Art In Advertising

Pic­tures in adver­tis­ing are very expen­sive. Not in cost of good art work alone, but in the cost of space. From one-​​third to one-​​half of an adver­tis­ing cam­paign is often staked on the power of the pic­tures. Any­thing expen­sive must be effec­tive, else it involves much waste. So art in adver­tis­ing is a study of para­mount importance.

Pic­tures should not be used merely because they are inter­est­ing. Or to attract atten­tion. Or to dec­o­rate an ad. We have cov­ered these points else­where. Ads are not writ­ten to inter­est, please or amuse. You are not writ­ing to please the hoi-​​polloi. You are writ­ing on a seri­ous sub­ject — the sub­ject of money spend­ing. And you address a restricted minority.

Use pic­tures only to attract those who may profit you. Use them only when they form a bet­ter sell­ing argu­ment than the same amount of space set in type.

Mail order adver­tis­ers, as we have said, have pic­tures down to a sci­ence. Some use large pic­tures, some small, some omit pic­tures entirely. A notice­able fact is that none of them uses expen­sive art work. Be sure that all these things are done for rea­sons made appar­ent by results. Any other adver­tiser should apply the same prin­ci­ples. Or, if none exist to apply to his line, he should work out his own by tests. It is cer­tainly unwise to spend large sums on a dubi­ous adventure.

Pic­tures in many lines form a major fac­tor. Omit­ting the lines where the arti­cle itself should be pic­tured. In some lines, like Arrow Col­lars and most in cloth­ing adver­tis­ing, pic­tures have proved most con­vinc­ing. Not only in pic­tur­ing the col­lar or the clothes, but in pic­tur­ing men whom oth­ers envy, in sur­round­ings which oth­ers covet. The pic­tures sub­tly sug­gest that these arti­cles of apparel will aid men to those desired positions.

So with cor­re­spon­dence schools. Theirs is traced adver­tis­ing. Pic­tur­ing men in high posi­tions of tak­ing upward steps forms a very con­vinc­ing argument.

So with beauty arti­cles. Pic­tur­ing beau­ti­ful women, admired and attrac­tive, is a supreme induce­ment. But there is a great advan­tage in includ­ing a fas­ci­nated man. Women desire beauty largely because of men. Then show them using their beauty, as women do use it, to gain max­i­mum effect.

Adver­tis­ing pic­tures should not be eccen­tric. Don’t treat your sub­ject lightly. Don’t lessen respect for your self or your arti­cle by any attempt at friv­o­lity. Peo­ple do not patron­ize a clown. There are two things about which men should not joke. One is busi­ness, one is home. An eccen­tric pic­ture may do you seri­ous dam­age. One may gain atten­tion by wear­ing a fool’s cap. But he would ruin his sell­ing prospects.

Then a pic­ture which is eccen­tric or unique takes atten­tion from your sub­ject. You can­not afford to do that. Your main appeal lies in head­line. Over-​​shadow that and you kill it. Don’t, to gain gen­eral and use­less atten­tion, sac­ri­fice the atten­tion that you want.

Don’t be like a sales­man who wears con­spic­u­ous clothes. The small per­cent­age he appeals to are not usu­ally good buy­ers. The great major­ity of the sane and thrifty heartily despise him. Be nor­mal in every­thing you do when you are seek­ing con­fi­dence and con­vic­tion. Gen­er­al­i­ties can­not be applied to art. There are seem­ing excep­tions to most state­ments. Each line must be stud­ied by itself.

But the pic­ture must help sell the goods. It should help more than any­thing else could do in like space, else use that some­thing else.

Many pic­tures tell a story bet­ter than type can do. In adver­tis­ing of Puffed Grains the pic­ture of the grains were found to be most effec­tive. They awake curios­ity. No fig­ure draw­ing in that case com­pare in results with these grains.

Other pic­tures form a total loss. We have cited cases of that kind. The only way to know, as is with most other ques­tions, is by com­pared results. There are dis­puted ques­tions in art work which we will cite with­out express­ing opin­ions. They seem to be answered both ways, accord­ing to the line which is advertised.

Does it pay bet­ter to use fine art work or ordi­nary? Some adver­tis­ers pay up to $2,000 per draw­ing. They fig­ure that the space is expen­sive. The art cost is small in com­par­i­son. So they con­sider the best worth its cost. Oth­ers argue that few peo­ple have art edu­ca­tion. They bring out their ideas, and bring them out well, at a frac­tion of the cost. Mail order adver­tis­ers are gen­er­ally in this class. The ques­tion is one of small moment. Cer­tainly good art pays as well as mediocre. And the cost of prepar­ing ads is very small com­pared with the cost of insertion.

Should every ad have a new pic­ture? Or may a pic­ture be repeated? Both view­points have many sup­port­ers. The prob­a­bil­ity is that rep­e­ti­tion is an econ­omy. We are after new cus­tomers always. It is not prob­a­ble that they remem­ber a pic­ture we have used before. If they do, rep­e­ti­tion does not detract.

Do color pic­tures pay bet­ter than black and white? Not gen­er­ally, accord­ing to the evi­dence we have gath­ered to date. Yet there are excep­tions. Cer­tain food dishes look far bet­ter in col­ors. Tests on lines like oranges, desserts, etc. show that color pays. Color comes close to plac­ing the prod­ucts in actual exhibition.

But color used to amuse or to gain atten­tion is like any­thing else that we use for that pur­pose. It may attract many times as many peo­ple, yet not secure a hear­ing from as many whom we want. The gen­eral rule applies. Do noth­ing to merely inter­est, amuse, or attract. That is not your province. Do only that which wins the peo­ple you are after in the cheap­est pos­si­ble way. But these are minor ques­tions. They are mere economies, not largely affect­ing the results of a campaign.

Some things you do may cut all your results in two. Other things can be done which mul­ti­ply those results. Minor costs are insignif­i­cant when com­pared with basic prin­ci­ples. One man may do busi­ness in a shed, another in a palace. That is imma­te­r­ial. The great ques­tion is, one’s power to get the max­i­mum results.

About the Author

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