Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

The 198th Consecutive Monthly Issue of the
COIN MACHINE REVIEW
WALTER W. HURD, Executive Editor
PAUL W. BLACKFORD, Editor and Publisher
NO. 6
JANUARY, 1950
VOL. 17
PSOMorlON YEllS
If there is one objective that stands out above all
others. to engage the attention of all segments of the
Industry in 1950. it is the ideal of making the new
year a promotion year. The need is to join some of
the aggressive leaders and initiate active programs
all along the Industry front.
It must be admitted that there has been a slowing
up. a weakening in the aggressive spirit that should
be felt in a growing business. as most members of
the trade awaited whatever adjustments the country
might make after the war.
The big majority of trade and business leaders
now think the nation has pretty well leveled off and
that business in the future will be gained chiefly by
going after it in more vigorous fashion.
In these four years of adjusting. a lot of constructive
ideas for promoting the coin machine business have
appeared in various parts of the Industry. and if these
ideas can be grabbed and spread 'a mong much
larger groups of operators. and individuals. then
1950 can be made truly a big promotion year.
1. The automatic vending trade has had a supreme
achievement set before it in the progrom of the Na-
tional Automatic Merchandising Assn. which made
Salesmanship the central theme of its 1949 conven-
tion. Salesmanship is promotion and promotion is
salesmanship and NAMA is doing much to show
what an organized program can do.
The goal is to help the operator in every way pos-
sible to sell himself, his machines and his business to
the public. And when the operator accomplishes
more in the way of better salesmanship, it spreads
prosperity all along the line.
2. Various state and city organizations of music
operators have also shown what can be done by the
group and also by individual operators in promoting
increased patronage of music machines. These tests
have shown that music play can be built up by con-
structive promotion and some good ideas have also
been tried out. Now, the Music Operotors of America
is rallying the music trade to spread these promo-
tional ideas to music operators all over the land and
to give them special emphasis in a national music
convention. March 6-8.
3. A new pace in the Industry for promotion of
patronage and of direct appeal to the public has
been set by the shuffleboard business. All in the
Industry hope that the promotional spirit and ideas
gained in this branch of the trade can be perpetuated
and also used to inspire the whole Industry. Much
credit must be given to aggressive manufacturers
for the strong promotional work in the shuffleboard
field, and maybe the lesson to be gained is that
manufacturers of machines, accessories and supplies
must spark the fire that puts real promotions into
being.
It holds true in all industries that manufacturers of
equipment must more and more aid the purchasers
of such equipment in getting customers, especially as
the coverage becomes more national. So. the pro-
motions of manufacturers of shuffleboards will be of
double interest to the coin machine trade, perhaps
offering many suggestions as to what might be done
to boost the patronage of various types of coin
controlled devices.
Another phase of the shuffleboard promotions is
the use of the devices to increase the business of the
establishment as a whole. There was a time when
much more was heard about how amusement games,
music machines, etc., in a place of business helped
to increase the business of the place, pay the rent,
and other advantages. Let's get the business back
to its original vim and vigor and promote the various
types of machines for the good that they do to the
whole volume of trade in a location.
The writer has suggested for many years that one
of the strongest fighting pleas for music machines
and games is the aid that such devices give to inde-
pendent stores, which means small business men.
II
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THE COIN MACHINE RE VIEW lor January_ 1950_ Vol. 17, No. 6. Publi shed monthly at 111 5 Venice Bl vd .. Los Angele. 15. Calilornia. Paul W _ Bla cklord. editor and
publisher. Entere d as Second Class Matter July 23. 1936. at the Post Offi ce at Los Ang eles. Calif. . under th e Act of March 3. 1879. $5 .00 for two years-$3.DO for one
year. 50c per copy.
JANUARY, 1950
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