
ment, to weld them together into a complete
selling unit.
Out of the West has come something new in
advertising musical merchandise—resulting from
the unusual association of two merchants, both
salesmen, one working through men, the other
through type and printers' ink.
Reproduced herewith are several advertise-
ments of the series, which are held under copy-
right by the M. E. Harlan organization, both
as to form and to text. They were especially
granted to The Review for reproduction on the
express understanding that this copyright notice
would be given.
We Save Much in
Factory Cost
And we pass that saving on to
the dealer.
We have one style upright and
one style player, but into each we
put the KNOWLEDGE of build-
ing high-grade pianos, acquired in
57 years of successful manufac-
turing.
Style 1—Colonial
Mahogany—Burl Walnut or Golden Oak.
Venetian Walnut—Monlicello Mahogany.
Because of the economies possi-
ble in building two styles only,
we can offer high-grade instru-
ments at highly attractive prices.
New FADA Instructions
In order to meet the problem created by the
diversity of tubes now marketed, F. A. D. An-
drea, Inc., manufacturer of FADA radio, will
henceforth place full instructions for the neu-
tralization of receivers inside the cabinet of all
FADA sets. In a statement to the trade, R. M.
Klein, general manager of the company, ex-
plained the reasons for this step and pointed
out that before a receiver will operate effi-
ciently regeneration must be eliminated in a
manner which does not inject loss in the cir-
cuit and which allows the full value of radio
frequency amplifications to be secured. The
FADA instruction sheet shows how simply this
can be done.
Atwater Kent Speakers
The Atwater Kent Mfg. Co., of Philadelphia,
announces that, owing to the growing popu-
larity of the Type H. Type "L and Type K
models of the Atwater Kent radio speakers, the
production department is being changed to
manufacture only these types in future. Model
M and Model R, listed at $28 and $12, respec-
tively, will be discontinued as soon as reserve
stocks are exhausted.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.
Style 2—Snlotone Player Piano.
Choice Mahogany and beautiful Burl Wal-
nut or Oak. Venetian Walnut—Monticello
Mahogany.
Finished in Mahogany, Burl or
Venetian Walnut, Golden Oak
and Monticello Mahogany.
Some Territory Open and
Inquiries Are Invited.
Schaff Bros.
Company
Est. 1868
Huntington, Ind.