Attracting Prospects "To the Knobs"
JANUARY 2007 - Motoring out of Cincinnati in 1918, city dwellers saw a new and inviting sign on Clifton Avenue. A pointing hand against the white paint directed them "To the Knobs."
More of the signs guided visitors to vacant lots in Clifton, "with grass neatly cut, walk in good repair about, street kept clean." The trick was to get them there. Because of the area's reputation as a home to the wealthy, REALTORS® found that conventional print advertising "could not induce the prospective home-builder, lot-buyer, to come out Clifton way, howsoever attractive the ad."
The solution was "To the Knobs."
"The Knobs - the very name sounded attractive!" reported the National Real Estate Journal in January 1918. "Possibly it was a new city forest opened hereabouts; possibly it was some new pleasure ground. What-so-ever, you would follow the very inviting sign and see."
