Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

0 112 PRIZES M FREE FOOD SWEEPSTAKES | SPECIAL Purex Corp. recently completed sweepstakes for Trend, Dutch cleanser. Sweetheart soap offering six years worth of free groceries. two giveaways in as many years, one for L & M cigarets (for which winners were announced on CBSTV's Gunsmoke) and most recently for Chesterfield Kings. Both were conducted without extra media costs because Liggett & Myers were able merely to switch commercials in their regular broadcast schedules. The company feels, a spokeman says, that the most successful contests achieve lasting results by always establishing something new, always trying to establish an idea. "You've got to leave something behind in the wake of a contest, otherwise you just get temporary results." Liggett & Myers ought to know. As a related follow-up, telegrams were sent to the local food trade, alerting them, too, to the contest and proposing that they put in extra stocks to meet the expected demand. In addition, a gimmick mailing went out to the food trade — a man's travel kit packed full of Tetley tea packages, thus illustrating the product's manageability for store displays. The immediate result was that the station very quickly received more than 6500 entries for the Tetley contest — considered a strong response. Tetley's agency liked the gimmick mailing so well that it requested extra samples for distribution in other markets. And Tetley sales representatives in nearby areas were able to conduct corollary contests of their own, bringing in winners for an appearance on "Tv 10 Around Town." Most important of all, however, retailers responded, set up special Tetley promotions on their shelves and increased their orders — a combined effort that nudged Tetley's share-of-the-market up appreciably. ♦ Hostess Nancy Beebe draws a weekly winner on her show carried by WCAU-TV Philadelphia. Arthur Godfrey, (center), like other guests, joined right in on Tetley Tea commercials. Their L & M cigarct sweepstakes broke all previous records with 13.8 million entries, a record that's still number 2 in the contest world. Humble Oil & Refining used something like 400 radio stations in 150 markets, 16 tv stations in 1 1 markets and 22 different news programs on television, plus other media, to promote its "Happy Motoring" travel spectacular in 1962. Purpose: to tell motorists that Humble had become a coast-tocoast distributor through its 30,000 service stations. The contest pulled "way, way beyond expectations" — a million entries in the first two weeks, a figure that quadrupled before all was over. Delighted, Humble ran a similarly expansive contest again last year, used similar media support, won similar results. Coca-Cola's Minute Maid Co., through McCann-Erickson, is launching a "Bushel of Bucks" promotion via CBS television, plus supplements. For Orange Delight breakfast drink, it features 60-second commercials on four daytime network shows; Password, Secret Storm, Love of Life and Pete and Gladys. Promotion started in July, will run until November. Agency: McCann-Erickson. Marketing objective is a doubleheader: to get consumers to buy more of the 12-oz. size container and to gain wider distribution for same size among market operators. Interesting facet is that, while trade response is the obvious core of the project, a consumer medium — network tv — is the major medium for reaching the target. Best Foods' Skippy peanut butter contest was the subject of several participations both on Walter Cronkite and The Flintstones in late spring. Agency: Guild, Bascom & Bonfigli. What makes a good contest? The strong components of any good advertising, says Cy Draddy. The four critical planning areas, however, are: (1) the kind of conte*;f, (2) its prizes; (3) legal problem';, and (4) duration. Kind of contest The form any contest takes should hew closely to the company's reason for holding it in the first place. There's seldom just a single objec October 12, 1964 35