U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1960)

however, so \vc added Florence to make it a hap[jy threesome. "I'he (ommercials were based on repetitive classic situations involving some kind of daily family activity," he continued. "One of the most effective of the 60-second messages shows how the family situation was exploited." (SOUND: Supermarket noise in background) POP: (muttering) Ah — I wish Florence would do this Saturday morning shopping. I never can find anything — eggs. BOY: Pop — hey, Pop! How about the Charms candy? POP: (preoccupied) — eggs where the heck are eggs... BOY: Right in front of you. POP: I'd like a Charm right now. POP: Ah, thanks. .. (still to himself) butter. .. butter where do they hide the butter? BOY: I'll help you find it. Pop. Look, here's a six pack of raspberry Charms. Let's have one. POP: Now.. cheese ahhgg Where's the cheese? BOY: Next to the butter. Pop. Good old lime Charms, Pop. How about some good old lime Charms? POP: Well, that's about it. C'mon, dishcloth, let's go. BOY: (dismay) But what about the Charms? POP: Ah, Boomer, my boy. Charms are the one thing I can find. Look — I loaded up on Charms the first thing. BOY: (admonishingly) Pop! Continuing with the evolution of the Charms series, Mr. Kiel said "Wlren Ave began tlie series we capitalized on the device of calling Boomer by lo\able pet names. He Avas referred to at times as 'Stovepipe,' 'Gas Pump,' 'Wash Cloth," and many others. However, after a while we felt that the device began to overshadow the prochui. Iiisl(;ul oi saying 'Here comes the Charms commercial with 'Stovepipe,' we were afraid they were saying, 'Here comes the Stovepipe commercial,' period. So we cut down on the nicknames to put the message in its proper perspective." Agency Approach Discussing its approach to radio conmiercials. Guild, Bascom & Bor.figli, San Francisco, said "If a prod net story is exciting all by itself, you don't want to obscure that story. On the other hand, when you liave nothing startling to say about your product, the listener's attention must be attracted and held by telling the prf)duct story in an entertaining fashion. "We faced the latter situation in making a radio spot for Ry-Krisp crackers. We chose to stir up interest by means of a musical spot because our Ry-Krisp product was simple and fit well into lyrics. The agency looked for a singing group to perform the jingle. What we looked for, mainly, was entertainment value. Oiu" eventual choice was the Kingston Trio." Two reasons were given for the choice of the singing group. One, the fact that the trio had started to build a big name in show business. It was felt that when the spot opened with, "Here's the Kingston Trio," that it would immediately attract attention. Second, "a group like the Kingston Trio has such strong entertainment value that the listener's attention is held throughout the announcement. It is never enough to merely catch the ear of the listener; you've got to hang onto it or the whole point of the commercial — selling the product — is lost." Trend Established Whether or not the approach is off-beat humor, parodies of hit songs, interesting dramatizations or original music, there is every indication that radio commercials are more and more becoming a blend of Broadwav and Madison Avenue. • • • In New York, nothing takes the place of good music nothing takes the place of WQXR Where do New Yorkers turn for the best in music? To WQXR, of course. America's Number One Good Music Station is the favorite of more than 1,250,000 metropolitan area families. And a favorite of many of America's biggest advertisers, too. They use WQXR to make profitable sales to better-income families in the world's biggest market. Radio station of The yew York Times AM 50,000 watts, and FM L'. S. RADIO • AIRFAX 19fil 111