Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr - Jun 1952)

AAAAMEET Analyzes Radio-TV at White Sulphur Springs By EDWIN H. JAMES TELEVISION— how to produce it, how to measure it, how to pay for it — occupied a major part of the annual meeting of the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies last week. One whole afternoon of the April 3-5 meetings held at the Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., was set aside for discussion of TV. When the subject of television research came up, radio got into the talk too. Whereas a year ago, the AAAA might easily have dismissed radio as something about which everybody knew all there was to know, last week agency research experts said there was an appalling lack of facts about it. This change in advertiser-agency attitude was also noted earlier this week by Paul W. Morency, chairman of the all-radio Affiliates Committee, in Chicago (see story page 23). Need for Research Dominates As at the convention of the Assn. of National Advertisers last month [B«T, March 24], the topic that dominated media discussion at the AAAA meeting was the need for better research for all media and the expressed hope that the revived Advertising Research Foundation would be the instrument to accomplish that objective. TV costs also figured prominently in the AAAA speeches. Television will be advertising's No. 1 medium, but not if its costs rise beyond a guarantee of reasonable return, J. Hugh E. Davis, vice president and director, Foote, Cone & Belding, said during the Thursday afternoon session. "We know only too well that $5 a foot for rent for a Frigidaire showroom at Fordham Road and Grand Concourse in the Bronx is a very fair price," said Mr. Davis. "And we also know that five times that price, or $25, is impossibly out of line . . . there just aren't enough prospects who might be sold to make the $25 rent pay off." So it is with television, said Mr. Davis. A lot of people are worryingabout the TV rent going up. But will it go beyond reach ? Mr. Davis thinks not. The reason that TV costs will be kept in line with TV advertising returns is that agencies and advertisers will not permit costs to rise that high. "We are the buyers," said Mr. Davis, "and, as always, it is the buyer who ultimately sets the price." He said that even when the freeze is lifted and many new stations take the air, TV rents will not go too high because, though the total bill for true national coverage may be higher, the cost per thousand will not. "Sure," he said, "we may pay some very high prices. Maybe $5 million annually may be the time and talent bill for a half-hour weekly of night time. But we are not going to pay that price unless we get our money back and a good profit besides." Obviously, said Mr. Davis, bigtime television could be afforded only by the big advertisers. The way TV will be used, he thought, was this: "If you are already in the bigtime — that is, if you have a mass consumed product that is a leader — you will be using television in a big-time manner, just as many of your clients are now doing. If not, you will compete with your low budget in low-cost television or in other media with less coverage and less impact. . . . "But if you do have something to offer, you can speak and even pass them (the leaders) by starting small and growing to where you, too, are in big-time. . . . "So if you have a superior product, it is the same old story. You will go from small space to large space and a bigger and bigger sales volume. You will also go from none or small-time television to big-time television. And if your product is still better than the competition, you will be out in front." TV Must "Get Sales" Now if TV costs begin to go beyond even the big money that the leaders can afford, advertisers will have to pull out. If enough do, the costs will be brought down. "You and I are not going to let the rent go too high," said Mr. Davis. "If it (TV) gets us the increased sales that we need to justify its great cost, then we will pay the price and use it. "If it does not, the answer is simple. We won't use it." TV networks may very well emerge from the developmental period in far different form from that of radio networks which until comparatively recently, used live programming almost exclusively, N. Neil Reagan, vice president of McCann-Erickson, Hollywood, told the AAAA. Film, he said, will make the difference. Though he cautioned that he was not predicting that live program ming was in its death throes, Mr. Reagan advanced a number of reasons why, for many shows, film is up to live performance. "Experience has shown," he said, "that by and large a national advertiser can do a better job of tailor-making his coverage by spot buying . . . this of course means filming his show." Of as much importance, film also has these advantages. . . . "Low cost once second and third runs have amortized production expenditures; high quality in attaining effects not possible in live production; ease of handling for the client and agency who are freed from fear of fluffs, and shortage of live studios." Hollywood's production facilities are huge, Mr. Reagan pointed out, and are being expanded. Additionally, "Hollywood is a beehive of activity in the field of technical development relating to television," he said. Mr. Reagan reported the development of a new film camera "that bids well to cause a stir in the field of television commercials," one which keeps both foreground and background in sharp focus. Developed by Ralph Hogue, who invented the camera used in "Citizen Kane," the Orson Welles movie that was noted for its depths of focus, the new camera has produced sample TV commercials which Mr. Reagan said illustrated its unusual qualities by showing a close-up of detail of a ring held almost up to the lens while persons across the street in the background were in sharp focus. Aside from technical advantages, (Continued on page 86) Head Table at NARTB's 30th Anniversary Luncheon Included These Four Groups: William Fay, WHAM Rochester; Orrin Towner, WHAS Louisville; Harry Goar Mestre, CMQ Havana; Frank White, MBS; Paul Raibourn, KTLA (TV) Bannister, WWJ-TV Detroit, soon to join NBC; Campbell Arnoux, WTAR Los Angeles; William B. Quarton, WMT Cedar Rapids, Iowa; William B. Norfolk, Va.; E. M. Johnson, MBS. Ryan, BAB. Raymond Guy, NBC; W. D. Rogers Jr., KEYL (TV) San Antonio; A. James Ebel, WMBD Peoria, III.; James C. McNary, engineering consultant; Richard M. Fairbanks, WIBC Indianapolis. Chris J. Witting, DuMont TV Network; James D. Shouse, WLW Cincinnati; Harold E. Fellows, NARTB; Judge Justin Miller, NARTB; Henry H. Fowler, National Production Authority. BROADCASTING • Telecasting April 7, 1952 • Page 25