Broadcasting (Apr - June 1950)

THE TV IMPACT Hecht Hegd Reviews Retqi| R°le By SAMUEL M. HECHT President, The Hecht Corp. THIRTY YEARS ago when KDKA Pittsburgh began its experimental work in broadcasting and made radio time available to American advertisers, the nation's foremost business men sat up, took notice, and wrote the following memo on the calendar: "Someday this little giant in communication will grow up, and someday somebody will find out how to use it." It did not take the retailer very long to realize that "something new had been added" to the publicity and promotional picture, and we all stood by and watched the national advertisers step into the picture and take over, all the time wondering "what in the world are we going to do to handle, control and develop this lusty new infant." From time to time we all dabbled timidly and cautiously with this intriguing new medium without knowing exactly what we were attempting or how much it would cost to make it practical or profitable, even if we were lucky enough to discover a technique. Of course, a technique never was developed completely for the retailer as a merchandising and promotional medium. Most of the money we spent — and it ran into the millions — was spent on blind faith with the hope that somehow, someway, and under some circumstances, somebody might stumble upon the practical utility of radio advertising. Cites 'Score' The score-board shows that during all of these years, nobody got very far beyond first base, and while we couldn't exactly measure the effectiveness of what we were doing, we were still reluctant to give it up, principally because there was a general conviction of the hidden power in this vast and important transmission of ideas from one human mind to another. All of this, of course, may seem a little bit pseudo-scientific, but I think the big point is that millions of dollars were spent by retailing in an honest and sincere effort to establish some form or format whereby radio could be made profitable and productive on a promotional merchandising basis. And then, of course, after 25 years of experimentation, the inevitable came to pass: TELEVISION! Here, in the flash of an eye, we realized that the missing ingredient had been found. But the other problem still remained: What are we going to do with it? How are we going to use it? How are we going to make it sell merchandise over the retail counter, in commercial quantities, and at a reasonable profit? Neither an industry nor a na Page 71 • BROADCASTING tion can live unto itself alone. We found that out the hard way. And, therefore, the retail industry as a group began to recognize its responsibility in helping to develop this new technique in human expression. We were almost in the same position as those who resisted the early inroads of air transportation on the railways and shipping lines. But during the war many of us learned that even a retailer could learn to fly a four-motored ship over the Burma hump, and do it with accuracy, consistency and dispatch. The analogy may seem somewhat far-fetched to the casual reader, but there is little basic difference between our transition from ground to air travel than our transition from radio to television. Many able advertising men have expressed themselves to me in this vein and as one who has lived through both the transitions, I can not escape the feeling that television is here, not on a lend-lease basis, not temporarily, but as an integral part of the science of business communication. Technical Future I would certainly not attempt, at this early date, to forecast the many and varied techniques which may be developed by wise, intelligent and imaginative merchants because I believe that we should leave the technical aspects of television to those who have studied advertising, publicity and dramatics, and the relationship between good merchandising and good publicity. I would only like to make the essential point, and that is: Television is essentially a medium of showmanship and our experiments to date in our own stores in various cities have given us conclusive evidence that we have a powerful implement for good within our grasp and if we fail to make full use of it for the benefit of our customers, it will be from lack of imagination and lack of vision. Obviously, television is a new science, and as Charles Kettering (former vice president and director of General Motors Corp.) tells us, whatever is scientific is something we do not understand, because when we begin to understand it, it is no longer scientific. And I believe that Mr. Kettering made the point perfectly because day by day we are beginning to understand more about this new science and day by day it is becoming more understandable to us and day by day it is becoming less scientific and more understandable and its utility and practicality are growing by the hour. However, I believe there is quite another aspect to television development, aside from all its technical phases, which must be of vital concern to the field of distribution. I am referring to the impact of television upon the selling, promotion and distribution of other types of merchandise, beyond television receivers themselves and the influence on the switch of buying habits which will take place as a result. It is no secret at all that the manufacturing side of the television industry has had its hands full trying to keep up with the demand. At the same time, television networks have had their hands full in projecting their communication lines to meet the public eagerness for television reception. The retailer, as one of the parties to the distribution system, has had his own hands full and his electrical appliance business has shown a marked change in the nature of merchandise, along with a tremendous growth in dollar volume. But large retail stores are not primarily and simply distributors of television receivers. That is only one small part of the retailer's distribution job. His essential work must remain the over-all responsibility to provide all of the goods for all of the people for daily living. Television satisfies only one small portion of this great demand and this great responsibility. We must be concerned, therefore, with the natural shift in human wants and needs, as a result of television as a medium of education and expression, and this has already forced itself emphatically into our business consciousness so that we cannot escape the fact that there has been, and will continue to be, less demand for certain types of goods and greater" demand for other types of goods. This has already been made evident in the growing demand for home decoration, and merchandise for the home, and especially in the need and demand for living room furniture and furnishings. Effect on Home More television at home, of course, will mean more family home-life. This, of course, will mean more people in the living room, more children, more relatives, more friends and neighbors. The impact will extend far beyond an ordinary sale of an electric appliance, because, by its very nature, television will keep more people at home, and together, and if family life is an important part of our democratic system of living, then, I believe, we must confess that television will be a tremendous influence for good, in its relationship to family life. Retail advertising has developed in the past few years from a combination of newsprint-paper and printer's-ink into a fantastic combination of motion, color, sight and sound. Newspapers and periodical publications gave us advertising by sight. Radio gave us sound. Television gave us both of these and added a third ingredient: MOTION. So now in one medium Mr. HECHT we have at our disposal three of the important factors in modern publicity: Motion, sight and sound. All that remains is COLOR, and we are assured by the best research minds that we will have the color within the next few years. Leaving the latest element (color) out of the picture for the moment, we still have, in one medium, a combination of the other three which has already adapted itself to the merchandising of many types of goods. Certainly color will be an important future factor in the presentation of fashion merchandise, but in the meantime the fashion story has been told on television with great credibility, by virtue of presenting merchandise on living people, in authentic surroundings and in relationship to the customer's actual needs, wants and desires. The analogy here, of course, is very general because the term "fashion" encompasses not only dresses, coats, suits and accessories, but even such things as bathing suits. And here again the motion or action would be most important because a bathing suit shown on a hanger is just another bathing suit, but on the proper model flying from a springboard, the picture becomes almost sufficiently complete for the customer to visualize herself in the identical environment and in the identical fashion and if the pricetag makes sense, then the whole story is wrapped-up. Neither can we ignore the profound influence of television on child education, even in these early days of television development. It seems clear that retailers and other sponsors of television programs (Continued on Telecasting 16) April 24, 1950