From "C. E. Ellis" to "The Ellis Company." 0000000 T T is not an easy matter to score a distinct success in the field of advertising. To perform the feat requires a magnetic personality, a peculiar ability and a capacity for the hardest sort of work; and the men who possess this magic combination of characteristics, and who, in consequence thereof, dominate the advertising field to-day, may be counted easily and without exhausting the numerals. Yet there are several whose individualities stand forth conspicuously from among the mediocrity by which they are surrounded. They are men who know advertising from the basement to the topmost story, who have learned the art in the school of personal experience, and who have developed it by their own ability. And they have achieved distinct and unqualified success as advertising men. A typical representative of this limited class is C. E. Ellis, president of The Ellis Company, of New York. Mr. Ellis's career in the domain of publicity has been marked by a sufficient number of unusual features to make the story of his business growth one of particular interest to others laboring in the same field, and PROFITABLE ADVERTISING is pleased to have the opportunity of publishing a brief chapter from the history of this famous "special" at the present time. Just about six years ago C. E. Ellis came out of the West with the avowed intention of establishing himself in the advertising business in New York. Previous to this he had been prominently identified with the firm of Stack & Co., the well known advertising agents of St. Paul; but desiring a more extensive field and larger opportunities, he disposed of his interest in the firm to Mr. Stack in the fall of 1893, and ar dered even the additional space insufficient. The methods employed were something of a revelation as applied to the conducting of a special agency, but that they were the right methods was proved conclusively by the constant growth. Advertisers were not long in discovering that the circulation statements made by Mr. Ellis meant exactly what they said, and they quickly began to express their appreciation of this fact in a substantial manner. The consequence was that early in 1895, or a little more than a year after the subject of our sketch had set his foot upon the sidewalks of New York, the increasing magnitude of his affairs compelled him to utilize four rooms in the Temple Court building, while the beginning of 1896 found him installed in six large rooms (713-718 Temple Court) and with branch offices in Boston and Chicago. We are inclined to CHARLES E. ELLIS. rived in New York with the dawning of the New Year. This was Mr. Ellis's first actual step in the building up of his present great enterprises, although it is doubtful if he then, even in his most sanguine moods, dreamed of the measure of success that really awaited him. His initial position in the big metropolis was modest enough. It was merely to act as special representative of the St. Paul Globe, the Minneapolis Housekeeper and Park's Floral Magazine, and the whole business was carried on in one room at 517 Temple Court. This condition, however, did not long continue. Before three months had passed it became necessary to secure more office space, the result being that a second room was added, while the rapidity with which the business expanded under Mr. Ellis's management soon ren doubt if this record has ever been duplicated. Then, as the culmination of Mr. Ellis's efforts, the business finally attained such proportions that it was deemed advisable to organize a corporation in order to carry it on to the best advantage, and in May, 1898, The Ellis Company was formed, with Mr. Ellis as president and manager. This concern succeeded to all the personal business of Mr. Ellis, consisting of the absolute advertising control of five monthly journals, which have a total circulation each issue of more than a million and a half. These journals are: The Gentlewoman, To handle the immense volume of advertising attracted by these papers, The Ellis Company requires the combined services of sixteen people, distributed among the New York, Boston and Chicago offices. An idea of the thoroughness of the company's organization may be gained from the fact that it is prepared to have a direct representative call on any advertiser in the United States within a very few hours after receiving the request, and from the additional fact that it is in constant touch with all the principal users of newspaper space in the country. No other company has quite such facilities as these. All the offices are equipped with the Fred Macey card system, by means of which a record is kept of every advertiser. Mr. Ellis is enthusiastic about the merits of the Macey system, regarding it as being a particularly up-to-date device for office work. It is interesting to note here that The Ellis Company An interesting and pleasing feature of this office is the luxury and richness of its furnishings. It is, in fact, the most expensively fitted up private office used by a special advertising agent, and its superb appointments make a decidedly favorable impression upon the visitor. It is a fitting business home for the president of The Ellis Company. is patronized by the largest advertisers, and has several customers who spend over $15,000 a year each in the publications it controls, while a large number use space to the extent of from $5,000 to $10,000. These people have been with the papers for years, steadily increasing the amount of space occupied. How such success as that achieved by Mr. Ellis may be won by others, every advertising man must discover for himself; but a possible key to the problem is, perhaps, contained in a little story that has just come to our ears. Here it is: A certain New York publisher recently approached Mr. William Green, of 326 Pearl street, and asked: Why is it that the Ellis papers stand at the top in the opinion of advertisers? And Mr. Green replied: Because the Ellis papers always print and mail the full number of copies claimed." Mr. Green is the printer of the Gentlewoman, Metropolitan and Rural Home and the Paragon Monthly, and his bills for printing the September and October numbers of these three papers exceeded $26,000. He is in a position to know what he is talking about. The Boston offices of The Ellis Company are located at 227 Washington street, and are under the management of E. R. Graves. Mr. Graves was formerly connected with the Provident Institution for Savings, Boston, where he made an enviable record. He was engaged by Mr. Ellis in May, 1896, at the time the Boston offices were opened, and it is not putting it too strongly to say that he is now one of the best advertising men in New England. He occupies one of the cosiest and best appointed suites of rooms in the city, which fact, in combination with Mr. Graves's agreeable personality and genial disposition, has made the Ellis headquarters in the Athens of America" very popular with advertisers and advertising people. They are pervaded by an atmosphere of hospitality, and visitors are always welcome. Mr. Graves's territory includes New England and New York state. W. J. Kennedy. who looks after the Chicago end of the business from his commodious headquarters in the Boyce Building, hailed originally from Canada. His first connection in the States was with the Minneapolis Housekeeper, afterwards spending a year or two in St. Paul. He has been with Mr. Ellis four years,taking charge of the Chicago branch at its establishment in November, 1895. Mr. Kennedy's territory extends west and south from Pittsburgh, and he cultivates it with ability and skill. The Ellis offices in the metropolis of the West Another representative who travels over considerable ground in the interests of The Ellis Company is John R. Thuman. Mr. Thuman's headquarters are at the New York offices, from which point of vantage he covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, D. C., and New York city. He is instrumental in bringing a large amount of business to the Ellis papers. It must be very gratifying to Mr. Ellis to look back over the last six years and recall the various periods in the progress of his now great enterprise. From a small beginning he has grown to be the president of a strong corporation, doing an annual business amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the only concern in the world that, acting as special advertising representatives, controls absolutely the advertising of monthly publications with a yearly circulation of twenty millions. What the future may still hold in store for him is an interesting theme for the speculative mind to consider; but the possibilities are practically unlimited, and The Ellis Company is growing with every passing month. Judging from these facts, we are inclined to believe that the star of The Ellis Company is still several million miles from its zenith.-Profitabie Advertising. |