Magazine Article from the New Yorker, Letter from Washington, by Richard Rovere

Americments 61 June 19,1954 message is the one that LIVES It didn't matter what had become of that original piece of crude paper upon which A. Lincoln had written the message that began: "Fourscore and seven years ago. Sensing the impermanence of spoken words, Lincoln himself declared: "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here. " But his words were caught and preserved for all time by the newspaper presses of the nation. Nor did it matter that the singing words of Homer, his Iliad and Odyssey, were spoken from memory, for there were scribes who wrote them down and kept them fresh and living for all mankind. Yes, the written message, and chiefly the printed message, is the one that lives. But more than that, the written message is tangible as well as permanent. You can return again and again to it, study it, clip it out, pass it on to others. Without wishing to profane Lincoln's glorious words, or the ancient classics, This Week Magazine asks you to consider the proposition that the written message is the one that lives in terms of advertising. The printed page, rich in detail, exact in its message, can be studied by the reader not fifteen seconds, not a minute-but for an hour if the reader so wishes. But, more importantly, from the psychological point of view, the printed advertisement is a message read willingly. When Mrs. Smith sits down with her magazine, she is asking to be sold; she wants to know about the new cake mix. And Mr. Brown wants to study the features of the new cars. This Week Magazine, one of America's foremost representatives of the printed medium, pays distinct homage to the other media for their massive and ceaseless services to our nation. But This Week asks you, the advertiser, the merchant, the businessman, the financier, to remember that the written message is the one that lives lives not only in terms of time, but in reality, clarity, memorability. This Week wishes to remind you of the basic wisdom of building your campaign around visual, printed media. In other words, if you want your message to work and to last, put it in print first. A Written Advertisement That Lived-The February 15, 1953, issue of This Week contained a Knox Gelatine advertisement which achieved a noteworthy record in terms of both effectiveness and longevity. It was a two- column, black-and-white insertion with a coupon. During the first week following the appearance of the ad, 35,896 coupons were received. By the end of the second week, the return was 53,118. And returns continued to pour in; in the 26th week after the ad ran, 170 replies were received! The grand total This Week was 64,580 responses for this single insertion, substantial evidence of the fact that the written message does live. MACAZIE Your messages in This Week will LIVE in 10,600,000 homes throughout America: