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Advertising and Selling the Grand
Piano in the Period Case
Barker Bros., of Los Angeles, Who Feature the Sohmer Piano, Create Steady Volume of Sales for This In-
strument in Its Period Models Through Steady and Consistent Advertising—Linking the
Period Case to the Scheme of Home Decoration a New Selling Approach
T
H E outstanding success achieved by a
number of retail piano houses in the sale
of instruments in period cases is in direct
proportion as a general rule to the intelligence
injected into the selling effort, whether that
effort be by the printed word or by direct sales-
eral attractiveness of the case work, combined
with a faithfulness to the style of the period
represented that is impressive. In the Los
Angeles newspapers each Sunday of the year
there appears an advertisement of Barker Bros,
devoted exclusively to the Sohmer instruments,
Queen
Anne
Model
of the
Sohmer
Grand
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man contact. It has not been so many years
ago that the period case was a special order
proposition. This meant that the price, due to
the amount of individual work required, was
prohibitive to the average run of buyers, and,
therefore, sales were limited to the comparative
few who had sufficient money to support their
artistic sense and desire in the matter of case
design. Little wonder then that the volume of
business in this special type of instrument at-
tained no noteworthy proportions.
At the present time the period case has come
into its own as an accepted and regular feature
of the piano lines manufactured by concerns
with vision and artistic sense, combined with
business ability. It is the successful merchan-
dising by competent retailers, however, which
has served to establish the period model piano
in its present place before the discriminating
public. It has been realized that in the worth-
while period model there is found two appeals,
first, the direct appeal to the musical sense,
common in all pianos, and, secondly, the appeal
to the eye, a highly important matter in these
days of artistic home furnishings. It is in cap-
italizing this fact that sales are made.
It would be difficult to find a more prominent
example of successful merchandising of the
period model grand than that offered by the
piano department of Barker Bros, in Los An-
geles, the manager of which, John W. Booth,
is so well known in the trade for his knowledge
of musical instrument selling and his ability
to utilize it. Perhaps it is because Barker Bros,
stand high among the home-furnishing concerns
of the entire country that fits them particularly
well to make the artistic appeal. But the fact
remains that they find it pays handsomely to
advertise and concentrate sales effort on period
models.
In this connection the company pays partic-
ular attention to featuring the Sohmer line of
period instruments, which stands so high in gen-
the advertisements ranging in size from a col-
umn or so to a half-page or more with the
larger spaces predominating.
In each of the advertisements at least one
of the outstanding examples of Sohmer piano
case work is reproduced in black and white, and
in a majority of the announcements several of
the period models are depicted as is shown in
the reproduction of two of the Barker Bros,
advertisements herewith. In the advertising
headed, for instance, "A piano should harmonize
with the home interior," and then went on to
say, "It is not enough to-day that homes' ex-
teriors should be authentic in period trend. In-
teriors as well must be true to type—and surely
the piano—the most significant single object in
the home—should measure up to this require-
ment. This series of period designs—by the
House of Sohmer—answers this demand."
Black and white sketches of a half dozen of
the attractive Sohmer models bordered one side
of the advertisement.
Then again was the advertisement headed:
"A Sohmer—Grand Pianos Are in Period En-
casements to Harmonize With YOUR Home,"
followed by the announcement "There need be
no delay in the acquisition of a period grand
piano that harmonizes with your home's interior,
for Sohmer grand pianos are to be had here
and now in several authentic encasements.
These models carry out detail with absolute
fidelity—the early English, the Florentine, the
Spanish, Louis XVI, Queen Anne encasements,
giving a new dignity and importance to the
piano as a decorative factor in the home."
There is nothing uncertain or confusing about
that presentation of the facts, and that the pres-
entation of the period grand in this manner ap-
peals to the buying sense of the public is shown
by the number of such instruments that are
being sold by Barker Bros., one that increases
steadily each season. Each particular period
has its admirers, but it is significant that in the
vicinity of Los Angeles, where the Spanish
influence is so pronounced in the modern as
well as in the old residences, the Sohmer period
model in the Spanish Renaissance is particularly
popular.
Barker Bros, have put over the period piano
in their territory by convincing the public of
the fact that it not only provides a musical
instrument of quality, which may be considered
Spanish
Renaissance
Model
of the
Sohmer
Grand
copy the attractiveness of the case design is
emphasized quite as strongly as the musical
qualities of the instruments and, in fact, in cer-
tain cases this appeal to the eye and to the
artistic sense in home equipment predominates
to a noticeable degree.
A recent and convincing piece of copy was
an elementary argument, but presents that
instrument encased in a manner that permits
it to harmonize with the furnishings of the
home rather than to disrupt that harmony, thus
being tolerated for its musical qualities alone.
It is the argument that provides the open road
for placing artistically designed pianos in the