Sponsor (Apr-June 1959)

SPONSOR Let's never forget fundamentals Last week in New York we saw a preview of PGW's new spot tv presentation, "Mr. Thinkbigly goes to town." For a description of this new sales pitch for the spot medium, and the kind of information it contains, see the story on page 42. What impressed us most about PGW's approach to the subject was its extreme simplicity. PGW was not afraid to talk about the basics and fundamentals of the business. As a result, the Mr. Thinkbigly presentation is bound to interest and stimulate hundreds of important sales and advertising executives who have never worked as a media director in a top 20 agency, but whose opinions carry a lot of weight in the choice and use of air media. We believe there is an important lesson to be learned from this. Too often, in a hectic dynamic industry such as ours, we all tend to get blase and sophisticated about facts and ideas we think everyone else ought to know. We forget that every year thousands of new "decisionmakers" come into our business with little or no specialized background in air media. They are sound, intelligent, experienced business men, but they do need basic education. In our search for new research facts and data, let's never forget the importance of explaining and selling the fundamentals of air media use. Print media at White Sulphur This week the 4As gathered at White Sulphur Springs for their annual meeting. Nearly half of the program was taken up by presentations from print media men. Neither radio nor tv were well represented on the platform at this important agency gathering. Undoubtedly the structure of 4As program varies considerably from year to year. But the fact that magazines and newspapers in effect dominated the 1959 convention is an indication of the undiminished strength of the print media. THIS WE FIGHT FOR: Recognition by radio and ii men that onI\ constant and imaginative promotion can give the air media the advertising volumes which, by reasons of their proven performance. tlie\ rightfully deserve. 80 lO-SECOND SPOTS Soft goods? Si<rn on a small imported car: "It wasn't Sanforized." April foolery: CH I'M. Toronto, came up with a list of top tunes and "recording artists'" which they called "CHUM Miss Parade Chart." Among titles and artists: "Where Were You <>n Our Wedding Day?" by Tomm\ Manville; "Its Just a Matter of Time" by Newsweek; "Tell Him No" 1>\ Princess Margaret: "Rawhide" by Brigitte Bardot; "As Dime Goes By" by The Parking Meters; "77 Sunset Strip"" by Lili St. Cyr; "The Hanging Tree" by The Swinging Horse Thieves; "I Never Melt Like This" by The Abominable Snowman; "Turn Me Loose" by Dave Beck. After every meal: Don't worry about getting old: only then can you brush your teeth and whistle at the same time. Quote: "Japanese television is in tune with postwar Japan. It is frantic, overstaffed, underpaid, imitative, artistic, wooden, earnest and alert." — NBC's Cecil Brown in TV Guide. That could also be the "image" of some shops on Madison Avenue. Sick: Ann Riobo, of Creole Petroleum p.r.. overheard the following conversation between two N. Y. Publicity Club women at Toots Shor's — "Isn't he Arthritis?" "No, I think he"s Mental Health." Thrift: WCAE, Pittsburgh, ran two contests simultaneously : ill to write "WCAE' on a post card as many times as possible: l2i to guess score of Pirates opener with Milwaukee Braves. One po>t card was received which had been covered with microsopic call letters that had been erased; over it was written. "Pirates, 16 to 10." \/)7'£: The Braves blanked the Pirates 8 to 0; that listener should have stuck to the call letter contest. Name's the same: CBS News has two Bob Ulisons. each with the same middle initial — F. Since each is a producer-writer. the\ izel each othermail, phone Calls, and one Bob even Cot a job offer intended for the other Bob. SI'ONSOH 2 \m 1959