Presto

11
PRESTO
June 28, 1924.
THE
W. P. HAINES & COMPANY
DOUBTFUL ADVERTISING, DEAD
EDITORS AND LIVE DOLLARS
A Discussion of Thoughts About "Copy", Mediums and Men That Are
Things of Passing Trade Interest
PIANOS
THE PIANOS OF QUALITY
Three Generations of Piano Makers
All Styles—Ready Sellers
Attractive Prices
GRANDS
REPRODUCING GRANDS
UPRIGHTS and PLAYERS
AVAILABLE TERRITORY OPEN
W. P. HAINES & CO., Inc.
138th St. and Walton Ave.
New York City
The LEADING LINE
WEAVER PIANQS
Orands, Uprights and Players
Finest and most artistic
piano in design, tone and
construction that can be
made.
YORK PIANOS
Upright* and Player Pianoi
A high grade piano of great
vaiue and with charming tone quality.
Livingston Pianos— Upright* and Player Piano*
A popular piano at a popular price.
Over 70,000 instruments made by this company are sing-
inn their own praises in all parts of the civilised world.
Write for catalogues and state on what terms you would
like to deal, and we will makt you a proposition if yen are
located in op*n territory.
WEAVER PIANO CO., Inc.
Factory: YORK, PK.
Established 1870
E. Leins Piano Co.
Makers of Pianos and
Player Pianos That Are
Established L e a d e r s .
Correspondence from. Reliable
Dealers Invited
Factory and Offices, 304 W. 42nd St.
NEW YORK
Prof. Daniel Starch, of the Harvard Business
School, had something to say about advertising re-
cently. It had direct bearing also upon the piano
business, because the professor mentioned the instru-
ments of music in his discourse.
Professor Starch placed the responsibility of re-
turns from advertising more upon the nature of the
"copy" than upon the medium of publicity. He evi-
dently has the right idea about "circulation," as com-
monly understood in business.
He doesn't believe that a two-million or a ten-mil-
lion circulation, of any special kind of publication,
necessarily implies great virtue as an advertising
medium unless the kind of advertising is carefully
considered, and the kind of "copy" given close scru-
tiny.
To advertise a baby's rattle in a scientific paper, or
to exploit pianos in a sporting journal, doesn't appeal
to such a critic as Prof. Starch. Nor to any one
else that thinks at all.
* * *
When "Copy" Condemns Medium.
If returns do not come from an advertisement well
displayed, the thing to do is not to condemn the
paper or to talk about its circulation, or lack of it.
The publication boasting a million circulation may
not bring in a single order that's worth while, as
compared with the cost of the printed display. But
the same advertisement in a paper that appeals direct-
ly to the kind of trade interested in the thing adver-
tised, may start the orders of the carload-lot kind.
And whether in the story paper, or the scientific
journal, or the trade paper, the nature of the adver-
tising must be considered. It must find the paper
read by the kind of readers the advertising addresses.
* * *
It is of peculiar interest here to note what Prof.
Starch says about playerpiano advertising. He be-
lieves that "in a series of fifteen advertisements for
a playerpiano which appeared in a recent campaign,
the best advertisement brought 258 replies, while the
poorest brought only one reply."
Presumably the same publication is in mind, the
only difference being in the phraseology and "dis-
play" of the advertisement. And the professor fur-
ther says:
"The average advertisement appearing in the better
grade mediums has only about half the effectiveness
possessed by the best 10 per cent of the advertise-
ments in those same mediums. Many of the adver-
tisements in publications are only about one-fourth
as effective as the best advertisements appearing in
the same issues."
* * *
Purposeless Pictures.
And all that suggests that possibly the artistic, and
quite expensive, "copy" which has been appearing in
some of the music trade papers may have prompted
the professor's comment. For it must puzzle any
experienced seller of playerpianos to understand how
an isolated portrait of some more or less famous
pianist can influence sales for any reproducing piano.
To merely print a picture of and eccentric pen
sketch of Victor Wittgenstein, for instance, and add
that he is a "distinguished pianist," adding the line
"Knabe Exclusively," may seem to some the essence
of brevity without much wit. It may be of the "do
it now" order of expression, but it can hardly do
any great good, as viewed by the dealers in pianos.
That sort of advertising must come under Prof.
Starch's interpretation of what it is that lacks the
'pull" in publicity campaigns.
* * *
And, equally by way of illustration, is a series of
advertisements, one of which introduces a portrait of
Percy Grainger as having been engaged to "record
exclusively for Duo Art."
If there is anything in that to influence the hard-
working piano dealers, or their salesmen, it would
stump the critical Prof. Starch to find it.
* * *
And so with a lot of pictureful and picturesque ad-
vertising of some of the larger interests in music
trade paper advertising. It is not the kind to apply
to either the trade or the public.
Trade papers are for trade digestion, presumably.
They are primarily designed to sell pianos to the men
whose business it is to sell pianos to the public, or it
is for the purpose of presenting sale-winning sugges-
tions to the distributors of the things musical.
Some Publicity Experts.
There is an army of alert "ad-smiths" at work in
this country. You find them in every tall building in
the great cities. Some of them are efficient. Most of
them are not. And to the former must be charged a
good deal of the piano publicity in which pictures
with much power to either attract the eye or instruct
the mind can be found.
A tine illustration of the former kind—the eye-
catching displays—may be seen in the pages which
appear of the Starr Piano Company's advertising
pages, as they are now appearing, at intervals, in
most of the music trade papers. They are reproduc-
tions of art pictures; the sole purpose is to challenge
the attention that leads to consideration of the text,
and the Starr instruments themselves.
* * *
DEAD TRADE PAPER EDITORS.
A writer from New York City, asking for copies
of Presto containing notices of the death of John
C. Freund, asks: "And can you supply us with
data concerning any other prominent music trade
editors who have died within the past ten years?"
It is a pleasantly solemn privilege to comply with
the request, and in doing it the facetious remark of
the late Marc Blumenberg, of the Musical Courier,
comes to mind.
"Why is it," asked the merry, merry Marc, on
one occasion when he was in conference with his
editorial staff, "that trade paper editors never die?
They seem to live forever!"
* * *
At the time the entire phalanx of the men who
have built up the piano business—on paper—still sur-
vived, with the exception of Wm. M. Thorns, of
the "American Art Journal," which he had inherited
(Continued on page 13.)
WEBSTER PIANOS
Noted for Their Musical Beauty
of Tone and Artistic Style
ATTRACTIVE
The True Test
Factory
Leominster,
Mats.
PRICES
Executive Offices
138th St. and Walton Ave.
New York
Division W. P. HAINES & CO., Inc.
Compare the new Jesse French & Sons Piano
Jesse French & Sons Stvle BB
with any other strictly high grade piano in tone,
touch and general construction, and you will be
convinced at once that t h e y offer the most
exceptional v a l u e s to be found anywhere.
Write today for catalog and prices
"They arc the one best buy on the market"
JESSE FRENCH & SONS PIANO CO.
NEW CASTLE,
INDIANA
WILLIAMS
PIANOS
The policy of the Williams House is and always
has been to depend upon excellence of product
instead of alluring price. Such a policy does not
attract bargain hunters. It does* however, win the
hearty approval and support of a very desirable
and substantial patronage.
Will
I AIMS Epworth
" . k e n of PUnos
Willi
o.
WILLI^ITI3
and Organs
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