Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

MR. FATT'S Here, condensed, is a transcript of parts of the telecast interview that preceded Kolynos toothpaste's departure from Grey Adv. last week. The interviewee was Grey President Arthur C. Fatt; the interviewer was Howard Whitman, and the program was Nightbeat, on WABD (TV) New York, Dez. 3. Q: Let's start with some personal questions. When you woke up this morning and brushed your teeth, what kind of toothpaste did you use? A: Crest. Q: Crest. When you groomed your hair, what did you use? A: Mennen's hair cream. Q: And what about the coffee you had for breakfast? A: Chock Full O'Nuts. Q: Now, according to my information, Mr. Fatt, you have two hits and one miss. You represent, I believe, at your agency, Kolynos toothpaste. A: That's correct. Q: Why do you use Crest? A: I just happened to use it this morning. It's a product of Procter & Gamble, another client of our agency. Q: I see. Then you have two toothpaste clients. Do you alternate, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Crest; Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Kolynos? A: . We do not handle the advertising of Crest. It just happens to be a product that I used this morning. Q: The point I am trying to make is not to embarrass you about your personal tastes in toothpaste, or anything else, but rather the point of the advertising agency man's feeling about the product he advertises. Do you feel that you, and everyone in your agency, should loyally use the products that you plug in your ads? A: I try to sell that philosophy to the people in the agency, but I must confess that they're free thinkers and they don't wmm>::::u. ' :=" ". . .-: : : • ■■■■ : ' ADVERTISERS & AGENCIES continued his agency, he would use it. Mr. Dodge asserted that "an agency has a job to do for a client, and most agencies, including Grey, do it." Other factors, he indicated, should be subordinated to this primary function. The president of an agency that bills in the radio-tv top 10, and in the top 20 in total billing, said that upon hearing of the Kolynos situation he was at first "amused," but upon reflection was "genuinely shaken by it." He emphasized, however, that in his view one of his "first and cardinal principles" is that a client's product ought to be used and given preference over all others. He did not think the fact that another client's product (but a product not handled by his agency) was available would affect his choice — "Good manners dictate that you use the client's product." William Banbrick, Foote, Cone & Belding account executive on Pepsodent, said his office's policy was to use other brands of toothpaste as well, "so we know what they are doing." Right now, he said, he was trying a competitor's toothpaste "hoping to find what is wrong or why it may not be as good as Pepsodent." He asserted that "nobody ever has asked us to use Pepsodent. The client uses other brands, too, and for the same reason we do— to find out what the competitor is doing." He noted, "We just assume that since we work with the product in our advertising, it is a better product." Mr. Banbrick thought, however, that an entirely different situation may be presented when an advertising man is before the camera and "talking to perhaps a million people." A long-time (32 years) agency executive, one of the first people to service a network advertiser in radio back in 1931, commented: "If this is the real reason for the account loss — and I don't believe for a minute that it is — then I had better quit the agency business now while I'm ahead." (He has only a couple of years to go till retirement.) William P. Warwick, radio-tv director, Warwick & Legler, said he believes in "the principle of using a client's product," that "we are working for him and I am sure he [the client] uses his own products." He explained that it's not that "we should be walking ads," but that client loyalty through product usage not only familiarizes the agency executive with the product so that he can do a better job of promoting its virtues, but also that it does much to "encourage brand consciousness." An account executive handling a dentifrice for a top agency in New York (billings heavy in tv and radio) said he had a strong opinion on the subject. "If he [Mr. Fatt] likes Crest then he should be free to use it," he said. He continued that it has been his feeling that a person active in the advertising field should be permitted "to reserve the right" to use what product "he happens to like," whether it be a client's product or some other. This does not mean that he personally does not use the client's product. It so happens that he does. Perhaps the loyalty factor may color my view," he admitted. A top executive at Doherty, Clifford, Steers & Shenfield, agency for Ipana, said Mr. Fatt "should be applauded by the entire advertising agency for his frankness." He felt that agency personnel should be free to experiment with other products so that a basis for comparison can be set up. He noted that Cunningham & Walsh sends men into the field for research work. He ex pressed the view that Mr. Fatt "will come out of this thing on top." Another top-echelon agency man, one who has been in radio-tv since the first day he entered the agency business in the 'thirties, claims that by saying all brands of toothpastes were more or less the same, Mr. Fatt had practically disqualified himself as an agency practitioner. Yet another executive said that he "wasn't at all sorry for Arthur." Who knows, he asked, P&G might "feel so sorry for him that they'll maybe hand him $8 million billings next week!" An official of the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies told Broadcasting that "so far as we know, it's pretty general policy among agencies to suggest that their people use their clients' products." (AAAA staff members themselves have a sort of "member loyalty" which leads them to use, as much as possible, products that are handled by AAAA member agencies.) An Assn. of National Advertisers official said ANA has "no policy" on the question THE IRONY OF IT ALL To promote "brand loyalty" for its clients, Grey Adv. distributed weekly shopping lists and gift shopping wallet-size folders to its employes, suppliers, clients and other people who do business with the agency. The weekly shopping list is divided into categories — food, drug, toiletries, household items, notions, and personal — and lists the brands in each section which are advertised through Grey. Page: 28 • December 16, 1957 Broadcasting