Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1963)

An 18-carat advertising non-conformist, Stan Freberg delights in making waves STANXEY Victor Freberg, Hollywood's top independent producer of "satirical " commercials, frequently faces the problem of having an out-of-f ocus, enigmatic image in the advertising industry. He is a highly successful radio-tv consultant who believes that a consultant should be consulted, not told what to do. His minuscule, freewheeling production firm does a 3)500,0{X)-annually business in custom-created radio and television commercials for some of the industry's biggest ad agencies, even though Freberg himself views admen such as Ted Bates' Rosser Reeves much as Sherlock Holmes viewed Professor Moriarty. He has a low opinion of much of the shows and commercials he sees and hears on the air, and voices it with the sharp bite of a keen satirist. His company motto, Ars Gratia Pecuniae, has the venal ring of a cash register about it, but he is downright soft-hearted (to the point of going over-budget on commercials out of his own pocket) when approached by an underdog client facing a struggle for existence in a competitive society. He is viewed by admen and business executives as being everything from the savior of a sagging sales curve to being an unpredictable, overpriced, nourconformist nut. During normal ad-industry working hours, Freberg can often be found deep in thought at poolside at his Spanish-type Beverly Hills hacienda (known locally as "Stan Simeon"), but he has the vast nervious energy of the compulsi\e perfectionist, and can still create with jet-propelled speed in the midnight hours when all around him have quietly wilted. Air dales are sacred He seldom, if ever, misses a deadline, although his fall-winter schedule is enough to keep several Stan Frebergs busy. Included in current activities: radio-print renewal on Salada Tea for 18 radio commercials, via Boston's Hoag & Provandie; a renewal of GM offshoot Guardian Maintenance for a dozen radio commercials, via D. P. Brother; a renewal on Contadina Tomato Paste — Freberg's first big commercial success — for the seventh Freberg radio campaign for the food company, via Cunningham & Walsh, San Francisco; directlyplaced radio-tv campaigns for Stanlev Kramer's U.\-distributed film. "Its A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad VV'orld," and Lakaside To)s' new all-ages game, Zominoes; and radio and/or tv campaigns, production work on which was recently completed, for General Mills' Cheerios and Mars Candy, via Dancer-Fitzgerald-Sample and Needham, Louis & Brorby. He never misses airdates. How does Freberg Ltd. manage the neat trick of juggling all tliese, and other, commercial silver balls without dropping tliem? Sighs Bill Andresen, general man-i ager of Freberg Ltd.: "Stan works* best under the pressure of an air date. If that date is, say, the 15th of October, we work back from it to figure how close tlie whole tiling can be cut and still do it properly. Actually, most of our stuff goes out by air express 48 hours before it's due to start a broadcast schedule." Altliough Freberg prides himself on shoestring deadline catches, it'si not just a matter of ad-industry i grandstanding. Admits Andresen "If we wrote a commercial scriptj too far in ad\ance, there's always tlie chance that a client and agency will start picking at it, just to have something to do. Stan hates that. Our contracts say clients have the right onh to make changes to con BILL ANDRESEN: Freberg's Number Two Cialm, soft-spoken Bill .\ndresen, general manager of Freberg Ltd., is — technically — in charge of lining up new business for the firm, among other administrative and production duties. Most of the time, Andresen's problem is to turn business away without hurting anybody's feelings. Sometimes, he doesn't have to sell at all to land a desired account. Recalls .\ndrcsen: "The ad manager for Cheerios once heard Stan make a speech in Chicago. Two years later, so help me, the> came to us and asked for a campaign." .\ndrcsen is a frank admirer of Freberg's tenacity and drive, and acts (with Freberg's wife. Donna) as a sort of counter-balance for the frenetic energ\ \\ ith which Freberg is endowed. Freberg's hobbies, according to Andresen: "wiuulering through anti(jue shops and men's clothing stores." S2 SPONSOR/ 14 ocTOB^K 1%;^