Reason Why Advertising

the forgotten book that reshaped marketing in America -18 years before Hopkins' Scientific
Advertising!

John E. Kennedy

The Strategic Club

 Copyright © 2021 The Strategic Club

Reason Why Advertising

di John E. Kennedy
© 2021 by The Strategic Club

All rights reserved

Layout: The Strategic Club

Foreword and notes: Giò Fumagalli

Cover-artwork: The Strategic Clab

 Contents

Title Page
Copyright
STEALING FROM THE WISEST
CHAPTER I
YOU MUST DO THE SUM TO PROVE IT!
CHAPTER II
TO WHOM ARE YOU ADVERTISING?
CHAPTER III
THE RESPONSIVE CHORD IN ADVERTISING
CHAPTER IV
LET THERE BE LIGHT
CHAPTER V
THEY WHO BLINDLY FOLLOW THE BLIND
CHAPTER VI
FORTUNE WASTED IN FOLLOWING WILL-O’-THE-WISPS
CHAPTER VII
WHY SOME ADVERTISERS GROW WEALTHY WHILE OTHER FAIL!
CHAPTER VIII
MAKING SURE OF RESULTS FROM GENERAL ADVERTISING
CHAPTER IX
HOW MAILORDER ADVERTISING IS TESTED
CHAPTER X
HOW TO TEST GENERAL ADVERTISING
UNDERSTANDING
THE VALUE OF
JOHN E. KENNEDY’S WORK
 STEALING FROM THE WISEST
- FOREWORD -
by Giò Fumagalli

I will start this book with a theft. And if you don’t believe that it is absolutely ethically OK to steal wisdom
from much wiser men you should get rid of the book you’re holding right now, because each single following page
is a theft. What’s the corpus delicti then? Easy answer: the genius of a man lived in the early years of the 20th
century. A man named John E. Kennedy, a former Canadian policeman who changed the face of advertising forever
with just three words.

So now that you know the name of the person offended by this wisdom stealing crime, let’s go back to our theft
activity…

Brian Kurtz stated it better than anyone else:

When you recognize and understand the fundamentals of any field, you’re better equipped to
innovate and break the rules of the particular game you’re playing.

Marketing is no different. If you don’t know the fundamentals, you might accidentally break the
rules and get lucky, but you can’t rely on getting lucky.[1]
John E. Kennedy was born in 1864, the last year of the American Civil war, and died 1928, one year before the
beginning of the Great Depression. He was a pioneering advertiser and for some time he has also been the most paid
copywriter in advertising.

He began working with Albert Lasker (if this name sounds new to you, Lasker was an American businessman
who played a major role in shaping modern advertising[2]) at the Chicago office of advertising firm Lord & Thomas
in 1904 and started his own business, the Ethridge-Kennedy Company, in 1907 in New York.

Lasker said about Kennedy:

The history of advertising could never be written without first place in it being given to John E.
Kennedy, for every copywriter throughout the length and breadth of this land is today being guided
by the principles he laid down.
I’m pretty sure as soon as you will finish this short book you’ll understand why John E. Kennedy left such a
remarkable signature on modern advertising, but now it is time to tell you a story.

This is the genesis of the 3-words definition that changed forever the history of advertising.

At 6pm on a May evening in 1904 a young and relatively unknown John E Kennedy walked into the saloon at
street level, downstairs from the Lord & Thomas Advertising Agency, and sent a note to A.L. Thomas, the head of
the Lord & Thomas advertising agency.

The note read:

I am in the saloon downstairs. I can tell you what advertising is. I know you don't know. It will
mean much to me to have you know what it is and it will mean much to you. If you wish to know what
advertising is, send the word "yes" down by the bell boy.
Signed - John E. Kennedy

That note would have ended up in the trash if Albert Lasker (eventually head of the agency, but then just a clerk
trying to make his way up the firm as junior partner) had not been in the office.

Thomas didn’t want to waste any time with an unknown copywriter, former Canadian police officer, but Lasker
wanted to meet this mysterious John E. Kennedy anyway. So he got Thomas’s approval to meet with Kennedy, in
his office.

Kennedy came upstairs and was quickly summoned by Lasker for the meeting.

The two started to interact, and Lasker's first definition of advertising was: “Advertising is news. News about
your product or service.” Kennedy agreed that advertising could contain news, but that alone was not enough, so
they continued arguing definitions until Lasker could come up with no further definitions. Kennedy was satisfied.
His secret was still unknown and he was finally ready to reveal it:

advertising is salesmanship in print.

That very moment could be considered as the spark that ignited the whole modern marketing universe.
Lasker would later write: “The whole complexion of advertising for all America was changed from that day on.”

If you’re familiar with the marketing masterpiece titled Scientific Advertising you’re probably familiar with its
author as well, Claude Hopkins. In the following years Kennedy, Lasker and Hopkins worked together at Lord &
Thomas. They were probably one of the best marketing teams of all the time and they completely reshaped the way
the world advertised, using a scientific approach to determine what worked best and was worth investing in. But
while Hopkins’ book became a must for all the marketers and the advertisers around the world during the past and
the current century, Kennedy’s book is still a hidden gem that needs to be discovered by the international marketing
community.

I hope this fresh edition of the untouched original manuscript will serve this purpose.

Furthermore, this book will help you face the biggest challenge Kennedy, Hopkins and Lakser had to face at
their time: believability.

Enjoy your journey with the first book ever written about the Reason-Why Advertising. You’ll be amazed about
how much Kennedy is still relevant today.

Giò Fumagalli

John E. Kennedy in a picture shooted in the early years of the 20th century.
 CHAPTER I
YOU MUST DO THE SUM TO PROVE IT!

Advertising should be judged only by the goods it is conclusively known to sell at a given cost. Mere
Opinions on Advertising Copy should be excluded from consideration.

Opinions on Advertising are as conflicting as opinions on Religion. Forty percent of all the people in the world
are Buddhists, and are of the Opinion that Buddhism is the only true religion. Twelve percent of the world’s people,
being Roman Catholics, are firm in the Opinion that the remaining 88 percent are wrong, and are sure of damnation
accordingly.

Eight percent of the world’s people being Protestants believe that both the Buddhists and the Catholics, and all
others, are deplorably ignorant of the only true faith, which of course must be their own particular sect of
Protestantism. And, neither Buddhist, Catholic, nor Protestant, can convince the 2 percent of Jews that their opinion
is wrong and should be changed.

This is a side-light on the inconsistency of mere Opinion.

Religion must continue in the realm of Opinion, because no one can decide which Creed is right;, and which
wrong, till he dies and finds out the facts for himself. And no mere man who died has ever come back to Earth to
settle the dispute.

But, it is different with Advertising, as it is with Mechanics or with Medicine, all three of which can be
conclusively tested.

Many Advertisers, however, seem satisfied to spend their money on mere Opinions about Advertising when they
might have invested it on Evidence about Advertising. These are the Advertisers whose business must die before
they can be convinced that “General Publicity” (merely “Keeping the Name before the People”) is wrong and
“Salesmanship on paper” right.

They blindly gamble in Advertising when they might have safely invested in it. If they were to buy any other
kind of Service, except Advertising, they would demand tangible proof of its efficacy before they spent money on
it.

If they hired a Salesman, for instance, they would expect him to prove he was earning his salary by making a
satisfactory Record on Sales. They would not accept, for long, statements from him that he was “Making a General
impression on the Trade” for his salary.

Nor would they be satisfied with the statement that he was “Keeping the Name before the People”[3] profitably
enough to compensate for lack of Sales.

Nor would they enthuse over a report from him that he was “Influencing Sales” for their other salesmen. What
the Advertising Employer would demand from his Salesman would be profitable Orders. He would demand Sales,
clearly made by the Salesman himself, each sale carrying a given profit over cost for the Employer.

That is just what the Advertising Employer should demand from his Advertising Expenditure, too-Sales-proven
Sales, carrying a satisfactory profit. And, if he insists upon it he can get the kind of Advertising which will actually
produce Sales instead of a vague “General Influence on Sales.”

Because, true Advertising is only “Salesmanship-on-paper”after all. When it is anything less than Salesmanship
it is not real Advertising, but only “General Publicity.” And, “General Publicity” admittedly claims only to “Keep
the Name before the People,” – to produce a “General impression on the Trade,” and to “Influence Sales” for the
salesmen.
 It makes the same lame excuses as would be made by a Salesman who failed to earn his salary in actually selling
goods. But “General Publicity,” or any other Advertising, should be judged by the selfsame standards as the
Salesman is judged, viz., by the goods it is clearly proven to sell at a given cost per dollar invested in it.

Lord & Thomas adv on Munsey’s Magazine.

May 1896
 CHAPTER II
TO WHOM ARE YOU ADVERTISING?

MR. ADVERTISER! You spend your money to tell People what you’ve got to sell.

Now, what kind of People can afford to buy your particular Goods?

What income must they possess to be probable Consumers of your Advertised Product? How many possibilities
of Sale has your product per thousand average Readers?

These are all vital factors in the framing up of your campaign, and in the prospects of Success from it. Here are
some Census figures upon which we base our Campaigns and Calculations.

In the year 1900 there were 15,964,000 Families in the United States. These Families averaged about five
persons each, or a total population of 75,994,575. Fifty-one percent of that population

lived in the country – 10 2/3 percent was Semi-urban, and 38 1/3 percent lived in Cities and Towns.

The Newspapers and Periodicals these Families read had a total circulation of 8,168,148,749 copies per year.
That means 512 copies per year per Family, or nearly two copies per day for each Family.

A great deal of Reading, isn’t it?

Now comes the astonishing part of the Census figures. Nearly 33 percent of all these Families had an average
Income of less than $400 per year, or about $80 per capita.

Only 21 percent of these Families had an annual Income of $400 to $600.

Only 15 percent of these Families had an annual Income of $600 to $900.

Only 10 1⁄2 percent of them had an annual Income of $900 to $1,200.

Only 7 1⁄2 percent of them had an annual Income of $1,800 to $3,000.

And, of the Automobile Class only 5 percent had an Income of over $3,000 per Family, or $600 per capita.[4]

Now, wouldn’t that set you thinking?

Suppose you have Pianos to sell through advertising, how many Families of the total that read Newspapers and
Magazines could afford to buy one? Then, how many of these are already supplied?

That estimate shows your Possible Market through Advertising, and indicates the way that Market must be
approached.

It also shows how many Readers you must pay to reach who cannot buy your Piano, no matter how much your
advertising makes them want it. And it also shows the futility of writing “Catchy” copy to attract the greatest
number of Readers for your advertisement, What you need is not numbers of Readers, but Class of Readers. That
very limited class you must convince, when you once get its attention, or you lose all profit from your Piano
advertising.

You must make up in Conviction and Selling-force for what you lose in possible number of purchasers with such
a proposition.
 But, when your product is something which can be used by the Masses, it is then a better subject for Advertising.
Because, you then have about 85 percent more possibilities of Sale, among Average Readers, than you would have
had with a Piano or Automobile. The current mistake in Advertising to this great 85 percent of Average Families is
that of talking over their heads, in terms and thought-forms which are unfamiliar or unintelligible to them.

Observe that not one of this great 85 percent of families has an Income of more than $1,800 a year, or $360 per
person. Observe also that the Average Income of this great 85 percent is less than $500 per year, per family, or $100
per head. We must not expect the Average of such people to have classical educations, nor an excessive appreciation
of Art and Inference.

Neither are they as Children in Intellect, nor thick-headed Fools. They are just Average Americans of good
average intelligence, considerable shrewdness, and large bumps of Incredulity. Most of them might have come
“from Missouri” because they all have “show me!” ever ready in their minds, when any plausible Advertising Claim
is made to them.

But, they are willing to be “Shown” when the arguments are sensible enough, as well as simple enough, to
appeal readily to their mental make-up. They are not suffocating for want of pretty pictures and pleasing phrases in
Advertising.

What they are most interested in is, “Show me how to get more for my money of what I need for Existence and
Comfort rather than for Luxury.” This “great 85 percent” of Readers has a peculiar Habit-of-Thought or Mental
Calibre of Its own which responds most freely to a certain well-defined form of approach and reasoning.

To strike the Responsive Chord with the class of Readers aimed at is to multiply the Selling-power of every
Reason-Why given and every line of space used. So a few Pointers upon this will be in order for our next chapter.

A famous Claude Hopkins' Ad for Lord and Thomas. As you can easily imagine by the headline and the first
sentences of the body text, this Ad was targeting a very specific group of people: those who can afford to pay at least
$1000 per week.
 CHAPTER III
THE RESPONSIVE CHORD IN ADVERTISING

ADVERTISING is just Salesmanship-on-paper.

It is a means of multiplying the work of the Salesman, who writes it, several thousand-fold.
With the salary paid to a single Salesman it is possible, through advertising, to reach a thousand customers for
every one he could have reached orally.
It is also a means of discovering, and developing, new customers where they were not previously known to exist.
These facts are mentioned here because few Business Men have a correct idea of what true Advertising should
consist of.
To start with the wrong point-of-view, on an advertising campaign, is to grope, experiment, and speculate, with
an appropriation which should have been invested as intelligently as in merchandise.
True Advertising is just Salesmanship multiplied. When we multiply nothing by ten thousand we still have
nothing as a result. When we multiply a pretty picture, or a catch- phrase, or the mere name of a firm, or article, a
thousand times we have comparatively nothing as a result.
But when we multiply one thousand times a good, strong, clearly expressed Reason-why, a person should buy
the article we want to sell, we then have impressed, through advertising, one thousand more people with that reason
than if it had been told verbally to one person by the same salesman.
Of course, cold type usually lacks the personal influence of the Salesman and, because of this, even
Salesmanship on Paper needs to be stronger – more convincing and conclusive than Salesmanship need be by word
of mouth.
Besides, when we multiply anything a thousand fold, at a large expense for the mechanical process of doing so,
it is wisdom to see that the thing to be multiplied is as nearly perfect as we can get it.
Nothing multiplied by one thousand costs just the same for the mechanical expense of multiplying it, but the net
result is nothing – less that expense. This is why so many Advertising Campaigns fail. Because, the Good Folks who
spend their money for Space have no definite idea of what should occupy it.
When we clearly understand that Salesmanship alone should fill it, we all know, in a general way, what that
means, though each of us might go about it in a different way, Salesmanship-on-Paper means convincing readers
that they should buy the article we want to sell.
Many good Salesmen find it impossible to do this convincingly on Paper because the customer does not stand
before them, with his facial expression as an index to the line of talk the Salesman should use in that particular case.
This is where the creative power of the Salesman-on-Paper becomes vitally necessary. He must, first of all, analyse
the proposition thoroughly – master the full details of the thing to be sold, then lay out a strong logical line of
argument upon it, “lime-lighting” the good points, and subtly masking the bad ones out of the reader’s mental
vision.

All this, however, is just what any good Salesman-on-the-Road, or Salesman-in-the-Warehouse, could, should,
and probably does, do. But, a glance at the Advertising pages of current publications will show how comparatively
few Advertisers adopt these first principles of Salesmanship in their copy. However, it is after this that the true
genius and power of able Salesman-on-Paper must be exerted. That consists in the staging of the arguments, to fit
the audience
A given argument, presented in a certain form of thought and expression, will strike responsively in the minds of
a given number, among the class of people aimed at, in each thousand.
If that percent is high, it means large profit to the Advertiser – large returns. If that percent be low, it means that
the advertisement has not convinced, has not struck responsively upon the particular class for whom the article
advertised is best adapted, notwithstanding the sound argument used This peculiarly “Responsive” quality in an
advertisement may be called its Personality.
Observe that it need not be the Personality of the Writer at all, but the Personality which he estimates will best fit
the particular class of people who compose the largest field of sale for the article advertised.
This intangible Personality feature may be likened to the keynote of a church, or of a music hall.
It is well known that every such building will respond most fully (in sound) to some one particular musical note
of the scale, in proportion to the interior size and shape of the structure. This, a note which sounds full, clear, and
vibrant in one such edifice, will sound thin, flat, and harsh in another. Because, it is not the Responsive chord of the
second building, as it is of the first.
The Musician who could look at the inside of a church, then declare its Responsive Chord, from an estimate,
would be in a kindred position to the Advertising Writer who could most profitably fit the Personality of his Reason-
Why Salesmanship to the class he aims at.
To strike the Responsive Chord full and true, with that class, would mean 100 percent in possible results, from
the arguments deduced. To strike a chord which sounded harsh, uncongenial, or unfamiliar, to that class, would be to
arouse latent antagonism or distrust. Either of these would discount the effect of the same logic, from 25 to 50
percent.
That is why the successful Salesman-on-Paper must possess Imagination, as well as logic. He must be able to
form a clear conception of the class he aims to convince. He must estimate how the average mind of that class is
likely to work, under a certain argument, and under a certain mode of expressing it.
Then, he must be able to create the Personality, in his mode of expression, which will strike the most Responsive
Chord with the greatest possible number.
Some few Advertisers possess this power of creating a personality which fits responsively the mass of humanity
– the great 85 percent. And this ability to estimate the average mentality, the Habit-of-Thought, of the Class aimed
at, with the power to create a personality in the copy which will fit it most agreeably and familiarly, is what the
Reason-Why Salesman-on-Paper must have, in addition to the logical arguments of the Salesman in any other field.
The difference in Results between copy written by two equally bright men may be, and often is, 80 percent, though
the same space be used in each case, to sell the selfsame article. That difference consists, first of all, in the quality of
argument, the “Reason-Why” that each of the two lines of copy contains, and next in the Personality with which
these arguments have been invested, in either copy, so as to strike the most Responsive Chord with the class of
readers aimed at.
The faculty of taking the Mental Measure of a given class, and gauging their Habit-of-Thought is a sort of
Instinct, such as guides the Timber-Explorer, who travels a hundred square miles of forest and estimates closely just
how many thousand feet of timber are on it, though he never counts a tree.
That sales of timber lands running into millions of dollars have been regularly made on this instinctive
knowledge of a single man, is evidence of the general accuracy, and reliability, of such trained, and instinctive
estimates. This same faculty has more to so with successful Salesmanship-on-Paper than is generally recognized.
And, it is rare enough to be interesting.

Lord & Thomas was not the only firm promoting a scientific approach to advering. In this AD, the J. Walter
Thompson Co of Chicago promoted its services as “a profitable investment, instead of a speculation”.
 CHAPTER IV
LET THERE BE LIGHT

Now, Mr Advertiser, let us be frank! Let us look at this subject of Advertising squarely, and dissect it. Let us
discard all prejudice or predilection, and accept only Evidence, in our final investigation.

Let us cut out sentiment, precedent, and “Popular Opinion,” and treat the subject as though we had never heard
of it before and “came from Missouri.” If, for instance, we had a load of Hay to sell how would we attempt to sell it?

Would we show our customers the Daisies that grew in it, ask them to note the Style of the loading, the fine pair
of horses that draw it, and the Vandyke or Otherwise beard of the Driver?
Would we tell him this is the same kind of Hay as was raked by Maud Muller[5] on a Summer’s day in Whittier’s
poem?
Guess not! – eh?
We’d tell him of the nutritious qualities that particular load of Hay possessed, for the feeding of horses, and then
we’d name the price delivered, show why the hay was worth it, and let it go at that.

Now, if our customer lived at a distance, and we must sell him the Hay by letter, how would we proceed?

Quote “Maud Muller” to him – then refer to the Daisies, the Horses, the Beard? No, sir – not for a moment! We
would confine ourselves carefully to the feeding qualities of our Hay, and to the advantages of buying while the
price was right.
But, suppose we had five hundred loads of this Hay to sell, instead of one load, and did not know just where to
write to in order to sell it.
That’s when we’d Advertise! But does the fact of our going into Print mean that we must go into Literature, Art,
or Clever conceits in space-filling too, in order to sell our Hay through Advertising?
Are we not still trying to sell just Horsefeed? How can we expect the picture of “Maud Muller on a Summer’s
Day” to help us close a deal with an unpoetical party who has Horses to Feed, and who must do it economically?
The Horse owner knows good Hay when he sees it, and he will know it from description almost as well as from
sight.
When he needs good Hay then the most interesting thing we can tell him is a description of the Hay is a
description of the Hay we have to sell, and why it is good, and why it is worth the price. No amount of Maud Muller
picture, or “Association of Ideas” will sell him Hay so surely and quickly as plain Hay-talk and Horse-sense. But the
Advertiser will be told that “in order for an Advertisement to sell goods it must first be seen and read!” He will also
be told that “in the mass of reading matter surrounding your Advertisement your Space must be made more
‘attractive’ than the rest, in order to be seen and read by the largest possible number.”
Now, at first sight this line of talk looks logical enough, but how does it dissect? Suppose you have a pretty
Maud Muller advertisement about your Hay, with a fancy border or Daisies all around it, and a delicate vignette of
“the Judge looked back as he climbed the hill!”
You would certainly attract the attention of many more Readers with that advt. than with the bald caption of
“Hay delivered, at $8.00 a ton” But, the man who wants Hay is the only party you can get back the cost of your
advertising from, and you can interest him more intensely with the Hay caption than with all the “Maud Muller”
kind of adverts. in the publication field.
And, you can afford to lose the “attention” of 400,000 Readers who have no use for Hay. If you can clinch sales
for your fine hundred loads with the few people who do need it. Observe that it is not necessary to “attract the
attention” of every Reader in a 430,000 circulation, in order to sell 500 loads of Hay.
But it is vitally necessary that you convince at least five hundred probable Purchasers that you have the kind of
Hay they need, at the price they can afford to pay for it.
If an advertisement, in a circulation of 430,000 costs $60 and we have a profit of $1.00 per load on Hay, we need
only sell one load each to sixty people in order to pay expenses.
But, if we “attract the attention” of 80,000 people by our advertisement, and sell only thirty loads of Hay to
them, we would then be out $30, and must credit the balance of our Advertising investment to “General Publicity” –
to “Keeping the Name before the People” - etc., in the vague hope that some other day these people may perhaps
buy Hay from us, if we then have it to sell.
That mistaken idea of “Attracting the Attention of the greatest number, for a given price,” is what costs fortunes
to Advertisers annually.
The striving to “Attract Attention” instead of striving to positively Sell Goods is the basis of all Advertising
misunderstanding.
So long as “Attracting Attention” remains the aim of Advertisers, so long will the process of attracting it remain
in the hands of Advertising Men who affect the Literary and Artistic attitude, rather than the plain, logical,
convincing attitude of the Reason-Why Salesman-on- Paper. And, great are the Advertising Writers’ temptations to
use “Attractive” copy at the expense of Convincing copy. Because, great is the temptation to be considered “smart,”
“bright,” “catchy,” “Literary,” “artistic,” “dignified,” “High-grade,” etc.
There is popular applause for the Writer of catchy “General Publicity,” which “attracts attention” even though it
does not sell goods. But, there is no applause for the Writer of prosaic Salesmanship-on-Paper which is forceful
enough, and convincing enough to actually sell goods in volume. This is one reason-why “Catchy” Advertising is so
current, and true Reason-Why Salesmanship-in-Type so rare.
Another reason is the far greater cost to produce studied Reason-Why Salesmanship in Type than to produce four
times as much catchy “General Publicity.”
A still further reason is that the Makers of “General Publicity” know they can never be held to account for
definite results from the latter kind of Copy, because nothing definite is promised through it.
- To “Keep the Name before the People”

- To “Make a General Impression on the Trade”

- To “Influence Sales”

- To “Protect the Market”

These are the vague nothings promised to the Advertiser by the Makers of “General Publicity.” These are
the fractional parts of Advertising he gets in return for an outlay which could have bro him back 150 percent
instead of 30 to 90 percent of his outlay for Space

Remember that Reason-Why Salesmanship-on-Paper will do all that “General Publicity” can do toward
“Keeping the Name before the People,” “Creating a General Impression on the Trade,” etc.

And, in addition to this, it can actually, positively, and conclusively Sell Goods, through Retailers (or by
Mail), in sufficient volume to pay 50 to 300 percent profit on the investment in Space it occupies.
“Advertise Judiciously.” Slogan for Lord & Thomas advertising, 1910
 CHAPTER V
THEY WHO BLINDLY FOLLOW THE BLIND

Carlyle compared Mankind to a flock of Sheep.[6] Stretch a rope across a country path, about
a foot and a half from the ground. Then drive a flock of Sheep over it! When the Bell-wether (or leader) has jumped
that elevated rope lower it to the ground and note what happens.

Every sheep in the flock that follows will jump a foot and a half in the air over that same rope, though it now
lies slack on the earth. They follow the Bell-wether blindly, - unreasoningly, - without regard to changed conditions.
They don’t jump for the same reason that the Bell-wether jumped, but because they say another Sheep jumped a
given height, at a given spot. Carlyle’s comparison fits the Advertising situation like a blister. There are flocks of
Sheep innumerable in the Advertising field, Neighbour! When Sapolio used the “Spotless Town” jingles (merely to
revive mental impressions created by previous logical advertising, the flock of Sheep ran
amuck on jingles, regardless of the application to other purposes.
When “Uneeda Biscuit” appeared on the market to fill a colossal waiting demand for
a fine- cent package, it was backed by an appropriation the mere volume of which must create a sensation with
Retailers (whether it actually sold goods to Consumers or not).
This, in turn, was followed by a brood of inane trade-marks launched on the
Advertising field after it and because of it. When “Ivory Soap” Publicity appeared on the scene, with its full pages of
pretty pictures, and its Five percent of Selling Effect, the Sheep concluded that, too, must be “the best ever” in
Advertising, so they promptly got in line and leaped the imaginary rope.
Then we had an epidemic of empty catch-phrases, following hard upon “Good
Morning! Have you used Pears’ Soap?” This, regardless of the fact that Pears’ much parodied phrase had a
foundation of a hundred years in accumulated advertising to tide it over its period of mental aberration.
Where are these false Gods of Advertising today?
“Spotless Town” is off the map, and Hand Sapolio is now being advertised on the
good old Reason-Why basis that built House Sapolio. The old-time brood of “Try-a-bita,” “U-want-a” and such
other Uneeda chickens has gone home to roost long before the tolling of Curfew bell.
“Uneeda Biscuit” itself, with the millions of trust money behind it, can keep up the
Publicity bluff better than it can afford to admit the mistake of starting it.
But there are unwilling admissions of a Change of Heart, in such of their
advertisements as “The Food Value of a Soda Cracker,” and other recent “type” copy. Where is that meteor of
General Publicity, “the Cremo Cigar,” which one-time flashed across the horizon of Advertising, with its million-
dollar outlay for Bill-Board display in Newspaper space?
It, too, has gone into eclipse.
Study the Ivory soap advertising of the present and watch it for the future. You will
find in it, month by month, less pointless picture, and more “Reason-Why,” though its Advertising Sponsors will
hate to admit the change of attitude their later experience has compelled. Pear’s soap no longer says “Good
Morning,” nor quotes, in place of it, any other catch- phrase. Yet, their once famous line is enshrined forever in the
minds of old Fogy Advertising Men, who swear by the Pear’s catch-phrase but who never buy Pears’ Soap as a
result of it.
Meantime such Stars in the firmament of General Publicity, have lighted the way to
ruin for a few dozen flocks of Sheep who thought they were following reliable “Bell-wethers” when they were only
following Fads.
And, every new Fad, started in a large way by any big Advertiser (who has money
enough to burn
a big Bluff, and pride enough to sustain that Bluff till he can quietly change his
play), will be applauded, copied, and “advised” by those who do not themselves understand the Compass, and so
must follow the lead of others as incapable as themselves.
But, “is there,” you ask, “any reliable Compass by which an Advertiser’s barque may
be safely steered to success?” There is, Reader, a Guide practically as reliable to the Advertiser as is the Compass to
the Mariner.
 Its guidance is not based upon mere Opinion, nor on Guess-work, nor on blind
following of the Blind. It is based upon carefully tabulated Results derived from Actual Tests made with different
kinds of copy, in different mediums, compared year after year on scores of different Advertising propositions.
By this means the exact earning power of each piece of Copy, may be told by the
number of Inquiries it produced for a given cost, and the number of direct Sales that resulted from the Inquiries.
Not only this, but the relative earning power of each publication is thereby accurately
revealed by the Cost of Inquiries and Sales, through each particular medium in which the same copy is run, without
regard to mere circulation claims.
The results from any one Mail-Order account using a given kind of copy, might only
indicate the effectiveness of that kind of copy for that particular article.
This would afford no conclusive evidence as to how that kind of copy might work
with a different sort of Mail-Order proposition, or in General Advertising. But, when a given kind of copy produces
almost a uniform kind of Result for different Mail-Order accounts, and does it consistently for years, it means
something definite and indisputable to Advertisers.
And, when the same kind of Copy is tried out in General Advertising, for goods sold
through Retailers, with the same consistent sort of Result (judged by Records of Comparative Sales in different, but
equivalent territory), it, too, proves something definite and conclusive that Advertisers cannot afford to ignore, not
matter how partial they may be to their own pet fads in Advertising or to friends in the Advertising business.

«Humor has no place in advertising. Nor has poetry».

Another good example of how Lord & Thomas promoted its brand.
 CHAPTER VI
FORTUNE WASTED IN FOLLOWING WILL-O’-THE-WISPS

“Keeping the Name before the People”, “and keeping – everlastingly – at – it!”

That, dear Reader, is “General Publicity” – a Glory-Game, under a convenient alias. “Keeping the Name before
the People” and “Keeping-everlastingly-at-it, “may incidentally “influence the sale” of goods, providing no
competing line is being actually Advertised through Reason-Why Salesmanship-on-Paper.
But, the main object of such “General Publicity” may be less mercenary, more
altruistic, than mere merchandising.
“Attract Attention;” – “Interest the Public” with pretty pictures and cute catch-
words; - “Encourage the Publisher” by paying him for plenty of unoccupied white space; -and lastly, pay some
Agency a commission to spend the money with the least effort and the most fire- works. That is “General Publicity.”
It is well enough, in its way, of course (like the Carnegie Libraries).
But, what is here objected to is that some folks, who ought to know better, call this
“General Publicity” by the name of “Advertising.”
Now, Advertising is, and should be, simply plebeian “Salesmanship-on-paper” – a
mere money-making means of selling goods by the quickest and cheapest method.
There is no Glory in the Reason-Why Salesmanship-on-paper -no applause for it, -no
admiration, -just Profit.
Because, it is simply common sense brought to bear directly upon the selling of
Goods. That is its
province-just selling goods over the counter or by mail.
If you want to find out how few goods “General Publicity” Copy (“Keeping the
Name before the People”) will actually sell, test some of what you are now using, in a Mail-Order way, -to sell
goods, mark you (not merely to give away Calendars or Samples).
That is the test that shatters advertising Idols and dispels “Publicity” illusions. You
may have the smoothest “Catch-phrase” that ever happened, -you may be thoroughly tickled with your Witty
Wording, Pretty Platitudes, and Artistic Illustrations.
You may fell Cock-Sure that you have a kind of Advertising which couldn’t fail (so
long as the Salesmen do its work in addition to their own). But, suppose you should try to actually sell goods by
mail with it.
If your World-Beating Advertisement, that “everybody sees” and admires, costs you
$2.00 per Inquiry-and if another kind of advertisement you “don’t like at all” brings equally good Inquiries, in the
same space and same mediums, at 40 cents each, then you’ve learned something you can never afford to forget.
That is the kind of experience which makes one “sit up,” and think hard, before he
recovers from the jolt it gives him. And when he “comes to” he then sees a Great White Light. Under this new light
some of the things he thought he knew before fade out into vapory “Will-o’-the-Wisps,” and he longs for things
tangibly proven.
When he observes now a hoary old Mail-Order Advertisement, that seems at first
sight stupidly simple and countrified, he looks twice into it, to see if it isn’t carefully loaded with hidden Selling
Effect and subtle Conviction, under its guise of rural simplicity.
If he notes it running for years, without change, he no longer jumps to the conclusion
that the Man who pays for it is merely a Chump, serving his costly apprenticeship to our own Guild of advanced
Advertisers.
No, -he looks closely at it now for the hall-marks of Salesmanship, and where he
finds it running for months, without change of copy, he concluded there is some potent reason for it.
Because, he then feels that, had he as sure a means of keeping “tab” on results as this
Mail-Order Advertiser, he, too, might be using some “stale” copy in “General Advertising,” Instead of changing it
often (without evidence) from bad to probably worse.
If he had tried over fifty different changes of copy that had pleased him better than
the Stale One, and had found (as others have done) that Inquiries from them cost $1.20 to $2.90 each, he would be
might glad to go back to the good old “Chestnut” which produced Inquiries regularly at 40 cents average.
He would look upon that Ancient Adlet in the light of a tried and trusted Friend. If he
were asked to sell out his business he might well appraise that bit of much-used Ancient History at a price that
would make many Ad-smiths gasp. And, why shouldn’t he appraise it high up in the thousands?
If we spend $100,000 per year for Space and fill that Space with copy that costs
$1.20 per inquiry (by mail, or over the counter), we get only 83,334 chances of Sale out of our appropriation.
With the Antique Adlet, or its skilful equivalent, our $100,000 would have produced
250,000 Inquiries at an average of 40 cents each.
These 250,000 Inquiries would have cost us $300,000 to secure at $1.20 each. Why
isn’t the proven “40-cent” Advertisement worth all it saves, viz., $200,000 per year, so long as it continues to
produce Inquiries averaging 40 cents each, instead of at $1.20 each?
Well,-why isn’t such an Advertisement worth more than the space it occupies each
time it is published?
What is the “something” in a successful Mail-Order Advertisement that makes it pull
equally good Inquiries at a fraction of previous cost?
It is the same “something” that would make Advertising sell goods over the
Retailer’s counter, through General Advertising, at correspondingly low cost.
That mysterious “something” is just Printed Persuasion[7], and its other name is
“Reason- Why Salesmanship-in-Type.”
It is that sapient “something” which makes one Advertiser rich in a few years, while
lack of it ruins others who buy their Space equally cheap, pay 5 percent less commission, and spend equally large
appropriations. That “something” is “Reason-Why” and Conviction, saturated into the copy, so that the Reader must
believe the statements of merit thus claimed for the article.
Mere brilliance in Advertising fails utterly to produce such profitable results (sales)
if it lacks conviction. The “seeing,” “admiring,” or “reading with interest,” of an Advertisement by the Public, avails
little in dollars and cents, to the man who pays for the space, if it fails to CONVINCE the Public.
And, that conviction can be imparted, without accident, at will, by the few
Advertising Men who have closely studied the thought-process through which Conviction is induced, provided they
have had the guiding light of experience with the facilities for comparing Results obtained from a large variety of
Mail-Order Copy.
These results have invariably shown that it is far better to repeat one single
Advertisement fifty times, if it be full of Conviction, than to publish fifty different Advertisements that lack as much
Conviction, no matter how attractive, clever, or artistic, they may be.
In other words, one sound, convincing Advertisement will sell more goods than fifty
brilliant, catchy, strikingly displayed “Ads” that have less conviction in them.
The only mission of true General Advertising is to Sell Goods, by driving the People
to the stores armed with such reasons and convictions that substitution will be difficult or impossible.
When Advertising is not selling goods (through Conviction), it is not doing as much
as it can be made to do. So, any Advertiser who accepts mere “General Publicity” or “Keeping the Name before the
People” for his money, when he might have had all that and a positive selling force combined with it, is losing half
the results he might have had from the same Space filled with sound Reason-Why Advertising.

«The most successful advertising is written in a simple, concise, easy-to-read and easy-to-understand style».

This is another good example from Lord & Thomas promoted its advertising and copywriting services at the
beginning of the 20th century
 CHAPTER VII
WHY SOME ADVERTISERS GROW WEALTHY WHILE OTHER FAIL!

SIXTY PERCENT of all new Advertisers fail! Largely because they spend their money for Space, under the
delusion that Space filled with anything “Catchy” is “Advertising.” They believe “Money Talks” in Advertising,
even when it says nothing.
They forget that Space costs the same, whether we fill it with Pictured Nothings or
with enduring Convictions.
And the difference, in Results, between two kinds of “copy,” costing the same for
space, in a single advertisement, has often exceeded 80 percent, as authenticated Records on test cases prove.
General Advertisers, who have no means of tracing direct results, and who spend
their money for “General Publicity”, may smile at this. But, Mail-Order Advertisers know it is true. These are the
kind of Advertisers to whom Advertising is not a blind speculation, but systematic eye-open investment.
Their records show the precise cost of every inquiry for their goods through
advertising, because their every Advertisement in every Medium is separately keyed.
They can thus gauge accurately the relative earning power of each separate bit of
copy published at their expense, and of each medium in which that copy has been inserted.
They thus know what kind to avoid, as well as what kind to use. Please note that the
current definition of “General Publicity” is “Keeping the Name before the People.” When we speak of “General
Advertising” we mean copy which sells goods through the Retailer. (Note that General Advertisers are NOT hereby
“advised” to GO INTO MAIL-ORDER BUSINESS).
However, GENERAL ADVERTISING should possess as much positive SELLING-
FORCE and CONVICTION as it would NEED to actually and profitably SELL Goods direct BY MAIL.
Here is the actual experience of a well-known national Advertiser, who sells a $5.00
article by mail only.
This Advertiser has proved that a certain fixed average percent of his Inquiries
convert into direct sales through his “follow-up” system.
Each equally good Inquiry is therefore worth a certain fixed price to him, which he
can pay with profit.
One single piece of copy has been running for that Advertiser (practically without
change), in all mediums used, for over six years. Over $300,000 has been spent in repeated publication of that single
bit of copy.
Why?
Because, it produced results (Inquiries and Sales) at lower cost than any other copy
ever run for them in eight previous years. The first month Inquiries from the best prior copy cost about 85 cents
each.
Repetition of that copy for two years wore out some of its interest, so that Inquiries
from it finally cost an average of $1.85 each. New “copy” had been tried a great many times during the two-year
interval, written by many different Ad-smiths, but no other Advertisement ever produced the Inquiries at less than
$1.85 average.
Some of the copy that looked good enough to try, cost $14.20 per Inquiry. And that
was better looking copy than half of what fills “General Publicity” space in costly mediums at this very minute.
Consider what the knowledge derived from a large collection of certified data, like the above, would mean, if placed
at the disposal of General Advertisers who now “go it blind” on copy.
If the $5.00 article had been sold through Retailers, in the usual way, without
accurate means of checking results from every advertisement, it is more than probable that the $14.20 kind of copy
would have been used continuously.
Because, that was the “catch” kind, so much favour with “General Publicity”
Advertisers. And, it would have been considered good copy so long as the salesmen did its work, in addition to their
own, The General Results being credited in a general way to “General Publicity.”
But, it would clearly have required fourteen times as much of that “$14.20 kind” of
alleged “Advertising” to produce the same amount of selling effect upon the public as the “85-cent kind” of copy
(which averaged about $1.00 per inquiry over the two years) actually did produce.
Let us figure this out more conclusively: The Blank Company spent $75,000 per
year, for space, with copy producing Inquiries at about $1.00 average.
It would thus have cost them about fourteen times as much, or $1,050,000 per year,
to sell as many of their $5.00 articles through the $14.20 kind of “catchy” copy as it actually did cost them to sell the
same quantity with the “$1.00-per-Inquiry” kind of copy.
Good Reader, get that thought clearly into your mind, for we’re talking cold facts
now.
What was it worth to the Blank Company to get a new Advertisement which would
pull Inquiries at the old rate of 85 cents each, when its most successful copy had worn out, after two years’ use, so
that Inquiries were finally costing it $1.25 each on average?
Figure it out and you’ll see that one single piece of such copy would be worth a third
of their $75,000 yearly appropriation, viz., Inquiries for their goods and resulting Sales.
But “Reason-Why” Copy did better than that, when applied, on test.
It reduced the cost of Inquiries, for the selfsame $5.00 article, to 41 cents average,
during the first two years it had been running, (It is still running, after six years’ use).

The earning power of every dollar trebled by the mere substitution of Reason-Why
Copy for the best copy the Advertiser had used in eight years prior to that substitution.
An Advertising appropriation of$75,000 made equal in proven earning power to
what $225,000 would have earned with the copy which preceded it, and which was producing Inquiries at $1.25.
That single piece of Reason-Why copy, which ran practically without change for
about four months, had in that time produced approximately 60,976 Inquiries. These were worth $1.25 each to the
Advertiser (or $91,464 in all), though their cost was reduced to 41 cents each, with an actual outlay of about
$25,000.
In four months that one piece of copy had thus earned $66.466 more, for the
Advertiser, than the $1.25 kind of Copy used immediately before it had produced from the same investment.
And, what made it pull Inquiries by mail is precisely what would make it produce
Inquiries verbally for the goods through Retailers, by the use of intelligent Reason-Why and Conviction in the Copy.
This is only one of many actual instances that could be cited.

This is how Lord & Thomas advertised its archive in 1905:

«Here is a Cabinet of Data which cost over $100,000 to Secure. This data is in manuscript, and no duplicate of
it exists. It embodies an accurate “Record of Results" obtained from hundreds of kinds of copy, used competitively
for different Mail-Order accounts.»
 CHAPTER VIII
MAKING SURE OF RESULTS FROM GENERAL ADVERTISING

THE first tangible Return from the Advertiser’s money, when invested in Space, (whether that Space be
filled with “General Advertising” or with “Mail-Order Advertising,”) is an inquiry for his goods.
That Inquiry may be verbal to a Clerk over the counter, or-it may be by Mail, in a
written, stamped, and posted letter.
But, in either case, it is just an Inquiry for the goods, of one sort or another. It is the
first practical evidence that the money spent is earning something tangible in return[8].
Now-it may take twice or three times as much Conviction in Copy to make a
Consumer write an Inquiry for goods, and post it, as it would have taken to make that same Consumer inquire
verbally for the goods advertised, when passing a store that should sell them.
But, when he does inquire verbally from a Retailer, there are twice or three times as
many chances of substitution, of “Don’t-keep-it” or “Here’s-something-better,” as there would have been if that
same Consumer had written direct for it by Mail.
Therefore, the Advertisement which sends Consumers to Retailers, should be as full
of Conviction as the successful Mail-Order Advertisement, in order to fortify that Consumer against substitution,
“Don’t keep it,” and “Here’s something better.”
Because, if the Advertisement fails to thus fortify the Consumer with “Reason-Why”
and conviction, it may simply send him to the Retail Store to be switched on to a competing line of goods with
which the Retailer is heavily stocked, or which his Clerks favor the sale of in preference to ours.
In that case the Advertising we pay for would sell goods for our non-advertising
competitors.
Half the money spent to “Keeping the Name before the People” results today in this
substitution of non-advertised articles for the articles advertised through General Publicity.
“General Publicity” Copy, when tested, is found in almost every case too Weak to
sell goods profitably by Mail. And, any copy which is not strong enough, or convincing enough, to sell goods by
mail, is not strong enough to make the Consumer resist substitution, and the “Don’t- keep-that-kind” influence of
Retail conditions.
“General Advertising” copy, to succeed, profitably, must therefore cause not only a
verbal Inquiry for the goods, but must also have enough strong conviction saturated into it to make the Consumer
insist upon getting the goods he asks for, against probable substituting influence.
It must therefore give him better “Reason-why” he should buy our goods than he is
likely to hear from the retail Salesman for the competing goods that Salesman may want to substitute.
And, it must give him these “reason-why” in such lucid thought-form that he can
understand without effort, so impressively that he will believe our reasoning Claims. It must accomplish this in spite
of his natural distrust of all Advertisement statements.
This means that we must put into General Advertising Copy the precise qualities that
would be necessary to sell goods profitably by mail. More than half the people who inquire for Advertised goods out
of Curiosity as a result of “General Publicity” (“Keeping the Name before the People,” etc.) do not buy them when
they see them.
Because the competing goods look just as fine when shown and recommended by the
Substituting Salesman. The Curiosity Inquiry having no firm foundation of “Reason-Why” under it cannot combat
the personal influence of the Salesman.
This is why not more than a fourth of those who, out of mere curiosity, buy the first
package, through “General Publicity,” ever buy the second or third consecutive package of the same article. Because
they do not buy on Conviction
Meantime, it usually takes about all the profit in the first purchase of any “Generally
Advertised” article to pay the cost of introducing it to the Consumer’s notice, through Advertising.
But, with “Reason-Why” Salesmanship on Paper, results are insured and far more
cumulative. Because, a Consumer need only be convinced once, through “Reason-why” “Salesmanship- on-paper,”
that the article is what he should, for his own sake, buy and use.
 When we thus convince him, we achieve more than fortifying him against
substitution.
We also help his imagination to find and recognize, in the article advertised, the very
qualities claimed and proved for it in the Copy. These qualities he might never have discovered for himself, nor
appreciated if he had casually discovered them, in a mere “Curiosity” purchase.
Because, through General Publicity, his attention had only been “attracted,” not
compelled and enduringly impressed with a logical understanding of these qualities.
But, when once convinced in advance of purchase, through “Reason-Why”
Salesmanship-in- Type, that the qualities claimed for the article do exist in them, he starts using that article with a
mental acceptance of these qualities.
And, because he begins using the article with an advance knowledge of, and belief
in, its good points, his appreciation becomes permanent if the goods merit it.
He therefore makes a second, third, and further consecutive purchases of the article
as a result of having once read a single convincing “Reason-Why” advertisement about it.
This is where large and cumulative profits must come to the General Advertiser-on
the second, third and continued purchases by Readers of the first advertisement that reached their Convictions.
These conviction qualities in copy are shown, by test, to be just as necessary in
Advertising design to sell goods profitably today, through Retailers to Consumers, as they are to sell goods direct by
mail to Consumers.
That is why every Advertisement for goods to be sold through Retailers (against
substitution, and “Don’t keep-it” influences), should have as much positive selling force, “Reason-why” and
conviction in it, as would be necessary to sell the goods by mail direct to Consumers.
The difference in Results from Space in which this direct selling force of “Reason-
Why” has been used, and in results from similar space filled with “General Publicity,” is often more than 60 percent.
Conclusive tests on Copy have clearly proved this, and the preceding article cites a vivid example of it from actual
experience.
Any Advertiser who uses mere “General Publicity” when he might have all that and,
in addition, a positive Selling force combined with it is losing 50 percent to 80 percent of the results he might have
had from the same identical appropriation.
Selling tests made on various kinds of Copy and Mediums have proved this for
“Reason-Why” which is the Heart and Soul and Essence of all good Advertising.

Black and white print ad for the Lord & Thomas Advertising Agency with an inserted article about the company.

Printers' Ink - April 18, 1906

 CHAPTER IX
HOW MAILORDER ADVERTISING IS TESTED

CHOOSE a list of reliable Publications, for a representative month’s advertising.

Run Current copy in half the number of these publications for that month. Key each
advertisement, in each publication separately, so you will know just which advertisement and which publication
each Inquiry results from.
Then, run Reason-Why Salesmanship-in-Type copy in the remaining half of the
publications, keying each advertisement separately, in each publication so you will know which advertisement and
which medium each Inquiry comes from.
By “keying” is meant that you change the reply address in each advertisement, and
in each publication.
Thus, in Munsey’s you say “Address 86 State St.”; in Woman’s World, “75 State
St.”; and in Wallaces’ Farmer you say “6th floor 86 State St.”; while in another you say “8th floor 75 State St.,” for
instance.
By arrangement with the Post Office all replies to these different addresses will be
put into your Letter-box, regardless of street address on envelope.
Now, you can tell by the envelope address on each Reply or Inquiry which
publication, and which particular piece of copy in that publication produced it.
Then, when the Inquiries from the competing advertisements cease coming, you can
total up the number of Inquiries each publication produced from each particular advertisement.
Now, having the total number of Inquiries from each individual advertisement in
each medium, you divide that number into the cost of the Space used for each piece of copy, in each publication.
This will give you the exact cost, per Inquiry, from each separate piece of copy, in
each publication. The cost per Inquiry with your other current Copy may then be intelligently compared with the
cost per Inquiry through Reason-Why Salesmanship-on-Paper.
Now, cross the copy for the second month’s Advertising Test.
By this is meant, -insert your other current Copy, which appeared last month in
Munsey’s in this month’s Wallaces’ Farmer, for instance. And, the “Reason-Why” copy which appeared last month
in Woman’s World you now insert in Munsey’s of this month. This gives a fair distribution of Mediums to each
competing Advertisement.
When the Inquiries cease coming from this second month’s insertion, make the same
record as before of Cost per Inquiry, for each piece of competing copy from each publication.

Then, add the total number of Inquiries obtained from your other current Copy,
during the same period. Then divide that total number into the total expenditure for Space used in publication of that
Copy.
This will give the average cost per Inquiry, with the kind of copy you have been
regularly using.
Now, compare this with the average cost per Inquiry obtained from the same
publications, at the same identical periods, with “Reason-Why” results.
The difference between the cost per Inquiry with the two kinds of Copy will then be
a reliable Index to the relative Earning Power of the two competing kinds of copy.
Now, use the same “Follow-up” (Booklets and Letters), on all the Inquiries from
both Sources.
The percentage of Sales which results from each of the two competitive groups of
Inquiries and Follow-up will then determine the relative Profits to the Advertiser from each kind of Copy.
No Test on earth can be more conclusive than this, and none is easier made. And,
what such a Test reveals (in difference between Results from two different kinds of Copy) would “stagger” the
average Advertiser.
An extensive series of such Tests, carried over a long period of Time, with many
differing propositions, has proved a fine consistency in Results.
 It proved that the Reason-Why kind of Advertising which sold Washing Machines
by mail at one-third the cost of other copy sold them, would, when applied according to the individual needs of the
different articles, also sell Violins, Shoes, or Pianos, in about the same ratio.
Moreover, it has been found that the “something” in Copy which sells these Goods
by Mail (at one-half to one-third of the cost other Copy sells them), will also sell them through Retailers over the
counter. That “something” is Selling force, -Conviction-Salesmanship- saturated into the Copy, with sound Reasons-
Why as the foundation.
It is the salient “something” which makes millionaires of some Advertisers in a few
years, while other Advertisers, spending the same amount of money for equally good propositions, “go broke.”
Now the kind of Advertising which works these Miracles of Success may be the kind
you personally like least, quite contrary to your preference in fact.
But, Advertising is not really intended to merely please the Advertiser’s fancy. Its
first, last and only duty is to Sell Goods for him, and to sell them at less cost than they can be sold without it.
The kind of Advertising which will be found to do this at lowest cost is Reason-Why
Salesmanship-on-Paper. Which is based not on what you like best to read but on what records prove will sell the
most Goods to Readers, per dollar of outlay.

Another remarkable AD by Lord & Thomas: «The time is seasonable and the opportunity ripe for all legitimate
forms of advertising.»
 CHAPTER X
HOW TO TEST GENERAL ADVERTISING

SELECT two Cities of about the same population, in approximately the same climate, and with equally good
newspapers.
St. Paul and Minneapolis are fair examples, -but scores of other equivalents can be
named or chosen.
Check up carefully the quantity of the Advertised Goods in these two cities which
the Retailers have on hand at a given date.
Then ask them to keep record (on a blank form you supply) of the goods in your
advertised lines which they stock within the next four months.
Then, run in one of the two competitive cities the “General Publicity” you have
already been using.
At the same time run in the other competitive city Reason-Why Salesmanship-on-
Paper. Spend for each kind exactly the same appropriation, and make it sufficiently liberal to show some results on
the second month.[9]
Continue this competitive copy for four months, which is the minimum time on
which General Advertising can be made to produce a fair measure of Results.
Then, on a certain day, send out enough men to check up the amount of the
Advertised goods in the hands of each Retailer at the end of the four months.
Add to the total of goods on hand, at time of starting Test, the goods since stocked in
each City.
Then subtract from this total the Advertised goods remaining on the Retailers’
Shelves, in each City, at end of the four months’ Advertising tests.
The difference between will show the quantity of your Advertised goods actually
sold to Consumers, in each city, during the four months’ period of actual selling test.
The difference between the Value of goods sold in each City during the test period
will then be a reliable index to the relative Selling Power of the two Competing kinds of Advertising used.
Now, cross the copy in each City for four months longer. Use “Reason-Why” in the
City where you previously used only current “General Publicity,” and vice versa.
Check up the goods on hand at end of the second four months again, as before. When
you find the difference in Sales (with the same expenditure for Advertising) to be again heavily in favor of the
Reason-Why copy (as in the first four months), you will have made a

Copy Test, that may save you over 25% to 50% of you National appropriation every year afterwards.
This test may, at first sight, seem a lot of trouble to undertake. But, is not 25% per
annum of your Advertising Appropriation worth that trouble?
And, what is it worth to know conclusively for all time, the relative value of
“General Publicity” As actually compared with Reason-Why advertising in a downright Selling Test?
A difference of 66 percent between two such kinds of Copy on equivalent tests has
often been proved.
Isn’t that a sufficient difference to make you sit up and think hard about what fills
the Space you pay for monthly?
When Lord retired in 1903, Albert Lasker purchased his share and became a partner of Lord & Thomas. He
purchased the whole company in 1912 at the age of 32.
 UNDERSTANDING
THE VALUE OF
JOHN E. KENNEDY’S WORK

- AFTERWORD -
by Giò Fumagalli

The book you’ve just finished to read was initially released with another title. The original title was “The
Book of Advertising Tests: A Group of Articles That Actually Say Something about Advertising”.

It was released for the first time in 1905 by Lord and Thomas as an info product whose purpose was promoting
the advertising firm Lords & Thomas.[10]

Seven years later, in 1912, the same book was re-published with a new structure and more appropriate title.
John E. Kennedy decided to remove two full chapters: a chapter that illustrated the results Lord & Thomas was
able to bring to its customers which was found non-instructive by the author, and another final chapter which
teached how good copy should be measured just by the sales it is able to produce.

That 1912 book is the edition of "Reason-Why Advertising" you have just finished to read.

Two years later, in 1914, Kennedy was paid $25,000 to write a report to a group of publishers on what should
and could be done to improve their advertising results.

To provide a full understanding of how much his contemporaries valued the work of John E. Kennedy, please
note that $25,000 in 1914 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $657,535 today, which means an increase of
$632,535.00 over 107 years.

The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.10% per year between 1914 and today (2021), producing a
cumulative price increase of 2,530.14%. This means that today's prices are 26.30 times higher than average prices
since 1914, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index. A dollar today only buys 3.80% of
what it could buy back then.[11] That report is titled "Intensive Advertising" and it is the second big gift John E.
Kennedy made our world.

It is safe to say that John E. Kennedy was one of the highest paid copywriters of all the time.

After carving his name on the tree of advertising with these two hidden gems, Reason-Why Advertising, and
Intensive Advertising, on January 8, 1928 Kennedy died at the age of 64. Despite his short career as copywriter and
advertiser, he made a remarkable impact on what we call Marketing today.
 Lord & Thomas logo on one of the last pages of The Book of Advertising Tests first release.

[1] Brian Kurtz - Reality In Advertising https://www.briankurtz.net/reality-in-advertising/

[2] Barnouw, Erik. "The Land of Irium". In A History of Broadcasting in the United States: Volume 2: The
Golden Web. Oxford University Press US, 1968
[3] “Keeping the Name before the people” advertising is what we nowadays call brand awareness advertising, a
term that describes the degree of consumer recognition of a product by its name.
[4] As reference, $3,000 in 1900 is worth $93,933.57 today. https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1900?
amount=3000
[5] "Maud Muller" is a poem from 1856 written by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). It is about a beautiful
maid named Maud Muller.
This poem contains the well-known quotation: "For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: 'It
might have been!'"
[6] Historian, satirical writer, essayist, translator, philosopher, and mathematician, Thomas Carlyle was a
schottish teacher who became famous for prophesying the rise of fascism in his book On Heroes, Hero-Worship,
and The Heroic in History, released in 1841.
[7] It is interesting for the modern marketer to note that John E. Kennedy talks about persuasion 40 years before
Robert Cialdini was born and 79 years before his masterpiece Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.
[8] Return on investment (ROI) or return on costs (ROC) is a ratio between net income (over a period) and
investment (costs resulting from an investment of some resources at a point in time). It is very interesting to see how
this metric existed decades before modern marketing was born.
[9] As you can read in this chapter, A/B testing or split testing is way older than internet marketing. Direct
marketers have been split testing their campaign for decades before the internet was born and this is probably one of
the oldest historical evidence we have.
[10] The Book of Advertising Tests - Lord & Thomas
https://ia802707.us.archive.org/20/items/bookofadvertisin00lordrich/bookofadvertisin00lordrich.pdf
[11] CPI Inflation Calculator https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1914?amount=25000