INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
April 1951
. I typical response t o a new product advertisement of Americaii Cyanamid in technical and trade publications broke down as follows :
Companies listt,tl in Thomas' KcJgister of .AmtLric-an IIanufncturers Colleges (kovernment laboratories I'riwtte individuals, conipnniw not listed by Thom:is'. foreign countries
76 69 12 2 1;
_ .
100 Some Advantages and Disadvantages. Screening the result of advertising inquiries is a treiiicbiitiouq problem. On the other hand. TI-.S. Guthmaun of Fs;dn.ul I.at)oi,atoi,ies feeli: that it is tht. nioyt effective way for a company of hi- size to develop I I C ~ V cuqt.onierR. -1 wccnt campaign by l?cl\ral biwuglit i i i 200 requests for a:iinplea (excluding educbatioiial institutions). Atjout 1% of these requests are erpectrti to turn into orders. On the other hand Io
M i n i n g & Manufacturing Co., St. Paul, M i n n .
T h e shopworn slogan, "It pays to advertise," is never more true than when it is applied to new product advertising. In advertising a well-known product, the object i v e often is to induce customers to associate a particular company name with the product or to point out additional
advantages and services available through use of the product. Advertising serves still another function for new products. The same purposes may be accomplished, but in addition, the ad introduces the new product and performs the function of initiating or increasing sales.
ADVERTISING NEW CHEMICAL PRODUCTS DVERTISISG is a n art, not R science.
Furthermore i t is a complex art, and it is difficult t o predict what combination of factors will give the best results. There are certain basic principles of advertising which are generally applicable, b u t there is no substitute for t h e exercise of sound judgment in applying these principles t o individual cases. This is especially true when advertising is the medium of announcing t o potential customers t h a t a new product is available for their consideration a n d use.
A
Scope and Timing of Advertising
There are two primary reasons for advertising new products: (1) t o promote a n application or applications which have been developed within the manufacturer's laboratory and ( 2 ) t o stimulate outside investigation of a product or products which can be
made from existing iaw materials or patentable processes, h u t for which there are no known applications or for which nrw applications are desired. N o s t manufacturers have been in the position of having a number of new products for which practical processes have been developed b u t for which there are no obvious markets. Advertising the availability of experimental quantities of such compounds in trade or professional journals offers a n economical means of soliciting outside interest and developing markets. Back in 1930 when Scotch brand cellophane tape W R first introduced, no one man or group of men in t h e Minnesota Mining and hIanufacturing Co. envisioned the myriad uses n.hirh have developed for this product in t h e ensuing years. Scotch brand cellophane tape is now a household necessity, and undoubtedly many persons have asked t h e question, "What did I
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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
856
do before this product \vas available?" \\-ho could forem.. i l l the early ~ O ' S , all the applications in which nylon is currently rmployed or the uses for Quakers Oats' furfural, now a rajv mat('ri:il for nylon? There are hundreds of other such examples that could be cited to illustrate how the majority of applications for n w products are developed outside the research facilities of' tlic, rompany manufacturing the product,. \Vhen to advertise depends on a number of fartors, but thr io]lowing points should be carefully considered before adwrtihiiig: (1) Ihility to fill the sample requests which are espected to result from the a d ; this is a must. ( 2 ) Ability to support a n advcrtisement with the supply of technicd information necessary to explain the applications or pi,esent the pertinrnt physical anti c~hcmical properties of the pi,ocluct or products t o he advertised. ( 3 ) Development of sound patent protection when poiaible. ( 4 ) Presentation of papers a t terhnical meetings.
COMPARISON OF COST PER READER Chem.BEng.News
Chem. Proc. C hem. A b str.
0
.4
.8 I2 Cost in Cents
16 .
2R
2g
Figure 1 Source: .4CS Circulation Data Sheet as of June 30. 19J9
Vol. 43, No. 4
O n w the decision t o advei,tisc.lina been made and a feasible time stshdule has been estatilished, advertising copy must be pwp a r d . I n the presentation of a new chemical, it is usually atlvisable for a technical member of the sales development or markcst devrlopment group to prepare a draft of the advertising ~ ~ l ) y , listing the outstanding phJ-sical a n d chemical properties oi the. new product, for use of the advertising department which re\r-ords the copy in acceptable advertising language. T h e sanie technical man should also work closely n i t h the advertising department in preparing a n attractive layout for the ad. I n smaller caompanies, where there is no advertising department, a n advertising agency may work with the technical man during the initial stages of preparation of the ad. The copy is the essence of the a d a n d should be carc,fully planned a n d organized so that it will be broad enough to stimulate thc reader's interest and imagination a n d yet brief enough to lie read in its entirety. I t is not necessary t o tell the whole story in tlir copy. I n fact, it is often better to reveal only enough t o arouse the reader's curiosity to the point where he ill request further information. The copy should serve as a n entree or calling card, the complcltc story to be presented in person or through correspondence antl technical brochures. The layout for the ad and the information contained in the copy will depend on the class of readers to be reached. The most desired readership for a new cheniical with no known applications is research personnel. This type reader usually wants a brief summary of the phj-sical anti chemical properties presentecl. Xelting points, lioiling points. qtabilit,y, toxicity, and pertinent rheniical properties should I)? tlrwrihed or illustrated. This suniniary is customarily supplenic~iitcdhy detailed technical bullptins. I n dealing n-ith resrareh ni(~ii,high pressure methods are riot usuall~empIoyPtl. Facts appcwl most to scientists. Indeed, cui'rt.iit, trends iridiratr tliat fac,t.q :inti figures clearly defined and forthd makr thcJ most clffective and telling advm for many t>-pcsof c o n s u i i i ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . \\.lic~i a lii,oduct is advrrti-cJil to increase sales for a kiio\vri allpliration, the, approach is o f t m quite different. T h e application niay I)I, iliustratd b ~ actual , photograph, diagram, or cutaway picturil or the ad may l i t 1 pointed t o a specific use with copy that descrit)r+ and enurric~ratr.:the d v a i i t a g e s of the applicatioii sucli as perf'oi~iiianceanti lxtwi, ant1 i n o i i c ~ J -savings.
The problein of how much inventory should be on hand will naturally vary with the product being advertised and the breadth of the interest which is apt to be aroused, h u t when requests for Selection o f a Medium research size samples only are invited, 200 pounds are ordinarily sufficient for the initial ad. In advcxrtising a nen- rhciiiical with no known applicatioii- c ~ ail r The presentation of technical bulletins is tht, sut)ject of another cstalilishcd one for n.hich new applications are desired, it paper included in this symposium ( I ). sumed that one or more of the chemical journals will be sel P a t e n t protection, when possible, is desirable, and the patent for geneial coverage. The choice of media for a specific appliration of a new chemical \vi11 depend on the application; a 11cw department' should always be consulted before a n advertising refrigerant would Le advei ed in refrigeration journals whereai a schedule is establish~d. JIowever, emphasis should be placed on obtaining basic patents, and the release of new products should lubricant ad(litive \voul. N o s t debefore technical societies is sirable" 47,309 27.047 25,793 30,646 21,868 15,621 13,029 9,499 6,381 7,Ii:j not a must, and often the Othersb 33,661 8.056 7,810 149 6,740 6.248. 7,727 3.59.5 4,iSi :3,24l product under discussion does Total 70.960 36,103 33.603 3 0 . 7 ~ 5 28.608 21,869 13,094 10,816 10,422 n o t lend itself to this treatOfficials, works executives. iorcinen. engineers, research directors, chemijtj, irlde0 Most desirable cateuorv: pendent consulting f i r m s iidustrial consulting professors, and i n s t r u c t o ~ s . ment, b u t Tvhenever b Others: Sales and 'advertising. miscellaneous company personnel, wholesalers and jobbers, professorn and instructors, financial. students, universities, newsdealers, public libraries, miscellaneous, unclasslfied, met1 in such papers tend to stimulate armed iorces. foreign government. direct consumers. interest in the ad and should Source: Circulation d a t a sheet published by AhIrEnIc.Aa C H E \ I I C 4 L S O C I E T Y Publications, July 1949. be timed accordingly.
April 1951
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
will indicate R-hich is the most desirable for a specific proLIJc,tor campaign (Table I and Figures 1 and 2 ) . The size of the advertising budget will determine the number of journals in which the advertisement is used. Xultiple advertising provides material for a comparative study of returns ani1 for selection of the media best suited for future advertising. 01)viously, there will be some duplication of readership if more than one journal is employed, but one exposure does not make R sunburii. I t is usually advisable in t,he introduction and development of :L iirw chemical to be able to maintain personal contact with the ultimate user. The solicitation of foreign inquiries practicall!. eliminat,es such contact and often puts an additional drain on limited developmental inventories. On the other hand, if foreign investigations are started early, foreign markets might be developed sooner and could be the answer to increasing sales a t a later stage of commercial production when production exceeds domestic demand and new outlets are needed to reduce unit production costs. The desirability of foreign interests !vi11 depend on the nature of the product and whether the company has a foreign sales organization equipped to handle promotion of the new product. Ordinarily, the early developmental and marketing campaign is preferably conducted on the home front where close contact can t i c s maintained.
as7
for all ads so that customers will become familiar with it and develop the habit of looking for it regularly. However, too close similarity in illustration and copy should be avoided lest resdi,rs feel they have already seen the message and skip over it. Use of Color. Color in advertising is a complex mattcr and it is always best t o check with a qualified advertising man or agcnc’>1Jefore reaching a decision on its use. Experience has shown that on an a d cost ratio basis, black and white is usually the best buy. Color is more often used to achieve a special purpose or a specific. rolor may be used by a particular company or a particular ti(-partmerit within a company for the purpose of identification a n d continuity. T h e use of specific color and standard format is cbsemplified in the advertisements of U. 9. Industrial Chemir.:il..
I
COMPARISON OF COST PER MOST DESIRABLE READER
I
Chem 8Eng News
O P 8 D Rep Chem Eng
Anal Chern 18EC Chem Proc Chem A b s t r
Advertising Techniques
.\cl\crtising should not be done on a hit or miss ba WII u c u r a t e analysis of results should he made. One of the sin1 plest methods of comparing returns from the same ad p l a c d iri different journals is to request t h a t the customer refer t o a i d i x numbrr in hi. aiiswer, such as C‘hernical arid Erigineerr rig .\‘cius, Dept. CE5 or Chemical Processing, Dept. CPG. In this manner, can be kept on advertising returns to determinr ing dollar is being spent effectively. Inquiries resulting from advertisements usually pass through the advertising depart,ment for tabulation and then are formartled to the proper department for handling. Handling Inquiries. A separate paper could be \wit ten o n this one subject, but it needs only a brief discussion here. The majority of effort in new product advertising up t o this point is directed toward the solicitation of outside interests through a carefully planned and integrally timed campaign. The first fruitq of these efforts are the indications oi outside interest as evidenced by the receipt of inquiries. I t is difficult to believe that a campaign could proceed this far and the11 falter, but the handling of inquiries is often the first stumbling block on the ~ I J S ~t oI thi’ ultimate realization of the goal-a commerc-ial outlet for a iieiv product. Too often, manufacturers adopt the attitud? that it is only a sample request and does not require prompt attention. .in inquirj- should be treated just as promptly as a regular order, and every effort should be made to supply the requested information. I t iq usually advisahle to keep an accurate file of new product inquiries and to review them periodically. A punch card y-stem is a convenient means of recording such inquiries and rating them. All inquiries should be carefully screened and the most promising ones followed up by personal calls. A periodic letter follow-up of inquiries previously received serves to revive or sustain interest in the new product. If it is considered worth while to solicit outside interests through advertising, i t is even more important t o handle responses properly and promptly once they are received. Split Advertising is one method of evaluating various presentations of the same product. Several publications use this method as an aid to their advertisers; it consists of offering one presentation to half of the subscribers and a different presentation to the second half in the same issue of the same journal. Format. I n order to maintain readership in a nelv product advertising campaign, it is often helpful to adopt a general format
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I
I
1
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
1
I
22
26
I
Jnl P C S Chem Eng Prog. Chern Ind
IO
14
18
30
34
COST IN CENTS
Figure 2 Source: ACS Circulation Data sheet
a4
of J u n e 30, 1949
Position of Ad in Journal. Certain positions in a journ:il cksmand a premium price such as the covers and space pri~i~i~iiii:: iir i’ollon-ingeditorial matter. For sporadic advertising tho valuc, preferred positions is certainly questionable. I n OIIC spcc,ific campaign carried in a monthly publication, preferred and rc,gul:tr positions were alternated every other month for a year. T h i ~ i ~ c ~ as no significant difference in the response from the tn-o po-itions. Eoivever, if a company continually uses the sanir j ) w ferred place, readers will become familiar with this practicc a n I perhaps develop the habit of looking for ads regularly. Use of Coupons. There is no argument about the fact that a return coupon which may be clipped from an ad will incre:tie the number of inquiries, particularly if a good inducement is given in the copy or sample offer. This enables the reader to r i > quest further information or samples with minimum effort on 1,is part. On the other hand, some people maintain that the use of :i coupon makes it, too easy and insist that inquiries be submitted on a company letterhead. A decision on the use of a coupon will depend 011: (1) the staff available to handle inquiries and ( 2 ) tlita amount of product available for distribution. The total numiwi~ of inquiries in itself is not important. The real test is ivhethw :t greater number of real interests develop by the use of a coulwii. .inother criticism of the coupon is that a larger percentage of iuquiries are received from colleges and universities which do iii.tt develop into commercial sales for the product. The valuca of these inquiries will be discussed in a later section. The usc of coupons encourages “coupon clippers,” and \Then the same a(1 i.* placed in several different journals, four or five requests may be received from the same individual. If a coupon is used, it should be large enough t o accommodate the required information mid the paper stock should lend itself t o legible writing. Readvertising. The entire readership of a given journal ranilot be reached in one advertisement for reasons such as season of y i ar,
858
I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G CHEMISTRY
lack of interest at time of appearance of ad, and breakdown i n intracompany system of journal circulation. Often potential user interest will be reached with a repeat a d which was not touched by t h e firet a d because of ne\v problems the customer ha. encountered in the meantime. Experience has shown th:Lt 2111 identical readvertisement of thc oripinal ad after a waiting periml of approximately 3 months is very ncarly as effective as an entit,clJnew layout and new ropy. .4lso the uqe of the original plates offers an economic advantage to the aclvt,rtiser. S e w media may be employed to solicit a different type readership if return< f r o m the original a d have indicate~lan interest 01'application \\-hic.li :IS overlooked or unknown \$-hen the original readership vl:~\q \ v : L ~ selected. Advertising Results
The number of inquiries to be espected from an!- given at1vl.i.tisement on a new product will vary according to the protliic-t being advertised and the breadth of interest in the product. However, 150 to 200 replies t o a single ad are considerrtl a good return. The response usually reaches a peak during the second or third week after the appearance of the advertisement and thcti tapers off until the end of the tenth week. \\-ithin a lO-\vec~k period after the appearance of the advertisement. ordinarii?-, nvclr 90% of the returns have been received. There will aliwys I)(, n few inquiries which dribble in over a period of months, and foreign inquiries ill show up as much as 6 months or a year after the appearance of the ad. Again, the numbfir of inquiries received as t h e result of the ad is not in itself a nieasurc of the value of thn ad. Each inquiry should be carefully considered and a tabulation made of its quality. Dun SS Bradstreet or Thomas' Register are
Vol. 43, No. 4
often used as guides to determine t h e quality of inquiries. This does not mean that inquiriei from companies not listed in thrse reference books are not valuahlr. [[owever, the chancw of (lc>veloping a m i r k e t arc: usually greater with the larger i n i l u i t r i a l firm$ ivho havc. the facilities to d o thc necessary esp1or:itoi-y re.;i%arc.hwork to iixicovcr new applications. Severthelvss. if the intercst of 1:iIge companies onl>- is t o t)c solicited thtx.w co:il(i Iw .ought out p(xrson:dly and the need for advertising n.oulti l w ll,ss Iwrtincnt. Time at'ter time interest in neiv products will tli I i'om uiii~spwtcvlFourws and particularly in ne\v cliemic.als out kiio\vn applications. Small coiiipanies have oftcn tirt-n the lop ne\v usrs for a nwv product; they are a l ~ l cto move a nwv product siniply hecause one-man orgariizntions can vircumvent rei1 t a p . One cannot afford t o ovei~iookthese po4hiIiti(~>. It is also cspedient t o solicit the intclwit or' univisrsities antl cooprrate with them in supplying matrrials. Their: groups riiay never be Iargr consumers h i t at'e oftm the w ~ i ~ofr ( ~ development of fundamental p r o d x t iiifoi,inrtion whic,ti may r r new f i c ~ l ~ofl ~:+pplivatioiI. eventwilly o ~ ) i ~UJ) Acknowledgment
I lit, author irishe5 to r ~ p r e +his appreciation f o r t,he coninit~iits
r .
antl criti(4siiiY of thr. folloiving piwple who revie\vcd this pnlier in its initial stages of preparation: Floyd .indrews, G. 11.Itlr. FI. ,I. Kinnc. c'. 0. .\loost)ruggclr, -1. JV. Sohl, .I. S . Sutherlan 1. , S. S;vackhamc~r.ant1 C. \V, K a l t n ~ ~ . Literature Cited (1) H r r g c r , L. D . . .Jr.. Isi), F:s(;. C'HEM.. RE:ct.IvEr> ;\uguJt
43, 849 (1951).
2 1 . 1BRO.
JOHN C. VAALER, Putman Publishing Co., Chicago, I / / .
The basic data needed by editors to prepare a story on a new chemical product include information on how material is selected, basic rules to follow in the preparation
of data, and how much information is needed. Typieal examples of good and bad material are discussed to demonstrate the need for proper preparation.
NEW CHElWICAL PRODUCTS DATA FOR PUBLICA TlON H E past 15 years have shown tremendous strides iu the development of new chemical materials. The publications serving the chemical processing field have passed on informa-
T
In wlecting information for publication, editors try to use material t h a t v d l have the greatest interest for the largest number of readers. I n t h a t way, the pages of their publications are not filled with fringe-interest material b u t wit,h editorial content t h a t tion t o their readers on these n e v developments as they have been announced. This has been possible because chemical manusatisfies t h a t maximum interest. There are exceptions t o every rule, and from time to time the above rule is broken because a facturers have given these publications information on new dr,specific product might have some unusual interest in one phase of velopxnents. In this way, editors have been able to make thvir chemical processing. Most editors have open minds and will publications more interesting t o readers Rho want t o keep ahrenit publish qualified material on the basis of reader-interest. Thcy of things t h a t will help them do a better job. do not have to be sold, cajoled, or bamboozled into using maThe Putman Publishing Co. has a "house rule" that 110 editor terial. If a story is n e m x o r t h y , it will be published. is allowed t o edit. This rule is based on thc fact t h a t it is nut If a company has developed a new chemical, not heretofore the editor or the publisher b u t the reader who decides what is available, the product is news, and its story should be made availgood material. If editors are on their toes, they know the able to editors. If a company develops a product which is availreaders' interests and select material t o satisfy it. In Chemical able from other sources the industry will be interested t o know Processzng a means is provided whereby readers can inquire for t h a t more than one source exists for the product. If the initial more information, and this provides a check on reader-intvtcst. After requests for additional information have been complr~tr~ly announcement of a new chemical states t h a t it is available i n pilot plant quant,ities. a second announcement is in order whtm tabulated, those t h a t received a better than average rcsponse plant facilities are extended to commercial production. become evident. Thus, by continuously checking, the editors The announcement, of a new product should be planned and know the kind of material that holds a sustained interest over a timed so that it has promotional vnlue for the manufacturer :is long period of time.
