Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

TRADE ASSNS. continued COWS-PER-THOUSAND Madison Avenue yardstick men, steeped in the tradition of precise and detail media measurements, may have learned a new twist from the newest presentation of the National Assn. of Television & Radio Farm Directors (story, page 50). In it, NATRFD reports on a major farm advertiser who figured his costs down to "cows per spot." Taking the number of cows in the coverage area of each of the 1 1 stations carrying his spot, the sponsor divided the cost of one spot into the number of bovines. For example, he found that station A had 517,576 cows in its area, and at a cost of $42.50 per spot, this meant 12,178 cows "per one spot dollar expended." directors with farmers, agricultural specialists and the directors' awareness of farm problems has established farm directors as persons of believability and trust in the farmers' eyes. • Radio listening per week by the average rural and village family amounts to 17 hours, 5 minutes per week. This compares to the average of 16 hours, 44 minutes in all U. S. homes. • Farmers spend more time with radio than any other medium. • Tv sets were owned by 65% of the farmers as of August 1957. The NATRFD presentation was prepared by a sales promotion committee composed of Jerry Seaman, Bert S. Gittins Advertising, Milwaukee; Bob Stephens, KFYO Lubbock, Tex.; Dix Harper, Aubrey, Finlay, Marley & Hodgson, Wheaton, 111.; Forrest Blair, Edward Petry & Co., Chicago; Larry Haeg, WCCO Minneapolis; Delbert Rucker, National Plant Food Institute, Washington, D. C; Jack Stratton, WKY-AM-TV Oklahoma City; John Bradshaw, John Bradshaw & Associates, Toronto; Don Lerch, Don Lerch Jr. & Co., Washington; Bob Parker, WBAYAM-TV Green Bay, Wis., and Mai Hansen, WOW-AM-TV Omaha. The committee engaged Donald Lerch Jr. & Co. which specializes in agricultural affairs to compile the information. Production on the brochure was by Bert S. Gittins Advertising. Cost was paid for through the NATRFD and Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co. through the cooperation of Charles Karr, sales promotion manager. MRIA Names Altshuler Director The Magnetic Recording Industry Assn., New York, a national organization of tape recorder and tape recording equipment manufacturers, announces the appointment of Edward A. Altshuler as its managing director. The association also reports that it plans to establish new national headquarters at 6234 Scenic Ave., Los Angeles. Mr. Altshuler heads the Los Angeles management consultant firm of Altshuler & Co. He formerly was national marketing manager of American Electronics Corp.'s tape recording division and chairman of the MRIA public relations committee. FILM AAP CONSIDERING The "Popeye" revival made possible by tv may result in the production of new cartoons featuring the jaunty sailor man, it was learned last week. As yet, plans for new production are very much long range and, should production prove to be a non-profitable venture, the blueprint will be scrapped. AAP Inc., which distributes the cartoons, has been successful in both its Popeye sales and merchandising activities. Its exploration in new Popeye production will be slow and meticulous. Officials will be concerned with such things as quantity (Paramount, for example, produced only 8-12 Popeyes per year), cost of production, and related problems, such as a method for rotation of prints. AAP now distributes a package of 234 Popeye cartoons for which it acquired the tv rights last year from Paramount Pictures Corp. and King Features for $2,225,000. AAP at that time obtained options for new production. While plans still are not firm, AAP probably would attempt to franchise one station in each market, presenting that outlet with exclusive Popeye programming, merchandising and marketing as well as expected sponsorship. New production would be in color and full animation. AAP has sold the series in about 88 markets. Of these, 28 stations participate in its merchandising plan, a unique arrangement offering three types of participation or merchandising "packages" tailored to give the station a return or share of the profit (for details, see Film, Aug. 12). This is what has been happening in AAP's merchandising activity — both current developments and future plans: • The merchandising unit now is a separate entity from AAP Inc. and a subsidiary of Associated Artists Corp. The new company is called Associated Artists Enterprises Inc. Paul Kwartin, who has headed the merchandising activity since its inception, is executive vice president of AAE; Marguerite Blaise is assistant director of merchandising, and Peter Cook is manager of station relations. Object of the new entity: maximum exploitation of character merchandising. • Popeye cartoons so merchandised are merely the beginning. The next step for the merchandising company — which works with toy and children's clothing manufacturers to exploit the cartoon characters made famous via AAP's tv distribution — will be other film properties distributed by AAP. Characters such as Bugs Bunny, which appears in Looney Tunes (acquired from Warner Bros, and distributed to stations), soon will come into the merchandising orbit, eventually to be followed by features AAP distributes. • At the same time, AAE is looking to foreign exposure of AAP packages to pave the way for merchandising activity abroad. Merchandising plans for Great Britain with cooperation of King Features (for Popeye cartoons) have been completed. King Features is the character copyright owner for Popeye as is Warner Bros, for the Bugs NEW 'POPEYES' Bunny and other Looney Tunes characters. This also will lead to merchandising in Canada, according to current blueprints. • For the first time, AAE and King Features are moving to the food sponsorship factor: that is, Popeye food items. First of these is Popeye peanut butter to be marketed by Sussex Foods Inc., New York, which will buy time on stations showing the Popeye cartoons. A premium tie-in will be used. • The first new balloon in six years in the famous Macy's Thanksgiving parade will be a 55-foot-high replica of the Popeye doll now merchandised by AAE. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'s Aircraft Division spent 3V2 months constructing the balloon at two plants, in Phoenix and Akron. The largest balloon in the parade (an estimated 40 million people see the parade which is telecast on NBC-TV Thanksgiving Day), Popeye will be filled with helium and guided down Broadway by 42 men at ropes attached to the mammoth airborne "float." Invested in this project alone: an estimated $35,000 by Macy's and AAE. Macy's now has a permanent "Popeyeville" on the fifth floor of its downtown New York store. WPIX (TV) New York will have a merchandising tie-in with both AAE and the store (WPIX telecasts Popeye in New York). • New Popeye items have been added to a list that in mid-summer easily totaled some 50 articles. Three Organizations Join To Make Industrial Tv Films Warner Bros., William Morris Agency and Heyward-Wilkes, writing-production company for films for industry, are pooling their resources in an association for the creation, production and exploitation of motion pictures for the use of industrial concerns on tv, at sales and trade conventions and for educational and public relations purposes. The terms of the agreement call for Warner Bros, to provide the full production facilities of its studios in Burbank, Calif.; William Morris to help coordinate the activities of the film production units with the industrial companies, and Heyward-Wilkes to KNOWS NO BOUNDS Although Macy's department stores in the New York City area figure heavily in AAP-Popeye promotions, the store demonstrations are in various other cities around the country. For example: Bamberger's in Newark, N. J.; Jordan Marsh in Miami; Wanamaker's in Philadelphia; Food Fair (supermarkets) in the Lebanon, Pa., and Philadelphia areas; May Co. in Denver; J. C. Penney stores in Huntington; Everybody's Department Store in Fort Worth; Lit Bros, in Philadelphia; Malley's in New Haven, and Phillips Department Store in Omaha. Broadcasting November 11, 1957 • Page 53