Broadcasting Telecasting (Jul-Sep 1960)

For tv: more of 'Mr. Machine' The robot-like "Mr. Machine" — a key-wound plastic toy — is Ideal Toy Corp.'s ideal toy and will serve as the identifying logo in all its tv advertising this fall. It will come at the tag end of the commercial. Ideal Toy said last week that "Mr. Machine appeals to all ages and both sexes and typifies the quality and play value which Ideal strives to build into all its products." It also serves to emphasize the tvthinking of long-time television advertiser Ideal. A company spokesman admitted Ideal would be spending "much more" in tv, noting "every toy company that's in television is increasing" its use of the visual medium. Ideal will commence stepped-up tv advertising this fall with a taped hour-long kid's spectacular it'll produce in New York. It will be placed, through Grey Adv., its agency, in 19 cities starting around Sept. 25. The hour show will star Shari Lewis and will carry the six-word title of Christmas in September with Shari Lewis. warnings come from Matthew J. Culligan, general corporate executive. McCann-Erickson, in a talk before the San Francisco Advertising Club last Wednesday (Aug. 17). The agency official also observed: . . Advertising differs from faceto-face communication in the circumstances of its reception. The advertising message goes to a non-captive individual with unlimited freedom to accept, reject, or ignore. It must overcome inertia and indifference." Cities Service names Lennen & Newell Cities Service Oil Co. (petroleum products), New York, last week appointed Lennen & Newell, New York, as its advertising agency, effective Jan. 1, 1961. Billing is estimated at $4 million, of which approximately 30% is in radio-tv. The account will be leaving Ellington & Co., New York, which has been Cities Service's agency for the past 13 years. No reason was given for the move but reports circulated that the shift was tied in with a new advertising approach to be adopted by the company. The institutional advertising slant emphasized in recent years, it was said, will be replaced by one that will be more aggressive and designed to improve product sales. 'Mr. Machine' . Ideal's ideal toy The toy company has an extensive spot tv spread. This spring the company had success with spots featuring its Monkey Stix and Dog Champion items, the TOBACCO AND TV New brands spark bigger B&W budget The tv support in introducing Belair and Kentucky Kings cigarette brands nationally earlier this year is pointed out in Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.'s disclosure last week that the firm's tv expenditures in 1960 will move up to a total $26.4-$28 million, compared with the $22.4-$23.8 million level in 1959. The approximate $5 million increase — all of it presumably in tv — corresponds with the report that B&W's total advertising budget will rise from $28 million last year to "at least $33 million" in 1960, according to John W. Burgard, vice president in charge of advertising. Brown & Williamson's increasing television activity is illustrated in the recent appointment of Arthur C. Ericksen as head of tv operations. He previously handled tv activities on the American Tobacco account at BBDO. Mr. Ericksen is based at Brown & Williamson headquarters in Louisville, where one of his main responsibilities will be the placement of cigarette brands on six network programs in which B&W will participate this fall. Orders are placed through Ted Bates. For the second half of 1960, Mr. Burgard told Broadcasting last week. latter becoming the first coast-tocoast spot campaign on behalf of hobby kits (also a new age group of 6-9 was opened for the hobby field). During the year, Ideal will continue to back top-rated children's shows (including Bozo the Clown, Popeye and Three Stooges type programming), will once again sponsor the Macy Thanksgiving Parade telecast and will debut Astro Base, "an outerplanetary installation complete with a remote-controlled, rocket-firing scout car," this year, along with a group of space helmet items made out of plastic. Ideal has a group of dolls and various craft (including an atomic submarine model that crash dives) that will get tv support. Behind its tv thrust: signing of Andre Baruch to become the "voice of Ideal" on all toy and hobby kit commercials; firsttime production of commercials using musical jingles and integration of commercials with color sales promotion films which all Ideal salesmen carry for showing to their prospective clients. the tobacco firm's ratio between network and spot tv will be about IVi to 1 in favor of network. In 1959, Brown & Williamson was reported to rank first in spot tv in its product category, with expenditures more than double the next company. Its Viceroy brand ranked second among all cigarettes advertised, first in spot tv and fourth in network coverage. The advertiser's radio budget is slight, but what little is spent is used mostly for tests. "Kentucky Kings brand has taken off at a higher rate than was anticipated," Mr. Burgard declared when queried on the success of its introduction this summer. He pointed out that in the launching of various filter tip cigarettes in recent years, metropolitan areas were the first to click with the brands, but the appeal for the all-tobacco-filter Kentucky Kings has been just as great in rural areas as in the cities. Scholarship list The Advertising Federation of America is compiling a list of advertising marketing scholarships offered to students contemplating careers in those areas. Organizations that sponsor such awards or are interested in establishing scholarships in these fields are asked to communicate with George T. Clarke, bureau director of the Advertising Federation of America, 250 W. 57th St., New York 9, N.Y. BROADCASTING, August 22, 1960 39