Automatic Age

16
A u t o m a t ic A ge
in return for which a booklet is sent by
your paid secretary. This would be one of
the big parts of his job, which would ex­
plain to the public exactly the standing of
your industry so that at one fell swoop, so
to speak, you would get over not to scores
but millions of people.
The other layouts are very much along
the same idea, merely to give you a con­
ception of how that would appeal. This
you see is appealing to the younger gener­
ation, men and women alike. That hap­
pens to be on music.
This one reads, “ You always get your
money’s worth from 0 . 0 . 0 . ” C.O.D. hap­
pens to be Coin Operated Devices. (A p ­
plause) I am glad you appreciated that.
W e thought that might be clever if you are
smart enough to get out and sell a term
that is in the public consciousness. I will
tell you something about advertising— the
art of writing headlines is an attempt to
sufficiently complete the thought but suffi­
ciently incomplete so they will read what
you have to say. They will read down here
to find what C.O.D. means. The traffic men
and passenger agents and men in regular
business will read that.
Here is a weighing machine. That idea
will go over as the machine never tan get
the idea across. When that is hammered
home, the women walking in and seeing
that machine will have more confidence in
that machine because of the prestige put
behind it. Here again we would apply the
same thing. These machines would change
from time to time.
I think, Mr. President, i f you went
through with such a thing the manufactur­
ers ought to kick in on the expense of it.
Here is the slogan and story again. You
can imagine what the “ You always get
your money’s worth from C.O.D.” would
mean appearing several times.
In here
would be an idea of the service, the accur­
acy, and the merchandise standard and the
amusements genuine and up to date.
Here is yet one more. No matter what
the proposition may be, the average person
doesn’t have any idea of the significance
of it. Going through your exhibition I was
quite impressed with the rifle machines and
on which I find my marksmanship isn’t so
© International Arcade Museum
March, 1981
good, and the Humboldt Gum Machine up
to the model grocery. I don’t believe the
public has any idea o f it. You may be in­
terested to know that I am going to bring
thirty-five people to see the exhibition, be­
cause I think an advertising organization
ought to know these things. W e ought to
know from the standpoint of the manufac­
turers and merchants who sell them.
“ A nickel’s worth of fun or a penny’s
worth of gum.” You can imagine an oper­
ator with reprints of this advertisement
going out to select locations, and if this ad­
vertisement appeared in a national publica­
tion which is where it should appear, it
takes on the prestige of the national pub­
lication. And I will say to you gentlemen
that the acceleration in your industry can
come from only two places: one in increased
locations, which is increased outlets, and
two, increased used of machines; and if
anybody knows any greater way to effect it
than through this tremendous force of ad­
vertising, I would like to know what it is.
I venture to say to you that such a cam­
paign would pay the manufacturers and
the operators in the increased acceptance of
the idea of the merchandise and in increased
use by the general public. I think that ad­
vertisement itself is typical. You see here
we have a family in there and we have got
the little boy buying. I think also you will
find this kind of advertising will help enor­
mously in getting standard merchandise, as
you are now getting W rigley’s and Her­
shey’s.
That about gives you the idea I have got,
gentlemen. I have one or two points I want
to make in conclusion. I just want to men­
tion some of the plus values that come from
that kind of thing. Apart from the sales
value and increase in your business, there
are a tremendous number of plus values
that come. One is the influence on legis­
lation. You can imagine going before a
legislative body in any state or in the na­
tion with that kind o f advertising behind
you, which is visual indication that this is
an industry, if you please. No matter what
you say, your unsupported word is not
necessary. That proves it. You would not
be advertising nationally unless it were a
big industry, and therefore, yon are en­
titled to a word on legislation.
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