Sponsor (Apr-June 1961)

GOLDMINES I Continued from page 31) pride is product advertising at its best." And as another views it: "To a great many Bostonians the Pops is Boston. Direct association can bring nothing but Plus." Thus far the emphasis has been on ln>\\ enterprising national advertisers are making effective use of local radio programing, geared particularly to a sort of communal esprit de corps, either regularly scheduled or of special event interest. But an area outside the program sphere, and one which the successful campaign of one national advertiser might well catapult to boon proportion, is week-end radio. In 1959, when Eljer Plumbing Co., a division of the Murray Corporation of America, went into radio for the first time, it was influenced in large measure by an investigation showing that community interest is notably heightened on weekends, when car radios are synonymous with Sunday drives. What better time to appeal to community interest in growth, development, beautification — in short, to a visit to model homes? Eljer. which manufactures bathroom and plumbing fixtures, asked the question, and with the careful planning of Fuller & Smith & Ross, Pittsburgh, came up with the answer: Buy week-end radio on the national level, reserving part of its commercial time for local builders. A special survey had already determined that individual local builders, rather than plumbing companies contracted for the job, were responsible for buying bathroom equipment for tract developments. And, reasoned Eljer. since every builder's interest is selling his homes, the best way to interest him in buying Eljer fixtures is to help him sell those homes. Thus the formulation of a national advertising campaign pinpointed to community appeal — and, significantly, one undertaken wholly with national funds rather than through the usual dealer-manufacturer co-op arrangement. The Eljer story I which SPONSOR will highlight in Part II of this study, citing specific and challenging results) is a documented example of grass-roots thinking in top-level quarters, a recognition of the power : performance of local radio at its most influential, at its most vital: righl in its own backyard. A quick appraisal of the advertisers mentioned in this round-up necessarily impresses one with their glaring isolation, even though time and space do not permit examination of perhaps a handful more. The truth is: Isolation is the unfortunate estate. W here are the national sponsors of such exciting radio fare as the "Community Calendar" programs, the Dial-a-Score programs, the travel programs, conservation programs, clean-up programs, law enforcement programs, farm advisory programs? What national advertisers are tuned to the big new sounds which Radio all over America is making? The cupboard is appalingly bare. Conclusions? A sponsor check of reps, advertisers, agencies, stations, brings incontrovertible evidence to bear on the gold in them thar hills. Most notable: • National buys, such as those pioneered by GMAC. International Nickel. Armour, make false and foolish the old-hat view that national advertisers have no place in the sponsorship of community service programing. • Solid results from such campaigns as those engineered by Cream of Wheat and Eljer give overwhelming credence to radio's claim that no other medium can equal it for intimacy and community image. • The editorial vitality in local radio today (See SPONSOR, 5 September. 1960) gives product identification with community service an awareness-and-sales boost available in no other medium. • Viewer loyalty to stations with strong community images spills over to advertisers, especially those who sponsor community service programs. Long-range association builds product stature, creates solid affluence, provides better climate for local wholesalers, retailers, representatives, salesmen. "It's like the weather." one rep concludes. "Everybody talks about radio as local, local, local, but too few national advertisers are taking the time and trouble to do anything about it. Its all there, you know — opportunity unlimited. It's simply a case of imaginative bu\ ing coupled with copy creativeness. It's pretty generally conceded that no other ad medium is as near to people as radio. Just who else does a product need to reach?" ^ 1971 REPORT I Continued from page .'^."> I thing started. Remember the commissioner who could never say "we" — always said "I." Only man in the business that ever worked with a smaller sample than Nielsen. Sort of reminded me of a new guj who moved into our neighborhood when I was a kid. This boy had quite a reputation and always liked to build it bigger. He'd put a chip on his shoulder and dare us to knock it off. One day a bunch of us little guys were out picking up newspapers for a Boy Scout paper drive. This fellow came along and tried to tell us how to pick up the papers and we got a little miffed and just proceeded to clean up on him. Come to find out he had padded shoulders in his jacket, anyhow, and that's why the chip of bark staved up so well. I've often wondered what would have happened to us little guys in the radio business if we had gotten together back in those days and straightened things out. Hell, our forebears had sense enough to push some tea into a harbor when thev had taxes without representation. Nowadays we pav taxes to pay the salaries of people who turn around and tell us how they are going to make us run our business with less profit and even higher taxes. Wouldn't we have really caught the headlines back in those days, Henry, if we dressed up as Indians and had pushed cases of soda, or maybe olives, into the Potomac River? WOW! What a sequel! ! I remember you and I visited one night about maybe getting one small broadcaster, one from a middle-sized market and one from a big market, getting each of their lawyers and maybe one person from the NAB and sitting down and getting a really sensible program developed. Maybe have some realistic renewal forms worked out. Possibly even work up some reasonable ground rules for intelligent regulation of the industry. Remember how we tried this out on the Eastenhouse delegation and were politely informed that they had the Washington situation well in hand? The only guy we really stirred up that night was that fellow with the big horn rimmed glasses from Loudcasting and he could see what would happen to his commissions if all he :,2 SPONSOR 19 jink 1961