Sponsor (July-Sept 1962)

THE RENAISSANCE IN RADIO [Continued from page II I \ thoughtful agency man in New ^ oik a— til I hat a ew years ago the radio field was BO chaotic thai mam idvertisers and agencies simpl) pulled out. The national idvertiser was finding television to his liking, he says, ind "agencies were reluctant to argue for radio schedules Mcause in main cases the) simpl) did nol have a clear dea as to how to use the medium under existing circum • tances. He thinks radio is now heading toward a renaissance. tased on recognition that it is a differenl medium from rhal it was a decade ago. Then it was a mass entertainnent medium; now it is a "local and selective one."' and s "localK selective in its advertising \alues." In his opinion, while stations will develop a certain Imount of national business from volume use of radio a ma- consumer products, the) must look more to a different kind of advertiser. This advertiser will he nonn. i--. He will look for a medium which is sufficient!) nexpensive and selective for the modest budget and a product which has a limited and selective purchase. Here's the hitch: "To secure such business, stations ben must qualif) themselves as having the audiences \hich will be most responsive to these products. That nould come through selective programing, attracting i group of listeners which hv their interest in the pro■.rams offered will constitute a specific and identifiable ludience of prospects." In a market like metropolitan New York, we already lave a large number of stations try ing to make a clear letinition of their market by programing, and I can ell vou as a listener that it is a great service. But the problem of research still remains. About three .nonths ago. Arnold Johnson of Needham, Louis and hrorby, Chicago, tried to tell the fin hroadcasters somehiii of his needs. He listed them this wa\ : 1 I we need 0 know the size of the audience you claim to deliver: !' we need to know the nature of the audience vou propose we buy: 3 1 we need data on unduplicated reach md frequenc) for specific program combination and or pot patterns: and 4) we need data on sales response. He tried to make clear a specific problem, and he llust rated it with facts. Margarine is a mass consumed nroduct and 80rr of the families in the U. S. use it. But >nlv 40',' of the families buy 70^ of the margarine. 1 he same is true of floor wax. except that 30% of the "amilies huv 70', of the floor wax sold. This is the hard-core concept, so familiar to marketing nen. and true in many, man) consumer fields. It's true n media, as well. You inav know that 40' ,' of the tele • ision homes do 07', of all viewing. The marketing problem is clear. How do you link your nedia exposure to the known facts about consumer purchase of the goods vou're interested in? It is for this reason that agency after agenc) mentions :he need for more and better research. "\\ v',\ like to have more facts — more information on programing and local «ales — and more audience composition data. We just lon't have the time to dig down and get this kind of information."' says a Chicago agencv . It adds "we get load response when we request information from a station, but we shouldn't have to request it. You should keep feeding it to us." \n,l again, "Wed like to know all there ifl to know about nighttime audiem e-. vo little has been done about this and I have a feeling thai a h>t ■ ■I advertisers are missing the boat. , . ." "More data on the audience, more profiles" . . . "We feel that there is a definite need foi more and bettei audience research, both qualitative and quantitative." \nvhciw. it you have been thinking about audience research — qualitative research, as opposed to ratings now i the time to do it. When I talk about the need for audience data. vou should realize that we are all standing, willy-nilly, on the threshold of the Computer la a of media planning and programing. Large agencies will own their machines; -mailer agencies will have the work performed b) computer service bureaus. Into the machines will be put the data, and much of the data is not yet developed to be fed to the machine. But ultimately the information will be prepared, fed into computers, which then will digest, assimilate and -tore the data in their memor) astern. The data will have qualitative values imputed to it: it will be weighted by human opinion and experience, but it will thereafter be consistent. It will always be consistent — not dependent on one man's frame of mind on a particular afternoon — ami it will always appear: it cannot be lost by one man's torgetfulness. In many ways, because it is both consistent and doesn't forget, the machine may appear to be more inventive and intuitive than the men who have programed media heretofore. Its plans are likely to be more widelv ranging in imagination, simplv because it knows no limits of probable success in suggesting ideas. It is not handicapped by the past. Considering radio's values, and considering that in most broadcaster opinions they have been deprecated in the last L5 years, it is possible that the arrival of the computer is a most hopeful sign for radio. It gets away from opinion, and it forces an objective examination. On the other hand, it seems fair to say that at the moment computer programing is national — not regional or local I although these will certainlv eventuate). Uso, it is true that it is verv nearly as difficult and costl) to program for a single complicated market as to program for the nation. But it will certainly come. In the meantime, all media — not jusl broadcasting are faced by agencies pleading for more and more data which the media are not yet prepared to provide. At the Four A's, we're working with our research and media committees to lav out specifications and standards for media data which will be useful for computers but as economical as possible for media to provide, and which will v ield the high grade media recommendations of which computers are capable. There is probablv no more argued subject than radio selling. Kevin Sweeney and the RAB can justly claim to have led the renaissance in radio. We hope to work out a radio seminar or workshop with K \B in a major citv this year. R \B has concentrated on building creative techniques for radio, and in recent months on increasing retailer and particularlv department -tore linage. There are veterans and adept radio representative com PON SOU 2 July 1962 61