Anyway, this is a good story, illustrating our fifth principle: It is all in HOW you say it, as well as in WHAT you say. Hot Chestnuts For Sale
I saw an advertisement in Advertising Age endeavouring to show the importance of advertising properly. One of those fellows you see in the fall selling hot chestnuts on street corners was saying: “Hot chestnuts.” His business was poor. The fellow down the street who was getting all of the business was saying: “ Very hot chestnuts!” One small five-and-ten-cent store conceived, some time ago, the idea of selling ice cream sandwiches in front of the store entrance. On the first warm day of the season, the manager had the porter bring the ice cream cooler outside, placed ice cream in it, and employed a pretty girl to sell it. You have seen these stands in front of many a five-and-ten-cent store. In this particular case, the sign was: “The best ice cream sandwich in the city – 5c.” It seemed that every year the ice cream business increased everywhere but in front of this store. A study of the situation showed that when a person bought a sandwich, he stood right there and ate it. A Perambulating Sandwich That was good advertising, at first, seeing people eat the ice cream, since it prompted other people to buy. But soon the entrance became so jammed that the shoppers could hardly get into the store, and many turned away because of the fact. To keep traffic moving away from the store entrance, yet to sell ice cream sandwiches, was really a problem for the store manager. One day, however, it was solved by giving the sandwich a name. What do you suppose the name was? It was “ Walk Away Sandwich.” And people, realizing they could eat and walk , did walk away, leaving room for other shoppers to step up to the little counter in the store entrance and purchase sandwiches. Three action words – that got action!
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