Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

Schroeder: Government Regulations Main Task To Face New NAB Head Des Moines, Iowa — Although he has yet to be named, one of the major challenges facing the new president of the National Assn. of Broadcasters will be the removal of programing control from government regulation, Willard Schroeder, chairman of the NAB board, told a luncheon audience last week in an NAB Fall Conference. Schroeder, who heads the 10man committee named to select a successor to LeRoy Collins, declared that the new NAB president, whoever he may be, also must cope with the necessity of organizing Researcher Lists Criteria For Tv Effectiveness New York — How best to spend the advertising dollar in tv? R. E. Spinner, president of Marketscope Research Co., last week offered a list of general criteria aimed at an "effective, reahstic and uniform method of measuring advertising effectiveness." First, he said in a talk before the International Film & Tv Festival of New York, "create a commercial that can change the attitude, behavior and awareness pattern of the viewer." Point two is the selection of a show that is well liked by the viewer— a show that commands a high level of attentiveness. "Different shows have different audiences," he declared. "It is unfair to compare the commercial tested on one show with the commercial tested on another show unless the degree of liking of the show is controlled or weighted statistically." Spinner's third criterion: "If possible, select a show with an audience that appeals to a high percentage of users of the product category." Citing figures to show that a commercial's effectiveness is related to the attentiveness created by a show, and the degree to which a show is liked, Spinner concluded that "we assume that a commercial in the frame of a show will be more effective than the same commercial in a spot position." NAB membership to support him strongly in an area where it has never known complete freedom. "Somehow," said Schroeder, "he's going to have to make real tigers out of a reasonable percentage of them — evangelists who will support him in the concept we should be free to run our own outfits." Schroeder also pointed out that the government and political forces which "cherish greater program control" already are accustomed to a fair degree of success. As a case in point, he asked the broadcasters if they really had the public interest in mind when they televised last summer's national political conventions in their entirety, or whether they "consciously or unconsciously feared reprisals from politicians in government if we didn't?" Continuing his list of questions facing the new NAB president, Schroeder said it was his conviction that application of NAB's Code of Good Practices to political advertising and programs should be considered. "If there is a moral and ethical basis for applying the code to commercial and religious mate rial," he said, "then I submit we should make every reasonable effort to apply it in the field of political broadcasting." When the public is subjected to broadcast material "that is in bad taste or indecent," Schroeder continued, "they don't differentiate as to who paid for it — we are an inevitable focus of their resentment." The matter of a new NAB president has been under study for several months, but no action is expected to be taken until after the November elections. GE Buys NBC-TV Variety Hours for South America New York — In what was described as a "break-through in the sale of live-on-tape performances in Latin America," Joseph M. Klein, president of NBC International, has announced the purchase of 1 5 hours of NBC-TV variety programs by General Electric for showing in Argentina and Uruguay. It was pointed out that representatives of Argentina, General Electric and Grant Advertising, Inc., spent two weeks in NBC International's New York offices recently screening more than 80 hours of programing. The hours finally decided on were from The Andy Williams Show, The Dinah Shore Show and The Lively Ones. CINZANO LAUNCHES OFF-BEAT SPOT CAMPAIGN In an admittedly "surrealistic" series of spots, people will be "changing to Cinzano Vermouth" — that is, literally changing into giant-sized bottles. The tv spots, which will run on the New York Market from October through the end of the year, run 10 and 20 seconds. Radio spots, based on the same theme, will also be aired. The tv spots open on a posh ambassadorial reception. The hostess offers a bearded diplomat a drink. He declines, saying: "No, thank you. I'm changing to Cinzano." And he does. He physically changes into a giant bottle of vermouth. This is repeated until only the waiter remains in human form. The campaign was prepared for Cinzano's U.S. distributor, Munson G. Shaw, Co., by Lennen & Newell. I October 26, 1964 17