The many hats of Theodor Seuss Geisel

Advertising and marketing

Introduction

Advertising is a way to tell people about products or services that are for sale. Effective advertising is informative and persuasive and grabs your attention. No matter what the advertising media -- television, radio, newspaper, magazine, billboard, or Internet -- advertising is designed to get you to think a certain way or purchase a specific item.

When Ted Geisel worked in advertising, his medium was print and his ads were based on his clever illustrations. He didn't set out to work in advertising -- he was creating political and satirical cartoons for Judge magazine in New York City. One of his cartoons mentioned "Flit," a brand of bug spray. The cartoon was brought to the attention of the company that promoted "Flit" and they hired Geisel. Geisel's imaginative campaign, which centered on a standard tagline "Quick Henry, the Flit!" sold lots of bug spray and became one of the most successful and well-known advertising campaigns in history.

Geisel worked in advertising for some 15 years and created ads for all kinds of things, from sugar to ball bearings to clocks. The Dr. Seuss Collection at the Mandeville Special Collections Library at the University of California, San Diego, holds many examples of Dr. Seuss's advertisements. Part of the collection is available for viewing on the Internet at orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dsads/index.shtml.

Geisel's ads, like his writing and his art, arouse curiosity and stimulate thinking and imagination, and seem very different from the barrage of modern commercialism. In the late 1920s when Geisel started his ad career, advertising was not so "in your face." Geisel, in fact, cared little for advertising and marketing. In the 1950s he lobbied for an ordinance against billboards in his La Jolla, California community (costing him his billboard contract with Holly sugar), and throughout his life he exercised extreme caution in marketing and promoting any products relating to his Dr. Seuss characters.

He did, however, recognize and appreciate that some promotion was necessary in being a best-selling author. The following activities are to help recently "published" young authors with promoting their books.

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PreK-K

Advertising awareness. Kids this age are very sensitive to advertising and are often unaware that commercials they see and hear are trying to sell them something. Bring in magazine ads for products that your students are familiar with and have a discussion about the purpose of advertising. Ask if the ads or television commercials about these products make them feel like they need or want to have them. Discuss with students what they would do if they had something they wanted to sell or something they wanted people to do. Talk about how they could advertise their favorite book so that other kids would want to read it, and/or have them create their own ad for their favorite book, or a book they wrote themselves.

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Grades 1-3

Giving something to get something. Advertising is not only trying to sell something, it's also trying to buy attention. With the marketing giveaway, attention is bought and the buyer gets something for giving it! The most obvious marketing giveaway for a book is a bookmark. Students can advertise their books, include quotes or illustrations, and, provided with access to paper and a copy machine, make plenty to give away. Other items they might want to consider are posters, stickers, buttons, or something that represents their book -- like a finger puppet character or a food item that's included in their book. Delicious meals of green eggs and ham continue to promote the popular book of the same name more than 30 years after its publication!

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Grades 4-6

Books can't talk, but you can get them talked about. Book reviews and word of mouth are great ways to promote books. Students will want to make sure that their title is the one most frequently checked out of the school or classroom library. Have students write reviews for each other or have them send copies of their books with a letter requesting a review to a faculty member, local librarian, the local newspaper book columnist, or someone your students consider a respected authority. Reviews could be printed in school newspapers, magazines, or Web sites as well as attached to the book itself. Even if reviews are written, tell students to talk up their books. The 1957 reviews of The Cat in the Hat were extremely favorable, but Geisel thought it was the kids who had actually read the book and talked about it with their friends that made it, and continue to make it, a favorite.

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Grades 7-9

Do more publishing to promote published works. Take a cue from the book industry and have students work together to publish a catalog of their published books. A book catalog usually features photos of book covers, title and author information, and price. (Students may not be selling, but they could research current book prices and assign a dollar value to their work.) Depending on the number of copies of students' books that are available, consider sending the catalog along with a press release announcing the latest offerings from your classroom publishing house (name of house to be provided by students). Send to school and local libraries, elementary school classrooms, and the local media. In the press release be sure to explain the bookmaking project and students' desire to share their work with an audience -- either by providing copies of books (if possible) or by giving readings of their work.

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Grades 10-12

Attract an audience. As part of Random House's promotion of his books, Ted Geisel criss-crossed the country many times in his life for book signings and speaking engagements. Find the right audience and your students can also be celebrities of stature right in your community. Host special book readings with age-appropriate audiences. Arrange for readings at school and local libraries or at public events like book fairs. Whatever the event, engage students in promoting it and their books. Flyers and posters can be effective for advertising events of this nature, especially if they include eye-catching illustrations from books to be read. Even if the event has a ready-made captive audience, like a visit to an elementary school class, your students should still advertise to that audience -- not just about the upcoming visit, but the benefit of what they have to offer through their books.

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