Cressy Praised for his Ad Campaign

Posted by thomasmickey - May 15, 2013 - A. Cressy Morrison, advertising, Beer

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As I research his life and work, what I admire about the Pabst advertising manager A. Cressy Morrison is that he liked to express himself in writing.

For Pabst that meant writing ad copy, including the Secret booklets along with ads that appeared in national magazines.

In his book The Pabst Brewing Company historian Thomas Cochran wrote: “In 1895 Cressy launched a three-year campaign for the beer and Tonic in Harper’s weekly and other magazines based on the general idea that brewing began in Egypt, developed in Germany, and reached perfection in America. The copy was built around large pictures, Egyptian the first year, German the second, and American the third. Advertising Experience, in January 1898, hailed the campaign as an innovation.”

Amazing how Cressy linked the history of beer to his Pabst products.

He identified Pabst as one company in a long line of beer-makers, beginning with the Egyptians.

The idea made for wonderful copy in the ads.

Cochran’s accolade for Cressy certainly makes sense.

Late19th Century Business Owners Did not Understand Advertising

Posted by thomasmickey - May 8, 2013 - A. Cressy Morrison, advertising

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Change for any business demands new ways of doing something.

Late nineteenth century advertising underwent a revolution when in 1893 Frank Munsey (1854-1925) decided to sell his magazine Munsey’s Magazine for ten cents a copy and three dollars for a year’s subscription. The circulation increased, and so did the advertising rate.

Though advertising became increasingly important, some companies resisted spending money on ads.

Munsey’s magazine of 1894. Notice the new subcription rates.

Thomas Cochran in his book The Pabst Brewing Company gives some insight into how companies of that time viewed advertising. He wrote: “Joseph R. Kathrens [A. Cressy Morrison’s successor at Pabst] started at $175 a month [in 1897], and, naturally, was not regarded as an important senior department head of the company. Advertising managers were in a hard spot in all companies in the latter nineties. Advertising mediums and practices were growing at a rate that business executives could scarcely appreciate. Campaigns that appeared daring from the standpoint of a few years earlier might, in truth, be small scale, and behind the times.”

Yet Pabst continued to spend more money on advertising its Malt Extract, the Best Tonic, than any other Pabst product.

Both Cressy and Kathrens may have wanted to advertize more, but they worked in an environment that did not appreciate modern advertising.

The Gold Pabst Brewery for the World’s Fair of 1893

Posted by thomasmickey - May 1, 2013 - advertising, Beer, Milwaukee, World's Fair

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The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair attracted businesses from around the world to showcase their products.

The Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee joined the bandwagon and created an exhibit in the Agricultural Building, where the beer industry displayed its goods.

The central feature of the Pabst exhibit became a replica of the brewery in gold, placed on raisers in the center of the exhibit. The miniature brewery was enclosed in glass as you can see from the image below.

The Pabst Exhibit at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. [Thanks to the Milwaukee County Historical Society]

This was certainly an expense on the part of the Captain.

He accepted it because this was an opportunity to show the world, and Anheuser Busch, that the Pabst Brewery was truly the largest in the world.

Who else would choose to build a model of the brewery in gold?

Pabst, Pabst Extract, Pabst Tonic

Pabst Advertising for its Tonic Made It Successful

Posted by thomasmickey - April 24, 2013 - advertising

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Advertising for the Pabst Brewery was essential in the nineteenth century. The Best Extract or Tonic became the most advertised of any of the Pabst products.

According to Thomas Cochran in his book The Pabst Brewing Company: The History of an American Business: “The years between 1893 and 1901 covered the greatest deelopment in the early history of American advertising.”

A promotional brochure in the 1890s to druggists, who sold the Pabst Best Tonic in their pharmacies, said that a poor proprietary article which has no advertising margin cannot live because no permanent demand for it can be created. The brochure said, “You know this. Our product is acknowledged to be A 1. We are the only proprietor who absolutely guarantees that he will take the goods off the druggist’s shelf and give his money back. Our advertising efforts make the article ‘a good seller’ .”

The Pabst Tonic product became a success through its advertising.

Cressy Believed in Advertising as a Science

Posted by thomasmickey - April 17, 2013 - A. Cressy Morrison

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In the late nineteenth century advertising became serious business.

For the fist time national magazines and journals were able to reach potential customers across the country.

A. Cressy Morrison (1864-1951) believed in modern advertising in such publications. He wrote, “I should like to see all those who are as deeply interested in advertising, and as proud of the intellectual possibilities which it presents as I am, delve more deeply into its intricacies and if possible develop from their discoveries the principles which will ultimately form the basis for a just claim that advertising is a science.”

Since Pabst enjoyed the status of America’s premier brewery at that time, it is no surprise that advertising which enabled marketing and selling its products became serious business for the brewery.

Cressy, hired in 1889, proved the man for the task.

A. Cressy Morrison, seen in this photo of 1895, was hired to promote the Pabst products, particularly the Pabst Extract or Best Tonic.

Book will focus on A. Cressy Morrison

Posted by thomasmickey - April 10, 2013 - A. Cressy Morrison

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In my effort to write my version of narrative nonfiction I will center the book on the Pabst Tonic marketing director A. Cressy Morrison (1864-1951).

Cressy arrived from the East coast in 1889 and worked at Pabst til 1897. Those were the years when Pabst was the biggest brewery in the world.

He was young, age 24, when he arrived in Milwauee.

What’s amazaing about Cressy is that when he was in charge of promoting the Pabst Tonic the brewery produced a series of pamplets called the ‘Secret’ booklets.

Cressy had to be the writer for this series though I continue to search for evidence to establish that fact.

If he did write them, he wrote well. They are fun to read, and actually funny at times with the humor included in them.

Cressy played a signficiant role at Pabst in its new promotion department, located not too far from the Captain’s office.

Award for the Product at the Chicago Fair of 1893

Posted by thomasmickey - April 3, 2013 - World's Fair

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Welcome to my blog.

Today I begin to post here about the book on Pabst Extract that I am writing.

I see this blog as an opportunity to share what I am researching and writing about at the moment.

Right now I am reading about Chicago’s World Columbian Exhibition of 1893. Captain Fred Pabst had built a gold replica of his brewery as part of the Pabst exhbit in the Exhibition’s Agricultural Building, located on the shore of Lake Michigan.

At the Fair the Pabst Brewery won the highest honors for its malt extract, The “Best Tonic”.

Below are the categories for judging the tonic and the perfect score that Pabst won.

CATEGORY	MAXIMUM POINTS	POINTS RECEIVED
Brilliancy	15	15
Flavor	20	20
Commercial Importance	20	20
Chemical Analysis	45	45
TOTAL:	100	100

That recognition, in the form of 100 points, became central in the Pabst promotion for the product for decades following the Chicago Exhibition.

Best Tonic, Pabst Extract, Pabst Tonic