American television directory (1946)

EVERY FASHION SHOW in the Sanforized series produced by Young & Rubicam at WABD was merchandised to dealers in highly interest¬ ing reports. Each reproduced a shooting script enlivened with many photographic illustrations and the director's hand-written changes and camera notes, together with captions for each page which sum¬ marized the action. Television audiences may have been limited but Sanforized dealers everywhere "saw" these shows and absorbed their fashion messages through Sanforized progress reports. Advance notices and follow-up literature are a vital part of a complete tele¬ vision promotion and the most profitable part for 1946 advertisers. droves of customers into stores demanding the tele-advertised item even in those areas where tele¬ coverage is concentrated. Precious little national advertising is real¬ ly national. On an actual reader or listener basis (as distinguished from ridiculous total circulation or total readership or listenership claims) not more than 5 per cent of our national advertisers actual¬ ly get their messages before more than 10 per cent of our adult population. Not more than 5 per cent really reach as much as 20 per cent of their actual consumer market ! 8 — Only a handful of national adver¬ tisers or sectional advertisers have any considerable degree of con¬ sumer demand. Again reverting to percentages, I would say that 95 per cent of our advertisers have merely consumer acceptance — and tele-advertising definitely is not going to turn that into consumer demand either overnight or ever! 9 — Distributors, both wholesale and retail, plus their sales organiza¬ tions, are keenly interested in and Television Will Really Add Something! intrigued by television. Moreover, they like to hook their promotions to the new, exciting and thrilling. There, in categorical fashion, is the merchandising and promotional set-up that faces the realistic user of tele¬ advertising. Now, what to do about it? First and foremost — throw overboard the bunk about irresistible consumer demand created by the small viewership tele-campaigns of 1946. Second — make sensible capital of the novelty and the early popular appeal of television. Third — develop retail-flavored promo¬ tional themes that tie up with your tele¬ advertising. Fourth— build complete promotional programs around those themes. Fifth — supply the retailer and the wholesaler with everything within rea¬ son needed to execute the suggested promotional program. Now — what does that last “must” involve? Insofar as the retailer is con¬ cerned, it involves unselfish, retailsmart, fully-wrapped-up promotions that don’t stop at suggesting what the retailer should do but which actually supply most if not all of the needed promotional material. In order to do that, you must know the promotional tools that a retailer customarily em¬ ploys. Briefly, they include the follow¬ ing units: Newspaper Magazine Radio Television (soon) Window displays Interior displays Handbills, package inserts, bill in¬ serts Car cards and outdoor panels Truck panel signs Telephone solicitation Training salespeople Mail-order units including catalogs Special tables, sections, “corners,” “shops,” etc. Unique merchandise arrangements Employee contests With regard to the wholesaler, it is obvious that his promotional functions are usually fewer than those of the re¬ tailer. Catalog inserts, inserts in the wholesaler’s monthly statements, dis¬ plays in the wholesaler’s showrooms and windows (if any), special mailings to wholesale salesmen and perhaps a con¬ test among wholesale salesmen, special letters or other types of direct mailings for the wholesaler to send to his retail trade, portfolios for the wholesale sales¬ man (if the line is important enough) . . . these take in the major part of wholesaler promotional activities. Finally, there is the manufacturer’s own sales force which must be promotionally equipped so as to be able to sell the tele-advertising intelligently and energetically — and, of course, the manu¬ facturer’s own mailings to his distrib¬ uting trade. Does this sound like a lot of work? It is! It may involve as much time, effort and brains as the tele-program itself. But if tele-advertising is to bow its way into the competitive commercial world with simply tele-programs, then it will be making its debut in a fool’s paradise. Advertisers don’t ramble about in that paradise very long — it’s too costly a jaunt! © Fontaine Fox. Courtesy, New York Sun Problem of Television 22