CASHING  IN  ON  TIMELINESS

Every  issue  of  almost  every  newspaper  contains
some  news  feature  which  adds  special  value  to  some
particular  advertisement,  or  perhaps  to  nearly  all
its  advertisements.  The  issue  which  contains  un-
usually important  news,  particularly  where  the
readers  are  expecting  it,  has  more  than  ordinary
value  as  an  advertising  medium.  Election  returns
may  cause  readers  to  be  unusually  eager.  The
issue  containing  school  commencement  news,  with
pictures  of  graduates,  is  certain  to  have  many  care-
ful readers.  News  and  advertising  are  closely  as-
sociated. There  are  times  when  public  sentiment  is
stirred;  the  events  of  the  day  create  a  conscious-
ness which  cannot  be  duplicated  ordinarily  even  at
a  cost  of  millions  of  dollars  to  the  advertiser.
"New  Business"  91

"Most  of  the  striking  coincidences  in  life  are  ac-
counted for  by  this  law,"  says  Titchener;  "you  are
thinking  about  certain  things,  and  something  hap-
pens that  because  you  are  thus  thinking,  and  be-
cause it  is  akin  to  the  subject  of  your  thought,  cap-
tures your  attention.  What  a  remarkable  coinci-
dence! you  say;  but  if  you  had  been  thinking  of
something  else,  there  would  have  been  no  coinci-
dence.
"When  we  are  thoroughly  absorbed  in  a  topic,
relevant  facts  and  ideas  crowd  in  upon  conscious-
ness; the  mind  stands  wide  open  to  them,  while  it
is  fast  locked  against  the  irrelevant."

This  is  why  it  is  more  profitable  for  an  adver-
tisement to  meet  the  conditions  than  it  is  to  make
them.
A  striking  example  of  timeliness  in  advertising
was  given  .immediately  after  the  Titanic  disaster.
An  accident  and  life  insurance  company  printed  a
series  of  ads  simply  telling  how  many  thousands  of
dollars  it  paid  out  as  a  result  of  the  disaster  and
with  what  promptness  this  was  done.
