ADVERTISING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 21 February 1931, Page 9

ADVERTISING

A PROFITABLE INVESTMENT

A little while ago a suggestion was made that the achievements of the League of Nations should be advertised throughout the world. The proposal was that a column of “copy” should be published every day for a year in every newspaper in the countries which were members of the League. Hie cost of the publicity was estimated at £1,935,000. Nothing came of the suggestion. Nevertheless, writes Mr Clias 11. Stirrup in “Chambers’s Journal”, one British firm alone spends approximately £2,000,000 in advertising soap. Great Britain’s share in the cost of advertising peace would have been £785,000 There are several British firms which spend more annually in bringing their goods to the notice of the public. That advertising pays is now ouc of the most firmly established facts of modern business. It is a profitable investment. Since the Great War the annual expenditure incurred in making products and services known to potential buyers has increased by tens of millions of pounds annually in Great Britain alone, where cvery'year it is estimated that the amount now spent is £180,000,C00. It may seem to be a risky enterprise to spend £1,400 oil a page advertisement in a daily newspaper, yet so many business men are anxious to do so that it is necessary to hook their space months ahead. Tlio front page of the paper with the largest circulation in Britain is regarded as the most powerful business “puller” in the country. It is stated that on one occasion it’solcl 30,000 pairs of hoots by mail order. Great department stores know this, and sometimes they spend thousands of pounds a day in newspaper advertising. A good example of the advantage of advertising is shown in the “Eat More Fish” campaign of 1929. Trawler owners in England pooled £40,000 for the purpose of proclaiming the food value of fish. The public responded by buying 37,000 tons of lisli more than in 1928. The total revenue of the trawler owners for the 'expenditure of £40,000 was £1,100,000 greater than in the previous year. Much of the money was spent; upon new trawlers. Labour profiled greatly. The campaign resulted also in an increased coal consumption of 150,000 tons. The fishing industry is more prosperous to-day than it has been sin.ro the Great War. Fruitgrowers in California. spent £336,000 by collective advertising last season, and the value of their sales was £23,775,000. An analysis of how the annual sum of £180,000,000 expended in Great Britain is used is of great interest. Newspapers ;ue tiic chief recipients of advertising expenditure. Roughly. £75.000.000 goes to the newspapers and £13,000,000 to magazines and popular weeklies; £15,000.000 is devoted In outdoor publicity, and the remaining £72,000,000 to space iri smaller media arid the production of booklets, circulars, and folders.