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most of it goes unanswered
TWO-THIRDS of the program mail ol radio's biggest buyer of airtime is tied into big bundles and warehoused, unanswered, to gather dust for five years. Yes, Procter and Gamble is currently satisfied to answer just one out of every three letters that come to its 29 programs. The only listeners who rate answers are the gimme gang. If dialer-writers don't want something, their letters are simply put through a routine of scanning and tabulation, then stored awa) . This is the sponsor who lays $15,000,
000 on dotted lines annually to bring his -.ales message to radio audience-'
P. c\ G. spends thousands each year
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in doing a public relations job. Yet P. & G. has been content for the last five years to ride the crest of war-born high product demand, and wide turnover in listener and consumer groups. The big soap firm can show a rising sales curve and steady listening indices to disprove any charge of mishandling letters and losing listener interest. Nevertheless P. & G. officials are partially nullifying their public relations efforts by allowing listener frustrations to pile up in the unanswered two-thirds of the program mail. With the nation once more in a competitive dee economy, P. & G. and other sponsors with a laisse: faire attitude toward audience mail may well be riding
for a listener fall when the backlog of annoyed-audience reaction piles up.
Many advertisers who do answer mail feel their job is done when the mail is acknowledged by postcard or impersonal form letter. Smart-minded ad agenc) executives insist that this is only part ot the job. It is the exception rather than the rule for an advertiser to handle his audience mail to his own best advantagi
Usually, the job falls to untrained typists and receptionists who have to decide whether the mail contains publicity, copy, radio, or promotional ideas, and whether or not a letter deserves an answer. The same advertisers, when (Please turn to page 49)
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