Outdoor advertising is now recognised throughout the world as a real selling force. It is also regarded as the most economical form of effective publicity, and these two most important features account for its increasing popularity amongst advertisers.

In choosing an advertising medium, circulation is usually the first consideration. In this respect the outdoor advertisement is unique, in that its circulation is limited only by the number of people who pass its location, and that it is on duty telling its message twenty-four hours a day.

The dimensions of the usual outdoor advertisement, and the fact that it is in colours, assure it of public attention. We may be so occupied with more immediate things that we may not consciously be aware of the influence that the outdoor advertisement is exerting upon us, but consciously, or unconsciously, its constant repetition, day after day, impresses its message upon our minds.

The Particular Kind of Outdoor Advertising.

Having dealt with the value of outdoor advertising generally, it is now necessary to consider how this class of advertising may best be obtained. In the first place it is more convenient to advertisers, and more economical too, to deal with as few advertising organisations as possible. It would be a cumbersome business if an advertiser had in some way to make separate advertising arrangements in regard to each of his potential customers, and the same principle, to a lesser extent, applies in regard to potential customers grouped in different localities. The convenience, therefore, of dealing with one advertising organisation, is obvious, and with those organisations whose rates are based on a sliding scale, the advantage of quantity rates will be readily understood.

The Railway Department has a choice of outdoor advertising media that cannot be equalled, or even approached, by any other single medium in the Dominion. Its hundreds of important railway stations, its hundreds of passenger carriages, and its thousands of excellent sites along the line, all offer most suitable locations for advertisements. For Dominion-wide advertising, here is a medium that stands predominant.

The Production of Outdoor Advertisements.

Now to consider how we should commence to obtain the outdoor advertisements, appropriate with regard both to style and design, to advertise the goods we have to sell. Here again the big organisation employing a large number of artists with wide experience in the use of colour, will serve you best.

Such an organisation is the Railway Advertising Branch, and it has on its staff designing artists, production artists, and other experts—all specialists in their own particular line of business. With this establishment it is necessary merely to state the commodity to be advertised, along with a few of its main features, and a design is prepared and submitted for approval.

By far the greater part of the business done by the Railway Advertising Branch covers full service, from the planning and designing of the advertisement, to its erection and maintenance during the period of display. The advantages of these services need not be stressed, for it has truly been said, “that a bad advertisement is worse than no advertisement.”

It can be rightly claimed that the Railway Advertising Branch has done much to improve the standard of outdoor advertising in New Zealand, and with the increasing support that it is receiving from Advertisers, it will, in the future, be able to improve still further its plant and service.

[Published by Arrangement.]