Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1958)

ADVERTISERS & AGENCIES continued Why U. S. Steel expended $1 million in a two-year quest for a new image There's a new look to U. S. Steel advertising. So new that it may even take into account television spot — marking the corporation's first use of non-network television— though probably not until late this year or early 1959. The purpose: to slam home the new corporate image of U. S. Steel. U. S. Steel unveiled this "new look" last week. It is the end product of a two-year study of how better to sell Americans on U. S. Steel Corp. as a corporation, as well as to how better to sell Americans on more products made of steel. U. S. Steel, which last year had a net income of $419.4 million in spite of a steady decrease of the total market — 32 to 28.7% over the past 10 years — has good reason to make Americans more "steel conscious." So do its competitors such as Bethlehem, Republic, Inland, Crucible, Allegheny, National and Youngstown Sheet & Tube. The tried-and-true Wall St. maxim that "if you want to know the state of the economy, watch steel," took on considerable meaning last week as steel ovens were working at 48% of capacity, as Detroit laid off more auto workers and as aluminum salesmen told their customers of a two-cent per pound price reduction. The "new look" has been in the making for two years [Closed Circuit, March 10]. Its cost to date has been estimated at roughly $1 million (research and development); its execution will probably add in excess $2 million to its already fat corporate budget of $9 million (of which $3 million goes toward its alternate-week sponsorship of the Theatre Guild's U. S. Steel Hour on CBS-TV Wednesdays, 10-11 p.m. Coincidentally, the company last week announced renewal of the CBS-TV program for another year). Before deciding on its new symbol and theme ("Today's U. S. Steels lighten your work . . . brighten your leisure . . . widen your world"), U. S. Steel and its agency, BBDO New York, called in Alfred Politz Research Inc. to conduct an exhaustive survey of what Americans thought of steel products generally, U. S. Steel in particular. Meanwhile, the design firm of Lippincott & Margulies fashioned a new "USS" logo which premiered on the Steel Hour last month. According to Bennett Chappie, administrative vice president (commercial), Politz found that most Americans tended to associate steel with heavy machinery, strength and heaviness. They erroneously assumed stainless steel to be "much lighter and more reasonably priced . . . both, incidentally, untrue." And while the public gave U. S. Steel a high rating on product-oriented factors such as research and bigness ("bigness is greatness"), it knew little, if anything, about its divisions and subsidiaries such as American Bridge, American Steel & Wire, National Tube, Universal Atlas Cement, etc. In fact, less that 10% of the population, according to Politz, could tie Page 48 • April 7, 1958 these companies up with U. S. Steel although in many instances they had heard of the existence of these companies. Suggested Politz: publicize the fact that they are "part of the family." BBDO recommended that since Politz had found that 66% of the population could associate and identify the "USS" trademark with U. S. Steel — a very high number — the logical solution would be to develop a way whereby all U.S.S. products could be tagged. Enter Lippincott & Margulies and the tricolored symbol (see picture). Said Mr. Chappie: "We will execute an aggressive campaign to promote the use of the new mark on steel products as they leave the factory and as they go on display at the point of sale." The label will not identify U. S. Steel "products," as products made by U. S. Steel; a label which bears the tri-coior symbol and the "lighten-brighten-widen" NEW LOOK LABEL is examined by Jack Brand and Sheila Jackson, team of commercial announcers on the U. S. Steel Hour. slogan will simply say steel." It will be offered by U. S. Steel to its competitors at cost in hopes of stimulating over-all steel sales. "Since we sell to just about everybody in the consumer product business, anything that helps steel helps U. S. Steel," a spokesman declared. In effect, U. S. Steel is doing what Aluminum Co. of America did three years ago. Only early in 1955, Alcoa — one of the four giant aluminum firms (with Kaiser, Reynolds, Aluminium Ltd.) cutting into much of Steel's business — was faced with a minor crisis: Defense Dept. orders had been cut considerably following the Korean truce; aluminum, which has grown like Topsy, had to find new markets to accommodate stepped-up production. Most logical market: the home. In June of that year, its agency, Fuller & Smith & Ross, New York, announced it would not be picking up the Edward R. MurrowFred W. Friendly' See It Now on CBS-TV (which Alcoa had been using as an institutional prestige program). Its reason: Alcoa was "going consumer." It came out with a new red-and-blue symbol and a slogan ("You Can Live With Aluminum"), and a tag ("We chose Alcoa . . .") which Alcoa customers could attach to their household products. In December 1955, Alcoa supple mented its NBC-TV Alcoa Theatre with a "vertical" sales push on that network; all day Dec. 6, Alcoa pushed its "new look" on network and, in some cases, spot. Just how and when U. S. Steel will place its spot drives is still to be worked out. While U. S. Steel executives admit privately that at the outset such a push would be limited in size and expenditure, it is expected that much emphasis will be placed on co-op campaigns, either regionally (by U. S. Steel customers and/or by local dealers selling appliances made of U. S. Steel and bearing the new "trademark." (U. S. Steel managed to make considerable headway using the last-mentioned system on radio during "Operation Snowflake," both in 1956 and 1957). The new tag will be applied to all products made of U. S. Steel or by U. S. Steel subsidiaries and divisions working for the consumer. The Pittsburgh firm claims onethird of its business is geared for the home and farm, but it includes automobiles, which in turn account for 80% of steel produced for the consumer. Just how much U. S. Steel will allocate to tv spot has yet to be decided. Mr. Chappie could offer no specifics nor could other officials of Steel's advertising department. (The company is presently placing "some tv spot" in the intermountain region on behalf of its fertilizer and chemical products, may use this schedule as a "test run" for the new label). Should U. S. Steel decide to splurge in spot (probably not until 1959) chances are that any large allocations would also include co-op funds. Spot is necessary in the company's ad plans; it knows that not everyone it wishes to reach watches Steel Hour. It also is aware of Steel Hour's excellent "sponsor identification" [Advertisers & Agencies, Jan. 20] and realizes that to purchase another network show would merely diffuse that identification. Any way one looks at it, Steel's "new look" is quite a radical departure from the way it looked to media in 1937 when U. S. Steel's total ad allocation was $700,000. Desilu's Hamilton Named Lever Bros. Tv Consultant Lever Bros., which ranked as fourth largest national tv advertiser last year, has appointed A. E. Hamilton, a former vice president of Desilu Inc., as television consultant. It is presumed that Mr. Hamilton in his capacity as consultant will offer the company advice on show properties including their audience appeal. It could not be determined whether he will recommend program formats for Lever, but a spokesman for the company said last week that this was "possible." Lever indicated in New York that Mr. Hamilton most likely will operate on the West Coast and concentrate on filmed properties. Edgar Kobak, station owner and business consultant, is a consultant to Lever Bros, in New York. Lever in 1957 invested nearly $24 million at gross rates in national tv, more than $16.2 million in network and over $7.6 million in spot, according to compilations made by Publishers Information Bureau and N. C. Rorabaugh Co. Broadcasting