Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1961)

Radio vs. Sunday newspaper ad In the Buffalo study women uere asked if they had seen the Bells-IGA Sunday ad and had purchased items featured. Saw the ad 198 Purchased featured items 74 By contrast, here are similar results for radio. Had heard commercials 209 Purchased featured items 104 Bells-IGA currently spends 80( < of its S270.000 ad budget in newspapers. 15', in radio. 5% in tv. Wk WM ■■■■■ ■■ ■ ..: ^ is mi^l mean average for listening was 1.6 hours, broken down as follows: 15 minutes or less 11.1 S Over 15 minutes-30 min. 23.1 Over 30 minutes-1 hour 19.9 Over 1 hour-2 hours 16.2 Over 2 hours-3 hours 11.1 Over 3 hours-4 hours 7.4 Over 4 hours 9.8 Lnreported 1.3 Asked "Where was it that you last heard the radio. " shoppers answered. Last listened at home 63.4' < Last listened in the car 34.7 Last listened some other place 1.9 The sample of 511 women obviously represented substantial shoppers. Reporting on what thev had just bought — 57.5% had purchased tanned goods 68.1% had purchased baked goods 78.3% had purchased meats 69.3% had purchased produce Commenting on the surve\ . R. H. Bruskin Associates notes as a prime conclusion. "Radio is an effective medium in conveving Bells advertising message." James Arcara. sales manager for \\ KBK which commissioned the study, believes that the following points are of extreme significance to other radio advertisers and broadcasters : The studv was exclusively amonu 30 female adult supermarket shoppers, and conducted at the point of purchase, rather than in the home. Both points, says Arcara. make the Bruskin research more valuable than other, more general radio studies. Of the Bells-IGA shoppers interviewed. 97.1% were married and 72% were in the 27 to 50 vear age class "the female subgroup that controls the family purse strings." The impact of Bells-IGA radio is particularly significant in as much as the chain gives 80% of its advertis ing funds to newspapers (two metro politan dailies and 12 communitv papers) and its radio schedules had been running for only seven months at the time of the studv. Agencies with food and supermarket accounts will be particularly interested in the Bells-IGA ad strategy and the test results, inasmuch as the emphasis on specific specials runs counter to the way certain other supermarkets have used radio. Sponsor i 31 July 1961 1 while noting that "Supermarkets represent a super chance for radio.'" reported that such chains as Safewav and Daitch Shopwell use radio primarilv for institutional-tvpe copv. The Bells-IGA experience bears out what many radio men have long contended, that the medium can be as effective as any other in promoting specific retail items. ^ HOW CAN ^ New Commission procedure for logging, program reports may cost S10-1 5,000 ^ Michigan station devises plan for check of program types vs. license promise l^iew FCC rules and regulations which may have a far reaching effect on the structure and programing of both tv and radio have broadcasters in a shock and confusion as the 1961-62 season gets under wav. In an industry already overwhelmed with paperwork, the proposed FCC requirements on station logging and on reports of programbroadcast will, it is believed bv competent observers, cost each of the more than 5.000 broadcast stations in the country an additional §10.000 to $15,000 per year for clerical and other help. \^Tiether such voluminous recordkeeping will, in the long run. do much to raise program standards in either radio or tv is very debatable. But as long as the Minow-headed Commission seems bent on creating its own type of paper work snowstorm Washington attorneys who represent broadcast stations are advising their clients 1 1 "make sure your own house is in order." and 2i "Don't let yourself be a guinea or a test case." Heart of the problem is of course the question as to whether a stations programing actuallv coincides with promises made in its license application. On the surface this might seem easv to determine but the verv fragmentation and flexibility of broadcasting often makes detailed breakdowns laborious. Broadcasters and agencies and advertisers doing business with radio tv stations will be interested in the svstem recently instituted at WJIMI TV, Radio and FM i Lansing. Mich by Harold F. Gross, president, i Please turn to page 53 i SPONSOR 2 OCTOBER 1961