THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH,
Complete chassic lubrication
while you wait
BARLY every motor car owner
every
'cated 500 miles, but most of them. neglect it because they still think they either have to do it themselves, or leave their car several hours at a garage.
If you're one of these owners, "you'll be glad to know that we're equipped to lubricate your chas- cis completely in a few minutes, with the best Tubricant money can buy-ALEMITE—and at a "cost that is very low. Every job is done under careful supervision and an absolute guarantee of satisfaction.
Drop in some time and let us show you what a real lubrication service is. And while you're here, ask about our "year- round lubrication" plan. It will save you some money.
Hongkong
Hotel
Garage,
You Bet
I'm Happy!
Having just made my choice from the Alex.
Ross Selection of
MOTOR
CYCLES
WHY DON'T YOU MAKE YOURS?
THEY have the best lines in Hongkong.
THEY guarantoo their cycles.
THEY give you three months frao service.
THEY give the Purchaser the bost deferred terms.
1/4-Down-balance to suit buyor.
Where can you get more for your money?
ANY OF THE FOLLOWING ARE
A. J. S
TROUBLE-FREE
DOUGLAS
INDIAN
TRIUMPH
FRANCIS-BARNETT
Including Accessories
1927 Models waiting for you
AND DON'T FORGET-
Terms to suit YOU
ALEX. ROSS & Co. (China), Ltd.
New Offices, May 1-Prince's Building.
2 floor, Ice House St. Entrance.
AUTOMOBILE ADVERTISING.
How to Establish Prestige.
MOTORING SUPPLEMENT. -
In this way prestige has been built up through advertising over a period of many years, backed by the performance of the product In the hands of users.
SATURDAY,
MAY 14, 1927.
honest manufacturing if public con maintained. A large share of the which wo are engaged. We know fidence is to be won and held. Wo public trust in our industry is due that we are manufacturing and sell- must not forget that our prestige to this enthusiasm which has been Ing service which contributes to shown in the past, and the public's the progress and happiness of, the deponds largely on this fact.
It is perhaps a seeming contra-attitude in the future depends a world, and the world has expressed diction to say that we must hold great deal on whether or not wo belief and confidence in us. It is En-our duty to maintain this belief and Every automobilo factory puts the foregoing principle in mind, maintain this enthusiasm. its own brand on the product and yet must guard against being thusiasm is contagious; if we are confidence. I believe that an honest which it manufactures and spends too conservative, but a note of en-enthusiastic the public will be also product, backed by honest advertis- large sums for advertising Inthusiasm should nevertheless bo We believe in the business in ing, will accomplish this and. I think we are all willing to order to win and maintain pres- admit. saya Mr. Edward T. Strong, tige. If they had not done so, or President, of the Buick Motor if the product had not backed up Company, the great value that the claims made for it in adver advertising has been to our industising, it wouldn't have been so try. There is hardly a phase of easy te market such improvements automobile progress for which as four-wheel brakes and balloon advertising cannot claim some tyres. share of the credit.
Just a few years ago four wheel brakes were introduced and within twelve months they were standard on practically all cars in the field selling for above a thousand dollars. Advertising did it, admit- ting of course that the principle was correct to start with. The same was true of balloon tyres not long ago. It took only six months to sell them to the public through advertising.
Yet when we go back a few years further, we and that no such reception greeted the self sturter, although this development ranks, in importance with any in the automobile industry... Why is this trua? It is true because to-day the public believes in the automo- bile and in the manufacturers who
build them. At the time the self starter was first introduced, the public was just beginning to be- lieve.
When we go back still further,
I do not make sweeping clitims for all automobile advertising. There is no doubt but that we sometimes make mistakes. But there are certain fundamentals which I think we have adhered to in the main,
this. I mean that we try not to We try to tell the truth. By become over-enthusiastic inhe claims we make for our products, and we can credit a larga share of the prestige we have been won to this fact.
The public goodwill which we serve us in many ways. now enjoy can be called upon to We can, model or an outstanding Improve- for instance, introduce A Rew
ment and by advertising gain its ward in the interests of progress. acceptance. This is a step for-..
think you will agree that it is a long journey between the tried and tested product and the accept- in the very beginning of the inconfidence in the automobile in- ance of that product, yet public dustry, we find utter disbelief. Many of us remember some of the early automobile shows. In those days it was customary to build a circular track within the show | building, and sometimes to con- struct an incline.on the roof to test the climbing ability of the cars. These steps were taken to advertise the fact that automobiles would really run.
Most people at that time didn't believe they would run. But when they saw it with their own eyes, some of this disbelief began to
melt away.
Public confidence Was still further won by such events as the Vanderbilt Cup races, the Kolb races and the meets at Ormond Beach. The automobile began to be generally accepted as a prae- fleal commodity. Names became better known. Fame won on the
track gained a reputation for the car which manifested-ilgolf.in increased sales and greater pres tike. Those early Taces were nothing more or less than adver iising.
They were part of the programme of education. Of course they were only supplemen- tary to the printed advertisement which most nanofacturers used, hut their function Was well. defined, they backed up the state ments made in printed advertising by actual performance. If a claim was made that a certain make of IL certain kar would travel at
speed, there were stock car racing records to prove that this claim was well founded.
CLEAR
THXACO MOTOR
OIL
TEXACO
TEXACO GASOLINE
THE VOLATILE GAS
DISTINCTIVE
UNIFORM
QUALITY
dustry and in the names of the that gap when the story is told in individual manufacturers bridges
we would be a long way behind in advertising. If this were not true development.
Some people may say that this large expenditure for advertising is not justified, yet in countless ways it has effected.savings which ultimately accrue to the consumer. Advertising has been instrumental in selling the automobile to the public, and this alone create a demand which made volume pro- duction and standardization of parts necessary. The result is a product of lower price and greater value:
pre-sold
It has eliminated selling costs which the consumer formerly had to pay. A large percentage of prospects to-day are through advertising before a sales- have learned much of the story Tann ever, sees them, Many, others through advertising and are ripe
for the closing argument. The question to-day is not "Do I want car it is "what car do I want." Advertising tells the prospect the
features of each make and he can
decide for himself which car is the best suited to his needs, which is the bast value in his particular Price class, and so forth."
While advertising was du exper- sive item in the beginning, it is costing less and less each year per unit of product marketed and Bite industry is collecting dividends on the bums expended in the past for the purpose of win- ning prestige and educating the públic.
There is a wide difference of opinion as to what advertising mediums are the most valuable, but there are certain ones which are generally used. Newspapers are valuable mediums, and adver tising is usually placed in cilies, where there is dealer representa- tion.
This medium serves the double function of telling the public about the product and informing it. as to where it should go to buy it. Trade papers furnish the means of reaching those who might be interested in handling some make of a car in a certain locality, and trade paper advertising is usually devoted to information concerning the prestige of the Cac- tory and the selling possibilities of the product. Outdoor advertising has proved very successful for some factories, and is often used, within. the city limits with a single phrase descriptive of the car, together with the name and address of the dealer. Magazine advertising is in- tended primarily to establish and maintain prestige, and to acquaint the public with improvements and features of the car. These can be divided into general magazinies, which include the popular.waeklies and monthlies, and into another group of specialized magazines, which appeal to certain classes, such as fraternal, farm or women's periodicals.
All this mass of advertising, mul- tiplied by the number of companies which employ it, is dependent on ene thing-prestige. It would be folly to go to all this trouble and expense to tell the story, of a pro- duct which did not enjoy public esteem. Therefore it is important that we realize the grave injury we would do to ourselves and the in- dustry by overstatements which would in time destroy the confid- ence which the public has manifest- ed in us. One company can do much harm to the industry by in- discretly claiming for its product qualities which the product does not possess. This is nothing moro or less than honest merchandising, which we all agree must accompany
Alklo
DNA Empire.
arrad JODO CDMCM
Straight to the Mark Public Favour
of
"Hitting the bull's eye' with its records of sucerss--the Firestone Full-Size, Gum-Dipped · Balloon has set today's highest mark in tyre quality,
M
Full-Size Balloons are acknowledged to be the easiest riding tyres ever built, and it is due to the Firestone process of. Gum-Dipping that, the thin sidewalls are strong, enought to stand the added flexing strain of this type.
"Long mileage, car protection and low petrol cost are further advantages.
Firestone
THE DRAGON MOTORCAR CO., LTD.
م
Telephuze Central 1246 or 1247.
33, WONG NEI CHUNG ROAD, HAPPY VALLEY.
SHELL
MOTOR OIL
THE PERFECT LUBRICANT
Write for your copy of the
SHELL LUBRICATION CHART
which is available
For All Car Owners.
THE ASIATIC PETROLEUM CO. (SOUTH CHINA), LTD.
ASIATIC BUILDING, HONGKONG.