Radio showmanship (Sept 1940-May 1941)

dull News Is Good News News is Tops! Writes NDRMAN V. CARLISLE, RS Field Editor, Hut Don't Forget to Let 'em Know You're Sponsoring It! Top radio buy, in the eyes of hundreds of U. S. advertisers, is news. Climbing onto the bandwagon, they have assumed sponsorship of news flashes, newscasts, sometimes new commentators. Some advertisers have gone further, asking the question: "Is the news enough?" Their angle: Even the news needs extra promotion if news and sponsor are to be linked in the public mind. Example: Borden Dairy Delivery Company, new sponsor, KNX, Hollywood. Smashing was the send-off given its newscasts. 1) 600 point-of-sale window displays, in the form of seven-foot, three-color awning streamers, plugging the station call letters, broadcast time, sponsor. 2) Trucks, 110 of them, plastered with more of these streamers. 3) 50,000 shopping check lists, cleverly designed disc devices which are hung up in the kitchen to remind housewives of staple groceries needed. Important to Borden was the fact that they also, in large print, reminded the housewife of Bordenewscasts, the time, the station. The point put across, with one impact after the other, was Borden Sponsors the News. Bond Clothing, sponsoring newscasts in various cities, uses its store windows to hammer home the fact of Bond sponsorship. Example: Bond newscasts on station KRNT, Des Moines. Into Bond's windows went a wax suit model to represent the newscaster. The model, to all appearances, is talking into the actual KRNT mike set up before it. No small part ^ J \ of the news-illusion is the AP teletype machine, which ^^_ ^_ is kept in actual operation fl ^\ at certain times of the day. Tabulations show it to be not only a traffic stopper, but a definite audience builder. Theater-minded Nehi Bottling Company of Los Angeles, Royal Crown Cola and Par-T-Pak distributor, found a new wrinkle in news promotion. In the foyer of the Downtown Newsreel Theater, Nehi set up a complete newsroom'. Newsreel-like were the broadcasts which emanated from this attention-compelling spot, to be aired via KMPC, Beverly Hills. The title : Newsreel of the Air. Theater trailers were used to plug the program, which wos on the air every day. Other promotions: newspaper advertisements in a daily barrage, hundreds of truck banners. Department store William D. Hardy and Company of Muskegon, Michigan, broadcasts their fast-moving women's news show right from their own store. This attracts casual store patrons; at the same time, tends more effectively to tie up store commercials with news items. There are many more proven ways of merchandising the news. Many advertisers have radio commentators who write newspaper articles and plug their news shows at the end of each column. Others go so far as to build their newspaper advertising around the personality of the newscaster they sponsor. Still others have tried extensive billboard or carcard campaigns. Is the news enough? The answer: For the established sponsor, yes. For sponsors new to news, no. Thunderous events, breaking on a thousand newsfronts, have plenty of pulling power in themselves, to be sure. The audience is news conscious. // must be made sponsor conscious. Direct mail, store handouts, window displays, truck streamers, billboards, theater tie-ups — they're all ways in which you can identify the news with you. To nail 'em with news, let 'em know you're sponsoring it ! DECEMBER. 1 940 133