Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1959)

6 Motion Picture Daily Monday, September 28, 1959! i MOTION PICTURE HERALD MERCHANDISING CONFERENCES. Maximum Exposure for Tillow It Sells Itself National Ads, Merchandising Tie-ins Push The Best of Everything' By SHERWIN KANE An exliibitor audience from all parts of the country and from Canada that had spent all of last Thursday in projection rooms viewing and discussing films and the promotion campaigns for them as part of Motion Picture Herald's Merchandising Conference, was de . lighted at the end of the day with the night time screening of Universal's "Pillow Talk." That the exhibitors' delight was genuine was evident not only from their hearty laughter during the picture's two hours of running time and by their enthusiastic comments after but also by remaining for another hour and a half to hear the campaign for the Rock Hudson-Doris Day comedy described by Universal executives, and to make suggestions of their own for supplementing it. Phil Gerard, Universal's Eastern publicity manager, described the extensive publicity campaign for the picture which will be released Oct. 15, noHng that there are no "gimmicks" in the campaign. "None are needed," he said. "We have the product in this one. So the basis of the campaign is to expose it to as many critics, editors and opinion makers as possible." Wide Variety of Promotion That is being done, Gerard made it clear, by numerous screenings, by publicity tours for all members of the cast to all parts of the country; through magazine features, press breaks of many types, column material and everything else available. Charles Simonelli, Universal's Eastern director of advertising-publicity-exploitation, described much of the campaign for promotion of the picture on radio and television, where network shows in a great variety have been carrying and will continue to carry a variety of plugs for the film. Jeff Livingston, Universal Eastern advertising manager, facetiously explained that his department is behind schedule with "Pillow Talk" ads "because we're not used to handling pictures like this— pictures without problems—no race question, no talking animals, no angles that make it good for adults and rule it out for children. This is just good entertainment for everyone. So we're late with the ads and you won't find many in the kit supplied you, even though it's one of the most comprehensive campaigns —and heaviest kits— we've ever had." He proceeded to show many of the magazine ads, and described many more to come. Radio spot announcements were demonstrated. Simonelli Outlines Drive Simonelli reported Universal's participation in local cooperative advertising "is up 60 per cent on our recent releases." He said the national campaign on "Pillow Talk" won't detract from local advertising. In fact, he said, having committed the company to "hundreds of thousands of dollars" of national advertising "we can't walk away from local advertising" and jeopardize such an investment. Herman Kass, exploitation manager, described many of the countless tie-ups and exploitation stunts planned for the picture, and Jack Diamond, studio publicity manager, related the production publicity that began with the start of shooting and even included a 17,000-mile tour by a member of the studio's own national newspaper service calling on editors and critics to inquire whether they are getting the material they want. By JAMES D. IVERS In a unique variation from the program procedure, Charles Einfeld, presenting the extensive campaign for "The Best of Everything," made the presentation before the screening of the picture. His theory he told the circuit executives and exhibitors who crowded the Fox screening room was that they could judge better the impact of the campaign by experiencing the same "want-to-see" that would impel their customers to come to the box office. The experiment was a huge success. In an hour and half program— a show in itself— Einfeld and his staff presented their plans to blanket the country with "The Best of Everything," and the effect on the audience was obvious. To start the picture, Einfeld introduced Ed Sullivan, publicity director who told of the wide campaign given the subject from the moment Jerry Wald bought the property in galley proof with the result that the title was widely known even before publication and the best-seller lists. The Author a Speaker Rona Jaffe, author of the book, spoke briefly and then Edward Feldman of the Fox publicity department told of the tie-up with Pocket Books, Inc. and introduced Leonard Forman, vice-president of that company who said, "We are betting 5,000,000 copies that the promotion will be a success." He told of the back-up promotions planned including window cards and displays and urged exhibitors to tie-in with their local book dealers when they date the picture, offering complete cooperation. Also in the area of tie-ups Feldman introduced Robert Hirschberg, fashion advertising manager of Harper's Bazaar who told of an executive cooperative advertising section, appearing in the October issue. Ira Tulipan of the Fox publicity department told of innumerable publicity breaks in national magazines on the picture and introduced Bob Evans, supporting star in the picture and himself a former advertising and promotion executive. On the advertising side Abe Goodman, Fox director of advertising, related that the genesis of the campaign lay in the picture's potential identification with its audience. From this came the line, "You deserve The Best of Everything" keying the advertising. Newspaper ads, he said, have or will appear in ofF-the-amusement ' page spots, for instance on page 2 of the New York Times or alongside widely read columns. Charles Schlaifer, head of the agency bearing his name, said the national magazine campaign, encompassing Life, Look, Saturday Evening Post, McCall's, Glamour and others totalling 46,000,000 in circulation, would take the form of simulated f editorial copy facing in most cases the table of contents pages. Campaigns in Key Cities Rodney Bush, exploitation director, and Eddie Solomon of his department told of promotions already arranged with merchants in Denver and Chicago and urged exhibitors to use the obvious implications of the title to y excite local merchants. Capping this part of the program Sam Cuff, pro-nf motion director for Allied Stores, outlined plans under which stores in his organization such as Stern's in New York will reach an estimated 14,000,000 customers with window displays and direct mail tie-ups featuring the title. Martin Michel fisted television and ^ radio plugs planned or already ^| achieved for the picture Talking about "Pillow Talk": left to right, Jeff Livingston, Universal Eastern advertising manager; David L. Lipton, vice-president; Charles Simonelli, Eastern advertising and publicity dept. manager; Phil Gerard, Eastern publicity manager; and Jack Diamond, studio publicity director. Part of the enthusiastic audience at the Fox session of the Motion Pictur; , Herald Merchandising Conference for "The Best of Everything" as they ap-j j, plauded Charles Einfeld, right, after the presentation of the campaign. «e