Sponsor (Jan-Mar 1962)

RADIO COMMERCIALS i ( 'ontinued from i»i^.e 50 > ed S-A-l AD. I hit spells Salada. S-A I v l>. Man's voice alone \ ' \\ omen's group: \ ! i national regional advertisers have been reaping harvest from humor in recent months. Of exceptional note: Mennen, Kaiser foil, Chun Kin foods, Butternut coffee, /.•<■ paper tissues. l.--kav meal products, Meadow Gold ice cream, Piel'a Manischewitz wine. Hi trademarks. I suall) quickies, air trademarks < -an I e a phrase or a sound effect Their value is in repetition. When someone coughs over organ music, can \ irks cough drops be far behind? \ml the tinkle of bells. to an average listener, hails Good Humor ice cream as surelv as a Chinese gong hails a message from Northwest Virlines. Other national advertisers who channel their campaigns in the trade mark saturation direction are Purolator, Cream of \\ heal and Beneficial Finance. Music. The jingle, 1>\ this time, is almost synonymous with radio itself. But the pass-along quality of radio commercial music is enjoying a nationwide vogue. \ best-selling album, in fact, is devoted exclusively to original radio commercial themes. (ailed "Madison \\enue Beat." the I.I' features Lester Lanin and his Waldorf orchestra, includes such broadcasting familiars as Budweiser, Lone Nat heer. Ice Tea Council. Camel cigarettes. I.WI cigarettes, Robert Hall clothes and Pepsi-Cola. Local live announcements. A significant trend in recent months has been the increased use of local station announcers by major national advertisers. This personal endorsement technique in the tone and language of the individual community — has attracted such advertisers as Campbell soup. Oillette. Bayer aspirin. Standard Oil. Metropolitan life insurance, International Nickel, GMAC, American Airlines. Eastern Airlines. TWA and Foreman & Clark clothes. \lthough the community-level approach has been more difficult to sell agencies than the other four, the much-publicized success of International Nickel and GMAC (pioneers, 32 more or les i ha initiated re-apprai-al of more than one national radio schedule. More agencies are even toying with the idea of "suggestive copy'' only, leaving the actual commercial to a local personality's imagination. Summing up the five techniques, or categories, McCoj Bays that while each has its own creative approach. there is a general pervading qualitv linking them together: involvement. "Whether !>\ sound picture, humor, air trademark, music or local live announcement." he says, "the successful radio commercial toda\ is altogether human. It involves a listener in the highly personal wa\ that a station itself involves him in." But the final sales effectiveness, he warns, demands that even the best commercials be used with sufficient frequency to saturate a market. " Vnd fortunately for the mass-market advertiser." he affirms, "saturation frequence is still available in radio at rates remarkably low, when meassured 1>\ results." ^ TvAR (Continued from page 33) network programs aired during the fall 1%1 season. \\ Idle Hoffman did not investigate the basic reasons for the "tilt.' he did delve into the degree of individual market variation for similar types of shows. Here he found "frequently unbelievable" ups and downs from market to market. For example: Both Wagon Train and Gunsmoke presumably appeal to the same people. Their national audiences are similar in size — the spread being onlv 3%. Yet in 13 of the top 20 markets the audience variation exceeded 20% uo or down. Wagon Train had a 53% lower audience than Gunsmoke in Pittsburgh. vet had a 7<V i higher audience in Providence. \ ii a in. Surf side 6 reaches 157% more homes in New Haven-Hartford than Thriller but 35% fewer homes in New York. Donna Reed got a 96% higher audience in Cincinnati than Dobie Gillis but 53% less in Charlotte. The three pairs above are examples of similar shows on different networks, so the question might arise that, somehow, the affiliates mighl explain the differences. However, the same pattern showed up with similar program pairs aired on the same network. Naturally, no research piece from a broadcast seller comes without its pilch. However. TvAR is not living to argue that network advertising isn't desirable. \\ hat the rep is proposing is action to offset "network tilt." The studv proposes three possible courses of action: ill Certain advertisers should re-examine their network buys and determine in a hardheaded manner whether their di-lribution and sales reallv warrant a network effort: if not. then. Mr. Adverser, switch to spot tv. (2) Where an advertiser concentrates his entire advertising effort in one or two network shows, he can reinforce his reach with spot to eliminate the "tilt." (3) Where an advertiser uses a number of participating network -how-, he can drop the program doing poorIv in the "must" markets and divert I the monev saved to those spot tv markets where he needs the pressure most. ^ LEE RICH (Continued from jmge 35) In this short span of time it has be come the 10th largest industrv in the country. It is responsible for vast numbers of jobs, for the growth of entire new industries and businesses, contributing to an important portion of our total gross national product Furthermore, television has achieved this standing three times as quicklv as the giant automobile industry. It has grown at a far more rapid pace than radio, the telephone, washing machines, toasters and. ves. even faster than indoor plumbing. Since 1950. television penetration has grown from nine million home to almost 49 million: over 90% o the families in the U.S. have pur chased one or more tv sets. An television service has grown from ap proximately 60 stations in 1950 t over 450 today. There isn't a tow or hamlet in this country that canno receive a television signal today. With this kind of a growth a cer tain amount of growing pains ca certainlv he expected. But television's detractors insist nevertheless, that even in this as toundingly short period of time, th medium should be doing greate (Please turn to jxige 60) SPONSOR 22 JANUARY 1965