Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1945)

February 17. lO fr SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW 25 National tieups for Columbia's "A Song to Remember" form an important base for the outstanding campaign worked up by the company's exploitation department. At left is a typical expression of the carefully planned tieups which bring manufacturers' advertising and dealer cooperation into the activity for local showings of the picture. Above are examples of the variety of local exploitation efforts through which theatres profit by the tieups. Displays shown are bookstore, florist, millinery, furniture, and bock shop windows in New York; a music store in San Francisco, and a women's store in Boston. marily in 34 of tlie country's leading department stores, including Saks Fifth Avenue in New York. Details of the tie-up are included in the press book and have been given prominence in the nation's press. The New York Times published a Saks Fifth Avenue fashion ad of threequarters of a page in a recent Sunday issue. The same ad was repeated the following Sunday in the New York Herald-Tribune! Saks devoted seven Fifth Avenue windows to the fashions. Fashion magazines and dress trade papers were generous with space. Other important features of the New York campaign included the Revlon lipstick promotion. Saks devoted one full window to this and used 500-line ads in the Times and Tribune Sunday editions. The exclusive Hattie Carnegie hat shop created a George Sand Tophat and devoted three complete windows to its display. W. & J. Sloane, New York's famous furniture store, dressed its best Fifth Avenue window with a display of 19th Century furniture, featuring kodachrome shadow boxes with scene stills. Chopin manuscripts were the basis of another Fifth Avenue window in Scribner's Book Shop. Madison Avenue also showed an important display when the biggest florist shop on the avenue filled its windows with a beautiful floral decoration, closely tied with the picture's Music Hall engagement. McCreery's department store advertised the "Nocturne" blouse in Mademoiselle and other media. Mademoiselle also carried Coro Costume Jewelry advertising. Spaeth Transcript-ion Utilized In each of the six cities where the picture opened up to the end of January the Sigmund Spaeth transcription has been given free playing time. In San Francisco alone, the transcription received 11 gratis playings, taking in every network station in that city. New York stations gave the transcriptions considerable free time, also. Numerous personal radio appearances by featured players in "A Song to Remember" gave the picture air plugs starting last fall and occasionally continuing even now. During Cornel Wilde's recent trip to New York he was spotted on six radio shows by George Ettinger of the Columbia home office. The most important part of the New York campaign, as it is in other key cities, is the "George Sand Memorial Talent Search," details of which are delineated in the company's press book. ' The contest seeks America's outstanding dramatic actress and CBS stations as well as other network stations and independent outlets, including WHN in New York, are giving it considerable free radio time, resulting in a response about 40 per cent ahead of the same producer's "Cover Girl" contest. Record Played in Schools The Sigmund Spaeth transcription will be played in 180 New York City high, junior high and vocational schools. To subscribe to the city's school rules Columbia made a slight change in the transcription, believing its value and importance worth almost any cost. The high schools in St. Louis will present the record to every music class for a period of ten days. Grade and high schools in Buffalo, San Francisco, Oakland, New Orleans and Cincinnati Nifty slogan produced a display for the Orpheum Theatre, New Orleans, right on Canal Street. You'll note the display at upper left (above traffic light) in photo above. The slogan "It's Time to Remember a Song to Remember " gave the Columbia picture's showing at the Orpheum this added ballyhoo. also have included the transcription for playing time before music classes, assemblies and for the discussion of the music teachers themselves. Details of the New York campaign have been given prominence in this analysis of Columbia's exceptional campaign, because the origination of ideas and the execution of details of the national campaign were followed in the promotion. Using New York's campaign for illustration should not, detract however, from the equally comprehensive campaigns executed in the other cities during the month of January. Reports of the San Francisco and Oakland campaigns, for instance, required 7 closely typed sheets for very brief details. In other cities equally extensive and successful efforts were registered, particularly with the "Search for Talent" and Jo Copeland Fashion tie-ups. Additional details of exploitation accomplishments continue to pour in. They give every indication, as stated at the beginning of this analysis, that the exploitation for this picture bids fair to rank with the all-time "greats." This record of unanimous "results" must be ascribed in major degree to the top job of thoughtful, resourceful preparation made by Columbia's home office exploitation staff. The campaign for "A Song to Remember" is certainly "The Exploitation Campaign of the Month," if not of the year, and if not one of the all-time greats. Pet-Naming Contest Highlights Campaign on 'Great Mike' Special attention to youth organizatiDi's, school and civic authorities was the basis of the campaign conducted by James Olwell, publicity manager, for the showing of PRC's "The Great Mike" at the New Rialto Theatre, Wilmington, Del. A newspaper contest, in which prizes were offered to the owner of the dog most resembling "Daisy," featured in the picture, highlighted the campaign. Window displays in sporting goods stores and pet shops with extra newspaper and radio advertising also pointed up the campaign and emphasized the contest angle. The campaign was conducted by Olwell under the supervision of A. J. Belair, owner of the independently operated New Rialto.