The Advertisement Side of the Motor Vehicle.
Page 21
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By Henry Sturrney.
One side of the question of the motor vehicle in its application to business purposes is one which, in some cases, has been fully considered, whilst, in others, and I fancy in the majority, it has received but little attention at all. I refer to the advertising value of the motor vehicle. There can be no doubt that it does possess considerable value in this direction, and the far-seeing tradesman, who is -studying the question in all its branches, will do well to credit it with at least its due proportion of results.
In discussing the motor vehicle recently with a large trader, who advertises extensively, he told me that, after considering the matter of the cost of the vehicle, if he decided to purchase one, he would immediately put 25'per cent. of the cost to the debit of his advertising account. If the matter is looked at in this way, the initial cost of a car for business purposes is very materially reduced, in so far as its effects upon the finances of the business are concerned. Many who are considering the purchase of a motor for the first time overlook this advertising value, and consider only the magnitude of the initial outlay. Further than this, many others, I am satisfied, who have gone so far as to settle the question in their minds that a motor vehicle is needed and that they will have one, fail to make the most of the advertising opportunity. If they considered it at all, they considered that the mere fact of their running a motor van would, in itself, prove an advertisement, and to a certain extent there is no doubt this is correct. But, as the use of the commercial motor vehicle extends, this advertising value lessens, simply because, when a number of firms are doing the same thing, and the streets are full of vehicles which are more or less duplicates of each other, lust as with the pleasure car of to-day, the public eye grows so accustomed to the sight, that, as time goes on, the appearance of
motorvan attracts no notice or remark. When the use of a motor vehicle in any particular district has reached this stage, the advertising value may be reduced to quite a small degree, unless the user strikes out an entirely original lines. As is well known in advertising generally—regardless of the nature of the advertisement—the object of an advertisement is to attract the attention, and ideas which are absolutely conventional and hackneyed attract little or none ; the man who makes the most successful advertising coup is the one who strikes out first in some new and entirely original line. Who, for instance, would question the advertising value of the Dunlop balloons at the Isle of Man and elsewhere? As a branch of general advertising it is certainly one of the smartest ideas which has been struck for a long time. A balloon in the 1.(3, naturally attracts the attention of everyone walking on the face of the earth in sight of it, and, if it bears the name of a specific commodity, that name is read by scores of thousands, who, had the name merely appeared on wall posters or in the newspapers, would never have noticed it, and, certainly, would not have taken any particular notice of it. And so it is with the motor vehicle. When the whole idea of motor haulage was a novelty, the advertising value of the mere possession of a van was great and firms were quite prepared to take their risks of failure in exchange for the advertisement secured. They were, in short, prepared. to debit almost the entire value of the cost of a motor vehicle to the advertising account. To-day, things are different, especially in London and large towns where the use of motor delivery vans has already become common. Here,. the mere fact of a inotorvan passing along the street with the tradesman's goods attracts very little notice. The name upon the van is read and has, it is true, a little more advertising value than if appearing upon a horsed equipage, for the passer-by is apt to remark that So-and-so are up-to-date, and he may, possibly, further mention the fact of his observation to his friends. But, beyond this, there is no great advertising value, unless we credit to advertising the effect produced directly upon the customers of the firm by speedier and prompter deliveries. To-day, the trader who understands advertising and reckons to get advertising value out of a motor vehicle, adopts some unique device. Messrs. Worthington's van, designed in the shape of a bottle, is probably one of the best advertising schemes with a motor vehicle extant. Anyone seeing this vehicle corning along could not fail to observe it and it must convey its tale to thousands who would not look at it at all if it were merely " a motorvan." All this leads me up to the point that a slavish adherence to the conventional results in the trader losing much of the advertising value of his vehicle. It is the unaccustomed that attracts, and I was particularly struck with this at the Reading demonstration recently, where there were vehicles in the procession both of conventional and unconventional types, and it was then made strikingly_ apparent that the unconventional attracted the attention of the public most. I went round the procession on the ArrclJohnston float, which was crowded with the populace of Reading ; that vehicle, with its motley load, undoubtedly • attracted more attention than did the omnibuses and charsa-bancs in front. Near us were two vehicles of a totally • different type : one a hooded, canvas-topped lorry .of strictly conventional design.; the other the little Parsons• vehicle, and it was very noticeable that the little vehicle attracted a very much greater amount of attention from the crowd than did the big one.
Depend upon it, this advertising value of the motor vehicle, if due attention is given to the design, the finish, or the attachments of the car, can be made of very considerable • value, and, on the other hand as pointed out above, can be very largely nullified.