Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1957)

ADVERTISERS AND AGENCIES WSAAA Hears Three On Rating Misuses THREE experts, scheduled to debate the reliability of program ratings at last Monday's monthly meeting of the Western States Advertising Agencies Assn.. instead wound up by agreeing that what's really wrong is not the ratings but the way they are used and misused. Edwin Cahn, manager of the Pacific Coast office of The Pulse Inc., described ratings as an expression of the public's opinion of a program as entertainment. As such they are valuable, he said, but it would be folly for an agency to depend solely on ratings when deciding whether to buy a particular program or not. In fact, he noted, ratings can probably be more helpful in buying spots by showing which programs provide the best adjacencies, than in buying programs, where a contract for 13, 26 or 39 weeks is signed before the show is on the air and any rating is available. Only for the decision whether or not to renew the series do ratings give much assistance to the program buyer, Mr. Cahn commented, and by that time sales figures should be available, providing a much better answer than ratings as to whether sponsoring that program has done a job for the advertiser. Dr. Martin L. Klein, rocket research specialist at North American Aviation and also a tv performer on the Adventure Tomorrow science series on ABC-TV, objected to ratings reports from both points of view. As a statistician, Dr. Klein said, he resents the presentation of a rating figure like 13.1 which implies that the measurement is exact to one-tenth of a rating point whereas in fact it means only that the true rating is somewhere within two or three points above or below the published figure. A rating now given as 20, he stated, should not be reported as 20, but as 16-to24, showing the probable range within which the program's popularity falls. In answer to questions, Dr. Klein admitted that if the double-figure system of reporting ratings were followed it miaht add to, rather than MERCHANDISING AID AS a means of gaining maximum mileage out of its extensive advertising budget in radio, television and other media, Kraft Foods Co., Chicago, has engaged David Piel Inc., New York, producer of sales training films and tv film commercials, to produce three 15-minute sales training films to teach Kraft salesmen the principles behind the company's advertising program. In turn, the films are designed to help the salesmen persuade Kraft customers, such as jobbers and retail outlets, to capitalize on company advertising through use of local promotional and advertising efforts. The agency for Kraft is J. Walter Thompson Co., Chicago. diminish, confusion about ratings, as each station or agency would use the upper figure to build up its own programs, the lower one to knock down the programs of the competition. As a performer, Dr. Klein objected to the fact that in two years on the air he'd been told a great deal about his program's rating but nothing at all about the program itself or how to give the public what it wants. "The graphic arts people can tell you that men like blue and will buy goods put up in blue packages," he said, "'and that women like red and will buy things in red packages, but no one can tell you what people want in tv." Ratings should be looked on not as final answers but as a measure of opportunity, Dr. Floyd L. Ruch, president. Psychological Services Inc.. and professor of psychology at U. of Southern California, said. The important thing is how the advertiser and its agency take advantage of the opportunity their radio or tv activity gives them to sell goods, he stated. For this purpose a knowledge of what the program is doing to modify the buying behavior of its audience or to modify the attitudes that lead to the desired behavior is more important than to know the number of listeners or viewers a program has, Dr. Klein commented. He urged that less attention be given to ratings and more to motivation research, which he said can show why some programs with low ratings do a better selling job for their sponsors than other shows with higher ratings do for theirs. Attempts of the speakers to answer the inevitable question about why different rating services give different ratings to the same program with explanations as to the effects of weather, competitive attractions, differing techniques of collecting data from differing population samples and the like proved no more satisfactory to the questioners than usual. Questions of this sort persisted until Dr. Ruch cut them off by reporting that he teaches a course in statistics at USC which meets three times a week for 18 weeks and devotes about 25% of its total time to this question. He invited those who really want to understand why ratings vary from service to service to sign up for his course next semester. Sheaffer Sets School Drive THE heaviest back-to-school advertising and promotion campaign in the history of Sheaffer Pen Co. will be launched Aug. 1 in behalf of the company's new sterlingsilver-tipped ballpoint pen, officials said last week in introducing the new models. Private Secretary, which Sheaffer co-sponsors on CBS-TV (Tues., 8:30-9 p.m. EDT); spot television, and both spot radio and spot tv on a dealer cooperative basis, will be used along with newspapers and magazines to promote both the new ballpoint and Sheaffer's new cartridge fountain pens and cartridge fountain pen desk set. which also were introduced last week. Russel M. Seeds Co., Chicago, is the agency. BROWN Broadcasting • Telecasting D-F-S Unit to Make Top Agency Decisions A SIX-MAN executive committee appointed last week at Dancer-Fitzgerald-Sample, New York, will operate at the top level in decision making and marks the further growth of D-F-S in the ranks of agencies with high radio-tv billings. In 1956, D-F-S was among the top 10 agencies in radio-tv. Of significance is the assignment of the committee's chairmanship to Dr. Lyndon O. Brown, who is vice president in charge of media merchandising and research. Other members of the committee (all vice presidents): Fred T. Leighty. account supervisor and management, and account supervisors Chester T. Birch, Sidney J. Hamilton, Gordon H. Johnson and George G. Tormey. Mr. Leighty was elected secretary of the committee. All six have been with D-F-S an average of 12 years. According to the announcement by H. M. Dancer, board chairman, and Clifford L. Fitzgerald, president, the executive committee membership will be appointed annually by the D-F-S board. D-F-S' current overall billing is said to be approximately $65 million with radio-tv's share S37.5-S39 million. Major function of the executive committee is to "initiate, advise on, and approve all major plans, basic advertising campaigns and important recommendations to clients." D-F-S also has an advisory committee, creative plans board and an operating committee. But with the agency's growth, the need for a standing committee to handle problems in determining the calibre of recommendations to clients has been felt. The new executive committee is expected to fill that role. American Airlines Launches Binaural Test for Program STEREOPHONIC sound got a shot in the arm last week as American Airlines, celebrating its fourth anniversary of Music Till Dawn on nine major market radio stations, launched a test of binaural broadcasts via KNX-AM-FM Los Angeles and KCBS-AMFM San Francisco. The effort was launched through the help of a major tape recording manufacturer, and if the test proves successful, the experiment will be tackled by other stations presently carrying the program. Those interested in the stereophonic Music Till Dawn are WCBS-AM-FM New York, WWJ-AM-FM Detroit, WBBM-AM-FM Chicago and KRLD-AM-TV Dallas. Other stations in the AA lineup unable to schedule sound because of lack of simultaneous fm operations (i.e., stations mamtaining a May 27, 1957 • Page 39