Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

ADVERTISERS & AGENCIES continued Parker McComas Dies in N. Y.; Philip Morris Head Since '49 Funeral services for O. Parker McComas, 62, president of Philip Morris Inc., New York, were held last Wednesday in New York. Mr. McComas, who had been president of Philip Morris since 1949, died Monday in Lenox Hill hospital, New York, following an operation. Mr. McComas had a varied career in the investment field before joining MR. McCOMAS Phijip Morris in 1946 as a vice president and director. Starting in 1919, Mr. McComas was with Sutro & Co. and Cowen Co., New York investment firms and in 1928 joined the Bankers Trust Co., New York, in its foreign securities department. In 1929, Bankers Trust appointed Mr. McComas manager of foreign operations in Europe, headquartering in Paris, and in 1932 he was elected a vice president. He returned to New York in 1934 as vice president in charge of the foreign department and in 1937 was named vice president in charge of the commercial banking and foreign departments. At Philip Morris, he was promoted to executive vice president in 1947. In April 1949 Mr. McComas was elected president and the company's chief administrative officer. Eye & Ear Inc. Organizes in N. Y. Eye & Ear Inc., New York, has been formed to specialize in advertising and sales promotion services for local radio, it was announced by J. M. Kayne, president. The firm's clients will be limited to a single radio station in each market and will provide all the advertising and sales promotion elements needed to increase audience ratings and add more sponsors. Address is 60 East 76th St., phone Plaza 3-7694. Max Factor Appoints Gross A. Nelson Gross, vice president and account supervisor for McCann-Erickson, Chicago, has been appointed director of United States advertising for Max Factor & Co., Hollywood. He succeeds Kenneth D. Caldwell, Factor vice president, who has been forced by illness to relinquish his direction of the company's domestic advertising and who will serve the company as an advertising consultant as soon as his health permits. Bien Named A-B Marketing V. P. William Bien has been promoted from vice president over sales and advertising in Anheuser-Busch's brewery division to vice president in charge of marketing, a newlycreated top-level position on the management committee, it has been announced by August A. Busich Jr., AnheuserBusch president. He becomes a member of the decision-making body along with the executive vice president and vice presidents for brewing, operations and administration. Mr. Bien joined Anheuser-Busch in 1932, was appointed general sales manager of the brewery division in 1956 and elected a vice president last May. He will continue to be responsible for sales and advertising. R. E. Krings is director of advertising. Pharmaceutical Group Forms Radio-Tv Monitoring Unit The American Pharmaceutical Assn.'s radio-tv "watchdog committee" is organizing for nationwide monitoring of drug commercials, according to Dr. Robert P. Fischelis, association secretary. In his progress report at the group's last House of Delegates meeting in Washington, Dr. Fischelis said the committee would collect recordings and films of commercials considered false and misleading and turn over its finding to the Federal Trade Commission and the Food & Drug Administration. The watchdog program, ordered by the APA House of Delegates last spring, still is not completely organized, according to Dr. Fischelis, but should be ready to begin shortly. Explaining why broadcast media had been emphasized, he said, "The voice of the announcer is more persuasive than print," adding that he felt the consumer exercises greater judgment while reading than while listening or viewing broadcasts. Broadcast commercials are "more attentionarresting" than print ads, he said. B&J Softens News (and Stations) With 'Sputnik7 Gum Free Plug A radio-tv commentary of 216 exciting words, designed for free broadcasting on behalf of Sputnik Earth Satellite bubble gum, has been distributed to stations by the news bureau of Bozell & Jacobs, Chicago. The free plug is offered as a humorous bit designed to soften the impact of tense world news events. "All of which proves," according to the plug, "we Americans still have a sense of humor, even in this 'sputnik-muttnick-whatnick world.' " Sputnik Earth Satellite bubble gum is made by Leaf Brands Inc., Chicago, the free continuity reminds. With a nice eye for detail, the copy says, "Of course, the gum itself is round — like Sputnik — and its blue coating is covered with flecks of sugar to carry out the celestial idea. I'm told that the kids say that the bubbles are as round as the moon and that the flavor is out of this world." In another burst of generosity, the copy explains, "a box of Sputnik bubble gum was sent to Nikita Khrushchev in the Kremlin by Marshall Leaf of the company with a note suggesting that the Russian boss try blowing about this Sputnik for a change." ANA'S WEST EXTOLS FREY REPORT The "Frey Report" on advertising agency services and the Assn. of National Advertisers' advertising management guidebook series form a combination which can point the way to "the golden age of opportunity for the advertising agency business," ANA President Paul B. West believes. He told the eastern annual conference of the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies [Advertisers & Agencies, Nov. 25] that the report by Dartmouth Prof. Albert W. Frey, previewed at ANA's annual meeting and slated for publication in its final form within a few weeks [Lead Story, Nov. 4], will help "clear off the dross and clear the way to the gold" for the advertising field. He said the ANA advertising management study, a seven-volume appraisal developed by ANA over a three-year span at a cost of $200,000, will give agency people "an invaluable insight into client thinking and planning to integrate agency services with clients' needs." "Because of the huge investments required for productive advertising today," Mr. West said, "corporate management is making more exacting demands on advertising in order that advertising can make its maximum contribution to corporate profits. "These demands call for the elimination of many past practices that cannot be justified under searching examination when the principles of modern management are applied. The Frey study . . . has put the spotlight on the weaknesses of practices that have grown up in the past in agency-client relations and points up what needs to be done to make advertising as fully productive as conditions today demand. "The ANA advertising management study provides the means of remedying the weaknesses in the advertising structure at all levels — top management, marketing and advertising management and agency management." Mr. West said that "one would think, if one listened to rumor, that the agency business was going to hell." He said, "It irks the hell out of me" to hear some of the reports that have circulated — that the Frey Report, for example, will cost agencies hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions. He said, "The advertising agencies of America have performed a tremendous service for American business and for our country as a whole" and "I have often thought that if by some twist of fate, agencies were suddenly abolished, our economy would not long endure." But, he added, the Frey Report points up "weaknesses" in the agency-client relationship, and agencies and advertisers should work together to eliminate them. He said AAAA President Frederic R. Gamble had told him that the AAAA board is examining the preview of the Frey Report "with an open mind." It is this open-mindedness, he added, that is "so essential to getting the most good out of the Frey Report." Page 40 • December 2, 1957 Broadcasting