Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

$300,000 QUESTION always go along. But, for the most part, it's an agency philosophy. We put little slips on our paychecks, at the semi-annual pay periods, suggesting that our employes use our clients' products. Q: I wonder if those slips are like the slips that Ben Duffy, the president of BBDO, puts in the executive paychecks at his shop. I believe that he inserts a little note which states, "Confucius say, 'He who do not use client's products works for the wrong agency'." A: Similar. Q: Well, do you enforce this? Go back to BBDO for a moment. I believe that the cigarette machines in the agency office offer only Lucky Strikes, because of course, American Tobacco is a BBDO client. Today, of course, there's a choice. Lucky Strikes and Hit Parade, another American Tobacco Co. product. But that's all. Now, would you go that far? Would you actually limit your employes to the use of the products you advertise? A: I wouldn't limit them to the use of the products that are advertised, but I certainly wouldn't display competitive products in the vending machines of our agency. Q: Well, let's go back to your personal life. If you lost Procter & Gamble as a client, the makers of Crest, suppose you picked up another toothpaste client. Would you shift? A: Probably. Q: But why? Don't you like to use the best toothpaste? A: I don't think that's germane. I think all toothpastes are good, and I believe it would be almost impossible to determine which is the best toothpaste. Q: Would you ever permit a copywriter of yours to put that line in an advertisement, that, "I believe", or, "We believe that all toothpastes are good"? A: Probably not, but the fact of the matter is that they are all good or they couldn't succeed at all, and it's basically true that all products haven't differences. You are talking about a category of items in which the variation is quite slight. You might take other products in which the variation would be tremendous. Q: Well, what I am trying to get at is an apparent difference between what you say to me now, man to man, and what the copywriter says to the public in the ad. Doesn't the copywriter try to get the public to believe that there are vast differences among products? A: Yes, that's part of the task which we have, to sell the products which we represent. But they must be good products or we're not very successful in selling them. Nor is anyone successful in selling a bad product. Q: Would you ever plan a campaign if you were not convinced that the client had a good product to put on the market? A: No. We would tell the client if we were satisfied that that was a bad product, and we do copy testing and product testing for almost every product that we put on the market, and it's pretty silly to advertise a product that is poor, because it just won't sell. Advertising exposes a product to more people quickly, and it will kill it more quickly if it's not a good product. So that your end result must be a bad one. You might just as well have that before you start as after you've spent the money and had the heartaches and the headaches and the losses. Q: Well, to come down to cases, have you ever rejected a product or told a client, "Go peddle your papers some place else"? A: Well, in the past two weeks, we've had two occasions to tell clients, "We don't think you should go ahead with this product, because, in our opinion, it hasn't got a chance." STAND-BY BRAND • Grey's President Fatt, asked Thursday, "What toothpaste did you use this morning?" replied, "Kolynos . . . and I will continue to use it until toe, as an agency, are fortunate enough to get another brand." of product loyalty, but that he could see how it might be embarrassing for an account executive to bring in a client and see his colleagues smoking competitive cigarettes, for example. An agency vice president at one of the larger auto account shops said "It's especially risky in day-to-day contacts, this business of using your client's product, especially if it is a $10,000 car, which you as a person can't afford." He says when a man becomes an agency executive, he's got to play by the rules, and one of them is that you just don't go around indirectly boosting what you're not supposed to be boosting. A Benton & Bowles executive summarized his view of the situation thus: "Sheer nonsense." St. Louis Reaction Lukewarm To Proposal to Tax Ad Media A suggestion that St. Louis consider taxing local advertising media along the lines of Baltimore's recently enacted ordinances has evoked only lukewarm reaction so far. In fact, the idea had not even been offered formally to the city council as of last Thursday, more than three weeks after Alderman Alfred Harris announced he would ask the council to study the feasibility of such taxes [At Deadline, Dec 2]. One definite and politically persuasive voice has denounced the idea. It came last week from Mark R. Holleran, Democratic national committeeman from Missouri, whose sentiments carry weight with the St. Louis Democratic administration. In assailing the plan, Mr. Holleran noted that despite his friendship with Baltimore Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro, he feels media taxes such as Baltimore's are basically "bad." He said similar measures in St. Louis would be "ill-advised, harsh and oppressive" and would pose an "economic threat" to the city. St. Louis media have withheld fire on the Harris suggestion up to this time. According to Hugo Autz, president of the St. Louis Advertising Club, which is studying the problem, local media and businesses have undertaken to show city authorities how such a tax would be ultimately harmful to all concerned. Mr. Autz expressed the opinion that the suggestion stands a good chance of being vetoed. He pointed out that the tax suggestion did not originate at the top level of city administration and that officials haven't expressed any particular enthusiasm for such an ordinance. Alderman Harris, who suffered injuries in a traffic accident shortly after his original tax suggestion, was back at his desk last week, but gave no indication when and in what form he would offer his idea to the council. It's understood, however, that he is considering one amendment that would exempt the first $200,000 of gross sales and income from the proposed advertising tax. Mr. Harris' plan is that the St. Louis ordinances could be similar to Baltimore's: a 4% sales tax on gross sales, plus a 2% levy on the gross of all advertising media. The Baltimore taxes already have been taken to the local court [Advertisers & Agencies, Dec. 9]. Broadcasting December 16, 1957 • Page 29