U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1960)

soft drinks up longer. Refreshes you as you've never been refreshed before. Get the special eight-bottle carton with two free bottles of Hires. Enjoy an adventure in refreshment today. As the picnic season gives way to indoor activities, the copy used in the Hires announcements "follows the sun" in relevant markets, it is pointed out, by changing its focus of appeal to party activity. Yet it still remains tied to the in-store promotional deal. Here is an example of a 60-second spot: ANNCR: Here's great news for all Hires fans ! A special eight-bottle carton of Hires for the same price as the regular six-bottle carton I That's two free bottles of sparkling, refreshing Hires ... a free extra helping of America's most popular root beer. And wait '11 you taste today's Hires! It's lighter .. . drier . brighter ! More delicious than ever . . . more perfect than perfect. It's got a truer, tangy-er flavor that picks you up quicker, keeps you up longer. Refreshes you as you've never been refreshed before. You can serve Hires so many ways , on so many occasions. Gives a lively sparkling lift to mealtime . . . snacktime . . . party time. Hires is the perfect drink with food and fun . . . and always goes over great with kids and grownups alike. So hurry for Hires in the special eight-bottle carton. Remember, you just pay for six, get two bottles of Hires FREE. Hires . . . lighter, drier, brighter Hires . . . always an adventure in refreshment . Take ad vantage of this limitedtime offer today ! "Hires and the bottler definitely lean to the hard sell' approach," says Tom P. Maguire, business manager of Maxon's radio and tv department. "We aim for saturation coverage in those markets that warrant it in terms of sales potential, and, it necessary, we will buy every station in a market." Hires, like other soft-drink producers, makes a particular effort to reach the teen-age market, Mr. Maguire states. This is a factor in selecting stations, and the programming format has leaned heavily toward disc jockey shows. Housewife shows also come in for their share of attention. Whatever the medium, he emphasizes, copy makes the point that Hires is the real fun drink for all occasions. Radio Reaches Teenagers To deinonstate how effectively radio has been able to reach teenagers, Mr. Maguire tells of an experience in one local market. "Hires was sponsoring a record-request program. Requests for tunes to be played on the air were, coming in at a rate of 600 a week. The station eventually asked for six Hires bottle caps with each request, which brought the situation under control and served as a real demonstration of how to tie advertising lo sales." Seasonal promotions (ome in for TOM MAGUIRE, business manager of Maxon's radio/tv department, points out that Hires and its bottlers find that hard sell copy works out best. their share of attention. This past summer, Hires has been promoting the natural companionship of its product with ice cream. The Hires Float theme has been very effectively merchandised at the point of sale since it gives retail food outlets an excellent opportunity to move additional products with each soft drink sale. Again, Mr. Finnic says, "radio advertising was used to back up efficiently the in-store program. "It should also be pointed out that Hires does not limit its radio advertising to 'push market' territories alone. The company name is probably heard on some of 1,000 stations across the country on any day of the year. It is in the 'push markets,' however, where radio is getting its greatest chance to contribute to revenue." Radio is being given the important role it has in the "push markets" because it has the flexibility to permit a fairly small company to do a local job that can compare for size and impact with the campaigns of giant competitiors. Mr. Prescott says that "Hires has found that a smaller company can discover certain markets where a highly specialized approach is needed, and, by choosing its own ground, meet the heavy-weights on terms of relative equality. And as we said before, radio is one of our prime ecjualizers." Root beer got its start as a "herb tea drink" in the 1870's. The founder of the business, Charles E. Hires, was an energetic person who quit school at 11 to help support his family. At the age of 19 he bought out the owner of a pharmacy where he worked. He then began to look around for ways and means to ex])and the business. Eventually, this turned out to be the development and production of the "herb tea drink." Although the beverage caught tne public's fancy quickly, the militant temperance groups of the period provided some unforeseen problems. Mr. Hires was requested to ' stop selling his "alcoholic beverage." The reasoning being that the tea drink contained yeast, and yeast makes alcohol. Young Hires employed a chemist who was finally able to convince the fiery women that the drink was "dry." 26 U. S. RADIO m September 1960