Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

ADVERTISERS & AGENCIES continued to 9.6% of those non-viewers interviewed before the program. In directing the respondents' attention to specific features in the commercials (there were three commercials on the program — one, a broad sweep of the model, two, of the whole Edsel line, and three, on Edsel features), 51.8% of the viewers gave the correct information with respect to the pushbutton transmission compared to 21.8% of their neighbors interviewed before the program. In measuring attitude toward the Edsel, 67.8% of program viewers gave favorable ratings, while 39.1% of their neighbors interviewed before the show were favorable. For all persons interviewed, this "in favor attitude" rose from 40.8% of persons interviewed before to 54.4% interviewed after the telecast. No significant differences in attitude were recorded of non-viewers to those interviewed before the program. According to TvB, the increase in favorable ratings "seemed to come largely from respondents with no particular feeling toward the car before the telecast. In different ratings of the car were given by 28.2% of program viewers, a drop of 25.8% from the level of those interviewed in advance (54%)." As seen by Norman E. Cash, TvB president, "this new technique measures the first point of advertising — the public's opinion of a product." It means, Mr. Cash said, that "at last advertisers have a technique for measuring the basic effectiveness of their advertising." He indicated the same technique could be applied to other media. The results, he continued, show tv "increasing the consumer knowledge and, more important, the favorable attitude toward the product. ". . . We are not measuring audience size, we are measuring the depth of im pression television created in each viewer." Thus, he said, the survey found "marked increases in the awareness of viewers to specific selling features" of the Edsel after just one tv exposure. TvB admitted it might foster other similar surveys by Qualitative Research Inc. (an independent firm), but emphasized that it hoped the results of the study on the Edsel would encourage others to employ the technique developed. Dr. Arons acknowledged that Ford had "cooperated" with the survey but was "semi-surprised" at the results. Foote, Cone & Belding, Edsel's agency, assisted by providing field people with scripts of the commercials. People were not asked to "rate" the program itself. AAAA Meeting Plans To Scrutinize Tv Ads The broadcast media — particularly the tv commercial — will come under professional scrutiny Tuesday and Wednesday when the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies holds its annual eastern conference in New York at the Roosevelt Hotel. Seven workshops — on research, radio-tv commercials, media buying, marketing, account management and two on print — as well as a concluding "look-ahead meeting" on Wednesday will highlight the conference. The "look-ahead meeting" will feature a talk on serving clients by Raymond O. Mithun, president-chairman of the board, Campbell-Mithun, Minneapolis; a speech on the agency's creative function by Eugene Harrington, president of Fletcher D. Richards Inc., New York, and a treatment of the management's view from AAAA Board Chairman Melvin Brorby, senior vice president, Needham, Louis & Brorby, Chicago. This session will be presided over by Brown Bolte, executive vice president, Benton & Bowles, New York, and chairman of the A AAA's eastern region. Among agenda highlights: Research workshop, Tuesday afternoon: "How close can research come to measuring the sales effectiveness of advertising?" with three speakers taking different approaches; the general — Wroe Alderson, partner of Alderson & Sessions; the qualitative — Paul Gerhold, vice president in charge of media research at Foote, Cone & Belding, and the quantative — lohn DeWolf, vice president and director of research, G. M. Basford Co. Peter Langhoff, Young & Rubicam will preside. Tv-radio commercials workshop, Tuesday afternoon: "Here comes video tape," by Ross H. Snyder, manager of special products division, Ampex; "new techniques in tv film commercials" by Film Producer Assn. of New York and narrated by Bert Hecht of FPA's technical services and color committee; "probe, critic, commercials" with Marie Torre, syndicated tv columnist of New York Herald-Tribune, and Mike Wallace, ABCTV commentator; "the new sound of radio" by Kevin Sweeney, president of Radio Advertising Bureau, and "the seven lively arts of television," a special presentation by Cunningham & Walsh. Elizabeth Pike, vice president, Benton & Bowles, will preside over the commercials workshop. Media buying workshop, Wednesday morning: "How to plan media strategy." Three media directors — Robert' H. Boulware, associate media director, Bryan Houston; Newman F. McEvoy, senior vice president and director, Cunningham & Walsh, and G. Maxwell Ule, senior vice president, Kenyon & Eckhardt — will analyze a hypothetical advertising, problem and recommend media strategy [Closed Circuit, Oct. 7]. A "review board" critique will follow by Ralph Robertson (as board spokesman), vice president and marketing director, Geyer Adv.; David P. Crane, vice president in charge of media, Benton & Bowles, and Anthony DePiefro, vice president and media director, Lennen Newell. The marketing workshop also is slated for Wednesday morning with sessions on account management, print creative functions and print productions scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Merger Forms New L. A. Agency The merger of Atherton Advertising Agency and Mogge-Privett Inc., both Los Angeles, into Atherton-Mogge-Privett Inc., will occur Dec. 1, according to a joint announcement by Norton W. Mogge, president of Mogge-Privett, who also will be president of the new agency, and Alfred A. Atherton, owner of his agency, who will be executive vice president of the new A-M-P Inc. Other officers of the new firm include John A. Privett, vice president and secretarytreasurer; James Lothian, vice president, and Milton Zolotow, vice president. Headquarters of the new agency will be at 8467 Everly Blvd., present address of Atherton Advertising Agency. HOW PEOPLE SPEND THEIR TIME There were 123,574,000 people in the U. S. over 12 years of age during the week Nov. 3-9. This is how they spent their time: 67.7% ( 83,553,000) spent 1,871.6 million hours watching television 55.4% ( 68,373,000) spent 1,005.1 million hours listening to radio 82.5% (101,819,000) spent 427.6 million hours reading newspapers 30.9% ( 38,136,000) spent 182.4 million hours reading magazines 25.8% ( 31,842,000) spent 404.9 million hours watching movies ON tv 25.6% ( 31,691,000) spent 132.0 million hours attending movies * These totals, compiled by Sindlinger & Co., Ridley Park, Pa., and published exclusively by Broadcasting, each week, are based on a 48-state, random dispersion sample of 7,000 interviews (1,000 each day). Sindlinger's monthly "Activity" report, from which these weekly figures are drawn, furnishes comprehensive breakdowns of these and numerous other categories, and shows the duplicated and -unduplicated audiences between each specific medium. Copyright 1957 Sindlinger & Co. * All figures are average daily tabulations for the week with exception of the "attending movies" category which is a cumulative total for the week. Sindlinger tabulations are available within 2-7 days of the interviewing week. SINDLINGER'S SET COUNT: As of Nov. 1, Sindlinger data shows: (1) 105,120,000 people over 12 years of age see tv (85.2% of the people in that age group); (2) 40,692,000 U. S. households with tv; (3) 44,725,000 tv sets in use in U. S. Page 44 • November 18, 1957 Broadcasting