Cartoon Advertising for Radio Service Men
February 1933 Radio-Craft

February 1933 Radio-Craft [Table of Contents] Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Radio-Craft, published 1929 - 1953. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

The Star Radio Company, in Washington, D.C., was lauded in its day for pioneering the use of humor in its print advertising. I searched for more info on the company, but all I could find was a Library of Congress photo of a display of automatic washers and ironers - considered as high tech in the day as any vacuum tube radio. My grandmother had one of those wringer washing machines back in the 1960s. The wringer mechanisms were real safety hazards, hence the old quip about there not having been so much excitement around the house since granny got her < 3-letter word > caught in the wringer. Can I even write that in a politically correct world? Anyway, enjoy the cartoon ads as you're waiting for the first weekend in spring.

Cartoon Advertising for Radio Service Men

Fred E. Kunkel

The most remunerative form of advertising has long been a matter of dispute. In this constructive article, the author presents some interesting views on cartoon advertising.

Not all advertising clicks, and many radio dealers are merely fumbling the ball trying to score a touchdown in their newspaper advertising. But one radio dealer, the Star Radio Company in Washington, D. C., has stumbled upon a productive medium which challenges attention and brings home the bacon in the shape of an enthusiastic consumer response, by using a cartoon advertising stunt, a 3-column by 50-line feature, run every other day as a means of winning attention for their advertising and to put their radio stores in the spotlight of public attention.

People want to be amused and entertained nowadays, even in their reading, and that humorous ads help to pay dividends in the radio selling game is aptly demonstrated by the comic strip advertising one sees coming into greater and greater vogue every day; for these ads not only attract attention, but they also invite reading. They cater to public demand for entertainment and that is why they are gaining in popularity every day.

"I believe that cartoon advertising attracts twice as much attention as ordinary advertising in which you simply show pictures of radios, because it appeals to the American sense of humor and somehow strikes a responsive chord," says N. N. Wallack, the manager. "People nowadays like to look at something funny and at least 500 out of every 1,000 people who glance over the daily paper, will read your cartoon advertisements. Although it may not give you immediate results, it is at least constructive advertising. Our idea is to make our name synonymous with radios, and so far this is the most effective way we have found.

"The main thing about cartoon advertising is that it gets your name well known about town, even though it may not result in direct selling. It has helped us. In fact, it has become so popular that I think in future years larger concerns than ourselves are going to use it.

"My first favorable impression of cartoon advertising was when I started to smoke Murads, because with every package comes a little cartoon advertisement, which catches the eye, and the reading matter which goes with it just touches the spot, e.g., 'When you have accepted an invitation for dinner on Wednesday night instead of Friday - be nonchalant - light a Murad.' This attracted my attention right away, and every time I lighted a Murad I thought of the clever cartoon advertisements. So I decided to try it out in our advertising to see how it would work.

Advantages of This Type of Advertising

"In this way our name is placed on the lips of a great many people, especially the majority of newspaper readers. When they see our advertisements so often in the papers, our name registers on their mind and they know we are a reputable firm, and that we are going to be in business for a long time to come, also that we are dependable and reliable. At the bottom of our ads, we have a few words to say about our service or perhaps our tubes, and other accessories. We use less copy in cartoon advertising, and where it cost me $100 heretofore to run an ad, now I can do it for $30.

Below, three examples of cartoon advertising that really bring results.

"We run these cartoons about three or four times a week, each of which is a different comic strip under the heading, 'Imagine My Embarrassment,' which uses the cartoon vehicle merely as an eye catcher and then, when the cartoon has been read, the eye naturally follows the rest of the ad and the reader catches the message such as:

Imagine Your Pleasure when you take one of our new radios on trial and discover that it surpasses in both tone and volume anything you've heard before at anywhere near the price. Deferred payments, of course.

Imagine Your Embarrassment, Too, when you overhear friends commenting on your old battery set. But also imagine your happiness when you replace it with one of our modern radios - why not do it today?

Imagine Your Surprise when you get the bill for the repairs we make and find it's even less than you expected. Expert workmanship at no extra cost is a certainty when you phone and get us!

Imagine Your Embarrassment, Too, when the maid brings out word that the radio is dead just as you were expecting guests. But it needn't last - a phone call will bring an expert repair man on the run.

Imagine Your Satisfaction when you come here and know you're in the Right Store to get real value in a radio. Our reputation for reliability is as important as the maker's reputation for quality - that's why it pays to go to The Star Radio Co.

Imagine Your Pride when the guests at your party comment on the fine radio you got here. One of our modern cabinet models will lend beauty to your home and add hundreds of happy hours to your life.

"The most important thing in all this advertising is that our name appears on each ad in such a way that it is the first thing a person sees and is the first thing that registers on his mind. He is bound to see it even before the comic strip is read. My personal opinion is that an ad, whether a full page or a half page, is absolutely fruitless and useless without the firm name in prominent letters where it will be seen the first thing.

"I believe that ninety per cent of one's business is done through advertising, and although it may not produce direct results, immediately, eventually you will become so well known by the public that your store will become the logical place to buy a new radio or get a radio repaired, and you will get more than a fair share of the business to be had because of such sales promotion and publicity.

"We have tried all types of advertising but none of them have been so effective as newspaper advertising. It reaches more people, and where an ad is run 3 or 5 times a week, the name of the advertising firm be­comes impressed upon the minds of the public. Billboard and novelty advertising did very little for us. It was not only expensive but a waste of money, so now we use the newspapers exclusively.

"Cartoon advertising suits our particular needs more than any type of newspaper advertising and we intend to use it for a long time to come. People are sick and tired of look­ing at photographs of radios because they are the same old things, but everyone enjoys reading a new comic strip of some kind.

"Then, too, there are so many radio stores in this city that it is difficult to offer anything unusual or interesting - besides price - through advertising. We all handle the same radios, the same accessories, so unless you can offer the public something different and clever enough to make them remember you, you are lost, for people will not come to you. We have solved this problem in cartoon advertising which is constructive and always provokes a laugh. It has succeeded in putting our name on the lips of more people who will be interested in radios - eventually, if not now."

Editor's Note

How many of you dealers or Service Men have experimented with advertising? If you have a "go-getter," let us know. Space rates paid.

Do you know where to advertise for best results? Do you know what to expect from good advertising? Do you know the best form of radio advertising? Can you make good advertising pay for itself? These and other vital questions are answered in full by the author of this much-needed article. What do you say?

Posted March 20, 2015