Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1961)

SOLVE NOVELTY SPOTS RIDDLE the same night of the week • Schedule spots within the same program (such as The Jack Paar Show or a feature film I Reps of the seven New York tv stations were called in for a screening of the commercials and were asked what they had to offer by way of response to this off-beat challenge. When all of the bids were in, the agency found three likely plans: 1) A vertical plan with four Sunday afternoon announcements at 30minute intervals 2) A scattering of four prime 20second spots 3) A horizontal plan of three spots adjacent to the same newscast. Research determined that Plan 2 would produce the greatest exposure with greatest frequency, but its cost came approximately to four times that of Plan 1. Also against plan 2, it was computed to produce only 50% more total audience and 40% more frequency than Plan 1. The third plan (early evening news adjacency, Mon.. Wed. and Fri.) was about the same in cost as Plan 1, but would produce only 50 ''/, of the male audience, important for M&R's objectives, that would be delivered by the Sunday afternoon schedule. Based on these findings, M&R bought seven Sunday afternoon spots divided between WCBS-TV and Sunday tv in N.Y. as backdrop for spots SUNDAY 4:30 PM WCBS-TV WNBC-TV PRO-FOOTBALL WRAP-UP NEWS OPEN MIND 5:00 PM M&R SPOT M&R SPOT AMATEUR HOUR CELEBRITY GOLF 5:30 PM M&R SPOT M&R SPOT G.E. COLLEGE BOWL HUNTLEY-BRINKLEY 6:00 PM M&R SPOT M&R SPOT OH THOSE BELLS 20TH CENTURY 6:30 PM M&R SPOT M&R SPOT 7:00 PM MEET THE PRESS PEOPLE ARE FUNNY SPONSOR • 2 OCTOBER 1961 WNBC-TV. From October. I960, through March, 1901, the commercial series was aired on both stations at 5 p.m., WCBS-TV at 5:30 p.m., both stations at 6 and 6:30. As Kenney puts it, "We owned those two hours!" In spelling out the advantages accruing to M&R for such proprietorship, Kenney asserts that most Sunday afternoon tv viewers in New York are tuned to these two stations. Further, he finds a higfi concentration of upper income families in the audience, which group is a prime target for this premium priced import. While this was the main thrust of the humor spot series campaign, the vermouth advertiser bought additional exposure for it with a slot in the middle and immediately after The Roaring 20's on WABC-TV Saturday nights, and in the Late Shoiu on WCBS-TV Tuesday nights. In addition, straight-sell I.D.'s were aired nightly on WNTA-TV's Play of the Week, which caters to upper income families, and three nights a week on the same station's Picture of the Week. Other reminder copy I.D.'s ran on the three outlets. The upshot of all this was sales increases in New York approximately three times as great as the rise registered for M&R over the rest of the country. While M&R had national magazine ads going for it in every market, only New York had the benefit of a tv campaign. According to Kenney, the New York area, which constitutes somewhat over 10% of the country's population was responsible for some 30ry of the sales increase notched during this period by M&R. The New York tv drive was bought for about $12,000 per week. Of this. 6095 went to the 20-second spot series, 40% to the I.D.'s. Based on the success of this Y Y. approach, the same type of campaign was mounted in Chicago last spring. Three stations were utilized in this initial Chicago push, and for the fall campaign they will add a fourth. ^ 33