Radio showmanship (Sept 1940-May 1941)

Martin Bros.' executives, like any other group of experienced businessmen, believe in figures. We study graphs, charts, and other business trend indicators with the same interest as a sports fan does a box score. All of which means that we believe in theory. But, like any other group of businessmen, we believe more in active proof. Some four months ago, three men, Tom Edminston, sales promotion manager of Bluhill Products, Raymond Keane, our advertising agent, and Jim MacPherson, of KOA, gathered at my office for a meeting. The problem was (1) Should we or should we not go on the air? (2) If we did, what should we expect radio to do for Martin Bros.? (3) If we did, how could we attract a maximum listening audience? Radio, as an advertising medium, had a list of very impressive figures to show us that day. And I admitted then, as I do now, that for a new industry it has done a most amazing and remarkable job for advertisers from coast to coast. But all we wanted to know that afternoon was what could it do for usf A much easier problem to put than to take. Martin Bros, have been leading food manufacturers and distributors in Denver for 20 years. We are well-known as makers of BLUHILL Products, coffee, cheese, peanut butter, preserves, honey, and candy. The BLUHILL name is one of the best known in the Rocky Mountain sales area; its products are established as quality items. In order to gain greater sales volume, it was necessary to create a demand which would offset through volume sales, the dealers' difference in pushing a higher profit item. Figures were there aplenty, but there was only one wav to prove to ourselves whether or not Bli hill coffee could be sold through the air; that was a test campaign. The actual construction of the program was left in the capable hands of Mi. Keane, our advertising agent. We then decided to tn three months of radio | 13 weeks). Naturally, we had to »et, in our own minds, a goal of some sort. I he pro-ram. on which more later, was such that we felt that mail response would he one indii ation. dealer response another, and. tual sales, the final and n important indi< ation. VVe set as on (Soffee Sales Thru the Air To Test The Power of Radio, He Organized a Radio Club mail response, 5,000. We wanted 5,000 consumer names to show as a direct result of the program, with the thought in mind that if the program did bring such a response, both dealer and sales reaction would be on an equitable ratio. With that objective in mind. Mr. Keane went to work. He created the Bluhill For Women Only club, to be aired on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings at 9:15 to 9:30 over Denver station KOA. For Women Only is a mixture of everything good in radio. Frankly, when it was first auditioned, I was a little doubtful of its pulling power; that doubt was caused primarily by the variety of the program. It sounded a bit complicated. Hut as the weeks went by and 1 had a chance to see bowsmoothly even variety could be made by efficient handling, that doubt vanished. As a matter of fact, to get ahead of our story a little, within the first five days of the program, we had added 5,000 new names to our mailing list anil the dealers were as enthusiastic as our salesmen, so there was no Longer am reason for doubt. / '/' // (iiikii Onl\ is a club, with many advantages that ordinal \ women's clubs never have. I h< fust job was to get members. Two weeks before the program was scheduled to start, we opened Up with a batch of short an ^\