Sponsor (1964)

ovei the programing and make his pick on the spot Drew reported to someone radio oldtimers will likely recall, namely Pal Ranagan, Bj a curious coincidence the word Beech Nui should ring another memor) bell in terms of company personalities. I here was Ralph Foote, Beech-Nut ad manager, who each year traveled thousand ol miles buying the coming season's spot schedules for the gum and collee hues Foote's credo in those pioneering days was that the station manager and the advertiser OUght to know each other personal!) to get the maximum efficiency oul ol a campaign. I he brightest glow in Foote's career with radio was his spot sponsorship ol' the famed Chandu the Magician, with its miniature magic elephant premium that drew hundreds of bags ol mail from youngsters. Drew, incidentally, came from I ennen A: Newell, and before that had spent wars with Coty. The nucleus of BccchNut's cosmetic-toiletries division: landers Co. Carlova. Inc. and Landers Co., Ltd. Hard season for station relations men It" your Organization buys nighttime programing on the t\ networks and you're the sentimental type, you might at this point give a thought to the station relations hoys. Von might even consider them as the forgotten and unsung heroes of the networking business Their main job in this era of the medium is to get clearances. It's been rougher than ever lor them this season, particularly in the two-station markets. [hey've had to be on the defense from two directions: (I) a competitive network moving in last and tieing up a block ot" prime hours i as just happened to CBS' disfavor and NBC's advantage in Dayton), (2) affiliates preempting hunks oi prime time for local film features so spot minute commercials can be accommodated. Ihis battling to keep the affiliate in line or chip avvav time from a competitive network can m itself get quite rough at times, lor the obvious reason: what's the good of loading up the schedule with cost!) programing and lots o\ advertising, if you can't deliver a profitable number of station clearance.' As the pressure to deliver increases, the station relations clan takes to tightening up muscles. lor example, hinting to an owner in two markets that if he wants to keep the affiliation in his prime market up North it would be tactful fol him to cut out preeni; mid-evening tune on his station 111 the South Or, suggesting to a multiple-affiliate group own ei m a tWO-Station market DOl !•• be OVerlj generous with ins time to a competitive oetvi if he wants to keep his present affiliation in a three station market It's a haul game, but then nohodv uses brass knuckles or abusive lai How to sell cars with free plugs II there are am sellers Ol spot radio who wonder why they're not getting more automotive business, thev might find one reason In checking with the musical directors ot their stations What they'll learn is that in main cases the auto maker doesn't have to buv advcttihe can get it free by having rock 'n' roll writers incorporate the name of the model in the vocal number Columbia, Mercury, Capital «>r an) other will record it and the stations, m general, will plug it into a hit I hat is. until somebodv m the commercial department discovers what's going on and sets up a howl Following are some examples of giveaway vehicle plugs openlv ploited via record labels: Hey, little Cobra (Ford), Mustang (Ford), little old Lady from Pasadena (Dodge), GTO (Pontiac), Morula (Jap motor scooter). "Sponsor Scope" quizzed the music director ol one New ^ ork station on this station and got this retort "If it's a hit. we play, and we don't care what it adveitis P.S WBB1 Rochester, has |ust imposed a ban on numbers which contain free automotive advertising. Agencies adore Sherlock Holmes type YOU know who's on the present top list of ad agency suppliers in the matter o\ serv ( Your guess is wrong if you think it's freelance artists, w: iters, research firms, etc It's the management consultant. 01 even a CPA, who can see opportunities for streamlining the agency's overhead via consolidations and whatnot margin k^\ profit has become so thin that main an agency is resorting to outsiders to poke around fol potential savings in either mechanic. T human facilities mb«r 8, 1964 27