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mercials Were Dorn;
Trick Commercials Which Audiences Enjoy Gloe 6-Year Old Series High Hooper Rating, Also Sell Groceries for Smart § Final Co., Wholesalers
by TOM PAUL
lead subjects deal with everything troni botony, zoology, geography, mathematics, cryptography and grammar to just plain nonsense.
FLAIR FOR THE UNUSUAL
Main credit for the novel sales technique tised on the show goes to an attractive young lady named Virginia Phillis who, through the company's advertising agency, Heintz-Pickerixg, has been working closely with Johnny for the more than six years he has been on the air for Smart & Final. It is Miss Phillis' nimble mind and flair for the unusual which snares odd facts from every conceivable soinxe and turns them into what are among the most listened-to and thoroughly enjoyed commercials on the air today.
At random, let's take a few of the subjects with which Johnny Murray opens his show, immediately grabs his listeners' attention. One morning he told what Romulus and Remus have in common with the Luck of Roaring Camp (a highly hnaginative sketch with a logical conclusion); a story of Tin Pan Alley another day; again What's a Lichen?; the prevalence of the snuff habit; the story of the Quipu (which, b\ the way, is an old-time method of calculating) and thousands of others ecpially as amusing and as amazing.
Wi: spend most of om^ time in the commercial lead getting the listener's at
JU L Y , 1946
tention and interest," explained Miss Phillis. "VV^hen we are certain we have that, then we slip in the rabbit punch. It ties-up completely with otir leacl, no matter how far afield we ha\e gone, and it seems to get results."
NO CHANGE IN FORMAT
And so goes the story of a radio program which has passed broadcast 1,500 without a basic change in format or a change in sponsor. Johnny Murray Talks It Over, which is a 15-minute, six-day-aweek strip, has always been near the top of the heap on Hooper ratings and, just to make this story complete, the last Hooper survey showed Johnny Murray with the highest rating he has ever had. Best of all, the radio audience is still writing to Johnny for more trick commercials because it enjoys them, and the sponsor is highly pleased with their selling punch.
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