Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1963)

^ 9-m ^ Freberg's specialty is the commercial that doesn't seem to sell at all bution. It did so, adding 43,000 new outlets. We told Y&R: Well, now. That works out to just over a dollar an outlet, doesn't it?'") What goes on inside Stan Freberg's head when he starts to hatch a new campaign is an unmeasureable form of alchemy, but it seems to be an intuitive process which has its roots — but no more than roots — in marketing facts, and is occasionally colored by Freberg's own emotional attitude toward clients. Freberg is fond of aiding the underdog, although he does not like the underdog to tell him how to go about it. Boosts sales up to 40% One of his best-known successes is for Chun King Corp., whose line included canned Chinese food which was going quietly nowhere when Freberg concocted a low-pressure series of radio, and later tv, commercials. After Chun King's Jeno Paulucci climbed down from the wall, upon hearing the first Freberg spots ( which, as far as Paulucci was concerned, seemed to be selling hot dogs rather than Chun King products), the campaign proceeded to boost Chun King sales by 25%, and up to 40% in some major markets. "Jcno and I had a real fight over those commercials," recalls Freberg. "But I won. Why? Because I was right." Another aid-the-underdog crusade by Freberg j^ut Salada Tea back in the sales race by way of a radio spot campaign which was a masterpiece of whimse\' — a picket line thrown around the Woburn, Mass. plant b\ out-of-work gypsy fortune tellers protesting Salada's decision to print fortunes on teabag tags, a contest in which 26,000 guessed the exact number of coffee beans in a jar, and first-aid instructions on how to use Salada tea bags to ease sunburn this past summer. Not long ago, Salada Foods executive v.p. Arthur F. Beeby took a 36 look at the Nielsen Index showing =ii Salada's sales standing, and wrote | Freberg: | ". . . it clearly demonstrates that | your toil and moil on behalf of | Salada Iws produced real results. | ''As you know, before we enlisted | your help our business had been | fhit. I am happy to be able to tell | you that after over two years of | 'Freberg sell that it is shotving a | steady upward trend, and ivhat is | really pleasing is that the improve | ment has come on regidor, tion-deal | nwrchandise. | "Coupled with this, the name | 'Salada' has been rejuvenated | throughout the entire area where | we used your artistry (I think in | this case 'artistry' is a better tvord | than commercials). | "The once-wavering infant is | showing real signs of lusty growth | — another year of your loving care | and if should be ready to take on § any challenger. | "Thought you would like to know | you have done an outstanding job." 1 A current example of Freberg | To-The-Rescue is a tv spot cam 1 paign being readied for Lakeside i Toys. i "They came to me," Freberg re 1 calls, "earlier this year, after they 1 had just had a terrible fire at their f plant. Instead of being able to 1 launch 38 products, they were only 1 going to be able to bring out one — § a game called Zominoes. I advised 1 them to fight fire with fire, and go 1 into television." g Delayed-action tv sell = Freberg, who considers "most toy J commercials insipid, suspect and 1 exaggerated," takes his own ap 1 proach in a new commercial series § for Zominoes. 1 For one thing, the film commer M cials are aimed as much at the in | tellig(>nt, sophisticated adult as they 1 are at children. For another, the 1 commercial doesn't get around to 1 talking about the product until the = 45th second of a one-minute spot. p iuagii Freberg Speaks, or, An Album of Highly Personal Opinions With the rapier thrust of the trj satirist, Stan Freberg has been knoi to deflate pomposity and expose sh: with record speed. Here is a sampli of Frebergisms on a number of topi FREBERG IMITATORS: '"')0'"i lire terrible. .4 lot oj iidver inn agencies are noic attemptin/i him commercials in the Freberg Ltd. m ner. U hat they don't realize is that > just can't create humor by vote." HIS MISSION IN LIFE: '7f icoiild bo a lot easier for me] give in and become just another con but someone's got to expose ludicrci ness. Ij you don't hold it up to r^ cule. it gets uorse and worse." STOCK APPROACHES: "7/ you ueri' a mother. it«uM .J like to hear someone say. 'Say, mo next time nvishday rolls around The trouble uith advertising, ichicil supposed to be a form of commun\ tion, is that nobody knows how to ( municate." TV TALENT UNIONS: "They're killing the goose thafsl laying the golden egg. They are ft ing producers, myself included, toi very careful about cast sizes. T\ practically clobbered us on one of Chun King spot;, for residuals." NEW FALL TV SHOWS: "/ see nothing rrvoliitioniiry doivn the pike. Tv is sitting pLiying to a mass audience." AD-AGENCY MORALITY: "People at ad agencies gel vir\ pctitiie and petty and jealous times. They stop thinking ichat ifor the product. I've known cases !■ an agency tried to horn in on tlv of producing commercials, eirn tlu '• it meant the commercial uiiiild si '• jusi to say they had a hand in it. Illlllllllllllllf ) SPONSOR 1} OCTOBER 196