Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1957)

ADVERTISERS & AGENCIES Third Programme, he declared. To show how the combination system works in Italy, Mr. Von Brunn told the conventioneers: "Only four commercials are transmitted each day between 8:50 and 9 p.m., :;even days a week, falling between the news and the big show of the evening. No live commercials are allowed. The film commercial is 2:25 minutes long, but only 20 seconds of this may be devoted to actual selling. The remaining 1:55 minutes of the 'commercial time' can show anything considered quality entertainment. No commission is allowable and the ad agency must negotiate with their client for the charges." Peak Italian tv audience, Mr. Von Brunn said, is 8 million with the average set at 4 million. The future for tv abroad, he concluded, "is tremendous." More and more advertising will be placed in broadcast media overseas; Eurovision and other relay systems between nations are being developed until the point will be reached that "a twist of the dial may bring you a horse race from Rio or a geisha dancer from Tokyo"; last, but certainly not least, is the growth of film production for U. S. film companies and agencies in such countries as Mexico, Cuba and Venezuela. Exhibitors attending the convention and "telling their stories" included McCannErickson International, Robert Otto & Co.. J. Walter Thompson Co., Young & Rubicam, Burke Dowling Adams Inc., Grant Adv., Gotham-Vladimir Adv., CMQ Havana. RPC Network Panama, WAPA-TV San Juan, P. R„ WKAQ Radio and WKAQTV San Juan, YSEB El Salvador. MCA-TV Film, and other organizations. F^F^F*"^^ F\A/" ^ bespectacled y°un9 man with a mother complex daydreams through Dodge commercials that poke fun at competitors' hard-sells TIRED of automobile copy that stresses bigness, comfort and roominess and leaves everything else to your imagination? Want to get away from hard-sell pitches assaulting you with scientific gobbledygook? Dodge offers you escape . . . with Waldo! Out of Grant Adv., Detroit, and Van Praag Productions. New York, comes a refreshingly new series of live action tv film commercials that's just as radical a departure from the tedium as Chrysler Corp.'s swept-wing tailgates. Starting this Saturday, viewers to the Lawrence Welk shows on ABC-TV will meet a character named Waldo. And what a character he is. A shy, bespectacled young man with a mother complex, Waldo has a predilection for daydreaming a la Walter Mitty. "A male wallflower," is the way Grant copywriter Jim Moos imagines him. According to the agency's radio-tv director. Robert C. Mack, Waldo's sole function is "to make the Dodge a heroic car." He explains: "Dr. ( Ernest) Dichter of the Institute for Motivational Research notes that car ownership reflects the buyer's personality. Or at least what he imagines to be his personality. These commercials define the Dodge's personality. We're not merely selling Dodge." he says, "we're giving the prospective purchaser an emotional reason for wanting a Dodge. He may not get there faster than the guy in a Buick, but the guy in the Buick can't win his girl the way Waldo can in his Dodge!" The four commercials take Waldo and place him in some pretty outlandish situations. First off, he rescues a pretty damsel from a criminal mob ("Waldo and His Mother"). Then he woos a girl at a dance and transports her to a magic island built just for three — Waldo, the girl and the Dodge ("Waldo at the Dance"). Waldo next can been seen in the African veldt, chasing lions and saving a girl from the cannibals ("B'wana Waldo"). And last. Waldo, working on the green of Boca Raton in Florida, whisks away his dreamgirl into the clouds in a Dodge that really flies ("Waldo at the Country Club"). Says Van Praag's director, Bert Lawrence: "These films are deliberately overacted and fraught with hammed-up plots. We've done so in order to poke fun at the other automakers. Their copy has super-dooper torque, but ours has a well-lubricated tongue in cheek." The comment, "We're well-enough equipped for a safari." conjures up the image of Waldo, perched atop a Dodge ranch wagon as if it were an elephant, tracking down the king of the jungle. Because it takes its inspiration from "MR," and because it approaches auto advertising in a very off-beat way, William Van Praag "expects a lot of controversy to come out of this." That's not all, though. The tune used throughout the four commercials has proved to be so catchy that copywriter Jim Moos and songwriter Gene Forrell are now turning the background music into a full-fledged "pop" song. The people at Grant and Van Praag also hope the fans of Lawrence Welk will take a liking to the two people who play Waldo and his dreamgirl — an engaging young actor appropriately named Donn Driver and a handsome lass named Rita Colton. They should be swept into bigger things via Dodge's swept-wing tails. WALDO & HIS MOTHER: Mike Hammer? Sam Spade? No. It's only Waldo but he's armed with a .45 pistol and a 1957 Dodge. Tipped off that a beautiful damsel's in distress, Waldo, two seconds earlier sitting with his mother in their Victorian living room, engrossed in "I, Private Eye," effects a dashing rescue. He returns home triumphant, acclaimed a hero by one and all. Implied: unlike other cars which kill, Dodge saves lives. B'WANA WALDO: Oomla. ooga menoba goomala ooble," or "He went thataway!" B'wana Waldo, his "Great Swept Wing" and his faithful blonde companion close upon the killer tiger. Giraffes scatter, birds whoop it up and natives run for their lives as the Dodge comes scooting across the veldt. In this first of the four 2-minute film commercials. Dodge pokes deliberate fun at its rivals' ad copy stressing "family fun and adventure." WALDO AT THE DANCE: He has just persuaded the prettiest girl at the country club dance to take a ride in his new car. She may feel that she's "floating on air," but Waldo counters with an "of course, Dodge Torsion-Aire Ride." She can contain herself no longer. She swoons, "Oh Waldo! Take me away! Far away to some distant place!" And Waldo does. Right to this desert island built for three — Waldo, the dreamgirl and the dreamcar. Page 32 May 6, 1957 Broadcasting Telecasting