Word: weaverization
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...check on the appeal of his booklets, Weaver likes to toss one in the gutter outside the General Motors Building in Detroit. Then he peers from a doorway, counting the passers until someone picks it up. If 100 pass without stopping, the design is a failure; if only 34 go by, it is a sure success...
...Weaver's staff annually invites 3,000,000 motorists-located in all sections of the U. S. and owners of all makes of cars-"to pool their practical experience with the technical skill of General Motors' engineers and production experts." These "invitations," generally in the form of illustrated questionnaires and booklets, are sent to lists of the rank & file public, of which a minimum of 25% invariably reply, and to a special Weaver list of 100,000 motor enthusiasts, of whom as many as 90% will reply. On the average, Weaver manages to get answers to about...
This high average of returns is one of Weaver's notable achievements. Working on a limited budget, he early decided that he could not compete with the elaborate offerings of direct mail advertisers. Instead, he makes his booklets chaste and subdued, thus getting his message heard, says he, much as a short-wave radio station competes with WJZ-i.e., by using a different wavelength...
...Weaver's booklets are generally small, black-covered, generously illustrated by drawings, many of which he swipes from magazine advertisements and alters to his purpose, thus saving money. A student of typefaces, he sometimes uses 40 in a single booklet. His favorite is New Pica typewriter type, very simple. One way or another he makes his questionnaires as interesting as a game. At first, in fact, recipients were so pleased with them that they would not return them. Weaver solved this by sending them out in duplicate, letting the customer keep one, fill in the other. Other discoveries...
...Automobile Showtime, Weaver puts on a special drive to gauge the public's reaction to the new models. Last week, for example, many a New Yorker got free tickets to the Manhattan show on the condition that he fill in a style ballot. Weaver will also muster some of his motor enthusiasts for a personally conducted tour of the show. This week, too. Weaver's biggest customer research opus makes its debut-a slick, 80-page Motorist's Handbook and Buyer's Guide to be distributed to 5,000,000 customers to tell them what they...