A PRESS CAMPAIGN.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 126, 28 May 1918, Page 9

A PRESS CAMPAIGN.

XKWSPAPER ADVERTISING TRIUMPH. (Special to ''Star.") WELLINGTON, this day. Pressmen work anonymously, and are quite content as a rule to place their opinions under the ample cover of the editorial -'we"—they share with emperors and kings the right to uee this personal pronoun in the plural. In Wellington this month, under the stimulus of the needs of the Red Cross and Red Jersey, the pressmen and preeswomen came out into the limelight to make a personal appeal to the generosity of the public. The Wellington Press was asked to help a baby competition by nominating a baby—the Press resources were quite equafto this—and then to place it. if possible, at the top of the poll in an election the result of which depended on how many pe'nr.v votes could be piled up in three weeks. Over twenty babies, representing as many working committees, were nominated, and tho Press baby won by so ample a margin that it scored nearly as many votes ac all other competitors put together. The remarkable win. which resulted ill £1.124 being raised by the Press committee, is a tribute to the power of newspaper advertising. The campaign was run without the aid of posters, leaflets, or any other form of publicity except tho advertising columns of the Wellington Press, and the use of their columns tor discreet paragraphing. An ambitious series o!' entertainments was run, the theatrical and local amateur talent being readily placed at the service of the Press Baby Committee. There wa< no difficulty in obtaining help of this kind, for the generous givers told the pressmen that the newspapers had always been helping patriotic effort. and never seemed to want anything for themselves. Many of the Wellington and Kelson country newspapers assisted by sending large donations of produce, which the presswomen sold in the streets. The baby competition realised about £3.000. which goes in equal shares to the Red Cross and Red Jersey.