Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1943)

For Victory f Center Via Radio, Attracts Rossmau's, Inc., Minneapolis obligation which all must assume is to promote the sale of AVar Bonds and Stamps. To do that. Rossman's Clothing Store set up on the second floor a Victoiy Center. In it there is a complete display of war information covering the Army, the Navy, the Marines, the WAAC, and the ^VAVE. The entire center is dedicated to the sale of War Bonds and Stamps, and to the stepping up of the enlistment rate for the Minneapolis area. ^Vhile through the Victory Center we hope to fulfill our wartime obligations, we also had to solve merchandising problems born out of the same conditions. With women urgently needed in defense plants, and in other occupations formerly occupied b)^ men, the demand is no longer for the fri\olous type of dress. Women today want and must have war workers clothes, they need more sweaters, blouses, skirts and slacks. Rossman's answer to that situation was its Pine Shops, a modern sportswear center for women. Here on one floor were all the clothes that the woman of today wants and needs. When the last hammer ring had sounded, the last new fixture put in place, we were ready to invite the public to look over the new quarters. It was at this point that radio came into the picture. Frankly, radio hadn't figured much in our past advertising expenditure. But here was a set of new wartime conditions, and we agreed to give new merchandising methods a fair trial for the occasion. For our grand opening, we took to WTCN, Minneapolis, Minn., and results from these special broadcasts were so satisfactory that radio may well become a permanent part of our regular advertising policy. For our grand opening, we decided upon two broadcasts from the Victory Center, one at 12:15 P.M., and another at 8:15 P.M. We wanted as many people as possible to hear about the new Pine Shops; we wanted as many as possible to come to the store to see for themselves. On the Sunday preceding our opening, we ran a three-quarter page advertisement in the Tribune and Star Journal. And the eye-catcher for the ad was a large box which gave our entire WTCN set-up for the special broadcasts to be aired the next day. Our half-hour noon broadcast featured interviews with representatives of \arious branches of the armed service, with WTCN's Director of Women's Activities Ann Ginn as mistress of ceremonies. Between interviews, orders for War Bonds were taken from those listening over the radio, and purchases were dedicated to any branch of the service. Via WTCN the purchaser received the thanks of a representative of that branch. Without any previous plugging of this phase of the broadcast, $2,000 worth of \V3.r Bonds were sold that noon from the Victory Center. Victory Center broadcasts that evening featured the swearing in of a Minneapolis ^V^AAC. Families of two other \VAACs stationed at Fort Des Moines, la., carried on telephone conversations with them, and for the benefit of WTCN listeners, mistress of ceremonies Ann Ginn listened in with head phones to interpret the conversations. Reckoning came at the end of the day. More than 8,000 women who had come to the store had been given a rose each. Thousands more who had heard the broadcasts from Rossman's would come into the store in the next few weeks to see the new sections. Without question, radio was an important factor in putting over the story of the new Pine Shops to the people of Minneapolis and the surrounding territory. JANUARY, 1 943 17