GOVERNMENT PUBLICITY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 669, 22 May 1929, Page 11

GOVERNMENT PUBLICITY

“HITTING THE MARK,” SAYS MINISTER ADVERTISING CLUB LUNCH “The work the department is carrying out is good work—there it no doubt about that. ... It differs from ordinary advertising in that we cannot see the results of our efforts. We are casting bread on the waters in the hope that it will come back in (tourist traffic.” THE speaker was the Minister of Railways and Customs, and Minister in charge of the Advertising and Publicity Departments, the Hon. \V. B. Taverner, at the fortnightly luncheon of the Auckland Advertising Club yesterday, addressing members on the work of the Publicity Department. The General Manager of the New Zealand Railways, Mr. H. H. Sterling, and Mr. Aickin, Mr. Taverner’s secretary, were also present. Mr. Sterling also addressed the gathering. In welcoming the Minister the president of the club, Mr. C. E. Codlin, said that he understood there had been some competition in Wellington for the honour of being head of the Publicity Department, and it had been said that it was apparently leading to London, to the High Commissionership. Mr. Taverner said the luncheon was a pleasant let-up from the round of deputations he had been having. He felt like a layman among a lot of experts, although he was head of the Publicity Department. He thought there was a danger, if we were not very careful, of New Zealand becoming known as the land of the swordfish. SELL WITHOUT GIVING AWAY Ha had done a good bit of advertising in his time, and lrad found that sometimes it didn't appeal. Advertising must attract the interest of the reader. Mr. Taverner also referred to the newspaper fashion of advertising articles without stating the price. “The whole question is a psychological study, and today the man or the community which does not advertise goes to the wall,” the Minister said. “We simply must advertise.” In regard to Government publicity he said that the Government sold without giving away.. Touching on the Government’s decision to reintroduce the Southern steamer service between Melbourne and the South Island, Mr. Taverner said that it Vas hoped that the service would attract people from Australia, and be a very real benefit to the Dominion. It would also help trade relations between Victoria and New Zealand. People wanting to travel from Melbourne to Dunedin would not go np to Sydney. “The Government is turning its attention to Australia first, and then to America, Great Britain, and then Europe at large,” Mr. Taverner said. The Minister was glad to be present. He understood that the Auckland Advertising Club was the only association or club of its kind in New Zealand. He wanted the help ot everyone, and asked that any suggestion which might occur to members be sent on to him. “We feel that we are hitting the mark,” he said. All advertising did not hit the mark. It all had to be paid for ultimately by the consumer, and therefore it must have some lasting benefit to the community or it is economically unsound,” the Minister concluded. HONESTY OF PURPOSE RAILWAY MANAGER'S VIEWS Described by the president Mr. C. tt 1 Undlin as “a young live wire, All. H. H. Sterling, general manager of the New Zealand Railways, spoke al the fortnightly lnucbeon of the Auckland Advertising Club yesterday, saying that to him the transcending idea of advertising was honesty of purpose. The Railways Department had embarked on a degree of public advertis?n|, more intense than in the past and the results he believed bad been good. Advertising, to him, had two characteristics. Firstly, there was the Purely informative side, the going out and informing the people what one had to Sel ßut people bought things because they had unsatisfied wants, and thus advertisers had to create unsatisfied wants. They might create undesiroMe wants or wants for the economic and "social betterment of the race Thus it was that advertisers must have a high ethical standard. Ha said that he had' found that sincerity in work was one of the surest tests of the success of that work. -

(From yesterday’s Late Edition.)