Part 11

In this instance movie exhibitors could hire the film free, and the advertisement in the trade papers had not been a day old before two hundred bookings resulted. What made the offer so attractive was to insert free advertising in the local newspapers announcing where the film could be seen. Dealers, too, were put in a good frame of mind, for at the bottom of the ad. appeared the names of those stocking Oxo locally. Exhibitors were also invited to write to the local schools and get the pupils to attend a special matinee as their guests, for an appeal to the children is worth something.

Motion-picture audiences go to see interesting stories, and it stands to reason, therefore, that they would better appreciate your ad. got over in this way than by any other method.

The plot written around the Hecker Mills introduces us to the harvesting of the grain, and in the mills the various processes come in for due attention. Additional interest is imparted to “The Chef’s Redemption”--for that is its alluring title--by showing how useful the Hecker flour is in making various kinds of bread popular in foreign countries. The ideal conditions prevailing in the plant carried conviction.

There now exist several firms who specialize in motion-picture publicity, so the advertiser need have no fear of inexperience holding him back. The old adage, “Do it now,” applies in this case.

XVIII.

SELLING AUTOMOBILES AND ACCESSORIES BY MOTION PICTURES

It is not every day that a new and reliable advertising medium is unearthed, and it was decidedly a good day’s work when the selling powers of motion-picture publicity became known.

You appeal to the public at their leisure and there is no competition to fear, as exhibitors will not show more than one ad. film on a single program. You also enjoy a monopoly of the audience’s attention, for folks can only see one thing at a time in the darkened hall. The photoplay used to attract the poorer classes, but now the theaters have divided up into grades, and the well-to-do and middle classes are quite as enthusiastic patrons.

The manufacturer of automobiles and accessories can take up motion-picture advertising with every confidence that it is going to prove a good business producer. Naturally the latter depends on the efficiency of the campaign, for, like in everything else, system has to be applied.

It saves the trouble and expense of having to give numerous tests in order to prove your claims, and as the film records them once and for all, you are avoided any annoying hitches in demonstrations. The ideal film for advertising is that which carries the vague definition of industrial. The Reo Motor Car Company had such a one taken, and made it serve three useful purposes instead of one. The picture depicted conditions in their plant and how the autos were manufactured. In the office building they possess a private motion-picture theater in which the film is regularly exhibited to the employees, especially the salesmen, to keep them efficient. The result is that they are able to discourse with the completest knowledge of the goods they have to sell and enable them to land a sale easier. The film also comes in handy for sales demonstration purposes, while, with alterations, it is made suitable for showing before the general public to rope in prospective auto enthusiasts.

A noteworthy film gotten out by the Ford concern showed an automobile being erected in two and a half minutes, when it was speeded off on its own power. Henry Ford also recently devised an interesting plan which combined news with advertising. Each week he arranges to have the important events in Detroit filmed and offers the picture to exhibitors throughout Michigan. In Detroit alone fifty theaters show the picture. Henry Ford not only gets himself known as a booster of his home town, but in addition, avails himself of the weekly opportunity to boost his cars.

The Pierce Arrow Company had a film produced setting forth in a convincing manner the powers and capabilities of their autos. You can not demonstrate a motor truck on any street, and this is where the film triumphs.

The Straker Squire Company, an English firm, not so long ago introduced, within the compass of a single film, the making of the various parts of a modern automobile, erecting a car in sixty seconds, trying it out on rough roads, work tracks and on timber support. Then came a hill-climbing test and racing cars speeding at ninety-eight miles per hour. Lastly, the 980 employees were seen leaving the works.

The reel depicting the Diamler Motor Works at Coventry, England, was distributed in a different manner. The film was on show at a recent London auto exposition and caused a hit because it was an interesting novelty. This plan could also be allied in connection with future auto expositions held at the Grand Central Palace, New York, by enterprising firms.

And if you want to boost your tires, here follow some successful methods.

The De Laski and Thropp Circular Woven Tire Company put out a film dealing with their methods of manufacturing tires. It revealed also that it only takes five minutes to complete one. This film was used in connection with their campaign for capturing business in foreign countries.

In the fifty motoring centers in Britain, the Goodrich Company has been conducting film lectures extending over a year. The film was entitled “From Tire to Tire,” and in an entertaining way motorists were educated from the time the rubber was gathered from the tree until the tire was on the auto. In the course of the lectures, which were attended by large audiences, much practical information was imparted on the use and care of tires.

A story within a story. Did you ever think it was possible? If you want to approach an audience by means of entertainment instead of education, then it can be done. A trained scenario writer is capable of weaving your advertising story into a comedy or dramatic plot. It has been accomplished, as witness the “silent representative” of a Birmingham concern manufacturing a patent dual rim for motor cars. The plot concerned a gang of thieves who robbed a bank messenger of $25,000. While fleeing in an auto they are held up by the police, but escape after a struggle. The police then chase them in an auto. The crooks, however, come to a halt through one of their tires being punctured, and the police meet with the same misfortune. It so happens that the latter’s car is equipped with the Patent Quick Change Dual Rim, by which they complete the repairs before the thieves are half through with theirs. This allows them to capture the thieves with ease.

If you intend working the campaign in conjunction with your dealers, it is best to get up a list of them in order of territory and arrange for each to retain the film for a day. They then persuade, for a small consideration, the best-class theater in the town to show the film at the evening performances, after which it is despatched to the dealer in the next nearest town.

XIX.

CLINCHING AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY SALES BY MOTION PICTURES

The manufacturer of heavy agricultural machinery and merchandise of an intricate nature is placed considerably at a disadvantage, yet, by enlisting the aid of the versatile motion picture, he can greatly improve his selling tactics.

The idea of the salesman being burdened with such cumbersome things is, naturally, not to be thought of, so his abilities are confined to selling talk, aided by the literature of the publicity man. However convincingly these may be presented, the one clinching argument is conspicuous by its absence.

Almost every prospective customer, like the man from Missouri, wants to be shown, and when his desire can not easily be gratified, his business is often lost. It is usual in these cases for a firm to pay his traveling expenses to visit the plant, but if this is done, very frequently it is a mighty expensive way and takes the profit off the deal. The buyer, on the other hand, may not be able to spare the time for the trip.

But with a film, all doubt on the subject is scattered to the wind. The salesman carries a miniature projection machine, which is quite inexpensive, in a natty case. And when he wishes to demonstrate before the farmer, the blinds in a room are pulled down and a socket fixed to the electric light; if this is not available, he uses acetylene. A table-cloth is borrowed and tacked to the wall. He then turns the handle, and as the possibilities of the machine are unfolded on the screen, the salesman explains thoroughly all the difficult points. All the time the farmer is comfortably seated in a chair and is favorably impressed.

One firm I know went one better with the producing of their film. They arranged to have it taken on a farm where one of their machines was at work, and filmed the laborers using the implement in actual practice.

Both the Holt Caterpillar Company and the M. Rumely Company have successfully employed the motion picture to set forth the merits of their farm machinery.

Another effective plan has been to arrange a special show with the local movie exhibitor when the farmers come to town. Each farmer in the neighborhood was sent invitations, inviting himself, wife and children to attend an exhibition of select photoplays free. They were entertained with several dramas and comedies, but the star turn was the advertising film of the enterprising firm. This sank in to the right audience in a receptive mood. The exhibition of the picture to a number of the farmers at the same time saved much of the salesman’s time and trouble, and clinched a whole lot more business in the bargain.