Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1956)

ADVERTISERS & AGENCIES should be able to determine with greater clarity and precision than heretofore and from the long range as well as the immediate view, what kinds of services he needs from his agency and a fair estimate of what those services are worth to his company. On this basis, the matter of working out a written agreement that will be mutually satisfactory to the company and to the agency will, in due course, I believe, resolve the question of agency compensation. "The efforts now being made in this direction by leading advertisers and leading agencies hold high promise that the almost critical need of American industry for the full power of creative advertising to maintain our free enterprise economy on a sound and expanding basis will be met. This, I believe, will be done by agencies working in close cooperation with their clients and that over a period of time there may evolve a pattern of agency remuneration that can be more advantageous and more profitable than the old system, for agencies, for media and for advertisers, alike." ANA has started an advertising management project to work out basic concepts and techniques. The story of Ban's (deodorant) successful introduction, backed by radio and television promotion and an extensive planning program, was told by Richard K. Van Nostrand, assistant advertising director of Bristol-Myers Co. "The last, but undoubtedly the most important part of our media structure," he said in outlining the BBDO campaign, "was a redhead by the name of Godfrey. Arthur took this product to his bosom and sold as only he can to his daytime television and radio audience and soon had them champing at the bit to go out and buy Ban. And, they did just that." Nighttime tv — Four Star Playhouse and Alfred Hitchcock Presents — also was used to promote Ban. The result — "Ban moved in eight months to the No. 3 spot in drug sales and BristolMyers into leadership in the deodorant field," Mr. Van Nostrand said. Sudden Change Deplored Speaking on advertising's ability to introduce automation into marketing, Don C. Miller, vice president of Kenyon & Eckhardt, warned that effectiveness of an advertising campaign can be crippled by making "drastic changes in mid-stream." He noted that tv, magazines and outdoor advertising have fixed parts or longterm commitments. Mr. Ebel, moderator of the consent decree discussion, noted the trend toward broadened marketing activity among advertising agencies and added this warning: "Let's not let our broadened marketing responsibility lessen our awareness of the opportunity to increase the effectiveness of advertising by better advertising, by originality, by greater creativity, by greater believeability, by greater persuasiveness, by greater interest, by more skillful use of media, and let's not forget the prime requisite of advertising— sticktoitiveness." Mr. Ebel reminded advertising men of their "opportunity and responsibility to keep the manufacturer doing the right kind of a job on the consumers." He said "marketing agencies must keep in mind the long-range advertising point of view as well as the sales short-term point of view. Let's not lessen our awareness of the major role that consumer advertising plays in marketing." Giving a "road map" of tv markets, costs and strategies, T. R. Shearer, A. C. Nielsen Co. vice president, compared the merits of exclusive vs. shared sponsorship. He said only 38% of all programs in 1955 were the exclusive property of one sponsor compared to 72% in the spring of 1953. This involved an increase from 18% to 45% in the number of shared-sponsorship programs and an increase in the number of participating programs. Mr. Shearer showed how a $300,000 investment in two programs reached 49% more homes than a single program. He said summer ratings are 67% of the peak winter ratings and cited re-runs and replacement programs which more than offset any loss in audience. Program competition is rough, he said, with only 47% of the programs that appeared during the 1954-55 season still on the air — a mortality rate of 53% in one season. With each successive year on the air, the chances for survival increase, he said, and 91% of the programs that survived from 1951 through the 1954 55 season were also on the air during the 1955 56 season. In a series of charts, he showed the motion of the tv audience. One example showed that from 8:25 to 8:35 p.m., in a multi-network area, over 6 million homes (18%) changed networks. An hour later that same night, one network lost 7 million homes in 10 minutes, with a second network picking up over 6 million of these homes. "You should not make big business decisions on one or two ratings," Mr. Shearer warned. "The nature of tv is such and the nature of the living habits of the people is such that the first rating of the season or the last one before renewal time means little." He said extreme swings in the ratings due to unusual circumstances are a trait of tv which must be recognized. "The last rating and the fast rating properly serve the show business count-the-house side of your business," he said. "But when you make your investment decision, carefully appraise all of the many factors that must be considered, including the long-term performance of the program." About 75% of all homes have tv sets, Mr. Shearer said, with ownership ranging from 53% in the South to 86% in the Northeast; by county size from 55% in the C and D (smaller) counties to 87% in the 21 largest. He compared different ways of using spots and programs to reach the highest proportion of homes or special types of audiences. In one case, he said seven nighttime programs in four weeks, costing $1.2 million, reached 32 million, or over 90% of the tv homes, and 11.4 minutes of commercial time were delivered to the average home. Gerald Light, advertising-sales promotion director of CBS-Columbia, said the company's "soft-sell" advertising technique has helped bring the brand's position "from the all-other brands spot on the survey sheets to within the top 10 in areas where the sets are distributed." He said that in New York the brand moved from 30th to sixth or seventh position in three years. Explaining that soft-sell or likeable-sell ads frequently sell better than the opposite type, he said "people seldom are moved by an ad that lacks the quality of natural courtesy. Even though we have the effective personal selling of the Godfreys, Garry Moores, Garroways and Steve Aliens, there still persist commercials which lecture, orate, rave, are pompous, irritating, wildly exaggerated and result in burying the product they have come to praise." He criticized the use of "ad-ese" jargon such as "never before, quick satisfying relief, now at last, yes you too and amazing new way." ABC supplied talent for the ANA dinner Thursday with Paul Whiteman's orchestra; Joan Holloway, dancer; Don Adams, comedian; Blackstone, magician, and Bill Hayes, singer. MR. CONE Stay Abreast of Media, Cone Tells Delegates Agency head, in talk before Assn. of National Advertisers, calls for more creativity on part of radio and tv in the battle for consumer attention. MODERN ADVERTISING must keep pace with modern media and living habits in the changing American economy, Fairfax Cone, president of Foote, Cone & Belding, told the Assn. of National Advertisers Wednesday at Hot Springs, Va. Bulky seven-pound Sunday newspapers and advertising-jammed magazines complicate the problem of appealing through the print media, he said, and radio-tv face increasing demands on the public's time. Mr. Cone revealed his concepts of radio and tv listening and viewing as he called for more creativity in the battle for consumer attention. As to radio's special appeal, he said that radio would seem to command "its greatest attention when people are doing something else — men are shaving or dressing or driving to work or home again and women are doing their housework. "Over a period we knew that the American public mastered the business of reading and listening to the radio at the very same time. They also learned to talk while they listen and the children learn to study with the radio on full blast." On the other hand, the demands of television are different, he said. "While it has proved entirely feasible to have your eyes on one thing and your ears tuned to something else, as when you are reading and listening to the radio with your mind dividing and selecting and rejecting, no such division and selection and rejection by the minute is possible in television." Mr. Cone asked rhetorically "if tv sets are lost as a potential for printed advertising when the sets are on?" He discussed the advertiser's problem this way: "Since most tv sets operate during most of the time between dinner and bedtime in most television homes, reading time for magazines and newspapers can only be at a new low. "The answer to the advertiser's dilemma, someone might say, is simple: advertise on television. But television costs make this obvious answer really no answer at all. As you know, one-half hour at nighttime on a national network on alternate weeks costs a minimum of $2 million a year, and it is moving up. Not everyone can afford such advertising expenditure, and even if everyone could there is a little matter of time. There isn't any more. Just now the problem of getting a message through on television is only slightly less than it is in print. "To be sure, the television experience of any minute is practically total. The audience for any program-integrated commercial is largely captive and demonstrative commercials or even only entertaining commercials, have a point to get through. However, if there is a station Page 32 March 19, 1956 Broadcasting Telecasting