introduction of Ariosa by John Arbuckle in 1873. Some of the early

publicity for this pioneer package coffee appears typographically crude, judged by modern standards; but the copy itself has all the needful punch, and many of the arguments are just as applicable today as they were a half-century ago. Take the handbill copy illustrated. It was done in three colors, and the argument was new and most convincing. The reverse side copy is also extremely effective. Note the expert-roaster argument and coffee-making directions; some of these may still be found in current coffee advertising. Most of the original Arbuckle advertising was by means of circulars or broadsides, although some newspaper space was employed. Premiums were first used by John Arbuckle as an advertising sales adjunct, and they proved a big factor in putting Ariosa on the map. Mr. Arbuckle created the kind of word-of-mouth publicity for his goods that is the most difficult achievement in the business of advertising. It caused so deep and lasting an impression, that in some sections it has persisted through at least five decades. The advertising moral is: Get people to _talk_ your brand. Since the death of its founder, the Arbuckle copy has been changed to fit modern conditions. That it has kept pace with all the forward movements in business and advertising is evident from the specimens which help to illustrate this chapter. A significant change is to be noted in the fact that, for the first time in its history, "the greatest coffee business in the world" has adopted a policy of advertising to the trade as well as to the consumer, thus giving its publicity a well rounded character which it formerly lacked. The evolution of other notable package coffees is also shown by illustration. Several concerns blazed new trails that have since been picked up and followed by competing brands. [Illustration: CHARTS SHOWING PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION AND COFFEE AND SUBSTITUTE ADVERTISING] Among the many long-established advertised package-coffee successes may be mentioned: Arbuckle's Yuban and Ariosa; McLaughlin's XXXX; Chase & Sanborn's Seal Brand; Dwinell-Wright's White House; Weir's Red Ribbon; B. Fischer & Company's Hotel Astor; Brownell & Field's Autocrat; Bour's Old Master; Scull's Boscul; Seeman Brothers' White Rose; Blanke's Faust; Baker's Barrington Hall; Woolson Spice Company's Golden Sun; International Coffee Company's Old Homestead; Kroneberger's Old Reserve; Western Grocer Company's Chocolate Cream; Leggett's Nabob; Clossett & Dever's Golden West; R.C. Williams' Royal Scarlet; Merchants Coffee Company's Alameda; Widlar Company's C.W. brand; Meyer Bros.' Old Judge; Nash-Smith Tea and Coffee Company's Wedding Breakfast; J.A. Folger & Company's Golden Gate; Ennis Hanley Blackburn Coffee Company's Golden Wedding; M.J. Brandenstein & Company's M.J.B.; Hills Brothers' Red Can, the Young & Griffin Coffee Company's Franco-American, and the Cheek-Neal Coffee Company's Maxwell House. It was estimated that the amount of money spent by the larger coffee roasters upon all forms of publicity in the United States in 1920 was about $3,000,000. Charts prepared by Charles Coolidge Parlin of the division of commercial research of the Curtis Publishing Company, and checked by the Publishers' Information Bureau, show the advertising for coffee and for coffee substitutes in thirty leading publications from 1911 to 1920; and compare the advertising for coffee and coffee substitutes in 1920 with a chart of per capita consumption. It should be noted that the figures exclude all other forms of advertising, such as newspapers, bill-posting, street-car signs, electric signs, and so forth. Experience has proven that a package coffee, to be successful, must have back of it expert knowledge on buying, blending, roasting, and packing, as well as an efficient sales force. These things are essential: (1) a quality product; (2) a good trade-mark name and label; (3) an efficient package. With these, an intelligently planned and carefully executed advertising and sales campaign will spell success. Such a campaign comprehends advertising directed to the dealer and to the consumer. It may include all the approved forms of publicity, such as newspapers, magazines, billboards, electric signs, motion pictures, demonstrations, and samples. One phase of trade advertising which should not be overlooked is dealer helps. The extent to which the roaster-packer, or the promoter of a new package coffee, should utilize the various advertising media or go into dealer helps must, of course, depend upon the size of the advertising appropriation. [Illustration: AN EFFECTIVE CUT-OUT] Many roaster-packers supply grocers handling their coffee with dealer helps in the shape of weather-proof metal signs for outside display, display racks, store and window display signs, cut-outs, blotters, consumer booklets, newspaper electros, stereopticon slides, moving pictures, demonstrations, samples, etc. Dealer selling schemes based on points have also been found helpful in promoting sales. _Advertising to the Trade_ Until a comparatively recent date, the green coffee importer, selling the roasting trade, has not realized the need of advertising. He has inclined to the belief that he did not need to advertise, because, in most instances, green coffee is not sold by the mark; and, to a certain extent, price has been the determining factor. During late years, however, many green coffee firms have come to realize that there is a good-will element that enters into the equation which can be fostered by the intelligent use of advertising space in the coffee roaster's trade journal. Also, a few importers are now featuring trade marks in their advertising, thus building up a tangible trade-mark asset in addition to good will. For a number of years the green coffee trade used the business card type of advertisement; but some are now utilizing a more up-to-date style of copy, as typified by the advertisements of Leon Israel & Brothers and W.R. Grace & Company. Specimens of other green coffee advertising of the better kind are here reproduced. Advertising campaigns in behalf of package coffees can not be fully effective without the proper use of trade publications. Advertising in the dealer's paper has many advantages. It is good missionary work for the salesman. It creates confidence in the mind of the dealer. It is an excellent means for demonstrating to the retailer that he is being considered in the scheme of distribution--that no attempt is being made to force the goods upon him through consumer advertising alone. Trade-paper advertising also offers the packer the opportunity to acquaint the dealer with the selling points in favor of the brand advertised, thus saving the time of the salesman. An increasing number of coffee packers are now using the advertising columns of trade papers, and some typical advertisements are reproduced herewith. _Advertising by Various Mediums_ Billboard and other outdoor advertising, also car cards, are being used to a considerable extent for coffee publicity. Painted outdoor signs have been the back-bone of one middle-west roaster's campaign for a number of years. Both car cards and billboards are growing in popularity because they enable the coffee packer to reproduce his package in its natural colors and permit also of striking displays. Such firms as Arbuckle Brothers, New York; Dayton Spice Mills, Dayton, Ohio; W.F. MCLaughlin & Company, Chicago; the Puhl-Webb Company, Chicago; the Bour Company, Toledo; B. Fischer & Company, New York; and the Cheek-Neal Coffee Company, Nashville and New York, are consistent users of this character of advertising. Electric signs also have proved effective for coffee advertising. Reproductions of some characteristic outdoor and car-card advertisements are to be found in these pages. Motion pictures are a comparatively new development in coffee advertising. One of the first coffee roasters to adopt this plan of publicity was S.H. Holstad & Company, Minneapolis. The film used depicted the cultivation and preparation of coffee for the market, also the complete roasting and packaging operations. The A.J. Deer Company, manufacturers of coffee mills and roasters, Hornell, N.Y., was another pioneer in the use of coffee films. Jabez Burns & Sons, coffee-machinery manufacturers, followed with an educational coffee picture. The National Packaging Machinery Company, of Boston, is another concern that has utilized films for advertising purposes, showing its machines in operation in a coffee-packing plant. Many roasters made use of the coffee film produced by the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee. In using advertising films, it is customary for the roaster to arrange for a showing at one or more theaters. The advertising in the local papers features the coffee brands, also the name of the local dealer, the latter being furnished with tickets which he distributes among his retail customers. There are several concerns making a business of supplying commercial films and of getting distribution for them. Another form of theater publicity is that of the advertising slide--stereopticon views thrown upon the screen between feature pictures. Many packers find these are effective for cultivating the dealer, it being customary to show the brand name, together with that of the local distributer. _Advertising for Retailers_ When retailers analyze the people to whom they sell coffee, they usually find three types. First, there is the woman who thinks she is an expert judge of coffee, but who is unable to find anything to suit her cultivated taste. Then there is the new housewife, possibly a bride of a few months, who knows very little about coffee, but wants to find a good blend that both she and her husband will like. The third is the most acceptable class, the satisfied people who have found coffee that delights them, day after day. [Illustration: HOW COFFEE IS ADVERTISED TO THE TRADE Left to right, good examples of green coffee publicity--center, well-arranged package-coffee copy] W. Harry Longe, a Texas retailer, has prepared the following "ready made" copy appeals for the three classes. To "Mrs. Know-it-all-about-Coffee," this style has been found effective: IMPROVE THE COFFEE AND YOU IMPROVE THE MEAL The corner of the table that holds the coffee urn is the balancing point of your dinner. If the coffee is a "little off" for some reason or other--probably it's the coffee's own fault--things don't seem as good as they might; but when it is "up to taste" the meal is a pleasure from start to finish. If the "balancing point" is giving you trouble, let ANY BLEND Coffee properly regulate it for you. 35 cents, three pounds for $1. ANY TEA & COFFEE COMPANY For the good lady who is anxious to find a suitable blend of coffee, and who desires information, this is a good appeal: A SUCCESSFUL SELECTION Of the coffee that goes into the every-morning cup will arrive on the day when ANY BLEND is first purchased. Many homes have been without such a success now for a long time, but, of course, they didn't know of ANY BLEND--and even now it is hard to really know ANY BLEND till you try it. That is why we seem to insist that you ask for an introduction by ordering a pound. ANY BLEND TEA & COFFEE COMPANY Taking both classes and dealing with them alike: "BLENDED TO BALANCE" Is a good descriptive phrase of ANY BLEND coffee, for care is taken in the preparation that the strength does not overpower the flavor. The aim of the blender is to get an acceptable and delightful drinking quality. He has been more than successful, as you will see when you try ANY BLEND, 35 cents, three pounds for $1. ANY TEA & COFFEE COMPANY The satisfied class, of course, is not averse to making a change, and it is well, occasionally, for the dealer to let his own satisfied customers know he still believes in his goods. The argument might take this form: A SERVICE THAT SAVES Is the serving of ANY BLEND, when coffee is desired. ANY BLEND saves many things. It saves worry, for it is always uniform in flavor and strength. It saves time, for when you order ANY BLEND we grind it just as fine or just as coarse as your percolator or pot demands. ANY BLEND also saves expense, because there is no waste, as you know just how much to use, every time, to make a certain number of cups. 35 cents, three pounds for $1. ANY TEA & COFFEE COMPANY Again, possible new customers may listen to this appeal: TO PROVE YOUR APPROVAL Of ANY BLEND coffee, you are asked to try just one pound. We know you will like it, for it is blended and roasted and ground as an exceptional coffee should be, with the care that a good coffee demands. Prove to yourself that you approve of this method of preparing coffee. 35 cents, three pounds for $1. ANY TEA & COFFEE COMPANY In some households the cook is permitted to do the ordering, and usually the cook does not read the daily papers with an eye for coffee ads. To reach this individual through her mistress: CAN YOU NAME YOUR COFFEE? Or is it one of those many unknown brands that comes from the store at the order of your cook? Let the cook do the ordering, for you are lucky if you have one you can rely upon, but tell her you prefer ANY BLEND to the No-Name Blend you may now be using. ANY BLEND has one distinct advantage over all others; It Is freshly roasted. Tell the kitchen-lady, now, to order ANY BLEND. ANY TEA & COFFEE COMPANY _Advertising by Government Propaganda_ Advertising coffee by government propaganda has been indulged in with more or less success by the British government in behalf of certain of its colonial possessions; by the French and the Dutch; by Porto Rico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Brazil. The markets most cultivated have been Italy, France, England, Russia, Japan, and the United States. Great Britain began the development of coffee cultivation in its colonies in 1730. Parliament first reduced the inland duties. In many ways it has since sought to encourage British-grown coffee, building up a favoritism for it that is still reflected in Mincing Lane quotations. The Netherlands government did the same thing for Java and Sumatra; and France rendered a similar service to her own colonies. Since Porto Rico became a part of the United States, several attempts have been made by the island government and the planters to popularize Porto Rico coffee in the United States. Scott Truxtun opened a government agency in New York in 1905. Acting upon the counsel and advice of the author, he prosecuted for several years a vigorous campaign in behalf of the Porto Rico Planters' Protective Association. The method followed for coffee was to appoint official brokers, and to certify the genuineness of the product. Owing to insufficient funds and the number of different products for which publicity was sought, the coffee campaign was only moderately successful. Mortimer Remington, formerly with the J. Walter Thompson Company, a New York advertising agency, was appointed in 1912 commercial agent for the Porto Rico Association, composed of island producers and merchants. Some effective advertising in behalf of Porto Rico coffee was done in the metropolitan district, where a number of high-class grocers were prevailed upon to stock the product, which was packed under seal of the association. As before, however, the other products handled--including cigars, grape-fruit, pineapples, etc.--handicapped the work on coffee, and the enterprise was abandoned. Subsequent efforts by the Washington government to assist the Porto Ricans in evolving a practical plan to extend their coffee market in the United States came to naught because of too much "politics." Beginning with the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915, the government of Guatemala started a propaganda for its coffee in the United States; as the European market, which had up till then absorbed seventy-five percent of its product, was closed to it, owing to the World War. E.H. O'Brien, a coffee broker of San Francisco, directed the publicity. Some full pages were used in newspapers, but the main efforts were directed at the coffee-roasting trade. The campaign, so far as it went, was highly successful. Costa Rica also gave special encouragement to coffee-trade interests that offered to expand the United States market for Costa Rica coffee during the World War. For many years Colombia has been talking of making propaganda here for its coffee, but thus far nothing of a constructive character has been done. São Paulo began in 1908 to make propaganda for its coffee by subsidizing companies and individuals in consuming countries to promote consumption of the Brazil product. A contract was entered into between the state of São Paulo and the coffee firms of E. Johnston & Company and Joseph Travers & Son, of London, to exploit Brazil coffee in the United Kingdom. Similar contracts were made with coffee firms in other European countries, notably in Italy and France. The subsidies were for five years and took the form of cash and coffee. The English company was known as the "State of São Paulo (Brazil) Pure Coffee Company, Ltd." Fifty thousand pounds sterling was granted this enterprise, which roasted and packed a brand known as "Fazenda;" promoted demonstrations at grocers' expositions; and advertised in somewhat limited fashion. The general effect upon the consumption of coffee in England was negligible, however, although at one time some five thousand grocers were said to have stocked the Fazenda brand. A feature of this propaganda was the use of the Tricolator (an American device since better known in the United States) to insure correct making of the beverage, Brazil also made propaganda for its coffee in Japan, in 1915, as part of certain undertakings involving the immigration of Japanese laborers to Brazil. The Comité Français du Café was formed in Paris in July, 1921, to co-operate with Brazil in an enterprise designed to increase the consumption of coffee in France. The chief fault in most of the coffee propagandas here and abroad has been the doubtful practise of subsidizing particular coffee concerns instead of spending the funds in a manner designed to distribute the benefits among the trade as a whole. This mistake, and local politics in the producing countries, have made for ultimate failure. A notable exception is the latest propaganda for Brazil coffee in the United States, where all the various interests, the the São Paulo government, the growers, exporters, importers, roasters, jobbers, and dealers, have co-operated in a plan of campaign to advertise coffee _per se_, and not to secure special privilege to any individual, house, or group. _Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Campaign_ Twenty years ago the author began an agitation for co-operative advertising, by the coffee trade. He suggested as a slogan, "Tell the truth about coffee;" and it is gratifying to find that many of his original ideas have been embodied in the present joint coffee trade publicity campaign, now in its fourth year. [Illustration: THEODORE LANGGAARD DE MENEZES] The coffee roasters at first were slow to respond to the co-operative advertising suggestion, because in those days competition was more unenlightened than now, and therefore more ruthless. It needed organization to bring the trade to a better understanding of the benefits certain to be shared by all when their individual interests were pooled in a common cause. Leaders of the best thought in the trade, however, were quick to realize that only by united effort was it possible to achieve real progress; and when it was suggested that the first step was to organize the roasting trade, the idea took so firm a hold that it only needed some one to start it to bring together in one combination the keenest minds in the business. The coffee roasters organized their national association in 1911. The author of this work urged that co-operative advertising based upon scientific research should be done by the roasters themselves independently of the growers; but it was found impracticable to unite diverging interests on such an issue, and so the leaders of the movement bent all their energies toward promoting a campaign that would be backed jointly by growers and distributers, since both would receive equal benefit from any resulting increase in consumption. Brazil, the source of nearly three-quarters of the world's coffee, was the logical ally; and an appeal was made to the planters of that country. A party of ten leading United States roasters and importers visited Brazil in 1912 at the invitation of the federal government. In Brazil, as in the United States, progress resulted from organization. The planters of the state of São Paulo, who produce more than one-half of all coffee used in the United States, were the first to appreciate the propaganda idea. After their attempts to interest the national government failed, the São Paulo coffee men founded the _Sociedade Promotora da Defesa do café_ (Society to Promote the Defense of Coffee), and persuaded their state legislature to pass a law taxing every bag of coffee shipped from the plantations of that state in a period of four years. This tax, amounting to one hundred reis per bag of 132 pounds, or about two and one-half cents United States money at even exchange rates, is collected by the railroads from the shippers, and turned over to the _Sociedade_. The Brazilian Society sent to the United States a special envoy, Theodore Langgaard de Menezes, to conclude arrangements; and on March 4, 1918, in New York, the pact was signed whereby São Paulo was to contribute to the publicity campaign in the United States approximately $960,000 at the rate of $240,000 a year for four years; and the members of the trade in the United States were to contribute altogether $150,000[346]. The success of the negotiations was due to the skilful management of Ross W. Weir in the United States, and to the superior salesmanship of Louis R. Gray, the Arbuckle representative in Brazil. [Illustration: JOINT COFFEE TRADE PUBLICITY COMMITTEE IN UNITED STATES] Supervision of the advertising in the United States was delegated to five men, representing both the importing and roasting branches of the trade, and designated as the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee of the United States. Three of these committeemen, Ross W. Weir, of New York; F.J. Ach, of Dayton, Ohio; and George S. Wright, of Boston, are roasters; and two, William Bayne, Jr., and C.H. Stoffregen, both of New York, are importers and jobbers, or green-coffee men. The committee organized with Mr. Weir as chairman, Mr. Wright as treasurer, and Mr. Stoffregen as secretary. At the invitation of the committee, C.W. Brand of Cleveland, then president of the National Coffee Roasters Association, attended committee meetings, and assisted in determining the policies of the campaign. Headquarters were established at 74 Wall Street, in the heart of the New York coffee district, with Felix Coste as secretary-manager, and Allan P. Ames as publicity director. N.W. Ayer & Son, advertising agents of Philadelphia, who had engineered the plan of campaign from the start of the movement in the National Coffee Roasters Association, handle the advertising account. [Illustration: CHART SHOWING PLAN OF ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN] São Paulo's contribution to the advertising fund is sent in monthly instalments to the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee under an agreement that it shall be expended only for magazine and newspaper space. [Illustration: JOINT-COMMITTEE MAGAZINE AND NEWSPAPER COPY, 1919] [Illustration: COPY THAT STRESSED THE HEALTHFULNESS OF COFFEE, 1919-1920] Supplementing this Brazilian contribution, is the fund raised by voluntary subscriptions from the coffee trade of the United States on the basis of one cent per bag handled annually. This American fund is used for the expenses of administration, for educational advertising outside of magazine and newspaper space, and for various kinds of trade promotion and dealer stimulation. [Illustration: THE JOINT COMMITTEE'S HOUSE ORGAN] The first advertising appeared in April, 1919, in 306 leading newspapers in 182 large cities, with a total circulation of more than 16,000,000. The cities chosen represented all the centers of wholesale coffee distribution. Magazine advertising began in June of the same year, using twenty-one periodicals, all of national circulation. This list has been changed from time to time to meet the special needs of the campaign. More than fifty grocery-trade magazines have carried the committee's dealer advertising, although not all of these have been used continuously. Every part of the country was represented on the trade-paper list. Full pages have been run each month in nine of the leading national medical journals. These advertisements were written by a physician of national reputation. Under the caption, "The Case for Coffee," these advertisements have discussed the properties of coffee from the physiological standpoint, and have asked the doctors to judge it fairly. From the start the committee's advertising has been broadly educational. The properties of coffee have been discussed; charges against coffee have been answered. The housekeeper has been told how to get the best results from the coffee she buys; hotel and restaurant proprietors have been reminded that many of them owe their prosperity largely to a reputation for serving good coffee; new uses have been exploited for coffee, as a flavoring agent for desserts and other sweets; employers have been taught the important service good coffee may render in increasing the comfort and efficiency of their working forces. [Illustration: INTRODUCTORY MEDICAL-JOURNAL COPY] Magazine and newspaper advertising is only the nucleus of the campaign. The effect of such "white space" publicity is increased by simultaneous efforts to "merchandise" the campaign, to stimulate the interest of the wholesale and retail trade, to encourage private-brand advertising, and to reach the consumer by other kinds of publicity recognized as essential factors in a well rounded national advertising effort. These activities may be summarized as follows: [Illustration: TELLING THE DOCTORS THE TRUTH ABOUT COFFEE, 1920] INFORMATION SERVICE. This department answers inquiries and supplies material for household editors, and for newspaper and magazine writers. Through a national clipping service, it keeps in touch with all published matter relating to coffee. Its special duty is to answer attacks on coffee and the coffee trade. Merchants and dealers make it a practise, when they find misleading articles or editorials in their local newspapers, to send clippings to the committee's headquarters to be handled there as the situation warrants. SCIENTIFIC COFFEE RESEARCH. Twenty-two thousand, five hundred dollars of the American fund have been appropriated thus far for scientific coffee research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The reports of this research will be distributed to the coffee trade throughout the country, and should prove valuable in all branches of coffee merchandising. The findings will be distributed by the committee to schools and colleges, and to consumers through national advertising. [Illustration: SOME OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE'S ATTRACTIVE BOOKLETS] THE COFFEE CLUB. This organization was established for the purpose of educating the consumer through constructive team work by the roasters' and jobbers' salesman and the retail dealer. Under this plan, the committee has distributed 50,000 transparent signs for dealers' windows, and 5,000 bronze coffee-club buttons for coffee salesmen. By reference to the Coffee Club in national magazine and newspaper advertising, the retailer is given a chance to tie up with the campaign. Membership in the club is limited to those who are contributing to the publicity fund, and to their salesmen and customers. The club publishes a monthly bulletin in newspaper form, giving the news of the campaign. This has a circulation of 27,000 among wholesalers, salesman, and dealers. [Illustration: MORE MEDICAL JOURNAL COPY, 1920] BOOKLETS. The committee has published six booklets, which have reached a total circulation of more than one and a half million copies. These booklets are sold at cost to the coffee trade. The committee reports that, on an average, one hundred requests for them are received daily at its office from consumers in different parts of the country, and that the booklets are the means of a constant campaign of education in American homes and schools. BRAND ADVERTISING. The committee is constantly making efforts to increase the amount of private advertising by coffee roasters, and it estimates that brand advertising has increased at least three hundred percent since the national campaign began. Reproductions of the committee's advertisements, proofs of advertising electrotypes, and copy suggestions are circulated in advance to all roasters and to a large number of retailers, by means of the monthly organ, _The Coffee Club_. COFFEE WEEK. During the week of March 29 to April 4, 1920, the committee organized and financed the third national coffee week, which was observed by retailers throughout the country. The feature of this week was a window-trimming contest for which prizes of $2,000 were distributed among several hundred grocers. The contest resulted in displays of coffee in nearly 10,000 grocery windows, and greatly increased the sale and consumption of coffee during this period. MOTION PICTURES. The United States fund financed the production and distribution of a coffee motion picture, 128 prints of which were sold to roasters, who exhibited them throughout the country. This picture was shown during coffee week to more than six hundred theater audiences, and it remains in the possession of the trade as an active advertising medium. [Illustration: SPECIMENS OF THE 1921 MAGAZINE AND NEWSPAPER COPY] [Illustration: EDUCATING THE DOCTOR IN THE FACTS ABOUT COFFEE, 1922] NEW USES FOR COFFEE. An important factor in increasing consumption has been the promotion of new uses for coffee. In winter, this has taken the form or recipes and suggestions for coffee as a flavoring agent; and in warm weather, there has been a publicity drive for iced coffee. _Propaganda Results_ The joint coffee trade publicity campaign is progressive. New features are being developed, and plans are laid well in advance. It is expected that the reports of the scientific research will furnish fresh material for both direct and indirect advertising. One of the interesting prospects is a school exhibit, demand for which has been revealed by requests from a large number of teachers, principals, and school superintendents. Efforts to increase the popularity of a product as widely used as coffee suggest almost unlimited opportunities. The campaign has brought into co-operation producers in one country, and manufacturers and distributers in another country, several thousand miles apart. Its international character, and also the fact that it deals with a product of almost universal use, may account for the attention this campaign has received, not only in the United States, but in every country where advertising is a business factor. This kind of coffee publicity has given the consumer a better knowledge of coffee, and broken down much of the prejudice against coffee that rested upon popular misunderstanding of its physiological effects. As best evidence of its sincere wish to give the public the whole truth about coffee, the committee points to the fact that a portion of its funds is being used to finance the scientific investigation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Felix Coste, the secretary-manager of the campaign, spends much of his time traveling about the country and addressing gatherings of coffee wholesalers and dealers. By this means, and by continuous circularization and correspondence, the trade is kept constantly in touch with the developments of the campaign. [Illustration: MAGAZINE AND NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING COPY, SPRING OF 1922] [Illustration: PRIVATE BRAND COFFEE ADVERTISING IN 1921 Report from 77 Advertisers] Although Brazil is the only coffee-producing country at present co-operating, the advertising has treated all coffees alike. Efforts are being made to have the coffee growers of other countries contribute on a basis proportionate to the benefit they derive. Support from all the coffee countries on the same scale as that on which the producers of São Paulo are contributing would almost double the size of the fund. [Illustration: SPECIMEN OF EARLY YUBAN COPY] _Coffee Advertising Efficiency_ Reverting to the original advertisement for coffee in English, when we compare it with the latest examples of advertising art, it is of the same order of merit. But Pasqua Rosée had no advertising experts to advise him and no precedents to follow. Pasqua Rosée was a native of Smyrna, who was brought to London by a Mr. Edwards, a dealer in Turkish merchandise, to whom he acted as a sort of personal servant. One of his principal duties was the preparation of Mr. Edwards' morning drink of Turkish coffee. "But the novelty thereof," history tells us, "drawing too much company to him, he [Mr. Edwards] allowed his said servant, with another of his son-in-law, to sell it publicly." So it came about that Pasqua Rosée set up a coffee house in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill. And since Pasqua Rosée's idea, naturally, was to acquaint the London public with the virtues and delectable qualities of the product of which his prospective customers were naturally uniformed, he put into his advertisement those facts and arguments which he felt would be most likely to attract attention, to excite interest, and to convince. If the reader will glance at Rosée's advertisement, which is reproduced on page 55, he will be struck with the well-nigh irresistible charm of his unaffected, straightforward bid for patronage. Having no advertising fetishes to warp his judgment, he told an interesting story in a natural manner, carrying conviction. It matters not that some of the virtues attributed to the drink have since been disallowed. He believed them to be true. Few there were in those days who knew the real "truth about coffee." Even his typography, unstudied from the standpoint of modern "display," is attractive, appropriate, and exceedingly pleasant to the eye. And since at that time there was no cereal substitute or other bugaboos to contend against, and to hinder him from doing the simple, obvious thing in advertising, he did that very thing--and did it exceedingly well. [Illustration: HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION IN ADVERTISING] [Illustration: PACKAGE-COFFEE ADVERTISING IN 1922 Specimens of newspaper copy used by some of the most enterprising package-coffee advertisers, East and West] In fact, in the historic advertisement, Pasqua Rosée set an example and established a copy standard which had a very beneficial effect on all the coffee advertising of that early date. This will be evident from a glance at the accompanying exhibits of other early advertisements. It was not until the days of so-called "modern" advertising that coffee publicity reached low-water mark in efficiency and value. In these dark days most coffee advertisers ignored the principles discovered and applied in other lines of grocery merchandising. Instead of telling their public how good their product was, they actually followed the opposite course, and warned the public against the dangers of coffee drinking! Instead of saying to the public, "Coffee has many virtues, and our brand is one of the best examples," their text said in effect, "Coffee has many deleterious properties; some, or most, of which have been eliminated in our particular brand." They were, for the most part, apostles of negation. [Illustration: EMPHASIZING THE SOCIAL-DISTINCTION ARGUMENT] [Illustration: DRAWING UPON HISTORY FOR SOCIAL-INTERCOURSE ATMOSPHERE] Hopeful signs, however, are multiplying that this condition of things in the coffee industry has passed, and that the practise of telling the coffee story with certitude will soon become general. We may well applaud the publicity work of all coffee advertisers who follow where Pasqua Rosée led--those who tell the public how good coffee is to drink and how much good it does you if you drink it. Considering the advertising and typographical resources available to the modern advertiser, it certainly should be possible for this message to be conveyed to the public with at least some of the charm of the first coffee message. One of the most notable examples of how to advertise coffee well is that set by Yuban coffee. Unquestionably, Yuban is doing in a thoroughly up-to-date and appropriate fashion what Pasqua Rosée started out to do in 1652. The effect on those who give only a superficial glance at a Yuban advertisement is to arouse a keen desire to enjoy a cup of Yuban coffee. To induce such a state of mind is, of course, the object of all good advertising. [Illustration: AN ELECTRIC SIGN THAT IMPRESSED CHICAGO There were 4,000 bulbs in this advertisement, which measured 50 x 55 feet. The rental was $3,500 a month] Yuban advertisements have utilized two vital principles in influencing the minds of consumers. In the first place, they have made a cup of coffee seem to be a very delectable drink. In the second place, they have made the serving of a cup of coffee seem to be of the greatest social value. One does not see in a Yuban advertisement any reference to the "removal of caffein", or to Yuban's "freedom from defects common to other coffees." There is no reference to the ill effects of drinking ordinary coffee. Yuban wastes no valuable space in unselling coffee. Instead, the whole intent, effectively carried out, is to paint an enticing picture by descriptive phraseology, typographic "manner", and illustrative treatment. Until Yuban came, those of us in the coffee trade who had given the matter thought had often wondered why, with the wealth of material available to writers of coffee advertisements, so little had been done to make the product alluring--why so little had been done to give atmosphere to the product. So many interesting things may be said about the history of coffee; the spread of the industry through various countries; how Brazil came to be the coffee-producing country of the world; how coffee is cultivated, harvested, and shipped; how it is stored, roasted, handled, delivered--in short, the entire process by which coffee reaches the breakfast table from the plantations of the tropics. Yuban made effective use of this material. Simply to tell these things in an interesting, natural, convincing way makes coffee appear as a healthful, delicious drink; whereas the negative, defensive sort of advertising, that plays into the hands of the substitutes, puts coffee in the wrong light. [Illustration: HOW THREE WELL KNOWN BRANDS OF COFFEE HAVE BEEN ADVERTISED OUTDOORS] [Illustration: ATTENTION-ATTRACTING CAR CARDS, SPRING OF 1922] [Illustration: EFFECTIVE ICED-COFFEE COPY--ADAPTABLE FOR ANY BRAND] When one reads Yuban advertisements, they are seen to be an entirely acceptable and appropriate presentation of coffee merit and thoroughly in accord with the principles of good advertising, as exemplified in all other lines of trade. The wonder grows why so many coffee advertisers have been content to remain in the defensive, controversial position into which the alarmist coffee-substitute advertising has jockeyed them. The Yuban advertisements are not without their faults; errors of historical facts can be found in them; definitions are sometimes mixed; some of the drawings might be better; but, in the main, the copy is convincing and praiseworthy. In Yuban advertisements the things that have been so long left undone have now been done in a masterful way. If we refer to the accompanying illustrations, we can see how effectively the public is being led to realize and believe in: