Sponsor (Apr-June 1964)

* t NAB Bumper crop of admen survey new product Distributors, producers, syndicators, jinglesmiths at NAB :onvention report high interest among top ad shops rm ki w \s an important difference this year at the hospitality uhes of program syndicators and traduction companies attending the \ \H convention. A visitor . ah .1 sharp eye for the typescript ' t i convention badges could spot it pi himself quicklj at the Hilton. "nd at the i : I and other "OUtfcde" exhibits. Here's how sales and programecutives in the syndication and :rvices area themselves described ' I here was a time when JTOU nildn't find a major agencyman taking the rounds o\' syndicators at ic convention. This year, we've sen more agencymen and station spa than ever before." said Fred lahlstedt of CBS Films. "Agencyien. and even client personnel, have ;n in our suite talking not only nit what stations are buying but ml color program and feature .ailability for this season and .•\t." said \K.\I-IY v.p. John irns. "It's the most active NAB invention I've seen in terms ot aiC) and rep visitors at our suite It also underlines the trend hereby stations often turn their ack on full sponsorship of syndilted properties in favor of part ipation spots for national and retooal accounts." said ABC Films' :k Tillman. "We've had an unusularge number i>f agency people our Triangle pub" to have a st-hand look at our new product/' lid Triangle's Mike Roberts. A couple of blocks down Michi\\enue. at the TFF-'46. the in was similar. "One of the major New York leies had representatives in here '-king about our trio of feature IS, and about the stations buying ?m — particularly in color," said rihl eastern sales manager Jem mard. "Agencies and reps have not been our mam \isitors. hut We've had an important number of them here." said King I caturcs' Gene I'lomik. "I've never seen so many agencymen making informal sur\e\s of new syndication product. and also asking aboct future shows and network properties,*1 sard executive \ p M I "Bud" Rifkin. Which agencies were involved m such fact-seeking tours' Judging b\ the visitors' books at most suites, these seemed to be the front runners. V \\ \\er. 1 eo Burnett (which had a hospitality suite of its own at NAB), Grey, FCB, M< (aim I rickson, Y&R, J. Walter I hompson. What delighted the distributors and producers most was the interest shown bj agencymen in updating themselves on new products available, and in what stations were doing, thinking and buying. "We've written a tremendous amount oi new station business here in everything from radio ID and signature packages to get-out the-vote spots, but the agencj interest lias been uniisualh strong.' Morton J. Wagner, president of one ot the industry's hottest production groups, told SPONSOR "We oo most oi our musical commercial work lor local stations and advertisers," he added, "but now we'r. starting to draw agencymen from shops hke Grey, I ennen & Newell, GB&S, and BBDO In some case-, their regional branches have bought our jingles Now. we're getting home-office interes*. too " w agner, in fact, is even planning a new di\ iston to mal ded musical/visual presentations for si tions to .[d agenc . I he first pi sentation, however, he said, "will for ourselves " > \t other radix production and program suppliers, like Charles helson i I he shadow, eft Mark ( dio ■ hich teamed uy foi R i » una Room taped radii indicati m in lim ncyman rep interest in dio properti On the l\ ide, distributors found themselves hard-put to find n cognizable patterns in the loot tnd/or buying inn lion managers and pr. I til depends mi specific station Deeds'," s.uii i our St u 1 1 tribution \ p and general man igi • I I stone "SORK \M< I \ affili \U I, fflf instance, have been asking about hall hour properties to till up the periods being relinquished b) the network ( )ther stations have been looking tor properties to continue suctui daytime rerun strips Some plan to put shows mto nighttime prime time, even displacing network series Everybody wants .i hot property, but what that is will often depend on what kind of a station and audience a broadcastei has " Color emerged as a factor in mam of the convention's hospitality suite film sales discussions "Color is a big part of our business, and a prime reason tor much of the b ness we've written or made appointments on at the n \n convention," SP< >NsoR was told b ind B iieral sales man St I Dudelson oi American International R tthosi current feature p is riL'ht up to the top in I \ [ ilabilit\ 10 Oi iture film distributors, such as Fmb ( which also has a 10 *rc on much new product), Allied Artists faymari n i \ i which • S I ms i which has ,i hieh lor m its Columbia features fiction thrillers and in such shows as s -en \rts (whose various feature gTOUpa tbout 41 mined that stations for it on a money-in-tiv whil ting deliver) of lot lor film tel :ip ment Color inu n't confhi tO feat fmalh starting to bu\ . ii or film \!i \ I \ at the firm's hospitalit) he the tn: • N. \ U 13. 1964