Weighty old tomes

This section details a few of the books that were part of earning a bachelor's degree in advertising with a concentration in marketing throughout the early 90s:

Semester after semester, I made my way through the coursework that was required in order to receive a bachelor's degree in advertising with a concentration in marketing from Kent State University. The program began with several liberal education requirements, or LERs, which included courses such as University Orientation, College English I, psychology and sociology to name a few.

For me, one of the more memorable of the LERs was taught in the college planetarium. Thinking back, that particular class was both interesting and unusual. I can still remember a demonstration that detailed retrograde motion. I recall the seating arrangement as well. Comfortable chairs allowed each member of the audience to recline and to angle their view toward the dome of artificial stars and planets that would appear overhead as the house lights would dim. Remarkable!

Eventually, after a few years at Kent, I had reached the semesters when I would be able to enroll in the core classes of the advertising degree. During that stage of the coursework, I would often make the decision to keep a particular textbook — especially if I had enjoyed the subject, for example, Consumer Behavior was a worthwhile text.

At the time, I imagined that at some point in the future, I would need to refer back to some of these textbooks as my career progressed.

Therefore, upon completion of each course, I might make the decision to shelf and store the book in safekeeping, especially if the book turned out to be a favorite. I would not sell the book back to the DuBois Book Store. Nor would I sell the books myself.

That being said, some of my friends, who were fellow students at Kent, would try to market and sell each of their own used textbooks when the course had concluded. The process of selling your own used textbook was fairly painstaking. The internet as we know it today did not exist.

During that era, the process of selling your books involved word-of-mouth. Also, students would create tear-off flyers to get the word out about the used textbooks they had from last semester that were now being offered for sale. The brochures would be posted onto actual (cork) bulletin boards around campus. For example, you might find the brochures pinned to bulletin boards outside the classroom where each of the core classes had been taught. You might see other brochures on the board. Those flyers might have messages such as:

Join the Kent State Ad Club.
Travel to New York City this fall!

Join Toastmasters International.
Learn to deliver a speech!

Join the Kent State Kayak Club.
Learn to kayak roll a plastic boat this winter.
Kayak practice will be held in the heated water of Kent State's indoor swimming pool.
Location: KSU Memorial Gym Annex.

And so on and so forth.....

Next to all of that, with a few push pins, you could tack up your own flyer.

The copywriting could be crafted with a message similar to this:

STATISTICS TEXTBOOK FOR SALE
Like new
Text covers topics such as the mean, median, and mode.
This is the textbook for the course: DATA ANALYSIS 32220
Call Tom W. in Dunbar Hall
KSU Main Campus

Then, you would have to list the actual landline/copper wire phone number for your dorm room, which every dorm room had. Nobody in college had a cell phone in the early 1990s. Hopefully, your roommate would be attentive about taking good messages on a slip of paper, when you were out of the dorm. Office Max sold a pink notepad for that purpose with little checkboxes and the headine: "While you were out."

These messages would become your collection of sales leads. A follow-up call would be required in order to sell the textbook.

Meanwhile, students and I would progress through the years of coursework. Meanwhile, time had moved on, Often for the next semester, each professor would choose an entirely new textbook, for next year.

At that point, each student who was left with the previous year's textbook in hand would inherit a white elephant of sorts, especially if there was no way to quickly unload the previous year's textbook.

From what I had witnessed, at the end of the day, fellow students just did not have the infrastructure in place, or the time, or the resources necessary to become good marketers of their own textbooks. That goes for myself, included.

On the other hand, the DuBois Book Store had been a brick and mortar venture. It had been a storefront, engaged in the business of buying, and selling, both new, and used books to the students of Kent State University. The two-story shop was located across the road from campus at 332 S. Lincoln St in Kent, Ohio. Stickers placed on the bookstore's sold merchandise carried the mantra "Since 1936" and that's a long time! I mentioned earlier, there was no internet as we know it in the Kent State dorms throughout the early 1990s. This also meant that at that time, there was no Amazon Prime, either. None of that had been invented yet!

Google Maps displays the former location of the DuBois bookstore in Kent, Ohio:

A quick Google search reveals: The original location of DuBois in Kent has been razed.

Meanwhile, a local newspaper reports: Former DuBois Bookstore demolished
Plenty of clickbait appears around the newspaper story, above. However, the original photos seem to be missing from the article. I'm not sure why. Strange!

Have you ever been to Kent State? The location of the on-campus bookstore is circled above, in yellow. The last time I visited my alma mater, the bookshop was still in operation to serve students' needs for textbooks. As before, the operation also carried KSU-themed merch and KSU-themed swag as well.

While the store had remained at the same location on campus, the two-story outdoor fountain was gone. The outdoor fountain had been located just outside the student center and in front of the library. The fountain was razed. The area has been replaced with trees. In my opinion, several improvements have been made to main campus since the early 90s. For example, the campus website reports that free WIFI for students is now broadcast across most all corners of Kent State's main campus.

In addition to the privately run bookstore, there was but one additional choice for the purchase of text books around Kent, Ohio. As a second option, students could shop for textbooks at the official on-campus bookstore adjacent what is now Risman plaza near KSU's twelve-story library. In my opinion, not only was the official campus bookstore the most opulent bookshop of the evoked set, but this store also was built at the most convenient location for students. That is, right next to the largest dining hall on campus. For that reason, it seems to me that I bought several books at the campus book store along with class materials, and plenty of Kent State merch and lots of Kent State merch, too.

At the end of the day, I discovered that a trip to the DuBois book store was well-worth the 20-minute walk across campus.

The way I remember it, perhaps the used books from DuBois were cheaper, albeit many of the books dog-eared but with at least one added benefit: Some of the textbooks arrived with the key takeaways of each chapter already highlighted! Then, I'd be sitting there in my study carrel and I'd have to decide if the student, who had studied the text before me, had annotated the correct points - or not? Was this person smart? Did this person earn a good grade in this course? Many times, from the lack of notes in the used book, I decided that the previous student and the previous owner of that text not even cracked a book throughout the previous semester. No crib notes were made and the condition of the book was still "good as new." Other times, opening one of those used textbooks was similar to opening the quintessential rusty old can of soup. When opening the can, you could never be sure what you would find inside. That is, a can of worms - or good soup? Did the used text contain good crib notes and highlighting - or did the previous owner study all the wrong things — which they then went ahead and highlighted — all the wrong things?

I can't be sure. Well, I graduated when I earned my bachelor's in 1993. To coin an old phrase, "All's well that ends well!"

Spoiler alert:

A few of these titles have aged better than others.
I'll let you decide.

Strategic Advertising Campaigns

Self-explanatory. Only the strategic ones. And not the campaigns that turned-out to be flops - and some of them, real turkeys. hahaha.

Broadcast and Cable Selling

This text detailed both types of video that existed during that era:

1) Videos transmitted from very tall antennas. In Northeast Ohio, those broadcast signals would originate from the elevated highlands near the Seven Hills neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio.

The television signals were beamed to "the rabbit ears" of each TV set and each consumer would watch television in their home or dwelling, perhaps while enjoying a TV dinner served in an aluminum tray.

2) Cable TV. That is, videos that were pumping down the road by means of a silver coax cable with the screw-on barrel connection, because "I want my MTV!"

One quick note about the cover art: I can tell you from firsthand experience: New York City really does look like this at night! It is remarkable to see. Kent State had offered a field trip to NYC in conjunction with the Kent State Ad Club and I took that trip!

Those days spent in "the city that never sleeps" would become one of the most enlightening moments of my college days. This Ohioan from a sleepy midwestern town had never been to New York City. Granted, my parents had driven me past Chicago and past the Sears Tower on our way to visit relatives beyond Chicagoland. Meanwhile, my childhood flew by and all of it was spent in Northeast Ohio. And boy, was New York City an eye-opener to me! In the early 90s, New York City truly was the epicenter of everything, be it media, news, finance, music, fashion, and culture. Anyhow, I think the cover speaks of all of those possibilities and of all the people living on the Island of Manhattan.

Understand Mass Communication

And at the time, understanding the mass communication included understanding the Sony Watchman, the Sony Walkman, the compact disc, the printed page of the newspaper, and celluloid film. Oh, how the years go by!

Consumer Behavior

A useful text to ponder. This book helps to answer the question: Why do people buy what they buy — and how do they buy it? I still ponder the lessons gleaned from this text. I'll pick up the book. I'll thumb through it. I'll think of recent experiences, in real life. Of all the textbooks I held onto, this one has probably aged the best. Much of what drives consumer behavior remains the same, even if there was no social media back in the early 90s. You can connect the dots to present day. Much of what the text has to say endures if you apply the lessons to say, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or LinkedIn.

Marketing

This text is still useful. Granted, the book does not detail today's digital marketing. No mention of the word omnichannel in this textbook; the internet had not been invented - yet - and cell phones were the size of a briefcase. They were called "car phones" and were a real novelty at the time.

Nevertheless, marketing is still marketing.

The Copy Workshop

Copywriting was one of my favorite courses at the Kent State School of Journalism and Mass Communications. The copywriting course was the reason I went to Kent to study advertising, to begin with. I enjoy writing and my guidance counselor felt that I was a decent writer.

While this edition of the book is old school, it's still a great book. Occasionally I refer back to it. Many of the writing ideas it contains have stood the test of time. The ideas outlined in the text work well for a variety of media - even the digital media and social media that would become the new way of doing things, today and nearly 30 years after this book was written.

Admittedly, after publication, time moved on. Therefore, you won't see any mention of the internet, or targeted advertising on Google, LinkedIn or Facebook. They hadn't been invented yet.

After graduation, I discovered additional books to complement the ideas detailed in this text. Present day, in my office you will find a shelf filled with copywriting books.

Each text has a different focus, be it storyboards, tested ad copy that works, how to choose the correct photos, how to choose the correct art, etc.

Note the script font here. Is it bathed in mercury? Shiny, like a chrome bumper. Very nice!

Text purchased secondhand at the DuBois book store. The original price tag, at lower right, had been crossed-out, apparently, by a person with a black Sharpie™ in hand. Funny!

Contemporary Advertising

The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word contemporary as: "Current; modern: Contemporary trends in design."

I guess that's what this is - or was.

And in the future, if I land a job as an account executive again, then I'll probably employ the phrase if, there's a fit. For example:

"Mr. McNally, today, we've developed some contemporary advertising for ABC company.

We think you'll agree it's going to help increase the sales of your widget product offering. It may help to put your people back to work on the production line. Sales may increase. Then, engineers might design better widgets, if, and when, the profits are put back into research and design. Storyboard please...." (do they still use those? I do.)

Say what you will. The truth is, nothing happens until somebody sells something.

I've heard folks from all walks of life tell me this. I agree.

In private enterprise, most every company is sustained through the efforts of salespeople and those involved in the sales and marketing of goods, products, and services.

When words collide.

A book would be published during late 1980s. This was the same decade as when personal computer enthusiasts would load the first versions of spellcheck onto each of their Commodore 64 units and IBM desktop units.

Also, a book like this would be published several decades before Grammarly would be invented.

The book was titled:

When Words Collide - A Journalist's Guide to Grammar and Style, Second Edition

During the early 1990s, before college seniors were allowed to graduate from the Kent State School of Journalism and Mass Communications, every Kent State advertising major had to pass a final test, affectionately known as "The Grammar Slammer."

The exam tested each student's knowledge of grammar, word usage, punctuation, sentence construction, and spelling.

To this day, I still have a copy of the sample test of this "The Grammar Slammer" because I had tucked the document into the pages of this textbook.

In year 2020, in order to pass the sample test while at your own computer, you could probably just copy and paste the questions into Grammarly and finally spellcheck your answers. I haven't tried that yet.

Similarly, I have not installed Grammarly onto my computer.

Nevertheless, I do get bombarded by Grammarly ads on YouTube. This add-on must be "a thing" for students and writers these days?

To me, the idea of an algorithm doing the writing for you seems "a bit robotic" to me, but I might try it, someday.

Nevertheless, back in the early 90s, JMC students had to know the rules of grammar by memory. There was no computer program that would do the writing for you and correct the writing that was garbage.

Similarly, JMC students had to memorize the spellings of words. Mnemonic solutions were provided.

For example, the word dessert contains two each of the letter "s" because when it's time for dessert you always go back for a second helping of that second letter "s" each time. Dessert is so delicious you go back for two "s" letters.

Meanwhile, desert only contains one "s" as in:

"I am standing next to a cactus. I'm out here in the Arizona desert!"

Mohave is a big desert.

After dinner we all enjoyed a big dessert.

Moving on now. Here's another mnemonic tool to keep in mind: There is "a rat" in separate.

Sep a rat e

And: Always be a "pal" of the school principal.

The school principal is a man of principle.

In conclusion, I'll mention two of the most tricky words ever written in the English language. These two words differ only in the placement, or not, of but one apostrophe:

its and it's

While scrolling down the Facebook wall or scrolling down the LinkedIn feed, I constantly notice mix-ups with the usage of its and it's and just one more point that I must make here:

Its' is not a word.

Countless mnemonic devices, similar to these, were taught to us students in the early 90s. And these tips are still useful, even now with the invention of spellcheck.

When you know both usage and how to spell a word, you will key the word correctly, the very first time.

From time to time, I find myself taking all of that spelling know-how for granted.

I begin to believe that all smart people know how to spell. Yet in reality, that's just not the case!

You can excel in one area of your life - and still be a bad speller.

Anyhow, When Words Collide was the handbook for the Grammar Slammer test. The book is still quite useful. I keep the book here at my desk.

Most of the material in this book I now know from memory. After all, I did pass "The Grammar Slammer" test at the KSU school of JMC. Yet, I won't let hubris seep into my soul. No. No. No; No hubris will keep me from double-checking punctuation, usage, sentence construction, or anything that appears unusual to me. I'll open the spiral-bound book to revisit the chapters of this weighty old tome. I'll have another look at the rules of grammar. Of course, now there's ChatGPT.

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