Music Trade Review
Issue: 1915 Vol. 61 N. 8 - Page 5
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
•••••'
WHERE THE EXPOSITION OFFICIALS FAILED.
(Continued from page 3.)
any enterprise? It costs money to conduct newspapers and magazines, and it must be admitted
by the directors of the Panama-Pacific Exposition that the conductors of the American press have
treated the Exposition in a splendid manner. They have been unstinted in their praise and they
have commented upon it as representing the highest type of Exposition efforts, but have the Ex-
position officials done their part?
There has not been, so far as I know, a systematic method adopted to advertise this mag-
niiicient Exposition. The publicity has rested entirely upon the generosity of gratuitous work on
the part of public mediums. They have responded magnificiently, but their efforts have not been
sufficient to interest the percentage of American people who would have, I believe, visited the
Exposition had their attention been drawn to the enterprise through well planned publicity.
It is surprising to my mind that men will plan and execute a magnificent triumph to which
the whole world is invited, and then fall down lamentably on one essential—publicity. In this the
Panama-Pacific directors have pursued the path followed by the officials of former expositions,
that of relying largely upon free press notices to exploit the exposition, supplemented by a few
folders and booklets which are gotten out by the various railroads.
Think of an enterprise costing so many millions as the Panama-Pacific and so short lived,
without having behind it a promotion department supplied with sufficient funds to conduct an
advertising campaign consistent with the Exposition accomplishments!
It seems to my mind absurd that business men should in 1915 overlook such a vital essential,
and I believe that it is wholly on this account that the attendance has not been materially increased.
Of course, it might be argued that San Francisco is far removed from the center of popula-
tion. True, but I have found that the men of the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain States have
not been over-patriotic in supporting the Panama-Pacific Exposition. Thousands of them who are
amply able financially have not evinced sufficient interest in the Fair to have visited it, and pre-
sumably they will not, now that the season is getting far advanced.
The Panama-Pacific Exposition, established to exemplify progress, industrial and art develop-
ment in all lines, has been created at an enormous expense. It has been a great national accom-
plishment commemorating an event in which all Americans take pride. But, through a shortsighted
policy, the directors have attempted to break into publicity through the back door, and the net results
of the Fair will only be a fractional part of what they might have been had a broader policy been
pursued and had the American people been given an adequate idea of the tremendous scope and
magnitude of the Pacific Coast enterprise.
The day has gone by when people will wear a path to the "house in the wood." They must
be advised of what the "house" produces. Life is too short and too absorbing to go cruising
around the path looking for mousetraps or any other creation of human hands.
Summing up, the directors of the Panama-Pacific Exposition have reached the high water
mark, in many respects, of World's Fairs. They have worked out every detail in a most inter-
esting manner save one, and that one of the most vital to the financial success of the Exposition
—publicity.
They have failed to let the American people know of the attractiveness of their creative work,
and for this reason alone the Fair, to my mind, is destined to be a losing proposition. The tide
could have been turned through an energetic, progressive management.
It is absurd to fall back on the statement that the officials did not do this because they lacked
the money. They did not lack the money to create beautiful structures and to execute other plans.
Then why should the publicity department have been starved in such a way that it has detracted
from the actual success of the Exposition itself?
It would seem as if broad-minded men of to-day should steer clear from such a course, but
the results show that they have adhered to the same old schedule pursued by Exposition authori-
ties of days gone by—that of falling back upon the generosity of the American press, without giv-
ing adequate support in any way to the advertising columns of the papers.
Thus they have overlooked an essential which should have made the Panama-Pacific Exposi-
tion a financial success and have brought vast moneys to California, which would have, of course,
percolated through various channels, thus benefiting all classes on the
Coast, but the Exposition officials, through a mistaken policy, have
ruled otherwise.
Strange, indeed, when we consider that California, particularly the
southern portion, has been built by boosting, and yet here is the greatest
single California creation starving for the lack of it.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
•••••'
WHERE THE EXPOSITION OFFICIALS FAILED.
(Continued from page 3.)
any enterprise? It costs money to conduct newspapers and magazines, and it must be admitted
by the directors of the Panama-Pacific Exposition that the conductors of the American press have
treated the Exposition in a splendid manner. They have been unstinted in their praise and they
have commented upon it as representing the highest type of Exposition efforts, but have the Ex-
position officials done their part?
There has not been, so far as I know, a systematic method adopted to advertise this mag-
niiicient Exposition. The publicity has rested entirely upon the generosity of gratuitous work on
the part of public mediums. They have responded magnificiently, but their efforts have not been
sufficient to interest the percentage of American people who would have, I believe, visited the
Exposition had their attention been drawn to the enterprise through well planned publicity.
It is surprising to my mind that men will plan and execute a magnificent triumph to which
the whole world is invited, and then fall down lamentably on one essential—publicity. In this the
Panama-Pacific directors have pursued the path followed by the officials of former expositions,
that of relying largely upon free press notices to exploit the exposition, supplemented by a few
folders and booklets which are gotten out by the various railroads.
Think of an enterprise costing so many millions as the Panama-Pacific and so short lived,
without having behind it a promotion department supplied with sufficient funds to conduct an
advertising campaign consistent with the Exposition accomplishments!
It seems to my mind absurd that business men should in 1915 overlook such a vital essential,
and I believe that it is wholly on this account that the attendance has not been materially increased.
Of course, it might be argued that San Francisco is far removed from the center of popula-
tion. True, but I have found that the men of the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain States have
not been over-patriotic in supporting the Panama-Pacific Exposition. Thousands of them who are
amply able financially have not evinced sufficient interest in the Fair to have visited it, and pre-
sumably they will not, now that the season is getting far advanced.
The Panama-Pacific Exposition, established to exemplify progress, industrial and art develop-
ment in all lines, has been created at an enormous expense. It has been a great national accom-
plishment commemorating an event in which all Americans take pride. But, through a shortsighted
policy, the directors have attempted to break into publicity through the back door, and the net results
of the Fair will only be a fractional part of what they might have been had a broader policy been
pursued and had the American people been given an adequate idea of the tremendous scope and
magnitude of the Pacific Coast enterprise.
The day has gone by when people will wear a path to the "house in the wood." They must
be advised of what the "house" produces. Life is too short and too absorbing to go cruising
around the path looking for mousetraps or any other creation of human hands.
Summing up, the directors of the Panama-Pacific Exposition have reached the high water
mark, in many respects, of World's Fairs. They have worked out every detail in a most inter-
esting manner save one, and that one of the most vital to the financial success of the Exposition
—publicity.
They have failed to let the American people know of the attractiveness of their creative work,
and for this reason alone the Fair, to my mind, is destined to be a losing proposition. The tide
could have been turned through an energetic, progressive management.
It is absurd to fall back on the statement that the officials did not do this because they lacked
the money. They did not lack the money to create beautiful structures and to execute other plans.
Then why should the publicity department have been starved in such a way that it has detracted
from the actual success of the Exposition itself?
It would seem as if broad-minded men of to-day should steer clear from such a course, but
the results show that they have adhered to the same old schedule pursued by Exposition authori-
ties of days gone by—that of falling back upon the generosity of the American press, without giv-
ing adequate support in any way to the advertising columns of the papers.
Thus they have overlooked an essential which should have made the Panama-Pacific Exposi-
tion a financial success and have brought vast moneys to California, which would have, of course,
percolated through various channels, thus benefiting all classes on the
Coast, but the Exposition officials, through a mistaken policy, have
ruled otherwise.
Strange, indeed, when we consider that California, particularly the
southern portion, has been built by boosting, and yet here is the greatest
single California creation starving for the lack of it.
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