Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 May 1912 — Advertising Talks [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Advertising Talks

BEST METHOD OF ADVERTISING CITY Address Delivered Before Ban* quet of lowa Ad. Men in Cedar Rapids, by J. R. Babcock, of Dallas, Tex. A city is not land, houses, workshops and railroads. It is a living', pulsating entity; its soul the sum of all the characteristics of its citizenship; its body, the ground, underlaid with its arterial system of water, drained and cleansed by its sewers, overlaid by highways, car lines and bridges; its clothing, the showing it makes to its friends,- the other cities when they come to call. The clean street is the cities well kept garb and the shaded parks, its smile ofwelcome; the play-: ground a glimpse of Its humanity. The same impulse which dresses a man in clean, well-fitting clothes, or an advertisement in clear type on fine paper, should prompt the soul of the city to present its best appearance to the world. Realizing that the word of mouth advertising is beyond price, and that clothes ofttlmes make the man.

Civic attractiveness means not beautification alone, but the city healthful, with clean streets; the city convenient, with good car service as well as artistic trolley poles; wTh good government, as well as a magnificent city hall. Limit it however to externals, and it can be shown that civic attractiveness pays not only in making healthhappier and better citizens, but commercially and industrially, civic attractiveness Is one of the best municipal assets and certainly the best municipal advertisement. Dirt, dust and disorder have driven many an otherwise good merchant on the rocks of failure. We buy our goods from the retailer who has the cleanest, most attractive stock, the best delivery system, but not necessarily the lowest prices; today we are willing to pay for efficiency; the time value, the place value, the art value are. factors that Influence business.

Cities compete for trade; the customer arrives in your town at a dirty, dangerous and disgraceful railroad station; he inhales a draught of sewer gas and factory smoke, seizes his grip and starts the short walk to hi* hotel; stranger in a strange land, he tries to get his bearings; his hotel is al the corner of Pacific and Pearl but no street signs appear; a cloud of dust from a dirty street blinds his eyes and he just escapes being run over by a taxi-cab driven on the wrong side of the street The policeman says, “Up one block; then to your right." That block happens to be -800 feet long without a break and the wondering customer reaches his hotel with a curse of contempt for such an illy planned town.

He meets you Mr. Man, who have advertised the “City of Power" Hydro Electric for 1c a kilowatt. He is interested in the cheapness. “How about the cost of labor,” he ask*. “Well,” you say, “labor is not plentiful; somehow the laboring men don’t stay here long. They are constantly moving out; but you can surely get plenty of help to start your factory on ” But Mr. Customer says, “Laboring men are human. They must have suitable homes, schools and churches. They can get them almost anywhere.” “But laboring men, nowadays, are seeking the town where they have parks, zoological gardens, playgrounds for their children, social centers, free kindegartens, a chance to secure a modest home with pleasant surroundings. They stay in such towns. Their wives and children make them stay.” “Well, you say, “We have thought of those things' but they cost a lot of money, and we take pride In having a tax rate tvhich is the lowest in the state. Our people grumble about it even as it is, and I don’t know what they would do If they had to pay for such “frills.”

Good bye! Mr. Customer has gone, a 125,000 per week payroll has gone with him. $1,300,000 a year worth of business which the merchants of your town have, lost and lost forever, all because civic attractiveness was not considered, and if considered at all was called a “frill." 1 > In advertising our cities we generally lose sight of a great influence which must be secured If we are to succeed. The influence of the wife, the mother or the daughter, must be reckoned with ; what man will from choice make his home in a squalid unkempt, unattractive city; all its commercial advantages are unconsidered by the wife. She can only look at the city from a home-making standpoint and only asks: “Is it a city healthful for my children, offering opportunity for culture, education and recreation.” Think of the purchasing influence of the woman, the wise framing of advertising to win her favor, the care and expense put into attractive packing, and artistic designing of all kinds of wares, to get her

good will and you must conclude that cities also must be made to appeal to the women of the home. A current magazine has the advertisement of a motor car, the features of the advertisement are In the following words: “Physical comfort afforded by resilient springs, luxurious upholstery and rich apointments. New devices increase conifort', convenience and safety.” Note that efficient mechanism te taken for granted, economy in operation is implied. Cities appeal to the individual just aS they offer these very things. The question is, what does your city present in physical comfort, convenience, safety and artistic surroundings? The best advertised cities In the United States are not the ones who exploit their commercial advantages most widely, not the cities with the cheapest fuel, the most railroads, the lowest freight rates; the cities that are home cities, beautiful cities, well planted cities, are advertised by their loving friends. In “where life is worth living,’ we See the most conspicuous example; it is not only a slogan, it is a fact If you have been there but once you will always be impressed with the most powerful of municipal advertisements, namely, the appearance of the city Itself. Broad, wellkept streets, pastes, playgrounds, river front,, delight the eye, charm your senses, and you say these people are not only prosperous, they are happy.

The desirable type of citizen to attract is not the mere money-maker A city Is never built by the men who only strive to take all they can .from a city and give nothing babk. If your city has wonderful fortune-making possibilities and attracts men for that alone, they will be citzens only until their fortunes are made; then they hie themselves to cities where they can enjoy the spending of the wealth they have wrested from you. Where does your erstwhile citizen go? To Paris, Berlin, Washington, Detroit, Los Angeles/ at least somewhere where he can be proud of the attractiveness of the home city he has chosen. Some cities are already awakening to the power of the park and the playground as municipal advertisements. Burnham gave Chicago a glimpse of its future possibilities and Chicagoans are now forgetting their former pride In their packing houses and exploiting their beauty spots. Since Kessler builded the boulevards for Kansas City, she has grown marvelously; raised the type of her citizenship and progressing commercially and industrial has outstripped her sister cities of the middle west, just In proportion to the amount of time, energy and money she has spent in civic attractiveness.

What is being done in Dallas is purposely omitted in <_detall. It should be said, however, that from her effort for civic attractiveness, Dallas is receiving more favorable advertising than ever in her history. She is challenging the attention of the world by her work for civic beauty. Under the direction of Kessler, Dallas is applying the surgical knife to the diseased physical tissues and correcting the deformities in her anatomy. Dallas is bettering her housing conditions for her laboring people; is promoting civic centers; establishing public comfort stations; building a comprehensive system of parks and boulevards; and installing decorative lighting systems. The day of the commercial booster and the industrial advertisement of cities is passing. ■ Factories are not to be plucked up by the roots and transplanted bodily. The advanced school of municipal science says, “Clean your house before inviting your guests.” Make your city the most attractive in which to live, it will advertise itself and commercial prosperity will follow.