The Rough Notes Company


1920-1930
It was the Jazz age! Louis Armstrong hit the airwaves, Al Capone was America's news and Charles Lindbergh completed a solo flight across the Atlantic and became a hero to millions. America's "can-do" spirit of success and excitement was felt throughout the nation. By the late 1920s Americans were driving Model Ts across the highways, but they were also taking to the skies. It was the age of Lucky Lindy and the first transatlantic flight. Amelia Earhart and other daring pilots were in the sky setting records between New York and Germany. However, America's confidence took a hit on October 29, 1929, when the stock market crashed, ushering in the Great Depression.


The 1920s also ushered in new business opportunities--and new risks--for the Rough Notes Company. President E. Jay Wohlgemuth resolved to modernize insurance advertising by moving beyond the flat portraits of the past decades. "Photo Realism" was the rage in Europe and Wohlgemuth decided that this was just what the insurance industry needed. RN used this new technique to depict insurance risks--gangsters robbing homes, cars crashing into houses and airplanes falling from the skies.

RN also created bold black and white posters and sold them to agents and companies to hang in their storefronts. To further enhance business for its customers, RN would print the company or agency's name and address at the bottom of the poster. RN's eye toward the future paid off. By 1950, more than a million photos a month were being sold to insurance companies and agents to use to promote their lines.
The Great Depression begins with the stock market crash of 1929
October 29, 1929--investors dumped 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange at declining prices. This day, which became known as Black Tuesday, ushered in the Great Depression. Within three years, The American economy had hit rock bottom. By 1932, unemployment peaked at 13 million. Wages declined 60%. Businesses reported losses of $6 billion. Banks shut their doors. Families were living on the streets, and mile-long soup lines were not unusual. By 1934, the Depression had begun to wane and the American economy was back on track.		 Getting agents and companies to advertise was not an easy task for RN. The company knew the value of advertising and would constantly remind the industry about getting the word out to the public. In addition, Rough Notes magazine devoted full pages to advice on how agencies could sell their lines with the RN posters or how to get into a prospect's front door with a simple business card. A.D. Lang, vice president of advertising, wrote in a 1928 issue of Rough Notes magazine: "Entering the door marked 'Private'--getting an interview promptly--converting an indifferent, annoyed stranger into an interested, friendly prospect--that's what consistent advertising can do for you ... Applying that term to insurance agency advertising would mean that your agency name on a card would be all the introduction needed to any business firms in your town." Lang would often use the magazine's pages to implore agents to be more aggressive in their advertising to the public.

In 1928, The Rough Notes Company began to recognize agents and insurance companies for creativity in their advertising campaigns. It created the Rough Notes Insurance Journal Advertising Award. A bronze plaque was given to the winning company or agent, and additional gold, silver and bronze medals were given to winning exhibits for first, second and third places. The award was coveted by the industry. The 1929 Rough Notes Trophy award for the year's best advertising campaign went to the Fidelity-Phenix. The decision was based upon the excellence of the company's familiar "True Stories" series.
Making the agent's work a little less complicated has always been a premier goal for RN. By the mid-'20s, the company had put into place the 1-2-3-4 System, a complete office system for agencies designed to eliminate duplicate work. The first of its kind in the industry, this system was a natural for RN to create because, by dint of its constant, direct contact with agents, the company had learned what sort of practical material agents needed to remain successful.

Agents' letters flowed into the RN main office, praising the new system and crediting it for their increased business. Elliott R. Fisk, of Fairport, New York, wrote: "We have been making a 50 percent increase in the net business over last year. You do not ask for any testimonial, but we can truthfully say that at least part of this we owe to the new system ..." The Fisk agency had a record of 95% renewal of all business each year.

Concurrently, RN was extremely busy with its publishing side. Its greatest triumph was Coverages Applicable which became the industry standard and which remains in print today.

By 1928, Rough Notes magazine had launched "Policy Forms Analysis." Agents could detach these articles and file them in the appropriate risk section of loose leaf binders provided by RN. These analyses of bureau forms could be kept current, thus serving as a premier guide for evaluating many risks. Testimony to that fact is that they still exist--as PF&M (Policy Form and Manual Analysis)--which RN sells in binders, on CDs and via the Internet.