Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1947)

usable ideas. Prizes consisted of electrical appliances and of money, and, in the case of cash awards, the money was usually donated to club act i\i ties. When the Birmingham Electric Company, Birmingham, Alabama, took on participating sponsorship of the \\^\PI "Model Kitchen," it also developed a form of merchandising. Each month the company sent out with its 65. ()()() bills a booklet which told the stor) of the company and its radio series. Programs not designed to do a persistently spectacular merchandising job may also lend themselves to merchandising effort. For example, over a period of )ears, the Central Illinois Light Company used its "Town Crier" series as an institutional offering, but as stimulants to listeners, and as a program pep pill, it incorporated various merchandising ideas from time to time. For example, it conducted a contest for the oldest gas and light bill. Radio was the sole mediinn of telling the public about the contest, and it pulled 829 entries. For a period of time, it conducted a hidden appliance contest. Commercials were presented in the form of skits, and listeners were asked to list all gas and electrical appliances mentioned in the (hamatizations. In almost all merchandising effort the listener gets something, either for nothing, or for a small charge. In other words, the advertiser gives the listener an inducement to respond to his direct appeal. It is quite true that merchandising effort may be carried too far, and in such cases it builds neither good will nor loyal audiences. 7he basic ingredient of the successfid, economical ])rogram is good entertainnuni. ESSENTIAL FACTORS FOR SUCCESS \ot all l)road(ast (ampaigns succeed. I Ik \ don't in any media. Where they (loni, ii is usually a safe assumption that some one sup in (he o\(T-all strategN has been on ci looked. Hu( right oil the bat, the public utilii\ c()mj)any starts with one factor in its l;i\oi. Radio is of primary value to the adxertiser whose ciisloniers are drawn Iroin all sections ol the ( oinniunilN . Ihe size of the community for the size of the business is not in itself too great a success factor. Either of these factors may determine the amoiuit of the advertising appropriation, btu relati\e impact seems to be more impc:>rtant than the number of dollars spent. Marked success with the broadcast medium increases with the relative amoinit of the total btidget spent in radio. Many ad\ertisers have to be shown the impc:)rtance of continuity of effort in a broadcast campaign, yet these same advertisers w^ould never think of hiring a salesman on a 13-week basis. Since radio is a form of selling, it should be treated accc:)rdingly. Radio deals with an audience potential rather than with definite circulation patterns, and it isn't by accident that its greatest successes are on the air week in, week out, year after year. Westchester Lighting Company and Yonkers Electric Light & Power Company pro\ ide a case in point. The firms used radio on an experimental basis in 1939 and the program has today become an integral part of their advertising activities. The advertising manager, W. F. Stevens, sums up the firms' attitude toward radio: "The local radio station, like the local newspaper, can render a flexibility of ser\ ice. with strictly local cc)\erage, appeal, and color." Duquesne Light Company, Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania, first went on the air in 1937 and it is still continuing with the same program. C^oordination ol all achertising effoi t is a \ ital factor in the success of an\ given campaign. It's the same old story of a binidle of sticks; tie them all together and the sales message gets that nuu h greater penetration. 1 he nature of a program alone does not account for the success of broadcast advertising. It's ecjually impoi taiu to get on a schedule and to stick to it. Ihere is. of course, no sure-fire plan of success. It is possible to break all the I ules and come out with an effective campaign. J he prime ingredients are cooperation, imagination, and j)atience. That this loinuda woi ks is e\ idenced by the main case histories of acherlisers for whom laclio has |)ioclucccl icsults. 70 RADIO SHOWMANSHIP