Music Trade Review
Issue: 1918 Vol. 66 N. 3 - Page 5
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
JANUARY 19,
1918
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Creating
Demand for
Pianos by
Advertising
MY mind there is no obscur-
ity between the idea of adver-
tising pianos and its execution.
Certainly it is obvious that advertising,
to be successful and create business,
must paint the article advertised as something to be desired," says H. Edgar French,
vice-president and general manager, Jesse French & Sons Piano Co., New Castle,
Ind. "A cut price does not create a desire for any article. In fact, most cut price
piano advertising is of such a coarse, and even vulgar, character as to actually set.
forth the piano as something undesirable in a refined home.
"Advertise the piano and the player per se? Most certainly it would pay!
"Why do the California Fruit Exchange advertise Sunkist oranges, and how
do they go about it? First of all, they advertise to create a demand, and they go
about it by making the Sunkist oranges appear as attractive as possible to buyers so
that they will desire to purchase, and from all 1 can learn, they are successful at it.
"The talking machine people spend all their advertising appropriation to make
ihe use of the talking machine so attractive to possible purchasers that they will go
clown town and buy talking machines at the full price.
"The automobile people appeal to the public from the standpoint of usefulness
as well as pleasure, and the result is the automobile people are selling everything
they can turn out and people are paying cash for the most of them. Now look over
the piano ads that come into your office from day to day. How many of those ads are
written so as to cultivate a desire to become an artist on the piano? How many of
those ads appeal to the artistic instincts? How many of those ads hold up the piano
as an instrument worthy of serious attention? You will find Steinway always
appealing to the artistic, and you know that Steinway is successful; you will find
the Aeolian Co. always advertising to make its products popular, and we all know
that the Aeolian Co. is successful—but take the big bulk of the ads and you will
mid that the sole appeal is made by an endeavor to attract the cupidity of the pur-
chaser with bargain prices, and eternal terms.
"Occasionally you will find an ad regarding the quality of the instrument of-
fered for sale, but that ad usually has for its argument, 'We have the best on earth',
regardless of the real artistic value of the instrument. You will find page after
page of advertising on the bargain order, and I contend that if the numerous
columns and pages of bargain advertising were devoted to the creation of desire
for pianos, the piano manufacturers would all have more business and better busi-
ness."
JANUARY 19,
1918
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Creating
Demand for
Pianos by
Advertising
MY mind there is no obscur-
ity between the idea of adver-
tising pianos and its execution.
Certainly it is obvious that advertising,
to be successful and create business,
must paint the article advertised as something to be desired," says H. Edgar French,
vice-president and general manager, Jesse French & Sons Piano Co., New Castle,
Ind. "A cut price does not create a desire for any article. In fact, most cut price
piano advertising is of such a coarse, and even vulgar, character as to actually set.
forth the piano as something undesirable in a refined home.
"Advertise the piano and the player per se? Most certainly it would pay!
"Why do the California Fruit Exchange advertise Sunkist oranges, and how
do they go about it? First of all, they advertise to create a demand, and they go
about it by making the Sunkist oranges appear as attractive as possible to buyers so
that they will desire to purchase, and from all 1 can learn, they are successful at it.
"The talking machine people spend all their advertising appropriation to make
ihe use of the talking machine so attractive to possible purchasers that they will go
clown town and buy talking machines at the full price.
"The automobile people appeal to the public from the standpoint of usefulness
as well as pleasure, and the result is the automobile people are selling everything
they can turn out and people are paying cash for the most of them. Now look over
the piano ads that come into your office from day to day. How many of those ads are
written so as to cultivate a desire to become an artist on the piano? How many of
those ads appeal to the artistic instincts? How many of those ads hold up the piano
as an instrument worthy of serious attention? You will find Steinway always
appealing to the artistic, and you know that Steinway is successful; you will find
the Aeolian Co. always advertising to make its products popular, and we all know
that the Aeolian Co. is successful—but take the big bulk of the ads and you will
mid that the sole appeal is made by an endeavor to attract the cupidity of the pur-
chaser with bargain prices, and eternal terms.
"Occasionally you will find an ad regarding the quality of the instrument of-
fered for sale, but that ad usually has for its argument, 'We have the best on earth',
regardless of the real artistic value of the instrument. You will find page after
page of advertising on the bargain order, and I contend that if the numerous
columns and pages of bargain advertising were devoted to the creation of desire
for pianos, the piano manufacturers would all have more business and better busi-
ness."
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