MAINTAINING PROSPERITY

Taranaki Daily News, 27 September 1930, Page 5

MAINTAINING PROSPERITY

/ FREE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT. 7/7.' '' — ' ./ “At each stage of the business situation, advertising- takes on new significance and new obligations,” writes Mr. Janies H. McGraw, a writer, with an international reputation. “Moro and mdre,” he adds, “advertising' becomes essential' to the economical . movement of goods, from industry to industry, from producer or merchant to consumer. .More and more does advertising guide preference for commodities and services that; interwoven, form the very warp and woof of our civilisation. “In considering the ■ broader, as well as the more effective, use of advertising, it may well bo. questioned whether any product, however staple at first sight it uiay appear, is without elements of distinction. A product is endowed with the qualities of its makers, and no organisation is entirely devoid of personality. The very fact of survival in a competitive market is proof that there is distinctiveness in product or service. There are such individual factors as company reliability, assurance of progressive product improvement through intelligent engineering or painstaking research, ability to assist buyers by prompt deliveries, competence of representatives to advise on use and application of the product and on the condition of the market. There are a hundred respects in which firms differ from each other. All these affect the willingnet- of the buyer to take one manufacturer's product rather than another’s, even though the products appear to be similar.

“It is apparent that the very planning of advertising causes a most searching examination of products to determine the distinctive elements. If, perchance, there be no market tdistinetion, then, at the very least, advertising may guarantee a continuance of quality. The market position of certain brands of flour, bread, soap, cement, brass, industrial belting—the piopei'ity attending their makers is eioqueiit testimony of advertising’s effectiveness in the staple field. It has endowed run-of-product with a special character, and through the guarantee of sustained quality, advertising has made specialities within staples.” (