Sponsor (Apr-June 1963)

of skilled have ever used any hank service. Radio and tv are beginning to prove they can be used to win this confidence. It's no accident that New York, banking center of the nation and a city where competition for the disposable dollar is keenest, has become a laboratory for banks in broadcasting. Here's some of the thinking behind typical New York campaigns: When New York's Chase Manhattan began its big push three years ago, it turned to Ted Bales agency. Eyebrows were raised in both financial and media circles when Bates recommended that nearly all the personal-finance budget be placed in "the most efficient tv for this purpose; that is, spot," as account supervisor John Howard describes it. Chase now is a near-saturation advertiser, 52 weeks on six channels, spending $1 million plus. Reach is the first consideration, against frequency, and Bates has apparently satisfied Chase so well that the agency has almost unlimited freedom, within budget, to develop the spot concept. The philosophy, if not the mechanics, of the campaign is expressed as "we'll buy anything that comes in at $1.55." Bates has run penetration studies in the market each year, and to its delight there appears to be a straight-line correlation between public awareness and the circulation the agency has contrived. More simply, rival clients spending less have lower penetration. The spot buys aim at just about the total tv audience, with perhaps a slight bias in favor of young heads of families and even adolescents. "Savings habits, after all, are habits," says Bates. A few program vehicles are avoided, for image reasons, but otherwise the campaign is spot par excellence. In terms of awareness, Bates' use of "you have a friend at Chase Manhattan" is probably the most successful financial slogan yet devised; it's become a part of public usage and been the butt of columnists and cartoonists. "The friend," says Howard, "is not just a tagline but the entire theme of the commercial." These commercials, incidentally, are certainly a successful treatment of a complex proposition— the translation of money into services. How well they've payed off at the teller's window isn't known— but Chase has bumped its tv spending three times —and deposits alone have grown $500 million in the same period. To some degree, the Chase-Bates proposition downgrades the significance of socio-economic differences. At Chemical New York, however, the marketing belief is that the above-average consumer may be a better customer of full-service facilities. As a consequence, the heart of Benton &: Bowles' strategy is a New York program buy which has superior audience characteristics, yet which reaches a sizable audience in total. It's Biography, on WNBC-TV, which "has done above our expectations in ratings," according to accountman Ed Peguillan, "but which fits the bank's idea of upscale activity, and attracts a more-thinking audience." Any shortfall in coverage is remedied by spot, minutes and 20's, bought on four New York channels. Chemical is aggressively seeking the new depositor, and the spots probably help out with reach while the program lends frequency, as well as a better chance to expand on the bank's services. Sole radio buy is the 1 1 p.m. news on upscale WQXR. Purpose of the mixture is to touch complementary areas: personal finance and also commercial accounts. "The ideal campaign," says Peguillan, "would be one that persuaded the president of U. S. Steel to have both his personal and his corporate account at the same bank." Chemical's tactic is to get a double-ride out of the personal campaign, through buys which almost certainly will hit an above-average number of business executives as well as mass consumers. Its commercials are designedly a little less ingratiating than Chase's: they say merely "You have a helping hand at Chemical New York . . ." (Bates' admen believe the Chemical pitch is too similar to their own to be really successful, but this overlooks the different nature of BfcB's media planning.) For Manufacturers Hanover, al so in New York, the accent is on balance. Through Young & Rubicam, the bank places its spots on early and late news on WCBS-TV, and partic ipates locally in the Today show. Radio is handled via a CBS world news roundup three times weekly, plus a small ethnic buy on two German-language stations, mainly for remittance business. The bank also makes prestige buys: Boston Symphony for 13 weeks on WNEW-TV and, this month, two hour long specials on another independent, WPIX. Like most major-market operations, the bank uses airtime to publicize branch activities and newbranch openings, and suburban viewing and listening habits play a large part in its broadcast planning. What's chiefly remarkable about Manufacturers, however, is its reliance upon animated commercials. Y&R feels these intrigue the viewer; other admen wonder whether the selling message isn't lost in the whimsy. Animation is popular with banks across the coutnry. One explanation: "It's an over-reaction against the old-fogey image." The tactics of these three New York banks are markedly different. But the sharpest distinction is probably between Chase, with its massive spot coverage, and First National City, a New York bank which has become almost the archetype of single-program sponsorship. For 11 years, National City has been with one show, the Eleventh Hour News on WNBC-TV, with John K. M. McCaffery. As part of the deal it also now gets on the Today show twice weekly. The station describes this show as "reaching more homes than any other local news telecast in the world." It is a fact that McCaffery regularly rates between 19 and 20, and currently is seen in anywhere between 1 million and li/2 million homes nightly. At BBDO, National City's buy is seen as an almost classic example of the mileage which can be made from concentrating tv money into one vehicle. Account supervisor John Leonard says the four-week cume is around 60%, and reaches 90% within the year. "It's an excellent profile, and big enough to SPONSOR/8 april 1963 57