World-Wide Campaign To Publicise Merits Of Wool

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27734, 11 August 1955, Page 10

World-Wide Campaign To Publicise Merits Of Wool

Venus de Milo with an audience showing varied reactions and underneath a title jingle ending “. . . . you may feel cool; there is no substitute for wool,” figured in posters displayed throughout Britain recently. This was one of the lighter and most successful efforts of the publicity de-, partment of the International Wool Secretariat, whose director (Mr Eian G. Ogilvie) is now visiting Christchurch. In some cities it was frowned upon, but in such an event the department had material to suit any requirement.

Mr Ogilvie yesterday explained the vast resources of his organisation. A general blueprint for wool publicity is determined in London each season and this goes to offices in Stockholm, Oslo. Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Dusseldorf, Zurich, Milan, New Delhi, and Tokyo, and to the wool bureaux in Canada and the United States. Factual news bulletins, popular and technological, are issued frequently on new developments associated with wool production. These are augmented by a world feature service on special topics. In New Zealand, Mr Ogilvie has collected material from observation of aerial top-dressing and fence-post dropping. All this information goes to newspapers, periodicals, manufacturing and retail trade journals, and consumer organisations, often accompanied by photographs which, in Britain, are issued at the rate of 12,000 a year. International Wool - Secretariat picture libraries in Europe had complete files on New Zealand, Mr Ogilvie said.

“Tweeds Well Up” The fashion service alone has wide ramifications. Knitting patterns are commissioned and distributed free to women’s journals in many countries. The latest designs for wool are noted in the collections of salons in England France, or Italy, and within 10 days the secretariat gives them world-wide circulation.

_ Tweeds are well up again in the rail shows just ending in France,” Mr Ogilvie said.

A great volume of direct advertising was done in the consumer press, but the rhymes on hoardings, posters’ and cards in buses, trains, and the underground seemed to have made the greatest impression, he said. ‘Eight hundred million passengers travel by tube in London each year.' and our rhymes caught on so well that we began to receive contributions from parsons, schoolboys, and engine drivers,” Mr Ogilvie said. “One of the brightest featured Lord Nelson. T° J he rhyme, the artist took ine liberty of removing the wrong arni and binding the wrong eye, but in all the millions who saw it, only one spotted these points.” Practically all the verses ended with the slogan, “There is no substitute for wool, which was now used in 25 languages, although it was changed in Germany because of the unhappy memories of “ersatz.”

Stage shows at the Savoy and comparable social centres in other lands had become an accepted feature of the season, said Mr Ogilvie. The “Big Twelve in the Society of Fashion Designers co-operated. One designer on September 6 would inaugurate an international fashion week for wool with fabrics and mannequins from 11 countries. It would be presented to the press in the morning, to the trade m the afternoon, and to a distinguished audience in the evening, and the next evening it would be seen

by 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 television viewers. “It is not cliche-ridden, but a straight commentary on fashion trends, and television affords the big advantage of close-ups of details.” Mr Ogilvie said. Television was also used in Denmark, Belgium, and France. The finals of an international knitting competition were televised in Paris. Attention to Men’s Apparel “But equal attention is now also paid to men’s apparel,” Mr Ogilvie said. A big show was put on in Rome last year by tailors from 12 countries, each presenting six suits. A successful feature was a competition for men’s wear in the- year 2000 A.D.

The Germans showed a casual suit from the lapel of which the model raised a little aerial and called his girl friend by miniature radio-tele-phone. The French made great use of zips. Italy entered a space suit with decorated knobs for temperature control. The Swiss had a gay affair in orange, lemon, and green. However, Britain seemed to steal the show by its audacity in suggesting a return to the elegance of ruffles and bows, Lectures, radio, and films were used widely, said Mr Ogilvie. The International Wool Secretariat had just arranged with Pathe for the world-wide distribution of “The snowline is their boundary,” a New Zealand highcountry documentary film made in Canterbury. Publicity was arranged in close* consultation with the trade promotion, science and technology, and economic departments of the secretariat, Mr Ogilvie said. “It is a fascinating job which is truly international, with every country entering into the scheme enthusiastically,” »he said. Although many of the ideas could be adopted or adapted in most countries, there was scope, too,> for nationalist developments. In each country, the secretariat staff were all nationals for the better understanding and effective interpretation of all kinds of material.

Mr Ogilvie is on his way to the International Wool Textile Research Conference. Sixty of the world’s leading wool scientists, including four New Zealanders, will meet in Sydney, Geelong, and Melbourne for three weeks in August and September.