EMPIRE GOODS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 87, 10 October 1927, Page 2

EMPIRE GOODS

SPEARHEAD OF TRADE

ADVERTISING DISPLAY

NEW ZEALAND'S PART

(From "The Posts Representative.) LONDON, 26th July.

It is affirmed that the big Advertising Convention, held at Wembley in 1924, was followed by an all-round 10 per cent, increase in advertising in the newspapers. Greater results are expected from the Advertising Exhibition at Olympia, and the convention which was held simultaneously.

This exhibition wa.s organised by the Advertising Association, which repre-^ sents thirty-one affiliated organisations and clubs and some 20,000 people engaged in advertising throughout Great Britain-and Ireland. "Empire Trade 5' was its slogan, and the association isconfident that it will contribute directly to the revival and growth of national nnn "L the autumn- A space of 10,----000 sq ft. had been taken by the Empire Marketing Board, thus giving the exhibition an Imperial character. New had an exhibition in a section to itself, adjacent to the other Marketing Board's displays. Sir William Crawford, who had been visiting the Leipzig' Fair, had left Germany wishing that this country could l^ Yen,V air s0 S°°a, but he felt that the Exhibition at Olympia was even better. It was intended for the man in the street, the shopkeeper and the public. The convention was a Parliament of salesmen, consisting of both Lords and. Commons, addressed by men of great distinction in Government or business who could speak with authority on the best methods of .advancing Empire trade. The most astonishing thing to his mind was to find a Govornment going behind * trade show to give it an impulse forward. It was not sufficient to make good goods; the time had come for a determined effort on the part of manufacturers and others to sell them. He made these remarks at a luncheon preliminary to the opening. ALADDIN'S LAMP. The Eight Hon. L. S. Amery (Secretary for Dominion Affairs) opened the exhibition. It was a new magic city tor the magic art of advertising, he said an iart which was not meant as some might^unkindly suggest,, to make one get what one did not want and never would want, but on the contrary an art to help one to know one's needs and to satisfy them in the best and cheapest manner. Nothing could help them better.to realise:the importance of this great art in modern industry and commerce than an exhibition which thus ted every sense and was instructive in nn," 7 ? ne of its innui»erable sections, mis, he believed, was the greatest advertising exhibition ever held, and what made it unique was not so much the number of the exhibitors or of their stands, but the fact that it was the first advertising exhibition, if not the ftrst exhibition of any sort which had been conceived as a unity and not as a jumble. The diversity of its stands and their various decorations and appear were all subordinate to a- common artistic plan and a common conception bringing ouf- what advertising meant. It had been, as_ it were, both townplanned and artistically constructed. - „One.,f eature to which I should spocially like to refer is the display of the Empire Marketing Board," continued^Mr. Amery. "Its object is to advertise,^ notr !bo jmuch -any particular commodity but the. great-idea that it is only by developing the unlimited resources of the-Empire by giving a ureference of our custom to goods which the Lmpxre produces that we shall set the scheme of our future prosperity. That idea had been set forth by the board's .exhibit in an instructive and constructive form. Believe 1 me, that idea contains in itselt the key to our future. The other. day the Duke of York delivered at the Guildhall an instructive speech, the keynote of which might well be summed up in two words Empire' and 'Optimism.' That is oar true national slogan. If-1 may return to my earlier simile I would say that this is our Alaaain'B Lamp, the treasure of treasures which we can ail take with us always, and which we have only got to use in order to summon from the ends of the earth the genii of enterprise and prosperity, and send them iorth to. create new worlds of wealth to fulfil bur desires." -

The Courts of the Empire Marketing Board were, as usual, most artistically arranged, and the frieze which did service at the Dimedin Exhibition decorated two of them. Australia showed dried fruit, wines, tinned fruits, apples, butter, and honey. The two sections of Ireland gpecialised in thoir dairy products. South Africa had her citrus fruits. East Africa was represented by coffee and cereals.. Other colonies showed their.-various tropical products. Great Britain had several sections m which were excellent displays of many and various home products.

NEW ZEALAND SECTION.

As already mentioned, :New Zealand had a,section to itself, an arrangement which the High Commisisoner and the representatives of the various trade boards have;insisted upon. The exhibit was arranged diagonally across a corner of the hall On the left of the curved stand were samples of the Imperial Bee Honey. A few baskets of apples were displayed on pillars at each end of tile stand. In the centre were boxes of New Zealand butter, several with a surface exposed through a transparent covering. Thr<Je large cheeses were on view at eaca side of the butter. Tinned meat, tinned fruits, tinned milks, tinned jams, and tinned toheroas were prominent. The walls .were decorated with paintings of apple-orchards, sheep farms, dairy farms. Among the numerous artistically printed posters that caught the eye one noted the following inscriptions: "The standard of quality of New Zealand produce is the highest." "New Zealand apples are the finest in the world." "New Zealand butter and cheese lead the word for quality and flavour." Demonstrations were given in the production.of cream from dried milk, and 2oz cartons of butter were being sold throughout the- week. An interesting feature, of the Marketing Board's display was a demonstration of how goods should be packed and labelled in order to attract the customer. A dozen bays round the pavilion contained a selection of the proprietary products of the Empire. Each section was an exanrple- of a useful trade-text, artistically printed, and placed over the top of each bay. , Two model kitchens were installed, and in these skilled demonstrators explained the most effective- methods of preparing Empire produce for the table. Dishes were cooked, and the audience sampled them for themselves. The Empire Marketing Board has recently produced a book, giving recipes for a large, variety of Empire dishes, and copies of this were distributed to the public.

BEITISH POSTERS.

An advertising exhibition could hardly make a popular appeal. Such an exhibition is a display of ideas typifying modernity in its many phases, arid also expressing in a multiplicity of forms the great fundamental truths of advertising and publicity. The exhibition represented the highest point reached by the modern movement in decorative art, and existing ideas.of shop facades and decorations were revolutionised. Never before liad there- been collected and displayed tinder one roof frach a-j

representative selection- of all-Britisli posters. It was the work of the British Poster Advertising Association and the London Poster Association. The posters, numbering nearly one hundred —specially selected by a committee of well-known people—were hung round, the galleries, and the stand of the association had a staircase up each side so that from the bridge-at-the top visitors could get a panoramic view of the display. A £300 competition had been organised by the two associations, and visitors were busily engaged in filling up forms, each one indicating his favourite poster, and then giving a forecast as to what might be the most favoured selections of other people— placing in order twelve posters. From every country in'the world except Eussia, 600. newspapers told their story with circulation areas, net sales' and advertisement rates, for the convenience of the potential advertiser who wants to sell his commodities. A very, striking exhibit .was the combined stand of the "Big Four" in the railway world —the Great- Westerc, London and Worth-Eastern, London, Midland, ana Scottish, and the Southern--who are responsible for the transport of the great bulk of Empire produce from British ports to the home cities and villages The "Big Four" had combined to present to the visitors a striking-series of illustrations designed to show, what a vital part British railways play in the life ana well-being of a highly organised industrial country like this. The Advertisers' House comprised a house and garden built up entirely from advertised goods. No fewer than 130 firms showed their goods: in this one exhibit, and the house was rfurnished' and fitted up, as nearly as possible approximating to . the average modem home, in order that visitors might see for themselves how much advertising has helped the ideal home of to-day. The Palace of Beauty, an ornate hall was besieged by throngs at intervals during morning, afternoon, and evening. Here the queues, when admitted, had the privilege of seeing some noted advertisements come-to life.- The originals who inspired these were all there in the flesh, and a lovely lot of girls they were, too. On the hoardings they are attractive; in the flesh they were be- : witching. Each was posed in a suitablo setting. . .' : : ■'■ •