WHY NOT A PUBLICITY BOND?
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By "The Inspector."
THE PRINCIPAL manufacturers in the commereial vehicle industry are, of course, with no exception, members of the S.M.M. and T., and, as ueh, are signatories, I suppose, also without exception, of " The Bond." And they all know; or profes.s to know, whatthey have, undertaken not to do as the result of signing that mysterious document.
Quite a number of us who are not necessarily manufacturers talk quite glibly of " The. Bend," and quite a number of us also are very foggy indeed as to what it implies. It is tolerably certain that the public —and by that I mean our public, the people who buy or own or operate commercial motor vehicles—have no idea at all as to what it means. It would be better if they did, so that the reason for the absence from any public exhibition of the better known makes, although certain newer and mushroom productions may be in evidence, would.
not be misunderstood. .
. * * * I do not know when "The Bond" was first initiated—no doubt the Editor can enlighten me—but it has certainly been in existence for a number of years, and was primarily designed for the. Mutual protection of manufacturer and agent. members of the S.M.M. and T., so that they should all, jointly, and severally, participate only in such exhibitions and shows as had been approved for that purpose by the ' council of the Society. This was very necessary to save expense, and to prevent the exploitation of the industry by promaters who. worked on the lines that they could bring pressure to bear on competitive firms to participate, once they could prove, that one or more of the leading, firms had signified their intentions in the, usual way.
Some correspondence in the trade Press reveals the fact that _a certain firm of manufaCturers, whose managing 'director's name figures frequently in the correspondence columns of many journals, hasrecently been "hauled over the coals" for an alleged breach of" The Bond" by permitting to be exhibited a machine of their manufacture at an agricultural show in the Eastern Counties. Apart from the claim that the firm in question was rather officiously hustled in regard to the hearing of its case by the Committee of the S.M.M. and T., the important question is • raised as to how far a manufacturer is to be held responsible for the unauthorized exhibition of a machine of his manufacture by some person who is not his agent, and may, indeed, be quite unknown to him.
That this convention as to exhibitions is an excellent safeguard against exploitation has been proved over and over again. This year the S.M.M. and T. is not' likely to approve any other shows than that at Glasgow, recently dosed, and the " Royal" at Derby. The Irish shows, hitherto approved, are likely to be banned this year, for obvious, if rather contentious, reasons. The attempt to run the Roads and Transport Show was quite rightly negatived, and it is generally held by manufacturers that no Olympia Show is desirable during 1921. if we are to show, it would be wiser to go to Paris for the sake of our overseas and international markets The suggestion of alternate international shows at• Paris and at London is one that demands the very careful consideration of everyone concerned. Such a show is likely to be much • more stimulating to new overseas trade than is a yearly one to home, business, which is as likely to develop without any show at all..
Useful, therefore, as" The Bond" has proved itself to be in show matters, the question has not infrequently been asked of late as to whether same similar co-operative action should not wisely be initiated with regard to advertising, or, at any rate, some branches of •it. There is Undoubtedly an increasing tendency on the part of aecertaiia class of publisher to regard the motor industry, and particularly the pleasure-car side of it, as a legitimate object for plunder in the matter of "space -letting." Papers, with no more claims to be able to influence the motor user than (shall I write?) "The Canary Breeders' Gazette" or" The Cornet Players' Home Journal," sooner or later appear with an influential oolunii of "Motor Notes," carefully written up from cuttings from the motor Press, and then start to circularize the motor trade in order to deisienstrate how impossible it will be for them to keep their sales organi • ration together unless, etc., etc.
Anyone connected with the commercial side of the industry is well aware of the very large number of such appeals. that are made, week in and week mit, by the most remote media. It is easy enough to turnsthem down, although it takes time and costs money, but here and there someone important is eaughts napping, buys advertisement space that is worth nothing, and then his competitors are bombarded with appeals, fortified by statements that the "-the Daimland or the Thornyfield people have taken a page," and for peace and quietness they succumb too. All a sheer waste of money. Cases are not unknown where trade announcements have been inserted free—as a sprat to catch a mackerel!
The A.B..M.M. has just widely circularized the trade advising support for one particular overseas publication, ostensibly with the object of consolidating interests and protecting the trade from exploitation by competitive publications. This may or may. not be a wise way to have gone to work. Something, however, should be attempted to protect the industry from what amounts to blackmail almost in the matter of requests to advertise in concert programmes, or in the printed matter connected with garden parties and congresses, and conventions and receptions. If the trade is prevented from participating in shows, it is still urgently invited to subscribe to the funds by "taking space" in the official programme, and so on—space that is practically valueless as an advertising medium. Why should not the Society have an approved list of media, consisting, by the way, of journals that have influence in the desired direction? Than the trade should sign a bond not to support unapproved media. The list should be wide -enough to permit ample choice, and there should be no limit on the amount of space that any individual firm should be free to take. As it is, many considerable appropriations are largely dissipated without much effect.