Coffee merchandising

The first coffee advertisement was Sheik Abd-al-Kadir’s famous Argument in favor of the legitimate use of coffee, an Arabian manuscript of 1587, preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris. It was frank propaganda for coffee. The latest and best advertising for coffee being done in America today is equally frank propaganda, showing that the friends of the universal beverage, 337 years after, are still alive to the need for intelligent advertising if they would continue to serve mankind with the “Gift of Heaven”; for coffee has its enemies in the 20th century just as in the 16th: our age is producing those who are jealous of this “beverage of the friends of God” like that early time when the first persecutions and attempted suppressions came to such inglorious ends.

The first printed advertisement for coffee in English has already been referred to in Chapter I. It was Pasqua Rosee’s shop- or handbill of 1652, the original being in the British Museum. It is worthy of close examination. It reads:

The Vertue of the COFFEE Drink

First publiquely made and sold in England, by Pasqua Rosee.

The Grain or Berry called Coffee, groweth upon little Trees, only in the Deserts of Arabia.

It is brought from thence, and drunk generally throughout all the Grand Seigniors Dominions.

It is a simple innocent thing, composed into a Drink, by being dryed in an Oven, and ground to Powder, and boiled up with Spring water, and about half a pint of it to be drunk, fasting an hour before, and not Eating an hour after, and to be taken as hot as possibly can be endured; the which will never fetch the skin off the mouth, or raise any Blisters, by reason of that Heat.

The Turks drink at meals and other times, is usually Water, and their Dyet consists much of Fruit, the Crudities whereof are very much corrected by this Drink.

The quality of this Drink is cold and Dry; and though it be a Dryer, yet it neither heats, nor inflames more than hot Posset.

It so closeth the Orifice of the Stomack, and fortifies the heat within, that it’s very good to help digestion, and therefore of great use to be taken about 3 or 4 a Clock afternoon, as well as in the morning.

It much quickens the Spirits, and makes the Heart Lightsome.

It is good against sore Eys, and the better if you hold your Head over it, and take in the Steem that way.

It suppresseth Fumes exceedingly, and therefore good against the Head-ach, and will very much stop any Defluxion of Rheums, that distil from the Head upon the Stomack, and so prevent and help Consumptions; and the Cough of the Lungs.

It is excellent to prevent and cure the Dropsy, Gout, and Scurvy.

It is known by experience to be better than any other Drying Drink for People in years, or Children that have any running humors upon them, as the Kings Evil, &c.

It is very good to prevent Mis-carryings in Child-bearing Women.

It is a most excellent Remedy against the Spleen, Hypocondriack Winds, or the like.

It will prevent Drowsiness, and make one fit for busines, if one have occasion to Watch; and therefore you are not to Drink of it after Supper, unless you intend to be watchful, for it will hinder sleep for 3 or 4 hours.

It is observed that in Turkey, where this is generally drunk, that they are not trobled with the Stone, Gout, Dropsie, or Scurvey, and that their Skins are exceedingly cleer and white.

It is neither Laxative nor Restringent.

Made and sold in St. Michaels Alley in Cornhill, by Pasqua Rosee, at the Signe of his own Head.

The noteworthy thing about this advertisement is that, in comparison with the best copy of today, it has high merit; for this early advertisement seems to have embodied in it superbly well those qualifications which modern advertising experts agree are essential requirements for success, measured in terms of sales to the consumer.

The first newspaper advertisement was in the form of a reader in the Publick Adviser of London for the week of May 19 to May 26, 1657. It is quoted on page 6.

There followed many broadsides, some illustrated, and all designed to tell the public about the new drink. There is to be noted a curious contrast between the copy of that far-off time and today. Two hundred seventy years ago all the resources of advertising were being laid under contribution to make propaganda for coffee as the great cure for many ailments of which nowadays the enemies of coffee would have us believe coffee is the cause! Those who have possessed themselves of the facts about coffee know that both arguments are equally fantastic.

Coffee was mentioned in shopkeepers announcements appearing in the Boston News Letter as early as 1714, and in other newspapers of the colonies during the 18th century, usually being offered for sale at retail with strange companions. In 1748, “tea, coffee, indigo, nutmegs, sugar, etc.,” were advertised for sale in Dock Square, Boston.

It appears that the first advertisement dealing with coffee alone was published in the New York Daily Advertiser for February 9, 1790; and this was primarily an advertisement of a wholesale coffee-roasting factory rather than an advertisement of coffee per se.

Not until package coffee began to come into vogue in the 1860s was there any change in the stereotyped business-card form followed by all dealers in coffee; and even then the monotony was varied only by inserting the brand name, such as “Osborn’s Celebrated Prepared Java Coffee. Put up only by Lewis A. Osborn”; “Government coffee in tin foil pound papers put out by Taber & Place’s Rubia Mills.”

Evolution of Coffee Advertising

Real progress in coffee advertising, as in publicity for other lines of trade and industry, began in the United States. Here, too, it has been brought to its lowest degradation and to its highest efficiency. The entire process has taken something less than 50 years.

The first step forward was the picture handbill. The handbill, or dodger, had been common enough in England and on the Continent, where, for upward of 200 years, it had served as an advertising medium, in company with the more robust broadside, and in competition with the pamphlet and newspaper. It remained for America, however, to glorify the handbill by means of colored pictures.

Soon the handbill copy began to appear in the newspapers, but mostly without the illustrations. Later newspaper developments were to introduce more of the picture element, decorative border, and design. The ideas of European artists were freely drawn upon, but put to such utilitarian uses that their originators would scarcely have been able to recognize them.

In the Ladies Home Journal for December, 1888, the Great London Tea Company, Boston, an early mail-order house, advertised, “We have made a specialty since 1877 of giving premiums to those who buy tea and coffee in large quantities.” In the same issue, there was an advertisement of Seal Brand and Crusade Brand coffees by Chase & Sanborn, Boston. Dilworth Brothers, Pittsburgh, were also among the early users of magazine space.

The menace of the coffee-substitute evil and the misleading and untruthful substitute copy had grown to such proportions in the early days of the 20th century that the coffee men began to be concerned about it. At one time there were nearly 100 coffee-substitute concerns engaged in a bitter campaign directed against coffee in this country alone. After a time the coffee men organized as the National Coffee Roasters Association to defend their rights. Later, the cereal substitute was thoroughly discredited by government analysis.

In the United States today, coffee advertising has reached a high plane of copy excellence. Our coffee advertisers lead all nations. The educational work started by The Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, fostered by the National Coffee Roasters Association, and developed by the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee, has laid low many of the bugaboos raised by the cereal sinners.

Package Coffee Advertising

Coffee advertising began to take on a distinctive character with the 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.

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.

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 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 & Coffee Company’s Wedding Breakfast;
• J. A. Folger & Company’s Golden Gate;
• Ennis-Hanly-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.

Experience has proved that a package coffee, to be successful, must have back of it expert knowledge of buying, blending, roasting, and packing, as well as an efficient sales force. These things are essential: A quality product; a good trade-mark name and label; 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.

Advertising to the Trade

Until a comparatively recent date, the green-coffee importer, selling the roasting trade, has not realized the need of advertising, 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 goodwill 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 goodwill.

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 backbone 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.

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, manufacturer of coffee mills and roasters, Hornell, New York, 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.

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 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.

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 so 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 eager 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 to the Nose

Advertising, for the most part, is designed to attract attention and custom through the eye. Sometimes the ear can successfully be appealed to, but the sounds rarely have any real relation to the object advertised; and, so, often prove unsatisfactory in their results. Not so long ago, a California coffee concern made successful appeal to the noses of possible purchasers of its wares.

A chain of coffee specialty stores in which the coffee is roasted fresh every day was started in California about 1916, and it met with almost instant success. In this system, the proprietor buys the green coffee in large quantities, and it is roasted in each of his specialty stores (which are located in public markets), store windows, and alongside heavily traveled highways. The roasting machinery is invariably set up in front of the store where the passerby can easily see it in operation and also smell the coffee roasting. Some retail coffee roasters direct the smoke from the roasting machine through the spout of a huge coffee pot on the sidewalk in front of their stores. This makes a very effective advertisement, as the odor from the fresh-roasted coffee tickles the noses of passersby for blocks around.

Successful Coffee Window Displays

O. Wallace Davis, who won first prize in the $2,000 window-trimming contest of National Coffee Week in 1920, has some worth-while things to say on grocery-window displays of coffee. He writes:

Your show windows are the eyes of your store. As you look into a friend’s eyes to learn his true thoughts, so the prospective customer gazes into your windows to find out what kind of store you keep.

Keep the eyes of your store bright, honest, and attractive.

A well-arranged show window is the retailer’s best asset. Goods well displayed are half sold. Every grocer knows this, but not everyone knows how to use his windows to the best advantage. Here are a few simple directions, the fundamental principles of the window dresser’s art, which anyone can follow:

In arranging grocery or provision windows, the first and most important principle is cleanliness.

Your window glass, flooring, background, fixtures, merchandise, and display material must be absolutely clean. Use nothing that will in anyway suggest anything but the most sanitary conditions in your store. A can of tomatoes with a rust-stained label inevitably indicates ancient goods. A finger-marked price ticket causes the customer to see dirty hands touching your merchandise; and so small a thing as a flyspeck on a soda cracker will queer an otherwise attractive display.

So cleanliness is the first great commandment; and the second is like unto it,—neatness. No window can ever be too neat. A crooked stand, pyramid, or shelf has no place in a store’s show window.

Arrangement, color, merchandise, make,—select and get these fundamental elements right, and your window must be attractive. Neglect any one of them, and your display will suffer.

Merely to stop the crowd, to arouse curiosity or entertain, is not enough. The argument must be there so convincingly that the observer will be drawn irresistibly into the store or persuaded to buy.

Try to work into your displays the unusual; not necessarily some freak, but something that will arrest attention of the passerby, and, having secured attention, lead his eye to the real object of the display, which should always be the merchandise itself or some advertising matter pertaining to the goods for sale.

Effective displays may be obtained by filling an entire window with one item, with a cleverly phrased card telling the story. In conjunction with a one-item display, a good color scheme adds greatly to the pulling force. For instance, if you are displaying a package of coffee with a tan and black label, a brown background trimmed with a “motif” in black would emphasize the articles and lead the eye directly to them.

It is not always desirable to specialize on a single article. Several, and sometimes a large number of, items can be shown in such manner as to give to each its own individuality. This is known as “unit trimming.” Arrange each article in a group, with plenty of space between groups. For example, several pyramids of canned goods, arranged in groups on high pedestals or shelves in the background of the window, would not necessarily detract from smaller items or articles on the floor near the front.

Keep your floor covering in harmony with your background, and generally lighter in color. An example may be helpful: Suppose you wish to show a window of canned goods with a blue and white label and the brand name, “Tulip,” or “Daisy,” or “Rose.” A rich shade of orange would make a strong background for these, and a few flowers, such as the brand suggests, would aid materially in making an attractive window.

In arranging these special displays, a little study of the package itself will suggest many ideas and help you put an extra punch into your window. Most manufacturers furnish free window display material advertising their own goods, such as dummy packages, posters, hangers, strips, and cut-outs; but the window that attracts the biggest crowd and sells the most goods usually is one upon which the boss, or one of his clerks, has used his own gray matter. The standardized window may reach a high grade,—in fact, the displays arranged by salesmen or traveling representatives of the big manufacturers and jobbers are uniformly good and far above the average,—but standardization cannot supply the personal touch and the local color which any grocer should be able to furnish if he is willing to devote to his windows a fair amount of time, thought, and labor. Frequently an ideal combination can be obtained through the use of a standard window trim to which the retailer has added just a few touches of his own to give it individuality.

Many warnings have been written against “overcrowding” a window; but don’t skimp your display. Fill it full of interest, enthusiasm, and pep. Remember that there is no better or cheaper advertising. Compare its cost with the cost of any other form of advertising, and you will need no further argument to convince you that it is worth all the time and attention you can give it.

The displaying of coffee offers endless opportunities. In the first place, it is a familiar article, in which everyone is interested. It comes in many forms, which suggest a great variety of ways to handle it in a window. No article the grocer sells is more attractively packed. Cartons, bags, and cans are easy to arrange in a multitude of attractive designs. Coffee in bulk, in either the berry or ground, looks well in almost any receptacle, and the finished product suggests familiar household scenes.

A coffee display offers unusual opportunities to the clever sign writer, and the advertising literature issued by the roasters and the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee furnishes a never-failing source of material. The public, and especially housewives, are always interested in signs telling how to prepare and serve coffee.

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.

Over 20 years ago, the author began an agitation for cooperative 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, which has been going on for five years.

This campaign, made possible by generous contributions from Brazil and the coffee merchants of the United States, has, by means of advertisements in newspapers and periodicals, through scientific research, by educational booklets, etc., done much to dissipate the erroneous ideas propagated by the traducers of our national beverage and to acquaint the general public with the truth about coffee.

Coffee Advertising Efficiency

In advertising coffee, it is well to bear in mind these three thoughts, which should be woven into the fabric of all copy: