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THE
flUJIC TIRADE
VOL.
LXXXII1. No. 24
P«bli«hed Every Satirday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 383 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y., Dec. 11,1926
Sins
ll£o°$%*
National Piano Promotion Campaign
Is Now in Concrete Form
National Advertising to Appear in Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Gardens, Etude, Scribner's,
World's Work, Atlantic, Golden Book, Review of Reviews, Harper's and Probably Children
—Group Instruction to Be Demonstrated—Dealers' Aids Important Part of Drive
T
H E great piano-promotion campaign pre-
sented to and adopted by the National
Piano Manufacturers' Association at its
convention in New York last June and at the
same time endorsed by affiliated trade bodies
is now a, definite and, in a sense, an accom-
plished fact, the promotion campaign commit-
tee having met in New York on Thursday, De-
cember 2, and finally adopted a concrete plan
for carrying it out.
It is held by experts that the speed with
Max J. de Rochemont
which the piano-promotion campaign was con-
ceived, developed, passed upon, financed and
finally put into execution, has set a new record
for this type of work. It was some time in
January of this year that the idea was first
presented in rough form. The details were then
worked out tentatively and the idea adopted at
the June convention. Since that time the pro-
motion campaign committee has been appointed,
the plan itself crystallized, sufficient money
pledged to carry on the work along the lines
laid down and a surprisingly large amount of
that money already paid into the coffers of the
promotion fund for launching the campaign.
As finally decided upon by the committee, the
plan depends for its ultimate and complete suc-
cess upon the full co-operation of the retailers
of the country in tying up locally with the
advertising and the propaganda that the com-
mittee will put over in a national way.
At the outset a group of national magazines,
with a monthly circulation aggregating 3,000,-
000 copies, will be utilized to carry the story
of the piano to the public, information regard-
ing the new and quicker way for learning to
play that instrument, and details of the group
instruction plan and what it means to the child
and to the home. The whole campaign will be
designed to revive the interest in the piano
through the medium of the child, primarily.
The mediums to be used will include Good
Housekeeping, Better Homes and Gardens, the
Etude, Scribner's, World's Work, Atlantic
Monthly, Golden Book, the Review of Reviews,
Harper's and very probably the magazine en-
titled Children, to reach a certain group. The
selection of the magazines, according to Edward
C. Boykin, executive secretary of the commit-
tee, was made with a view to covering as many
classes of people as possible, the main thought
being to appeal to the mass market.
All the copy used will be of full-page size, and
each advertisement will be reproduced in poster
form for the use of dealers for local displays to
tie up with the national publicity. Special copy
to hook up with the magazine advertising will
also be provided dealers in various forms for
insertion in local newspapers. It is hoped the
magazine publicity will start with the February
issues of at least some of the publications—the
campaign will be continuous throughout 1927.
In order to stimulate the retailers to co-
operate locally with the national movement,
special mailing material will be sent to retailers
throughout the United States outlining how
they may work to best advantage in tying up
with it and contact will also be made with
newspapers in various sections urging that they
get in touch with dealers in their particular ter-
ritories and by that means encourage them to
use local advertising.
The promotion committee is particularly en-
thusiastic over the fact that it is able to launch
the movement with what is recognized as a
powerful weapon in the form of the group rn-
struction idea. A treatise is now in course of
preparation which will cover every phase of
group instruction from every possible angle.
No particular form or school of group instruc-
tion is endorsed by the committee, but the vari-
ous types are explained and particular informa-
tion is given as to the manner in which retailers
may give or cause to have given in their locality
courses in such instruction. It is the intention
Edward C. Boykin
of the committee to stress this means for pro-
moting greater interest in the piano to the
fullest extent, and to sell group instruction to
the dealers of the country as a commodity that
is worth while, leaving it to the individual to
select that particular system best suited to his
needs.
Shortly after the first of the year it is planned
to conduct a series of demonstrations in group
instruction throughout the entire country.
These demonstrations will be carried on by four
(Continued on page 5)
3
Entered as second-class matter September 10, 1892, at the post office at New York, N. Y., under the act of Congress of March 3, 1879.