Broadcasting (Oct 1931-Dec 1932)

In Advertiser Looks at Radio as a Medium By LESLIE G . SMITH* Advertising Manager, Standard Oil Co. of Ohio onie Limitations as Well as Advantages of Broadcasting; ;oing on Air Stamps Advertiser as "Big League" BE SUBJECT assigned me was The Client Looks at the Radio." ith the kind permission of the pyright owners — in this case our •ogram committee — I want to 'iange the word "client" to "adverser." To many of you that word lient" may conjure up a picture ' something with horns and a tail, ■it, seriously, I want to consider iidio with you from a somewhat •oader point of raw than that of present radio user or client. I ;ould like to present some of the .mdamental characteristics of the idio as a true advertising melum that every advertiser should insider in formulating his plans. The radio is a true advertising indium and a potent one. The adsrtiser needs give it but the most veeping glance to arrive at that .inclusion. There are too many tamples of radio advertising sucesses to leave room for doubt. The ational network officials, local staon managers and advertising gencies can point with pride to ase after case in which radio has een materially helpful in swelling be sales volume of "shoes and lips and sealing wax" — even "cabages and kings," too, very likely. Radio is Effective Leslie G. Smith RADIO is generally recognized as a potent advertising medium even by its rivals, yet some enthusiastic broadcasters are apt to over-emphasize its good qualities and under-estimate its limitations. At least such is the intimation that the writer of this article gives in a critical analysis of broadcasting from an advertiser's point of view. LA.DIO has proved itself an effecive advertising medium for many Afferent kinds of advertisers and n many different ways. It has ong been recognized that radio lossesses a truly remarkable abilty to win "good will" — that elu;ive and intangible but universally essential foundation stone of eomnereial success. Most advertisers vho use radio probably do so first if all because of this one charac:eristic alone. However, radio can •and does go a lot further than that. Bales of evidence can be procured •:o show that radio can also do a rhorough-going job as a direct product-selling medium. The radio advertiser, furthermore, reaps a rich reward as a result of this new medium's peculiarly potent influence upon the morale of his own people and the members of his distribution organization. Going onto the air seems to stamp an advertiser as definitely "big league" in ^the eyes of his own people and his trade. I hope I am not being misunderstood. I most emphatically am not promoting the radio as the universal medium. The Saturday Even' ing Post is a splendid medium, but every advertiser cannot use it profitably. The same thing is true of radio. Whether any given advertiser should or could use radio to good advantage depends upon a lot of things, too many and involved *Text of talk before Radio Division of Cleveland Advertising Club, Jan. 26. for discussion here. The point I am trying to make is simply this: radio 'is not some mighty mystery ray but it is one more legitimate and effective advertising medium. And as such it is worthy of careful consideration by any aggressive advertiser. Essentially, the radio does not differ greatly from other first-line media. The 'advertiser can employ it nationally, or he can confine his effort within regional boundaries, or he can localize it to a single city, in exactly the same way that he' buys national magazines for coast-t'o-coast coverage or newspapers and outdoor space if they fit his distribution better. But what a difference we find between radio and the other and older forms of media when we turn to consideration of the technique of its use. 0. K. a radio contract and you are in the show business. But, unfortunately, far too many advertisers who decide upon radio campaigns are not experienced showmen. They often soon find themselves in the position of the unfortunate lad who had the wildcat by the tail — unhappy to hang on but afraid to let go. The prime function of radio is entertainment. That is why it does such a fine job of promoting ffood will for the broadcast sponsor and his products. It gives folks pleasure — if it is good — and thereby wins their grateful appreciation. But all people do not like the same kind of entertainment, and right there is where the chief difficulty with the use of radio bobs up. Can't Please All Listeners THE RADIO advertiser must make up his mind to one thing at the very outset of his campaign. No matter what kind of program he puts onto the air he can never please all of the radio listeners nor please many of them all the time. The best he can hope for is to please some of the public some of the time. The surest road to radio failure is for the advertiser to succumb to the temptation of building his broadcast program to please himself and his friends. He must get a clear picture in his mind of tne kind of people who are prospects for his products and then, with the expert aid of his advertising agency and the radio, try to build up a program calculated to please as many as possible of his real prospects. Another thing, the radio advertiser must not get the idea that any material number of people are going to give their undivided attention to his program. They will not do it, except in extremely rare cases, such as the broadcast of the minute-by-minute progress of some truly epochal event. Therefore, I maintain that the radio advertiser must give the utmost careful attention to the form, context and manner of delivery of his program continuity. Continuity is Important CONTINUITY is the weakest point in the whole radio business today. The novelty of radio has worn off : it has become "background music" in most homes. The listener subconsciously closes his ears to the stereotyped commercial announcement and often cannot tell you who has sponsored a program which may have greatly pleased him. I feel very strongly on this subject of continuity. I am convinced that it is increasingly necessary to employ every available ounce of ingenuity and skill if the advertiser is to get his money's worth out of radio. A few — but woefully fewprograms now on the air "click" with their continuity, but certainly too large a proportion of radio advertisers fail in this respect. This matter of good continuity becomes of tremendous moment when we consider the high cost of radio talent. Talent is to radio what art work, composition and plates are to publication advertising, what paper is to poster space. But the ratio of talent cost to time cost is startling in comparison to the art and mechanical-to-space cost in other media. If he wished to do so, an advertiser could take a magazine or newspaper page, plop a big black logotype into the center of it and be sure that every reader who sees that page will at least register his name. The radio advertiser, on the other hand, must buy a lot of high-cost talent for his broadcast. But then, in far too many cases, he depends upon the usual cut-anddried "commercial" to register his name and selling message and fails to get the full measure of value from his expenditure. This may seem to be an extreme view. Check up for yourself. Ask 25 of your friends— not advertising people — who their favorite radio entertainer is and who sponsors the program. You'll be surprised. The attitude of our newspaper friends does not help this situation a bit. By their manner of listing programs' under the name of the particular orchestra leader who may be directing or the one bright star on the program, they not only deny the radio advertiser the credit due' him as sponsor of an entertainment feature, which I maintain is legitimate news of interest to newspaper readers, but they practically force him to buy "big name's" in order to get any kind of advance notice for his offering. Of course, that simply aggravates the talent-to-time cost ratio. It also raises the radio advertiser's cost of merchandising his program — and it must be merchandised — by forcing him to take paid space in which to announce his sponsorship. As a matter of fact, money spent in this way frequently comes from — and weakens — the advertiser's regular publication campaign. In conclusion I would like to leave this one thought with you. After more than three and half years of experience with radio advertising I am of the opinion that, good though many current offerings may be, the ideal radio program ha's not yet been developed. Some day some bright boy — or girl — is going to figure out an entirely new technique for program building — a technique peculiar to advertising in this one medium. Perhaps television will bring it. February 15, 1932 ■ BROADCASTING Time Off at KGER THE MUNICIPAL band of Long Beach, Cal., heard twice daily over KGER, took seven days "time off, without pay," from Jan. 13 to 25, inclusive, in the interest of economv. The 36 musicians will take an "entire month off during the fiscal year, according to George Tyler, assistant conductor. Page 7