Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1963)

A call to arms for advertisers ANA HEARS PLEA FOR 'MILITANCY' TO REDUCE TV 'CLUTTER' A call for "militancy" by advertisers in their efforts to reduce "clutter" and maintain product protection in television was issued last week by Harry F. Schroeter, retiring chairman of the Association of National Advertisers. The admonition was one of several in his report to the membership at the ANA's annual meeting, held Monday through Wednesday (Nov. 11-13) at the Homestead, Hot Springs, Va. Other highlights of the three-day meeting included reports that foresaw the need for evaluating audiences in terms of "temperament" and "psychological identification" as well as the traditional demographic features, a lengthy session on the use of Negroes in advertising (page 52), studies of agency compensation and other areas of agency-advertiser relationships (page 54), a report on talent union negotiations (page 66), a plea for creation of a "positive action group" to advance understanding of the free-enterprise system, and a succession of case histories of successful advertising campaigns (page 54). Take Heed ■ Mr. Schroeter, reviewing ANA activities and suggesting future courses, cited rising advertising costs and called for "increased attention to both the prices we pay for space, time and production and to the productivity of our ads and commercials." He called attention to ANA's part in the negotiation of talent contracts for TV commercials, which he said "is a major undertaking and will pay dividends," and to ANA's various media cost trend studies, which "direct attention to irregularities and out-of-hand situations." "The productivity of our ads and commercials is equally important," Mr. Schroeter said. "Surrounding conditions can impair such productivity. We can and do oppose clutter in broadcasting or insufficient product protection, poor reproduction in printed media, shoddy editorial workmanship in all media. Again, we do not run the enterprises of others, but we can and should make known our views and suggestions. "For instance, our groups working with publishers are making good progress. Elsewhere, in such as clutter and product protection in TV, improvement is more elusive. Militancy is required. To John Burgard and the broadcast committee I counsel perseverance so that recognition and adoption of our views may come not just from an FCC commissioner but from broadcasters and their groups as well." Mr. Burgard, of Brown & Williamson, is chairman of the ANA broadcast committee, which has led the advertisers' fight both to insure adequate product protection and to reduce the "clutter" of credits, program promotional material, etc., between TV shows. Mr. Schroeter called for improved standards for commercials and other advertising, "which are our own responsibility." Keep A Weather Eye ■ He also reported that "some ANA members" wonder whether "some agency trends" are consistent with the view that "topsecret" information made available by an advertiser to its agency should be treated as such by the agency. He did not elaborate, except to urge ANA to "observe all new developments closely." The time may soon come, he suggested, when "ANA may need to prepare a point of view." In a report on "the marketing system of survival," Willard C. Wheeler, economics and business strategy consultant to the Chirurg & Cairns agency, said that facts that can make the difference between profit and loss in marketing are obscured by national averages, so that in most cases the national massmarket concept will have to be discarded and "each natural economic region, area and place" considered separately. He described a "selective-selling strategy" in which each product must have "its own national basic sales idea and its own media list." "Both the idea and the media," he said, "must be aimed at the most likely prospects and these prospects must be described not only in the usual demographic terms but also in terms of temperaments. The task of so describing the person most likely to buy the product, whether industrial or consumer, requires a high level of discernment by the advertising department, the agency and research. "Timing is important. One type of person may be best when a new product is launched and a different type a year two or so later. Often this kind of thinking will give the answer as to how long to ride a given basic sales idea as well as media." Basic Temperaments ■ Mr. Wheeler described four basic consumer temperaments: (1) the leaders, amounting to about 10% of the population; (2) the early followers, about 15%; (3) the conformists, about 50% , and (4) the standpatters, about 25%. "There are many creative thinking media directors who can make appraisals of print, broadcast and other media in terms of these four types of temperament." he said. "They can contribute A progress report on current negotiations with talent unions for new contracts governing TV and radio commercials was presented by this group at the annual meeting of the Association of National Advertisers last week. They are six of ANA's representatives on the joint committee formed by ANA and the American Association of Advertising Agencies to serve as a policy group on broadcast talent union relations. Shown at the ANA meeting at Hot Springs, Va., are (I to r) Palmer D. McKay, Sun Oil Co.; John Tyner, Bristol-Myers; Harry F. Schroeter, National Biscuit Co., co-chairman of the joint committee; Kenneth Baumbusch, American Home Products; Joseph Beech Jr., Procter & Gamble, and Gail Smith, General Motors. See story page 66. 50 (BROADCAST ADVERTISING) BROADCASTING, November 18, 1963