Sponsor (Nov 1946-Oct 1947)

"How far should a sponsor go in publicizing, promoting, and advertising a radio program?" Joseph Allen, v.p. in charge of Adverlising Bristol-Myers Company The Picked Panel answers: A network president, and an independent radio station manager as well as a network advertising boss, an advertising agency v. p. and a noted researcher join the first panel to answer MR. SPONSOR'S question, with no holds barred. The sponsi >r v, l.o rolls the dn ms for a premiere broadcast and then lets the promotion torn toms die away in the night is almost certain to be losing money on his original investment. Promotion is the fire insurance needed on a million dollar property, and I've seldom met the man who let his insurance lapse after the first week of operation. At CBS and currently. Kenyon & Eckhardt, my policy has been to urge our clients to promote their shows while they were on the air. Budget-wise, promotion represents but a small fraction of a yearly cost figure for time and talent. I will cite just one example, a program called County Fair, which is sponsored by the Borden Company. Tin publicity and promotion budget on the show runs about three per cent of total cost. To date, the Borden Company has received more than $750,000 of measured free space on that show, including two spreads in Life, nine stories in Time and Newsweek, and layouts in many other major publications. Any sponsor who doesn't gamble for that kind of return on a small investment is illadvised. Promotion is the payoff for programs and good programs need good promotion ! William Lewis, Vice-President, Kenyan & Eckhardt Obviously a sponsor should spend for publicity, promotion and advertising as much as his budget warrants in a local situation. However, the national sponsor ordinarily cannot probe the local advertising, promotion and certainly not the local publicity factors. He has bought radio time on a listener circulation or performance basis and stands on that basis. However, many sponsors have given promotion aids, advertising aids to the local program in the same way they have given sales aid to the product in the local stores. It has paid off. When a sponsor buys a long established program, obviously he needs less promotion than for a new program built to his local specification. How far sponsors should develop the local situation, promotion, ad and publicitywise should be determined by the radio station in that area, which knows the local newspapers, bill posting and other factors involved. Bernice Judis, General Manager, WNEW I have no business trying to answer this question. Our job is to measure the audience. But WC would never have gotten anywhere stickso here goes. If the radio program has merit it should ing to that point of view be hacked continuously with every form of promotion, as is every form of entertainment and information with which it competes for the public's time and attention. The reason is basic : A "Table of Contents" directs the public what and where to read in magazines and new spapers. In radio you need to know not only what and where but when to find the program you want to hear. Radio provides no "Table of Contents." Newspaper logs (not provided by radio but by a competitive medium' are frequently incomplete and are inaccessible to all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time. Obviously the problem of what, when and u In re is solved for the individual when a fixed listening habit is formed. But there is no well-conceived, well-produced program outside the "First Fifteen" on which the potential audience which can be tapped is not larger than the actual audience revealed by the rating. Until sponsors and networks get together and periodically produce a schedule, or program log, for the listener to hang on the tuning knob of each of his radio sets, network program promotion of one form or another has to carry the whole load. C. E. Hooper, C. E. Hooper, Inc. How far a sponsor should go in 'publicizing, promoting and advertising' his own program is a matter of judgment and objective. What is the competition? Is it a new show? What is the reasonable expectancy rating-wise? These are important factors for a sponsor to consider. And they are. of course, dependent upon the product . . . which is the program. All the promotion in the world won't get a good rating for a mediocre show 64 SPONSOR