Creo-Dipt Head Talks to Shingle Manufacturers

It is an accepted fact that industry in this country and in the wotld, is entering an era of the keenest kind of competition. By that I do not mean necessarily that the shingle manufacturers have such a keen competition among themselves, but they are nevertheless dependent upon the consumer's dollar for the welfare of their industry.

In the building field they are competing against brick, sttlcco, cement and stone for sidewall materials and for roofing materials they are competing with slate, asbestos, tile (both cement and clay), and their keenest competition is the asphalt shingle manufacturer.

These industries are atl advertising to the consumer in yarious kinds of publications throughou't the country and it is a well known fact that the advertised materials are the first to get the buyer's attention.

The consumer's dollar is also sought by every type of luxury and necessity manufacturer. In this field you will find the automobile, electric refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, radio and other products too numerous to mention, all of which a,re extensively advertised and have their influence on the consumers' purchasing needs.

I believe it is the general thought of the shingle manufacturers that the stained shingle is the solution of their problem. This cannot be true because t,he stained shingle enters the luxury field and the bulk of stained shingles are used on houses ranging from $10,000 upward. The shingle manufacturer's largest market is the smaller house of which thousands are bui,lt each year and on the majority of which asphalt roofing is used.

You are probably aware that the asphalt roofing manufacturers carry on the most thorough selling plan. They advertise extensively and their salesmen even go so far as to make house to house canvasses to sell their products.

The shingle manufacturer is living entirely on a demand that is fast fading and unless they use more progressive methods to educate the public as to the value of their product it wi,ll soo! be forgotten.

I could cite a number of industries in the past that carried on extensive advertising campaigns to merchandise their goods and the owners of the business thought their goods so well known that they did not require further publicity or selling efforts. Industries that have tried this experiment have passed bv the rvayside.

I can recall one industry that in the last year of their advertising they spent $600.000. The founder of this industry died and left the business to his sons and when they discovered this item of $600,000 for advertising for a year they figured that that was a needless expenditure because they were so well known they could not help but con- tinue to ride along on the popularity they had gained. In just three years that industry failed and the plant was sold for $25,000. I am citing this to show you how quickly the public forgets.

You shingle manufacturers are so thoroughly conversant with your product that you believe every man under the sun knows about it. This cannot be true because the majority of men employed in factories and retail stores receive their education regarding products from what they read in magazines and newspapers, and unless the shingle industry adopts some plan whereby they can tell the public the virtues and advantages of their product they will soon be forgotten.

It is quite true that our company spends more in advertising per year than all of the other staingd shingle companies combined and we are helping your industry greatly but we have pretty near reached the saturation point with a commodity of this type and the reason I believe this is because in the last three years our business has had a very small growth in spite of the fact that each year we have spent more money to sell our product.

Your problem is one that you will have to work out for yourself and it would pay you well to have some representative advertising agency come in and talk to you men as to what you could do and what you should do and how much money you should spend. This money you would spend for advertising could easily be added to your price to the consumer plus an additional margin so that you could operate at a profit.

With- reference tb the outlet of your product through the retail trade. I believe you will find upon investigation that retail lumber dealers today are moving the materials that are easiest to sell. In other words, materials that a customer has become conscious of and familiar with through the knowledge he has gained about them from magazine pages or direct by mail literature.

I talked to one retail dealer recently as to his attitude regarding the pushing of a red cedar shingle. He said he carried them in stock but made no effort to sell them, stating he preferred to sell patent roofing because there was more of a margin in it. I don't think this particular man represents the attitude of most of the retail dealers but there are unquestionably a great many who feel the same way and in oider for you to get the greatest amount of cooperation from a dealer you must build up a consumer desire for you shingles.

I hope you will consider what I have said thoughtfully and talie some steps to build up your industry on the plane that it deserves. I am absolutely sincere in believing that your largest market is being sadly neglected.