Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

PROBING THE CURRENTS AND UNDERCURRENTS OF BROADCAST ADVERTISING handy tool for selling bar soaps. It's been buying a lot of the medium for Palmolivc. An afterthought: you never can tell, but the time may not be far off when the package goods giants will be talking about pet test radio markets as they do with test television markets. Pepperidge Farm: radio tradition Pepperidge Farm is keeping up its penchant for running spot radio campaigns of a more or less intensive type before national holidays that entail family gatherings. The latest campaign: for three weeks before Thanksgiving in major markets throughout the East and Midwest. The account is at Ogilvy, Benson & Mather. Other current action in spot radio: Standard Brands' Royal desserts and puddings, out of Bates; Shulton Old Spice, six weeks in October-November; Campbell Soup, via BBDO. Incidentally, BBDO's bid for bonus Saturday spots as a sweetener for getting a Campbell Soup schedule is being observed in the breach as well as religiously. A number of stations have received Campbell Soup orders without including any free spots. Fiscal note: the Campbell Soup Co. earned $48 million for the year ending Aug. 2. Contac again in cold remedy market The cold medication sweepstakes' latest catalyst is Menley & James' Contac nasal spray, whose first tv commercial made its bow last weekend. As a result of this entry Menley & James' expenditure for tv this year is expected to go over the $10 million mark. M&J, which put Contac into drugstores four years ago, is not hiding its light under a bushel basket. It's booming out the fact that it's number one among cold medications. Fighting for second place are American Home Products' Dristan and Schering Corp.'s Coricidin. Behind them is Warner-Lambert's Super Anahist. By the way, the ethical houses that have gone in for proprietories in recent years are a little sensitive about having something for colds referred to as a cold remedy. They much prefer the term, "cold medication." They believe it changes the image of the seller — from the Americana peddler on the tailboard to the faithworthy fellow in the white coat. Group W radio sell gets to London Group W may not know it, but Compton's media chief Frank Kemp has paid it quite a compliment. He sent a copy of Group W's latest pitch on radio to the agency's London office. Kemp figured it might become useful should the reports about Britain inaugurating commercial radio materialize. The presentation, among other things, points out that the character identity of the network affiliated station has become pretty much blurred and that an advertiser, by judicious buying of three or four stations in a metro market, can wind up with a solid reach. How 'Bewitched' came to ABC-TV Virtually every season has its anecdote about how a tv network missed out on a program series which turned into a hit on another network. The current instance is Bewitched, so far the big click of the new season. JWT bought the show through Screen Gems for Quaker Oats. The producer originally looked for location on CBS-TV. James Aubrey was enthusiastic about Bewitched's prospects, but because of other commitments in a period desired by Screen Gems and JWT, Aubrey couldn't accept Quaker Oats as co-sponsor of the show. The next move was to ABC-TV, where a most desirable spot was offered on two conditions: (1) Chevrolet become a co-sponsor and (2) ABC-TV become the licensee. Quaker agreed to either requirement, but with the understanding that Bewitched would never be moved out of the Thursday 9-9:30 p.m. period. P.S.: Chevrolet has had the spot for years and ABC-TV was sort of obligated to give the automotive first choice of any program put into it this season. Humble resumes spot radio Humble Oil (it's Esso in most markets) will embark Oct. 23 on a spot radio campaign which in geographical and schedule scope approximately matches the company's buy during this past summer. The accent's still on weekends. However, the West Coast, for some undisclosed reason, is not included. Many oldtime sellers may find of equal interest the fact Curt Peterson, who'd been identified with the media buying of Esso since 26 SPONSOR