Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

"Hr of-markct contracted from 5 percent to 4.8 percent. In 1963 Ballantine's tv budget was split $887,800 for network and $2,244,650 for spot. First-half figures for this year show the company spent $116,500 in network, $1,280,900 in spot tv. Ballantinc also uses a great deal of spot radio. F. & M. Schacfer (Schaefcr Standard) has replaced Hamm's in seventh position. Sales in 1963 of 3.9 million barrels represented a 6.7 percent hike over 3.6 million barrels the previous year. Share-of-market improved to 4.2 percent over 4 percent in 1962. In 1963 Schaefer utilized spot tv only, spending $1,815,080 in that medium, and for the first half of this year again stayed with spot. The Schaefer company put $786, 100 in the medium; the distillers $18,700. Theo. Hamm (Hamm's, Gunther), in eighth place, increased its sales 2.7 percent in 1963 (3.8 million barrels vs. 3.7 million barrels), although its share-of-market remained at 4.1 percent. Hamm's was the first brewer to introduce the allaluminum can. whose use will be expanded throughout Hamm's marketing area. Waldech. a new premium brand, has been introduced in the North Central area. In 1963 Hamm's spent $229,500 in network tv and $4,958,020 in spot tv. For the first half of this year the brewery spent $155,900 in network and $1,252,600 in spot. Distributors spent $7300 in spot and nothing in network. Adolph Coors (Coors) moved strongly ahead in 1963, up from eleventh to ninth place in sales. With distribution now in 11 western states, the company racked up 3 million barrels in sales last year, an increase of 9.5 percent. Share-of-market increased, 3.1 to 3.3 percent. (No tv investment figures supplied by TvB) Miller Brewing (Miller's High Life, Gettleman $1,000 beer, Milwaukee's Best) retained its tenth place slot in 1963. While its shareof-market remained the same as in 1962 (3.1 percent), total sales increased 4 percent (2.9 million barrels from 2.8 million barrels). In 1963 Miller spent $1,142,720 in spot tv and nothing in network. First-half figures for 1964 show the company spent $1,301,600 in network and $406,200 in spot. The distillers spent $87,200 in spot; nothing in network. Miller, also a heavy radio user, recently signed a 52-week contract with Mutual Broadcasting. That's the picture as far as the nation's top ten breweries are concerned. The broadcast orientation, primarily toward tv. of these major brewers is, to quite an extent, followed by smaller regional and local breweries throughout the country. In general, the outlook for 1965 is for even greater allocations for broadcast advertising in the brewing industry — particularly if sales continue to rise. ♦ i Beer packdging innovations pushed "The pull-tab lid on beer cans provided fuel for many tv commercials in 1963. Frequent complaints of cut fingers and lips prompted a half-dozen minor changes. Shown here is the American Can Go's improved version of the easy-open top. For even more convenience, the Continental Can Co. has introduced a new easy-off or pulltab crown for beer and soft drink bottles. The new crown will enter a market of 44 billion beer and soft drink bottles filled annually and may be subject of forthcoming advertising on television. ■ The difficulty of finding and advertising "unique product differences" in beer has increasingly turned the attention of brewers to packaging as a major subject of tv commercials. 1963 was the year of the pull-tab lid for cans. This year, the pull-tab has been applied to the long-unchanged bottle cap, eliminating the need for a bottle opener. Formerly, caps for bottled beer and bottled soft drinks differed only in regard to their inside linings, but now there are many variations of pull-tab lids available. (One, now being used by Schlitz and Anheuser-Busch, two of the three larg est brewers, is said to be the first with no tab extension beyond the , normal extension of the crown.) The pull-tab for bottles is expected to catch on in the soft drink industry in addition to the beer industry, as was the case with pull-tab i cans. Few people need be reminded of the advertising mileage accrued through the introduction of the new lid. The Schlitz commercial theme of pull, pop, pull, pop. pull, pop is perhaps best remembered. Proof positive of tv's success in introducing the new packaging feature is found in two studies of consumer attitudes conducted by the Canco 38 SPONSOR