Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1956)

DOES 'GUARANT WHILE Mutual was polishing up its new "Guaranteed Circulation" plan last week, the James M. Vicary Co., New York motivation and marketing research organization, was putting the finishing touches on a release dealing with the word "guarantee." Intended for advertiser and agency benefit in the preparation of campaigns to sell the public, the Vicary release said: "Ad men ought to be out combing the dictionary for a word to take the place of 'guarantee.' When the advertiser presents his patent medicine with the promise that 'it will bring immediate relief every time,' he thinks he's using the old magic wand of salesmanship. "But a guarantee is like a red flag of doubt in the buyer's subconscious mind. By offering him his money back if the product fails to satisfy, the headache sufferer's suspicions are aroused. My headache may last forever, reasons his subconscious. "Using word association, one of the tech !' BREED DOUBT? niques of clinical psychology, researchers from the market consultant firm of James M. Vicary asked housewives to give the first word that came to mind for 'guarantee' and 'promise.' An unusually high percentage of utter silence greeted this request, indicating women are confused or frightened by the words. It's all because 'guarantee' and 'promise' have a long history of negative implications. It shows up in hundreds of proverbs studied by psychologist Vicary. 'Promises and piecrust are made to be broken.' 'Fair promises bind fools.' 'They promise mountains and perform molehills.' "A promise or guarantee will work only if it serves to allay a fear already in the customer's mind. Otherwise, it can raise false fears. "But advertisers will not find it easy to replace the word 'guarantee' with one better designed to soothe the troubled emotions. Vicary has already investigated a few substitutes and found that 'confidence,' 'trust' and 'pledge' also bring disturbed reactions." they said, it still was not the lowest in network radio, and advertisers apparently preferred to "gamble" on unguaranteed purchases of time rather than pay the extra cost of the guaranteed circulation. NBC's plan — which resulted in no sales — was called "Guaranteed Advertising Attention Plan." It offered advertisers a chance to sponsor parts of three programs and guaranteed each user that an average of at least 5.3 million full one-minute advertising impressions would be heard each week for a period of 13 weeks at $2.75 per thousand [B*T, Nov. 19, 26, 1951]. Since then, officials reported, the guarantee concept has been considered a number of times. But it has many problems, they said, acknowledging that "there's always a possibility" that NBC will adopt some form of circulation guarantee but indicating that this is not probable soon. A top ABC Radio official was even less equivocal, asserting flatly that his network has no intention of adopting such a plan. He maintained that ABC Radio already delivers "the best cost-per-thousand possible" and that "when you start guaranteeing circulation you're getting into the realm of per inquiry business." Cohen to ABC Business Post APPOINTMENT of Harold D. Cohen as assistant to the vice president of the business affairs department of ABC, effective immediately, is being announced today (Monday) by James A. Stabile, vice president in charge of the department. Mr. Cohen served most recently as executive assistant to Ted Ashley of the Ashley-Steiner Agency, New York, supervising negotiations and legal affairs. ABC Appoints John Hymes JOHN D. HYMES, formerly account executive with Lord & Thomas, agency predecessor of Foote, Cone & Belding, has been appointed by ABC as account executive for KGO-AM-TV San Francisco ABC o & o stations, it was reported last week. Besides his agency affiliations. Mr. Hymes also served as manager of WLAN Lancaster, Pa. ABC RADIO'S NEWEST: 'QUICKIE' SOUP SPOTS Brief announcements for Campbell start on 41 western stations, tying in with network's cue for station breaks. Protest charges network hinders local spots and programming for competitive products. "QUICKIE" commercials within the ABC Radio network system cues are being used by Campbell Soup Co. on 41 Mountain and Pacific states stations. The campaign, employing all ABC system cues on these stations seven days a week for 12 weeks, is described as "a test" for both ABC and Campbell Soup — presumably meaning that if it works satisfactorily for both, Campbell may go more heavily into system cues usage, and that ABC Radio may accept them on a larger scale. The system cue commercial being used by Campbell runs like this, with possible variations: "This is ABC. Campbell Soups are MMMMM-MMMM good." Launching of the 46-station campaign prompted at least one station manager to complain that the move was a further encroachment on station rights and prospects. He said: "Since the total time for the commercial and system cue will not exceed the time now used for the system cue alone, we're told it does not make it an infringement on station time. Assuming this is correct, how are individual affiliates going to schedule any other spots or programs of companies whose products may be competitive to that of the system cue sponsor? As we see it, the webs are now destroying our few remaining adjacencies by commercializing system cues. I wonder how many other net affiliates will soon be 'on the spot' if this test case is successful out here in the Mountain and Pacific zones?" Noting that some 365 system cues per week are involved, the station executive asserted that "affiliates are required to carry at least 150 to qualify for the compensation based on onefifth of one percent of our hourly network rate per spot." ABC Radio authorities maintained, however, STATION SALES KIDDER, PEABODY fisf CO.— • Maintains close contact with all phases of the Television and Radio industry. • Has an established relationship with most of the important sources of investment capital in the country. —We invite the station owner to take advantage of this dual coverage when considering the sale of his property. Address inquiries to: ROBERT E. GRANT Kidder, Peabody & Co. First National Bank Building Chicago 3, Illinois Telephone ANdover 3-7350 KIDDER, PEABODY & CO. FOUNDED 1865 NEW YORK BOSTON PHILADELPHIA CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO Offices and correspondents in thirty other principal cities in the United States Page 56 • February 20, 1956 Broadcasting • Telecasting