American television directory (1946)

WILL TELEVISION DEBUT IN A FOOL’S PARADISE? There’s more to tele-selling than demonstrating a prod¬ uct on the screen in a prospect’s parlor. There’s tele¬ merchandising, too! Here are some timely warnings. By E. B. WEISS Consultant Scarcely a word has appeared in print about it. Scarcely a word has been ut¬ tered about it in tele-studios. And yet, without it, television cannot bring the advertiser a profitable return on his advertising investment. That “it” is the gentle art of mer¬ chandising the television advertising. The gentle art of exciting the whole¬ sale distributor and his salesmen and winning their selling and promotional cooperation for tele-advertised lines. The gentle art of exciting the retailer and his salespeople and winning their selling and promotional cooperation for tele-advertised lines. Commendable, in fact highly com¬ mendable foresight was shown by tele¬ stations and advertisers when they per¬ severed in wartime program study and experimenting. But is the program the sum and substance of success in tele¬ advertising? Won’t television programs have to be merchandised to and through the trade? Or is there the naive belief that cut-and-dried merchandising and promotion will extract the bonus of wholesaler and retailer cooperation from the tele-advertising investment? Of course it can, and probably will, be argued that wartime tele-advertising provided no basis for merchandising and promotional activities. Or that mer¬ chandise scarcities made such functions inadvisable. But it is still a fact that both the promoters of tele-advertising and the users of tele-advertising have given scarcely a thought to the second half and by no means the least impor¬ tant half of the television program — its merchandising and promotion. Unproved Theories Dangerous This might not be a source of some alarm if it were not for several disturb¬ ing factors. One of these is the tendency of those who promote television to live, talk and eat “out of this world.” They lull themselves into smug security with calm acceptance of unproved theories such as the rather silly contention that tele-advertising will be ten times more effective and more resultful than any other form of advertising. Another dis¬ turbing factor is the common tendency among both advertisers and advertising agencies to devote 90 per cent of their time and talent to the development of the advertising program. The natural result is that merchandising and pro¬ motion become a mighty bedraggled “also-ran.” When you contemplate such factors as these, it becomes at least as clear as the current television image that tele¬ advertising, in its early days, will be asked to carry the whole load. It will be asked to send droves of customers into stores. It will be asked, automatically, to win distributive outlets. It will be asked, automatically, to win the selling support of the advertiser’s salesmen, the wholesaler and his salesmen, the re¬ tailer and his salesmen. It will be ex¬ pected to obtain, automatically, window display space, counter display space, and every other form of merchandising and promotional support. Promotion Will Pay Off Now I have been convinced for a long time that tele-advertising is destined to become the dominant national advertis¬ ing medium. But whether it is dominant or not, it won’t pan out as a profitable advertising investment for 95 per cent of those who use it unless and until the tele-program is smartly and thoroughly and energetically merchandised and promoted. What does that demand? I’ll answer that question, first, by explaining what it does not demand. It does not demand phony and ludi¬ crous claims with respect to the pulling power of tele-advertising. It does not demand statements with regard to tele-advertising that simply insult the intelligence of smart retailers. Presumably, it is the cooperation of smart retailers that will be sought by tele-advertisers because the cooperation of the lunatic fringe among retailers is hardly worth anybody’s while. It does not demand a broadside, meas¬ uring about ten feet by ten feet, that in lurid colors and equally lurid language extols the miraculous achievements of tele-advertising. It does not demand either donkey dust or star dust. Unfortunately, these absurdities help shape the all-too-common concept of promotion. Retailers have been told how a page in Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar would result in call-the-police traffic in their dress departments. Now they are going to be told how a tele-program, reaching in the first half of 1946 a total viewing audience of perhaps a quartermillion or a half-million in a nation of 140,000,000 souls will out-deluge the most fantastic concept of a Hollywood deluge. Right here and now is the time for television to consider how its pro¬ grams are to be merchandised and pro¬ moted. And, in considering this problem, wouldn’t it be sensible to analyze real¬ ism in a realistic way? How Do We Do This Job? Let’s take a look at some of the basics involved in merchandising and promot¬ ing tele-advertising: 1 — Better retailers aren’t deluded for one fleeting second by absurd as¬ sertions about so-called “national” advertising that may actually reach no more than the merest handful of their customers. 2 — Better retailers cover their trad¬ ing areas more thoroughly with their own advertising than do most national advertisers with their campaigns. 3 — The prestige of better retailers means as much to the local popu¬ lace as the prestige of many socalled national brands and, ac¬ tually, carries greater weight than the prestige of most so-called na¬ tional brands. 4 — Better retailers promote constant¬ ly. They welcome promotional as¬ sistance as differentiated from mere suggestions that they tie up promotionally. Their promotions are built around specific promo¬ tional themes. The promotions they want from manufacturers are likewise built around themes — retail promotional themes — and they have no use for promotions that are simply hallelujahs for national brands and so-called na¬ tional advertising. Finally, they welcome complete promotional pro¬ grams, as differentiated from “better tie up or else” admoni¬ tions. 5 — What has been said about retailers applies as well to wholesalers. 6 — Tele-advertising will not be a na¬ tional advertising medium in 1946. 7 — Tele-advertising will not send 21