WU I\ot Trust the lob to Hoo-Hoo?

tolk was delivered by Bob Gallagher '.. of the New Merico Tim,ber Co., Albuquerque, to the 40th Anniztersar^,t , Convention of the Southern Cali''-fornia Retail Lumber Assoc'i,ation at , the Ambassod,or hotel, Los Angeles, ir few weeks ago. Gurdon Gollagher ' is one of the dedicated young rnen i, in the "Service" of Hoo-Hoo, and, ane beh.ezte this is one of the most ins pir ed-and' ins piring-think pie c es on Hoo-Hoo and the good of the entire lumber ind,ustry that we have ever had the pleasure of printing.)

, BY ROBERT E. GALLAGHER Supreme Gurdon International Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo

A widely discussed editorial about the lumber industry appeared in one of our large, authoritative, respected trade journals recently. Perhaps "controversial" would more accurately describe the reception given this message. ft candidly and bluntly pointed out the complacency and indifference of lumbermen today toward promotion, merchandising, and infringement by substitute materials, and their steadfast refusal to unite with one another in combatting these substitute materials.

In no uncertain terms, the author of this article emphasized the almost primitive beliefs we in the lumber industry have in promotion-the "misguided sheep-like" attitude we have toward competing building materials. The author cried out in a loud voice for the urgent, even desperate, need of a central organization to represent all of the lumber industry in all of its phases. He pointed out that much smaller industries such as the Cling Peach Growers, the tia. industry, and the prune farmers, had such central organizations, but we, with our billions of dollars of plants and inventories, have no one group or association to speak for us.

The author predicted that if promotion and merchandising wasn't undertaken in large scale by lumbermen, that if a central organization was not created, "the.lumber industry as we know it could be wiped off the face of the earth in not too many years."

Most of us had just about finished reading this editorial and muttered to ourselves phrases such as "alarmist," "defeatist," "prophet of doom," when another controversial utterance was made. This time it was from one of the outstanding lumbermen in the country, one whose judgment and integrity are unquestioned. Speaking as the president of one of the very largest trade associations, he, too, cited the urgent need for promotion and merchandising lumber. 'He said, "\Are have no choice. We must meet competition head-on with more advertising and promotion or admit that we have quit fighting."

Separately either one of these two statements would have created considerable comment, but with both of them ap- pearing so closely together, there's no'wonder that a controversy arose. There has been much vigorous denial, headshaking, finger-pointing, and protestations of innocence ever since.

I have no argument with either of these two gentlemen; I only wish that they had gone further into the matter and pointed out more emphatically just how indifferent and complacent we really are. They could have told of the incident of the advertising agency that made an extensive market survey of the tetail lumber industry and, finding it all but barren in real promotional material, offered to produce six series of films to be used for television. These films were to be designed solely to sell lumber-not redwood, fir, pine, hardwood, softwood, plywood-just lumber.

They offered these films to more than 4,000 retail lumber yards in prime television markets for $50.00 per series. Exactly 22 lumber yards wrote in about them, nine of these ordered the films, and one of these wrote a cryptic note saying they "had changed their minds."

These two gentlemen didn't have to pick up retailers necessarily to emphasize their point. They could have told about the manufacturers' group that called a meeting of its top management and sales people for the express purpose of establishing a budget for the promotion and advertising of their group's production. These top-level people, leaders of this industry, whose combined production was nearly half a billion feet per year, 4O to 5O millions of dollars in gross sales, set up the insignificant sum of $5,000 to cover the entire expense of space rates, printing, postage, layout, copy, and agency costs.

"Alarmist," "defeatist," "prophet 9f d966"-maybe so. And maybe we could say that the editor of the magaz\ne was really only trying to sell ads in his magazine; that the trade association president was really talking about promoting only his group's products; that the advertising agency was actually out hustling business for itself. Lump all the reasons, all the motivations, into any category you wish; minimize them, discredit them all you wish-but doesn't the irrefutable fact remain that if we can't even promote our own individual businesses we are doing next to nothing for the industry as a whole ?

What's my point? Where does Hoo-Hoo come into all of this?

If this industry must publicize and promote itself to the American public, if it is to sell itself back to the American people, the simplest way, the only way, to do it is through a central organization.

But why talk about forming a new organization to embrace all of the lumber industry when lfoo-Hoo does just that now?

Certainly Hoo-Hoo is the oldest and loudest exponent of lumber promotion. Certainly Hoo-Hoo with its restrictive inembership is most closely identified with the lumber industry. Certainly Hoo-Hoo with its past 65 years of experience is most qualified to speak for the lumber industry. Certainly Hoo-Hoo with its avowed goal of uniting the lumber industry is the least likely to discriminate against

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By Gorlocd Truck ond Troiler