WAKE UP YOU FOOLS. MONEY IS BEING MADE HAND OVER FIST DURING THE CURRENT ECONOMIC STORM.
The game of any fool making money is over. You have to choose your industry and your profession wisely now. Monkeys in cubicals, traders in Bucket Shops, wana be capitalist in industries not well positioned are going to suffer. HOWEVER: You can make a lot of money right now if you really position yourself in the proper industry.
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Hello
To begin, not all was gloom and doom during the Great Depression. It
was a time when those who knew what they were doing made great
economic strides and the very nature of the depression itself was an
economic boon for them. It was a time when several companies
benefited from aggressive marketing while their rivals cut back. A
good example of that would be Kellogg besting C.W. Post during that
time. Consumers didn't totally stop spending during the depression,
most just looked for better deals and the companies providing those
better deals came out stronger after the depression ended. When
spending picked up, consumer loyalty to those companies remained.
To state a generality, those companies who not only survived but did
well and grew during the Great Depression are those who continued to
act as though there were nothing wrong and that the public had money
to spend. In other words, they advertised. These are industries who
didn't wait for public demand for their products to rise, they created
that demand even during the most difficult of times. Because so many
companies cut spending during that era, advertising budgets were
largely eliminated in many industries. Not only did spending decline,
these companies actually dropped out of public sight because of short
sighted decisions made about spending money to keep a high profile.
These advertising cutbacks caused many customers to feel abandoned and
associated the effected brands with a lack of staying power. This not
only drove customers to more aggressive competitors but caused a
certain amoung of financial mistrust when it came to making additional
investments in the no longer visable companies.
Both anecdotal and emperical evidence support the case that
advertising was the main factor in the growth or downfall of companies
during those years. To put it bluntly, the companies which
demonstrated the most growth and which rang up the most sales were
those which advertised heavily. The Great Depression offers classic
examples of the power of brand advertising even during times of
economic crisis.
Proctor and Gamble - This is a company which has a philosophy of not
reducing advertising budgets during times of recession and they
certainly did not make any such reduction during the Depression. P&G
has made progress in every one of the major recessions and that is no
accident. When their competitors were swinging the budget axe, P&G
actually increased their spending. While the Depression caused
problems for many, P&G came out of it unscathed. Radio took P&G's
message into more homes than ever.
Chevrolet - During the 1920s, Fords were outselling Chevrolets by 10
to 1. In spite of the Depression, Chevrolet continued to expand its
advertising budget and by 1931, the "Chevy 6" took the lead in its
field and remained there for the next five years.
Camel Cigarettes - in 1920 Camel was the top selling tobacco product.
American Tobacco Company then struck back with the Lucky Strike brand
and by 1929 Lucky had overtaken Camel as the number one brand. Two
years later in the heart of the Depression, Chesterfield also overtook
Camel. Camel countered with a massive increase in advertising
spending and by doing so demonstrated the power of advertising during
depressed times. By 1935, it was back on top.
Now, these examples count as anecdotal. But in addition to these
examples, studies have demonstrated that during times of recession,
companies that maintain advertising during these periods experience
higher sales and profits during the downturns and afterward than
companies who cut their advertising budgets.
It was also the very nature of this advertising that spurred the
growth of two other industries during the Depression. The first of
which was radio broadcasting.
Let's return to Proctor and Gamble for a while. P&G first turned to
radio in 1923 advertising Crisco on a New York station. Other
products such as Ivory and Lava soap were advertised on 'product
oriented' shows which were similar to todays infomercials. But in the
heart of the depression P&G took a step which changed not only that
company but the broadcast medium forever while creating great demand
for its products. The president of P&G at the time was Richard
Deupree. In spite of the fact that shareholders were demanding that
he cut back on advertising, he knew that people were still buying
essential household products. So he created radio programming that
did not focus on a product. Because of that, we now have a cultural
attribute known as the "soap opera."
In 1933, P&G went on the air with its first "soap" - "Ma Perkins,"
sponsored by Oxydol. P&G was so satisfied with the increase of sales,
they went on to introduce "Vic and Sadie" for Crisco, "O,Niells" for
Ivory Soap and "Forever Young" for Camay. By the time 1939 rolled
around, P&G was sponsoring 21 radio programs and they doubled their
radio advertising budget every two years during the Depression.
Radio was one of the fastest growth industries of the depression. P&G
virtually built daytime radio with its advertising budgets and
programming. Two industries were thriving from the advertising budget
of one.
The print media was also a growth industry during the Depression. To
give some reason for this, we now return to Chevrolet. the first ads
for Chevrolet appeared in print in 1914. In 1927, they began to
increase their print advertising budget. As the country moved into
the Depression a couple of years later, Chevy did not let its
commitment to print advertising falter and its car ads not only kept
some publications afloat, it helped many to grow. In as much as the
term "print media" covers many outlets, they pioneered the outdoor
advertising medium, billboards. Chevrolet also went into radio and
sponsored such Depression Era classics as Fred Allen and Jack Benny.
Chevy's print ads appealed to the "emotional" side of a buying
decision which was a great move in light of the economic uncertainty
of the time.
So once again, those companies which took advantage of the Depression
and came through in good form were those who kept their name in front
of the public in spite of a lack of purchasing power.
Your question asks about a hierarchy of demand from essential
consumables to deferrable purchases to capital goods. In reality
there was no such hierarchy. I have tried to balance the examples
given to show some spectrum across the board. Proctor and Gamble
represents essential consumables, Chevrolet represents deferrable
purchases and Camel represents non-essential products. So as you can
see, the so called hierarchy of necessity and want was sidestepped by
those who had the marketing gumption to ignore such distinctions.
However, capital goods information needs to reflect the entire
economic structure of the Depression and not just those companies
which were successful. Overall, new production of capital goods less
capital goods consumed during the years 1929 - 1939 was near zero.
The increase in the money supply during the 1920s also increased the
prices of capital goods relative to the prices of consumer goods. This
disparity set in motion a boom in real estate and stock market prices
and interest rates were driven down by the "increase in Fed money.
It must also be noted that the preceeding statement on capital goods
is only one of many competing economic theories about the Depression.
There are some who say this compounding of assertions is wrong from
beginning to end. But in composing an answer such as this, there
needs to be one which best meets the nature of the question and in
conjunction with the material about public visability covered above,
this is the one your researcher ties into the equation.
When money has entered the economy from whatever sources during
business fluctuations in the past, has there been a disparity between
the increases in prices of capital and consumer goods? That alone is
a subject which would take volumes to answer. In fact, it would take
volumes just to cover the debate without any resolution coming about.
As far as the end of your question as to what distinguished the
companies that did well during the Depression? They were the
companies that kept their name in front of the public and created
brand name recognition even during the worst of times.
Search - Google
Terms - great depression, company growth great depression, great
depression success stories, brand name awareness great depression,
advertising history, new industry great depression, benefits of
advertising
Cheers
Digsalot.
The game of any fool making money is over. You have to choose your industry and your profession wisely now. Monkeys in cubicals, traders in Bucket Shops, wana be capitalist in industries not well positioned are going to suffer. HOWEVER: You can make a lot of money right now if you really position yourself in the proper industry.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello
To begin, not all was gloom and doom during the Great Depression. It
was a time when those who knew what they were doing made great
economic strides and the very nature of the depression itself was an
economic boon for them. It was a time when several companies
benefited from aggressive marketing while their rivals cut back. A
good example of that would be Kellogg besting C.W. Post during that
time. Consumers didn't totally stop spending during the depression,
most just looked for better deals and the companies providing those
better deals came out stronger after the depression ended. When
spending picked up, consumer loyalty to those companies remained.
To state a generality, those companies who not only survived but did
well and grew during the Great Depression are those who continued to
act as though there were nothing wrong and that the public had money
to spend. In other words, they advertised. These are industries who
didn't wait for public demand for their products to rise, they created
that demand even during the most difficult of times. Because so many
companies cut spending during that era, advertising budgets were
largely eliminated in many industries. Not only did spending decline,
these companies actually dropped out of public sight because of short
sighted decisions made about spending money to keep a high profile.
These advertising cutbacks caused many customers to feel abandoned and
associated the effected brands with a lack of staying power. This not
only drove customers to more aggressive competitors but caused a
certain amoung of financial mistrust when it came to making additional
investments in the no longer visable companies.
Both anecdotal and emperical evidence support the case that
advertising was the main factor in the growth or downfall of companies
during those years. To put it bluntly, the companies which
demonstrated the most growth and which rang up the most sales were
those which advertised heavily. The Great Depression offers classic
examples of the power of brand advertising even during times of
economic crisis.
Proctor and Gamble - This is a company which has a philosophy of not
reducing advertising budgets during times of recession and they
certainly did not make any such reduction during the Depression. P&G
has made progress in every one of the major recessions and that is no
accident. When their competitors were swinging the budget axe, P&G
actually increased their spending. While the Depression caused
problems for many, P&G came out of it unscathed. Radio took P&G's
message into more homes than ever.
Chevrolet - During the 1920s, Fords were outselling Chevrolets by 10
to 1. In spite of the Depression, Chevrolet continued to expand its
advertising budget and by 1931, the "Chevy 6" took the lead in its
field and remained there for the next five years.
Camel Cigarettes - in 1920 Camel was the top selling tobacco product.
American Tobacco Company then struck back with the Lucky Strike brand
and by 1929 Lucky had overtaken Camel as the number one brand. Two
years later in the heart of the Depression, Chesterfield also overtook
Camel. Camel countered with a massive increase in advertising
spending and by doing so demonstrated the power of advertising during
depressed times. By 1935, it was back on top.
Now, these examples count as anecdotal. But in addition to these
examples, studies have demonstrated that during times of recession,
companies that maintain advertising during these periods experience
higher sales and profits during the downturns and afterward than
companies who cut their advertising budgets.
It was also the very nature of this advertising that spurred the
growth of two other industries during the Depression. The first of
which was radio broadcasting.
Let's return to Proctor and Gamble for a while. P&G first turned to
radio in 1923 advertising Crisco on a New York station. Other
products such as Ivory and Lava soap were advertised on 'product
oriented' shows which were similar to todays infomercials. But in the
heart of the depression P&G took a step which changed not only that
company but the broadcast medium forever while creating great demand
for its products. The president of P&G at the time was Richard
Deupree. In spite of the fact that shareholders were demanding that
he cut back on advertising, he knew that people were still buying
essential household products. So he created radio programming that
did not focus on a product. Because of that, we now have a cultural
attribute known as the "soap opera."
In 1933, P&G went on the air with its first "soap" - "Ma Perkins,"
sponsored by Oxydol. P&G was so satisfied with the increase of sales,
they went on to introduce "Vic and Sadie" for Crisco, "O,Niells" for
Ivory Soap and "Forever Young" for Camay. By the time 1939 rolled
around, P&G was sponsoring 21 radio programs and they doubled their
radio advertising budget every two years during the Depression.
Radio was one of the fastest growth industries of the depression. P&G
virtually built daytime radio with its advertising budgets and
programming. Two industries were thriving from the advertising budget
of one.
The print media was also a growth industry during the Depression. To
give some reason for this, we now return to Chevrolet. the first ads
for Chevrolet appeared in print in 1914. In 1927, they began to
increase their print advertising budget. As the country moved into
the Depression a couple of years later, Chevy did not let its
commitment to print advertising falter and its car ads not only kept
some publications afloat, it helped many to grow. In as much as the
term "print media" covers many outlets, they pioneered the outdoor
advertising medium, billboards. Chevrolet also went into radio and
sponsored such Depression Era classics as Fred Allen and Jack Benny.
Chevy's print ads appealed to the "emotional" side of a buying
decision which was a great move in light of the economic uncertainty
of the time.
So once again, those companies which took advantage of the Depression
and came through in good form were those who kept their name in front
of the public in spite of a lack of purchasing power.
Your question asks about a hierarchy of demand from essential
consumables to deferrable purchases to capital goods. In reality
there was no such hierarchy. I have tried to balance the examples
given to show some spectrum across the board. Proctor and Gamble
represents essential consumables, Chevrolet represents deferrable
purchases and Camel represents non-essential products. So as you can
see, the so called hierarchy of necessity and want was sidestepped by
those who had the marketing gumption to ignore such distinctions.
However, capital goods information needs to reflect the entire
economic structure of the Depression and not just those companies
which were successful. Overall, new production of capital goods less
capital goods consumed during the years 1929 - 1939 was near zero.
The increase in the money supply during the 1920s also increased the
prices of capital goods relative to the prices of consumer goods. This
disparity set in motion a boom in real estate and stock market prices
and interest rates were driven down by the "increase in Fed money.
It must also be noted that the preceeding statement on capital goods
is only one of many competing economic theories about the Depression.
There are some who say this compounding of assertions is wrong from
beginning to end. But in composing an answer such as this, there
needs to be one which best meets the nature of the question and in
conjunction with the material about public visability covered above,
this is the one your researcher ties into the equation.
When money has entered the economy from whatever sources during
business fluctuations in the past, has there been a disparity between
the increases in prices of capital and consumer goods? That alone is
a subject which would take volumes to answer. In fact, it would take
volumes just to cover the debate without any resolution coming about.
As far as the end of your question as to what distinguished the
companies that did well during the Depression? They were the
companies that kept their name in front of the public and created
brand name recognition even during the worst of times.
Search - Google
Terms - great depression, company growth great depression, great
depression success stories, brand name awareness great depression,
advertising history, new industry great depression, benefits of
advertising
Cheers
Digsalot.