Sponsor (1964)

3 FRIDAY AT 5 i Rep Bids Networks Between Shows To Adam Young says longer breaks reps agree, other quarters cite New \ «>rk Station rep Ad. mi young has ,i plan for the elimination ot t\ clutter — and hc\ introducing il via .in ad in industry trade publications \t the heart ol the Young proposal is the suggestion that the nct woiks schedule one-minute breaks between slums instead of the current 40-second ones. young '.rther urges the networks to "place Roth the opening and closing commercials of programs tar enough from the break to eliminate the teeling of clutter." and he asks network affiliates to adopt a policy of placing only one spot between network shows. "Based on research we have done," young said, "we believe the adoption ol these suggestions will meet with almost unanimous approval among advertisers. To begin with, most ot them have a strong preference ABC's Political Coverage Draws New Sponsor Dollars New \ ork — About the only ones scurrying taster than William Scranton to summon support for the political conventions and the election are ABC and C US. The former, with perhaps the biggest sales problem on iits hands as the tirst convention looms, made an llth hour dent in the unsold portion of its. tv package late last week The three new buyers: Firestone Tire .V Rubber (Sweeney & James); General 1 lectric (Young & Rubicam) and lever Bros. (Ogilvy. Benson & Mather). Joining Xerox (which has one-third of the package) are Brown \ w illiamson (one-eighth) and Clairol. These orders bring ABC-TV to nearlv 75 percent SRO. ABC Radio, the only one of the major radio networks with its own convention-election package, has so far sold one-quarter (to L&M) CBS* tv-radio package is about 62 percent sold; NBC has been sold out for over a year (lor a report on the convention"Sponsors Are Sure inners in 'M Election," page Put Minute Breaks Help Reduce Clutter could eliminate clutter; some key more problems than advantages tor the one-minute message and. ol COUne, almost all pieter the island position." Some kev reps contacted b) SroNsok indicated sympathj tor the Young proposal, noting that affiliated stations have in recent seasons been laced with the mounting problem ol finding prime time lor the one-minute announcements ottered them. And some have been forced to preempt prime time to schedule local programs. Critics of the proposal foresaw possibihtyof stations breaking the network NAB Meets Re Collins Washington I the tull 44-member board ol din the N \B Will be held Julv 1 i ( ) Haie Inn. ( bicago, i" d< ..1 with problem ol the vacanC) to be lei! 1 cKov ( ollins' imminent departure lor a government ; I be board will decide how the NAB will be run in the interim period until a new president is chosen. It will decide the C from which the next president will be selected — from among bio.uleasters or from the ranks ot public figUI allowance down into two or three spins, suggested that the bulk ol the minute spots might become pi backs. The] also argued that it an advertiser could bin one-minute breaks he might well pull out of network AAAA Reports Agency Profits Dropped Slightly in 1963. But Dollars Increased Spokesman says picture isn't as bleak as it looks, points out that profits have declined for 10 years while gross went up in seven New York — Profits for the nation's advertising agencies showed a slight decline (down .27 percent) in 1963 as compared with the previous \ ear's profits, according to the American Association of Advertising Agencies in a just-released report. Despite the small drop, an AAA \ spokesman declared that "the picture isn't as bleak as it looks." pointing out that most agencies actually showed an increase in dollar prolits It was also pointed out that many agencies have adopted profit-sharing plans and that payments into these plans have shown an increase (up .24 percent) in 1963 as opposed to lW->2. Also, a substantial increase in what was called "unbillable client e\pcr. largely in the area of research, was recorded. Over a 10-year period, net profit has shown a Steady decline — from 5.41 percent of gross income in I to 3.7 percent in 1963. But again it w.is pointed out that in seven out of 10 years, agencies recorded higher dollar profits. A breakdown of cosis m shows that the nation's agencies spent 67.99 percent of gross income on pay roll, a decline over previous u In 1954, pavroll accounted for 69 percent and the figure has been droping slovvlv over a 10-year period total expenses in 1963 Wen COrded as 94 ;'< percent of gross, an increase of ,36 percent over the previous year Engelke Heads up Media on Tinker's Alka-Seltzer Acc't New ^ ork — With the take-over date from Wade Advertising officially set as September I, media funct. on the Alka-Seltzer account for the Miles Product Divisi. ib oratories, Inc., will be handled by I I inker A Partners, an Interpublic agen( The media department at linker. Current!) in the throe m/alion and planning, will tv headed bv K ert I ngelke. former vice president media director at led Bales (>:, tor both space and time will come directlv from the linker ion. Media research and Othei a technical nature will be purcha bv linker from other Interpublic facilities. ■ CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE July 6, 1964