Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

Despite emigration and economic expansion, Puerto Rican labor market continues to provide ready supply of workers for new crop of plants. Here, line handles tomatoes for Libby, McNeill & Libby. Puerto Rican economy, now and future, at a glance ■41 'M ■%i •« "M ■» SO a 14 tt a -n ^ — 1 . I I I ™ 1 ' FOMENT PLANTS 77 (NUMBER) TOURIST SPENDINJ^I,450(» MILLIONS) ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION 7,S00 (MIL KWH) /I / ^ / • / / • ' 1 ^ / / Z'f ROM MFG. eSO (» MILLIONS) WESYV^ENT •SO 0 MILLIONS) PER CAPITA REALGNP 1,300 (DOLLARS) AGRICULTURAL PROD SSO ($ MILLIONS) POPULATION 2,650 (THOUSANDS) LABOR FORCE 800 (THOUSANDS) '«! 'St 'ft 'H 'U 'H 'H 'li '14 -M 11 '?• The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico hat had an annual real growth rale of nearly 10 percent during two of the last three fiscal years, and the boom on the island continues. Almost everything is headed upward— the number of plants promoted under the island's "Fomento" plan, tourist spending, investment by major firms like Union Carbide and Ford, etc. With no trade barriers between the U. S. and Puerto Rico, it is a major Spanish-speaking market for U. S. products, goods. Chart above is from a 1963 study by the Economics Department and Overseas Division of the First National City Bank of New York. more, the figure is about three times the Latin American average, and gaining at a rate of 10 percent or more annually — and without U.S. income taxes. These are just a few of the key contradictions, paradoxes, and marketing puzzlements which advertisers must face in Puerto Rico. There are many more. It is enough, however, for an advertiser to realize that Puerto Rico is a market entity whose gross national product in 1965, by the latest estimates of the Puerto Rican Development Board, will be $2.75 billion, and that air media are unique in their ability to reach the market: Radio: The home without one or more radios in Puerto Rico is a rarity; virtually every one of the island's 450,000 households, from the plush villas of the wealthy and the resident executive class to the poorest households in barrios, is radio-equipped. Stations range in power downward from 25 kw to 100 watts. Spot rates are quite low, and it will be some time before the average price for commercial minutes on the island exceeds $5 (the island's top-rated radio outlet, WKAO San Juan charges about three times this figure for prime-time buys.) In the face of these low rates, and a lack of NABtype policies, multiple-spotting is a common practice. Television: There are seven commercial VHF and two government owned educational VHF channels active in Puerto Rico. Programing is in Spanish. Top-rated outlet currently is WAPA-TV in San Juan.=(owned by Screen Gems). About' a third of all advertising dollars in ' Puerto Rico are spent in tv. Home ' saturation of tv continues to grow; latest commonwealth estimates are for 300,000 tv homes (66 percent saturation). The key stations in San Juan, WAPA-TV and tv sister sta-' tion of WKAQ, each serve a potential audience of about 200,000-' 220,000 homes because they feed most of their shows to stations outside San Juan, which have only limited local production. Newest' trend: a trio of English-language UHF stations scheduled to starl^ this fall in San Juan, Ponce and Mayaguez. They will be affiliated with NBC-TV and carry several NBC shows in what amounts to 2 reverse switch on Spanish-language broadcasting. Print media: According to i checkup made by the GothamVladimir agency, an Internationa agency headquartered in New Yorl with a San Juan branch, newspapers are an important advertising medium in Puerto Rico, ever though the peak combined circula tion of the island's four daily news papers is less than 200,000. As i: true in many Latin American mar kets, the newspapers are well edited, but are held back by : literacy factor (even though thi i 4' 44 SPONSOI