John Wanamaker on advertising

[snopes]

This is not the first time Madison Avenue executives have been tagged as hucksters. A famous apocryphal quote shows that advertisers have historically admitted as much. Retail tycoon John Wannamaker is thought to have said the following:

"I know that half of my advertising doesn't work. The problem is, I don't know which half."

http://econsultancy.com/blog/3933-ar...ing-overvalued

[samclem]

It's Wanamaker, BTW. No, not you, snopes. The ditz who wrote the article.


That quote is found, attributed to Wanamaker, as early as 1919. By a preacher. Wanamaker quotes by preachers seem to have been rather common in the second and third decades of the 20th Century. Preachers, radio DJs, how else would ULs spread before the internet.

[samclem]

It's certainly possible the Wannamaker said it.

Although Fred Shapiro, the quote guru, only found it attributed to Wanamaker from 1958, I found a 1919 cite which agreed.

Winona Echoes, a book of "Notable Addresses Delivered at the Twenty-Fifth Annual Bible Conference, Winona Lake, Indiana, August, 1919."

The address was made by a preacher. "Salesmanship of Preaching" by Rev. Roy L. Smith, D.D.

John Wanamaker once said, "I am convinced that about one-half the money I spend for advertising is wasted, but I have never been able to decide which half

Why does it not surprise me that a preacher perhaps helped to spread this potential UL?

Sam "half my time is wasted chasing things" Clements