The year was 1905. A. L. Thomas, the head of the Lord & Thomas advertising agency, was in his office with Albert Lasker, one of the firm's partners, discussing an account.

Lasker was the agency's rising star. At the age of 24, he was a senior partner and was paid $52,000 annually, an incredible sum considering both his age, and the year in question.

Suddenly, a knock struck the door and a messenger appeared holding a note for Thomas, which he dismissed. If not for Lasker, the note might have gone in the trash, but he intervened and asked to see it. Here is what it said:

"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

Unknown to Kennedy, Lasker had been searching his whole life for the answer to that question. However, even with his position and experience, he did not know.

Lasker summoned Kennedy to his office and in that historic meeting, three words were whispered. Three words that changed the face of advertising forever.

Those words were "Salesmanship-in-Print." A concept so basic and so effective that no one has since been able to improve upon it.

Kennedy went on to become one of the most well known and highly regarded copywriters of his time, eclipsing Lasker and even copywriting great Claude Hopkins.

To quote Lasker:

"The history of advertising could never be written without first place 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."

The "Reason-Why" epoch in Advertising is now over one hundred years old.

It was initiated and made effective by the remarkable series of articles contributed to Judicious Advertising Magazine in 1905 by John E. Kennedy (which series is partially reprinted here).

That these articles apply as fitly and forcibly to Advertising conditions today as they did one hundred years ago proves the undying Truths embodied in them and expressed through them.

"Reason-Why" as the first definite concept of active Salesmanship-in-Advertising (versus passive "General Publicity") has been quoted around the world, criticized, gibed, jeered, applauded and, finally, adopted by its most violent critics, until it is now quietly conceded to be the basis of all good Advertising.

Many thousands of inquiries received for reprints of the "Reason-Why" articles have led the publishers to issue them, bound together but practically unchanged, in present form, as the first real Text-Book upon the great and growing Science of Advertising.

I. You Must Do the Sum to Prove it..................... 4

II. To Whom Are You Advertising?...................... 6

III. The Responsive Chord in Advertising.............. 8

IV. "Let There be Light" ............................. 11

V. They Who Blindly Follow the Blind.................. 13

VI. Fortunes Wasted in following "Will-o'-the-Wisp”.. 17

VII. Why Some Advertisers grow Wealthy While Others Fail. 20

VIII. Making Sure of Results from General Advertising.. 23

IX. How Mail Order Advertising is Tested .............. 26

X. How to Test Out General Advertising................. 28

"Judicious Advertising" Notes......................... 30

Publishers Pay $25,000 for Intensive Advertising...... 34

Who Was John E. Kennedy - A Short Biography........... 35

1. Intensive Advertising....................................... 37

2. Salesmanship Multiplied........................... 39

3. Good Advertising is News ........................... 41

4. How Short Should an Ad Be?...................... 43

5. To Plan and Write Strong Ads........................ 45

1. How Shall We Know Good Copy? ..................... 47

________________________________________

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.

Because opinions on Advertising are conflicting as opinions on Religion.

Forty per cent of all the people in the world are Buddhists, and are of the Opinion that Buddhism is the only true religion.

Twelve per cent of the world's people being Roman Catholics, are firm in the Opinion  that the remaining 88 per cent are wrong, and sure of damnation accordingly.

Eight per cent of the world's people being Protestants believe that both the Buddhists  and 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 per cent 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 much 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" 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.

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 per cent of that population lived in the country - 10 2/3 per cent was Semi urban, and 38 1/3 per cent 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 per cent of all these Families had an average Income of less than $400 per year, or about $80 per capita.

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

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

Only 10 1/2 per cent of them had an annual Income of $900 to $1,200.

Only 7 1/2 per cent of them had an annual Income of $1,800 to $3,000.

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

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 about 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 per cent 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 per cent 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 per cent 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 per cent 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 per cent" of Readers has a peculiar Habit-of-Thought or Mental Caliber 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.

III. The Responsive Chord in Advertising.............. 8

IV. "Let There be Light" ............................. 11

V. They Who Blindly Follow the Blind.................. 13

VI. Fortunes Wasted in following "Will-o'-the-Wisp”.. 17

VII. Why Some Advertisers grow Wealthy While Others Fail. 20

VIII. Making Sure of Results from General Advertising.. 23

IX. How Mail Order Advertising is Tested .............. 26

X. How to Test Out General Advertising................. 28

"Judicious Advertising" Notes......................... 30

Publishers Pay $25,000 for Intensive Advertising..... 34

Who Was John E. Kennedy - A Short Biography........... 35

1. Intensive Advertising....................................... 37

2. Salesmanship Multiplied........................... 39

3. Good Advertising is News ........................... 41

4. How Short Should an Ad Be?...................... 43

5. To Plan and Write Strong Ads........................ 45

1. How Shall We Know Good Copy? ..................... 47

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