Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

sponsor sales likely to be. And every bit helps. Advertisers in general go along with it. In years past, it hasn't hurt at all to be associated with the tv hero of the moment, whether Hopalong Cassidy or Kukla. With subsequent tv cost spirals, however, and the resulting trend towards today's program participations, sponsors became only too grateful for every instance of promotion that the program itself could muster. Agency thinking on the subject runs something like this: If tv just delivers us the viewer, we'll take the responsibility for delivering a good sound sell to him. For the few advertisers who may have reservations, however, one fact stands as conspicious and immutable as a mesa: In edging away from solo sponsorship, advertisers have also moved away from program control. The decision (to license or not to license) rests with those who retain control — producers, networks or other owners. The Network Slant For the tv networks, merchandising is considerably more than a profit-making sideline. All three of them value it first of all as still another way to promote their primary product, that is, the tv programs . themselves. Says CBS's Benson: "The prime consideration is not just to make : money but to enhance the popularity and prestige of the programs that we're merchandising." Says ABC's Pleshette: "This extra area of exposure calls attention to our tv programs in other advertising media, in stores, in markets . . . therefore it is not our purpose to license just for the sake of licensing when products are unrelated to program content." Says NBC's Lunenfeld: "Of course, the program comes first." The effectiveness of tv merchandising, Lunenfeld continues, is based on several critical factors that, he contends, have "revolutionized the purchase of toys:" (1) Tv builds recognition. "The whole things boils down to recognition, which is, after all, what any 'brand' is built on." And a regular nighttime network program yields, say, a 5-year exposure that ultimately numbers in the billions — vastly more than any one manufacturer can afford. But a product correlated to the program can share that exposure and ride its momentum towards sales success. (2) "There's no retail help of consequence any more," Limenfeld continues. Whether in supermarket or department store, the customer is pretty much on his own when it comes to making a selection. Thus, if he's to be sold at all, he must be pre-sold — before he ever gets into the store. Tv does this pre-selling for character-licensees, thus "takes care of their advertising effort." (3) Tv's impact, in fact, carries over to the moment of truth — i.e., the instant that the customer, at point-of-purchase, makes up his mind. At that moment, only the package with its tv image is there to persuade him. (One recent result: Many toy packages are tending to be larger and thus more insistent salesmen.) In summary, Lunenfeld explains that "winning recognition through repetition" is all that any form of advertising tries — painfully hard — to accomplish. "We in merchandising do the same thing — but pleasantly — because our selling occurs in the program's entertainment area." ABC's Eugene Pleshette (father of actress Suzanne Pleshette) adds some observations: Merchandising proves most effective when it's network prime time. "Later than that, it becomes limited — chiefly to adults." Merchandising resolves itself into a liaison service, usually between network and manufacturer, but Pleshette recently was go-between for the U.S. Air Force and Aurora plastics, who needed details of B 17s in order to duplicate accurately the planes seen on Twelve O'clock High. Although many manufacturers watch tv closely with sales-trained eyes, the merchandisers, too, must "find elements in their programs that appeal to the audiences each program is reaching." ABC-TV's Addams FamUy, for example, is served by "The Thing," an unattached hand capable of reaching out of a mail box to accept letters from the startled postman (see cut). For idea-man Pleshette, this inspired a "Thing bank," which is neither bank nor toy yet hopefully will appeal both to child and adult: You put a coin in an outside groove and a tiny hand reaches from inside the box to grab and retrieve the money. By late summer, well before the program's Sept. 18 preview, its manufacturer had four factories tooled up for production in anticipation of sales in the "hundreds of thousands" at $3.98 retail. Thus, "sales stimulation stems from the tv program," Pleshette continues. "If the product itself fails, however, there will be no repeats . . ." Letting licenses can be a difficult sell, according to CBS's Murray Benson. "It's intangible. You have no product to deliver, only a name and a likeness." Even so, networks are more and more on the receiving end of calls from manufacturers with ideas related to television. Signlng-Up Procedure The usual procedure goes something like this: A manufacturer will contact CBS, for example, for permission to manufacture a nurse costume as a tie-m to The Nurses. Once Benson, Uke his prototypes at the other networks, is assured the product meets network standards (i.e., is in keeping with the program, not detrimental to it, not salacious, harmless for children to play with and the like), he grants the manufacturer an exclusive license. In return, the manufacturer delivers a cash payment (which varies according to the retail price and sales potential of the product), as an advance against network royalties (which are almost invariably 5 percent of the manufacturer's shipping price). A chief reason for the advance is to give networks a guarantee that the manufacturer will follow through, as licensed. Certainly, the networks aren't, as sometimes charged, in the business for the advance payments alone. As ABC's Pleshette points out, "That's not enough. What we seek is a continuing sales performance throughout the life of the program." In the case of a new tv show, the product is licensed, informally tested for final design features, finally put into production and released to retail outlets through the manufacturer's usual sales and distribution channels. Then, everyone November 9, 1964 i 29