MAGIC WORDS AND DESIGNS Trademarks Identify, Protect, Guarantee Suppose the time has come for you to replace the container that keeps the coffee warm in your dinner bucket. What item would you ask for at the store? If you tell the storekeeper you want to buy a “Thermos,” you might have to explain further. Why? Because “Thermos” is a brand name, or trademark, and not a substitute for the generic term “vacuum bottle.” There are many brands of vacuum bottles, but only one Thermos vacuum bottle. The same applies to CUSTOMERS YOU CAN QUOTE These Tires Served Well “Happy Talk.” We’ve been receiving it from numerous parts of the United States, as well as distant spots on the globe. The “happy talk” we refer to is the good word we continue to receive in letters from satisfied users of Fire stone products. Endorsements such as the fol lowing redound to our applause for work well done. Vincent E. Nowikowski Chicago, Illinois “I have seen some tire com pany advertisements on TV that offer 5 or 10 per cent more miles, but they do not state ‘how many more miles than. . .’ “WeU, I have a 1951 Buick Special which has been driven Kodak cameras, Vaseline pe troleum jelly, and Frigidaire re frigerators—to name only a few of the well-known trademarks. But why is this of interest to Firestone people, as consumers of our nation’s goods and serv ices? Trademarks are important to us, both as employees and as general consumers, for three pri mary reasons— Identification, Protection, and Guarantee. The brand name identifies for us the particular product of a particular merchant and helps us to select the brand we prefer, without difficulty. Magic Words and Designs Today the consumer buys the item with a label or brand name he knows from some previous experience. These magic words or trademark designs, which ap pear in newspaper or magazine advertisements and on televi sion, influence buying habits. This is why Firestone’s trade marks, too, are so important. over 63,000 miles and my Fire stone tires look good for an other 10,000 miles.” Colin MacAllister New Brunswick. New Jersey “When Mrs. MacAllister and I sold our car recently it had recorded 68,600 miles. Four of the original Firestone tires were still on the car, a 1951 Chevro let. All of the five original tubes are on the car. We bought one new Firestone tire to replace one of the original tires that had run 54,798 miles. “Our friends think this a re markable record. When we pur chased a 1960 Ford recently, we were certainly glad that it had Firestone tires on it.” This Vine Grew— Then Some More Gardening is one of several pursuits by which retiree Rus sell Conrad whets a keen inter est in life. This “cropping” sea son Mr. Conrad harvested the usual store of vegetables from his backyard garden at 108 Firestone boulevard. Then there was a tomato protecf our children DRWE CARE plant which was long on vine but short on production. Having been concerned with product output at Firestone throughout his long record of employment here, he wasn’t particularly pleased with the one single to mato on the trailing end of the vine that just grew and grew all summer long. After it had rambled all around the garden patch by near-frost time, Mr. Conrad in formed the plant newspaper of it, and suggested a picture. But the photographer couldn’t figure out a beginning, nor end—nor in-between—for the ambitious vine. Mr. Conrad was for almost 25 years overseer in Weaving (s^/n- thetics), before his retirement last December. He came to work here in 1906, when the plant was Loray Mill. A son and daughter, Earl and Clara, are both Fire stone employees, each with miore than 25 years of service. • Brand names are one of the best and easiest means that pur chasers have for identifying and selecting Firestone products. Trademarks also assure the con sumer that the manufacturers good reputation stands behind what he puts on the market. • The trademark protects us — and our customers — from fraudulent goods. No other com pany in the country has the right to use that registered name. • The brand name is a guar antee to the purchaser of con sistent high quality. Why do consumers select one product over another? Becaiase they have become familiar with the brand and have developed a liking, a respect, and a preference for the products that bear a certain brand mark. Misuse It—Lose It But a trademark can be lost if misused by the public. If a brand name becomes a generic term through incorrect usage, then any other firm which wants to use the term may do it even though the product may not be of the high quality or standard of the original. The company which invests so much in developing the brand could lose its entire business and we, as consumers, could lose the identification, the protection and the guarantee so important to our free and democratic choice. We have a stake in helping the businessman maintain and protect his trademark. What, then, can the average consumer do to protect the con tinuance of high-quality prod ucts on the market? • Become familiar with brands and their importance to our economy. • Understand what we ars buying and why we are buying it. • Ask for a product by its specific trade name. Reporter Elease Cole of first shift Twisting (synthetics) is among the more than two dozen plant and office employees who vol unteer their services as Fire stone News reporters. These re porters relay the goings-on of their fellow employees in the various departments and supply many news "leads" which help to make the plant publication interesting and worthwhile to its readers. Elease will have been at Fire stone 17 years, come next Janu ary. When off her job in Twist ing, she divides her time be tween housekeeping at 414 S. Weldon street and leadership activities of Macedonia Baptist Church. She is teacher of the Mothers Class in Sunday school, and Macedonia church clerk. It Didn’t Click? Then Try Again If you have turned in a sug gestion lately and it didn't make the grade, don’t let the disap pointment keep you from trying again. One reason why people succeed is that they find addi tional ways of selling ideas and suggestions. Look at these history-book ex amples of the discouraging ex periences of some of America’s great inventors: • Commodore Vanderbilt dis missed Westinghouse and his new air brakes for trains, say ing he had no time to waste on fools. • Those who loaned Robert Fulton money for his steamboat project asked that their names be withheld for fear of ridicule, were it known that they sup ported anything so “foolhardy”. • Joshua Coppersmith was ar rested in Boston for trying to sell stock in the telephone. “All well-informed people know that it is impossible to transmit the human voice over a wire.” • When in 1907, DeForest put the radio tube in workable form, he was unable to sell his patient and let it lapse rather than pay $25 for its renewal. • Henry Morton, president of Stevens Institute of Technology, protested against the trumpting of results of Edison’s experi ments in electric lighting as a “w onderful success”, when “everyone acquainted with the subject will recognize it as a conspicuous failure.” A Free Funeral Went Begging In Chico. Calif., radio station KPAY offered a free $750 funeral for anyone killed in a recent holiday's traffic—provided the deceased registered with the station (in advance, of course). Urged the lively-voiced announcers: "Take a postcard and on it send us your name and address and the name of your next of kin." People in the Chico area made it home safely. KPAY received 225 "registration" cards. The station owner believed he had "instilled in people's minds the need for safety on our high ways—and the tragic consequences of carelessness." Your Eyesight: A Precious Possession Foresight or No Sight. This is the grave lesson continually stressed by our safety department. Anytime is a good time to remember the importance of good eye care and protection through safety glasses. Figures show that half of all cases of blindness can be prevented. The Nation al Society for the Prevention of Blind ness hopes to point up the multiple threats to eyesight, to remind adults of the threat of glaucoma, and to present some of the foundation facts of eye health and eye care. The Society sponsors the Wise Owl Club, composed of more than 20,000 working people who, at the time of a would-be injury, have saved the sight of one or both eyes because at the time they were wearing eye protection. The Firestone company, including the Gastonia plant, participates in the Wise Owl program. Upon enrollment, a mem ber receives a certificate, gold lapel pin and shop badge. Purpose of the Wise Owl Club is to eliminate needless eye injuries in indus try through use of safety eyewear. It is not possible to figure the tremendous cost of eye injuries to employees in terms of human suffering, diminished job production, and reduced earning and purchasing power. ECONOMICS PRIMER Customers: Source Of Employment In our modern exchange economy, all payroll and employment come from cus tomers, and the only worth while job security is cus tomer security. If there are no customers, there can be no payroll and no jobs. The increase of prosperity through automatic tools has always increased the de mand for the products and increased the total number of jobs, not only in produc tion but in transportation, selling, retailing and servic ing. November, I960 Page 4 Volume IX Number 11 ☆ ☆ ☆ Published by The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Firestone Textiles Division, Gastonia, North Carolina. Claude Callaway. Editor Charles A. Clark. Photographer PLANT REPORTERS Carding—Payton Lewis, Jessie Ammons Cloth Room—Margie Waldrep Industrial Relation s—Flora Pence Main Office—Bea McCarter Quality Control—Sallie Craw ford, Louella Queen, Leila Rape Spinning—L illie A. Brown, Maude Peeler, Mary Turner Spooling—Nell Bolick, Rosalie Burger, Ophelia Wallace Mechanical Department — Rosie Francum Twisting—Vera Carswell, Elease Cole, Annie Cosey, Katie El' kins, Catherine Fletcher Twisting (Sales)—Elmina Brad shaw Warehouse—N a n c y Cloninger, George Harper, Albert Meeks, Rosevelt Rainey Weaving (cotton)—Ruth Veitch Weaving (synthetics)—Mary E. Johnson, Irene Odell Winding—Ruth Cloninger, May- zelle Lewis
