XIV.
BRINGING OUT THE INDIVIDUALITY OF DRY GOODS BY MOTION PICTURES
The motion picture is the ideal channel for enterprising dry-goods manufacturers who want to bring out the individuality of their goods.
Printed matter, no matter how attractively gotten up, leaves a lot to be satisfied, both in appeal and the results. First of all, you have got to get your stuff read by discriminating buyers, and that is no easy matter in these days, when the mails are swamped with it. You have got to humor those skeptical folks who want to be shown that your statements are correct. They have been deceived so many times by unscrupulous advertisers that even the honest ones come under suspicion. To sum it up briefly, motion-picture advertising is a vehicle for pictorial treatment. Your reader sees the thing in actual reality, instead of pen paintings or still photographs.
Movie audiences have come to regard films as next to life itself, and no fraudulent advertising has crept in on the screen to shatter their illusion.
You interest your readers with little effort. At home he or she can toss your costly literature in the waste-basket without even giving it the once over. Or, come to that, if it is a magazine or newspaper ad., there is a whole mass of matter claiming attention at the same time. Your ad., therefore, stands precious small chance of gaining attention. But at the motion-picture theater the situation is entirely different, for your audience is already waiting to be tackled. Their attention is literally glued to the screen. No matter what species of film you adopt to get over your arguments, then the spectators will give it the self-same attention. They can not do otherwise, since only one thing appears on the screen at the same time, and the hall is too dark for them to do anything else. It is hardly likely that they will vacate their seats if they have not seen the whole program. So the results depend mainly on how your appeal is presented.
Becker, Mayor & Company, of Chicago, preferred to do theirs with the aid of a film carrying the interesting title of “The Sheep Industry.” It opened with scenes of sheep grazing on Montana plains, and then dealt with the whole operation of making clothes—in their way, of course—from the time the sheep were sheared until the clothes were on the back of the customer. It was a rather intricate subject, but it was put over in a clear and entertaining manner. The selling talk that came to the surface out of the mass of material was this: The sanitary conditions under which the “Graduate” coats were turned out, and the several hand operations which ensure perfect-hanging sleeves, smooth shoulders and the coat keeping its shape; hanging the clothes in the stockroom as a precaution against wrinkles. Then followed a typical retail store stocking the well-known “Graduate” and “Woolly Boy” brands. Their arguments that their clothes were made of all wool and hand-made assumed a deeper meaning, adding the desired convincing touches.
Perhaps you would prefer to have your statements woven into a comedy or dramatic photoplay, and so avoid the direct advertising element. Well, the Printzess concern had one produced in three reels, taking about an hour to show, but incorporated industrial stuff like that mentioned.
Personally speaking, I should advise the advertiser to get out a short film at regular intervals, about a reel in length. You can then take each thing separately and release a film at intervals, and so maintain the interest. You wouldn’t think of having one big splash at press advertising and then do no more, would you? The same principle holds good in filmland. There is nothing that gets the goat of a picture-goer quicker than having to see the same film more than once, and it should have the run the ordinary films are given—one day.
Harken back to the Printzess campaign, their story possessed a very weak plot, and it was the many interesting incidents that made the picture entertaining. Reduced to the bare outlines, here is the story: A society leader accepts an invitation to attend an informal ladies’ costume pageant. She promptly gets her dressmaker busy on new gowns, for her wardrobe did not fulfill her exacting demands. When they are completed, however, they turn out misfits, and there is no time for alterations. In her dilemma, she conceives the idea, suggested by a magazine ad., of buying a ready-made gown at the nearest department store. To her delight, she obtains a stunning dress that fits perfectly, and creates a sensation at the pageant. She is declared the best gowned woman, a gold mesh-bag being the prize, and gains the title of “Her Royal Highness Miss Printzess.”
When the Printzess people heard of the honor paid them, they invited her to inspect their plant in Cleveland, Ohio. She has a sister in the town, which gives her a good motive for making the trip. After being shown over the works, she is full of admiration for the workmanship of Printzess dresses. Back at home, she muses over fashions, which are visualized by beautiful living models, attired in gowns shortly to be introduced.