Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

Record Details:

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PROBING THE CURRENTS AND UNDERCURRENTS OF BROADCAST ADVERTISING Whitehall rediscovers spot radio Perhaps the most notable spot radio saga of the current fall revolves around the proliferating interest of Whitehall in the medium. Considering that the drug giant wasn't spending a dollar in radio a year ago, the growth of Whitehall's application of the medium has made this a warming topic of conversation among spot sellers. The chronicle begins with Whitehall some months ago taking a flier into spot radio. The reaction it got from the test was so good that it not only renewed the schedule but expanded the market list. There were two further expansions. Now Whitehall is undertaking radio tests with two of its other brands, namely BiSoDol and Dristan decongestant tablets. Markets for the BiSoDol test: Providence, Omaha, Oklahoma City and Portland. For the Dristan tablets test: Boston and Cleveland. What might have sparked Whitehall recurrence of radio activity: (1) discovery that radio reaches a lot of customers who don't see the Whitehall commercials on tv, (2) Preparation H has maintained a high level of sales through radio alone, and this despite the fact that a good number of code stations spurn the product. The sales result of Preparation H could have been the more influential factor for Whitehall's re-exploration of radio. Reps rap Bristol-Myers 'deals' Tv reps with stations in top markets are unhappy over the rather unorthodox Bristol-Myers strategy supposedly adopted for the buying of spot. Negotiating for bulk blocks of spots, instead of buying by the ratecard, is the key to the strategy. The reported Bristol-Myers procedure is to approach a station in a market and ask how many rating points, over a 52-week span, it is willing to provide for a stipulated number of dollars. A specified budget has been allocated for each desired market. The negotiating of the bulk buys in the required markets has been split up among the four Bristol-Myers agencies, namely Doherty, Clifford, Steers & Shenfield, Grey, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather and Young & Rubicam. Coordinating the operation is Ed Parmelee, B-M advertising manager. Why the reps are upset: deals of this sort entail discounts that are above and beyond a station's cardrate and de liver more advantageous end rate than the one obtainable for spot tv's biggest buyers, such as P&G, General Foods and Colgate. The reps, obviously, are afraid that these advertisers will demand that the stations with Bristol-Myers deals grant them discounts equal to the B-M end rate. Incidentally, one Eastern station has had one of these negotiated deals with B-M for several months. It entails around $800,000, and served as the "guinea pig" of strategy that one of the B-M agencies chooses to describe as "using the power of money in selected markets." Coming: ABC-TV's hot breath on GF ABC-TV once again has its covetous eye cast on the $30 million that General Foods spends in network time. The target is the 1965-66 budget. Look for the dickering this time to start as early as the forepart of December, with ABC-TV's bid getting more serious contemplation than it has had, say, the past four years. ABC-TV's apparent edge is the fact that it has the comedy situation hit of the season, around which General Foods could cluster its own "happy family" of situation serials. To Leonard Goldenson a General Foods coup would be the richest frosting on the network cake. The forthcoming competition for the GF pot poses the possibility of a repetition of the tug-of-war that prevailed between two General Mills agencies in December 1960. Y&R urged upon GF a proposition from ABCTV, while Benton & Bowles plumped for a continuation with CBS-TV. B&B's submitted plan won out, but, as it turned out, the Y&R ploy incurred a concession by CBS-TV. The network extended to GF the privilege of maintaining a series for a minimum of three years, regardless of rating weakness or incompatibility. Colgate has NBC up in air Colgate had NBC-TV on edge last week with regard to the advertiser's future intentions with The Doctors daytime serial. Colgate sponsors half of the strip and owns it, but the network supervises the production. Reason why NBC-TV had to know right away: The Doctors freelance producer was looking for his renewal notification. Oct. 3 1 was his deadline. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE November 2, 1964 25