Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

when not clowning, Hardman key personnel look like this. Energetic group frequently cJoubles in production brass, enjoy their work and feel that "humorous sell" is not something confined to N. Y. and Hollywood. Attention-getting gimmick used by Pittsburgh production house is vintage Packard sedan and uniformed chauffeur (Jack Givens) as "delivery service." Miss Eastman struggles with load of tapes for East Ohio Gas. AAessrs. Hardman and Doak, foreground with drum, are joined by Marilyn Eastman in production of humor-slanted radio commercial series, Hardman has produced some 600 radio spots, many for open-end use. al humor' In less than three years, Pittsburgh's Hardman Associates has built thriving business with low-pressure commercials for local radio clients s lllll dvei \ Piiii l>' burgh's Cordic & Company morning show, Hardman Associates decided to attempt proof of this sales hypothesis by tackling the field of syndicated radio open-end commercials. Now, there's nothing new about open-end syndicated spots for auto dealers, laundries, dry cleaners, bakeries, specialty shops, beauty parlors, and the like. They've been part of local radio for years, and virtually every "program aid" radio syndicator has them in his catalog. Karl Hardman, however, had a quarrel with the basic philosophy of standardized open-end spots. They were, to his way of thinking, dry as dust and about as funny as an Internal Revenue Service Form 1040. Gathering a group of some 15 I Pittsburghers trained in local radio or agency work, Hardman went to work in 1962 on a series of a hun ' dred radio commercials dealing in general product categories commonly advertised in local radio. General format: 40 seconds of humorous "generic" sell, with space for a 20-second live or recorded tag identifying a particular local dealer or dealer group. Prices were tailored to what Hardman knew local ad vertisers could really afford for creative spots. Results came quickly. In a matter of months, Hardman's Frank Doak, now vice president and general sales manager, sold one or more of the open-end humor commercials to 40 radio stations. The new approach in commercials worked so well, according to Doak, that "most of these dealers found the increased sales resulting from these commercials so appealing that they began buying more radio time than they ever had before." The next phase of Hardman Associates' growth happened virtually automatically. Advertising agencies in the Pittsburgh area began giving the fledgling firm commissions to create and produce humorous commercials for specific agency clients. Hardman, with a showman's instinct, began building his own set of "image" gimmicks as agency orders started to come in. He acquired a vintage Packard limousine and a chauffeur to use as the firm's "delivery service." He put a rubber plant named Rosslyn in his office, and held conversations with it (in front of visitors) in broad dialect. He seated a life-sized mannequin named Helen on the couch of the reception room and wired her for sound, and put a three-by-five foot gravure of Willie Hoppe's best billiard shots in the men's room. But all is not sheer gimmickry at the production concern. Hardman has turned out commercials for clients like Scrta Mattress, local Dodge dealers, American Coach Co., Duquesne Light «fe Power, East Ohio Gas and a major Pittsburgh hometown client, U. S. Steel. Says David Barbour, vice president and creative director of the Pittsburgh office of BBDO concerning the USS radio spots: "You'd expect to find an outfit like Karl's in New York or Los Angeles instead of Pittsburgh. He's done some outstanding things for us on radio, commercials that cut through the fog yet still maintain high standards of good taste. "We used a group of his commercials to introduce a U.S. Steel home-improvement product in a test city. When salesmen started beating the bushes, they found that everybody had already heard of the product." Moral? Possibly this: Madison Avenue has no corner on creative thinking. ♦ December 14, 1964 45