Sponsor (Jan-Mar 1961)

Interpretation and commentary on most significant tv/ radio and marketing news of the week SPONSOR-SCOPE 27 MARCH 1961 New national spot tv sales started taking on a distinctly bright hue last week, copyrijht imi and it now looks as though it will be a pretty good April for the medium after all. sponsor Requests for availabilities and confirmations had the reps hopping as they haven't hopped publications inc. for a row of months, and the activity included the following accounts and brands: New York: Post Toasties (B&B) ; El Producto and La Vera cigars (Compton) ; General Mills Twinkles (DFS) ; Maxwell House instant and Yuban (B&B) ; Jack Frost Sugar (Y&R) ; Carter Products, multiple, (SSCB), 26 weeks; Best Foods' Hellmann's Mayonnaise, nine weeks in flights; Dash (DFS) ; Zest (B&B) ; Bumble Bee Tuna (Manoff) , eight weeks, starting May. Chicago and other midwest points: Mr. Clean (Tatham & Laird) ; All-State (Burnett) ; S. C. Johnson's Holiday ice cream (FCB) ; Butternut coffee (Tatham & Laird) ; Lever's Swan (NL&B) ; Brown Shoe (Burnett) ; Purina Dog Chow (Gardner St. Louis). Radio reps likewise last week found something to be cheery about: availability calls and confirmations came in abundance out of New York and the mid-west. The new business flow included these accounts: New York: Beech-Nut coffee (Charles Hoyt) ; Hills Bros, coffee (Ayer) ; Seabrook Farms (Al Paul Lefton) ; DeCaf (McCann-Erickson) ; Ohio OU (Ayer). Chicago, etc.: Amoco (D'Arcy) ; Cream O' Wheat (BBDO Minneapolis), asking for spring avails but will stay for summer and fall; Skelly Oil (Bruce Brewer Kansas City) ; Ball Bros. Mason Jars (Applegate Muncie, Ind.) ; Zenith Hearing Aids (MacFarland Aveyard) ; Gooch Feed Mills (Allen & Reynolds Omaha). P.S.: There's a good possibility of the Tea Council (Burnett), which is now in print, coming into radio for the summer. A couple rifts in the blue: Chevrolet (Campbell-Ewald) cut back its radio and Leming (Esty) cancelled the last two weeks of its current campaign— eliminates April. As far as tv is concerned you can never tell in what direction the automotives will swing their programing whims. For example, no sooner does General Motors back out of its heavy sports bundle with NBC TV than it becomes manifest that Ford is moving in the opposite way. That Ford buy of a quarter of the pro football games on CBS TV is no random gesture. It's part of a long-range plan to diversify its tv audience with a heavy accent on sports fans. In other words, there may be several more buys of a similar nature before the 1961-62 season has uncoiled. Within the week Ford will decide whether it wants to recapture Wagon Train and accept the reduced schedule Tennessee Ernie wants next season. If you're looking for a tv success story with no ifs or huts, cast your attention on Scott Paper (JWT), which next season will be spending more than ever on both network and spot. This fast-growth company — with several new products in tow — will have network nighttime niches Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, a flock of network daytime participations and quite a load of spot tv for testing of newcomer and support of problem markets. All in all the tv billings may run well over the SlO-million mark. The nighttimers: the new Robert Young show, the old Robert Young show and Quinn Martin's the New Breed (ABC TV), a Dragnet in which the cops are Ivy League grads who majored in the sciences. SPONSOR • 27 MARCH 1961 19