Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1943)

ihcrc is a world of activity carried on in order to keep the radio programs continually before the public, and, what is more important to their success, before our managers and employees. It has long been our policy to hold employee's meetings at our warehouse each week. \Vc held a sj^ecial meeting to present the radio programs to the employees, with a KRLD emcee to present them. A kit of window displays, counter cards, package stuffers, and pennants were given each manager with instructions for displav. By keeping constantly in touch with store managers, we ha\e l)een able to , maintain the original enthusiasm. Consequently, sales of advertised items have steadily increased. After the programs had been in progress for about two months, we held another general sales meeting, and through co-operation of EvKRSHARP, put on a miniatine Tahe It or Leax'e It program; Srilikrn's donated cash prizes for the contest and presented all contestants w^ith an Eversharp pencil. Throughout this program, the radio shows were plugged, and enthusiasm built. Weekly bulletins to each store keep Born in a small Texas town less than forty years ago, Edgar William Hendrix has become one of the best knoiun men in the retail drug business in the southwest. He started for Skillern's 17 years ago as a soda jerker in one of their downtown stores. Working under Rae Ski II em personally, drugman Hendrix ran the entire gamut of drug store positions. Two years ago, he was made vicepresident and put in charge of all the merchandising and advertising for the 30 Skillerji stores. Duri?2g the past few years, under Mr. Skillern's direction, the stores have been streamlined and six new, modern self-serve stores have been opened. All stores feature lunch counters and deluxe fountains. Locations are mostly suburban, serving neighborhood communities luith a large variety of drug and sundry merchandise. them posted in advance of the \arious items which will be advertised. Now for the great question mark in any advertising campaign; what are the results? By keeping a close check on our inventory cards, we have been able to trace excellent results on many advertised items. As an experiment, we introduced a new hay fever remedy to Texans which was never featured before in anv advertising of any kind in Texas. We bought ten gross to carry us through the three month season, and in six weeks had to re-order another five gross. The manufacturer reports that he received requests for the item throughout the entire state and was able to trace the sale of nearly 100 gross to the Skillern programs. A vitamin product which we ha\e featured for the past six weeks shows a 600 per cent increase over a year ago. A third item advertised had averaged a three gross a month sale from January to August, 1942. From August 15 to November 15, we sold 16 gross. Cases such as these are all the proof we need that radio is doing a job. At Christmas, we felt that we wanted to do something special in the way of an institutional Christmas Gift program. We secured the time from 10:30 until midnight on Christmas Eve. We then offered this time to the National Conference of Christians and Jews for a joint program of prayer for Peace on Earth, GoodAV^ill to Men. They arranged for outstanding speakers and choirs from a Jewish Temple, Protestant Churches, and Catholic Churches, w^ith the Catholic Bishop's Christmas message included. This program was announced in newspaper ads, on our regular programs, and in all the pulpits in Dallas preceding Christmas, tv^e have received many fine compliments on this gesture, and are planning to make it a yearly institution. The future plans are uncertain. We do know that Skillern's Entertain will remain a definite part of our organization, and that expansion of activities is in the picture. Just how extensive an expansion this is depends on the availability of merchandise and the many other factors in operating a business under wartime economy. 80 RADIO SHOWM ANSH I P