Sponsor (July-Dec 1951)

Hi item iei 0 .(bill Ikj) oo o h,i HOK FOItFll AX From an advertising agen<\ point-ofview, it's only common sense that the various media available to a client are not permitted to become competitive except in. lets sa\. the same healthy waj in which Army, Navy, and Marine Corps compete. In other words, it's O.K. if I as a member of the agen<-\ I \ -liailin learn spend one lunch a week with m\ (former) pals of The Print Team, gently riding them about their impending obsolescence. But, if ever this contest were carried beyond the martini stage and found its way into agency-planning on any respectable echelon, it would militate against good advertising strategy and thus against the agency itself. That's why no agency can afford to permit its TV-ers to knife its Outdoor Men nor its Radio Staff to undermine its Magazine Fellers — even if there is a burning desire to do so on the part of any of its personnel. On the other hand, it's essential that we all. agency and advertiser alike, be realistic. Every medium, including match covers and subway gratings. radio review j SPONSOR: U. S. Treasury Department Guest Star AGENCY: Direct PROGRAM: 1 S-minutc transcribed series Here's a pleasant I5 professional and fastmoving 15 minutes in a transcribed Beries format. [| ei iraging lo see "important thing-" utilizing the Bame skills and tech niques which have proved thej can gel an diena -. hold \ m, and 1 onvim e the what the sponsoi 1 out to g< 1 ai ross. I he I nited States I r< asury, « ith the co ition of r 1 1 » entire advertising and broad casting industry, has always presented supi rb l/oiirl copj whethi 1 izines, newspa "i on the ail and, in this case, the ver) I" -.nil of 1 1., ii program Guest Sia \! irtha I ilton was the htrj was chosen to make the raightforward, and believabli 1 for Ix.n.l-. Del Sharbutl split tl>< singli an 46 competes for the advertiser's dollar in the sense that the flowr of those lovely green things is regulated by a budget. True, budgets can be flexible but strain one too much and it, as well as the agency, may never recover. Psychologically it can be unwise as well as economical!) impossible for an ad-manager to go back to his management for more money once the budget for the year has been fixed. It is far sounder, however difficult, for agency and ad-department to anticipate such items as rising time-costs, production uppages. talent-demands, etc., and make the budget do. On the other hand, changing sales conditions, good or bad, toward the last half of any year can cause managements to alter budgets already set. I hen. too. there are those advertising department heads who like to ask for a budget built upon the premise that they'll spend a certain lesser amount and thus win favor by returning monc\ at the end of the year. All of which is a way of saving that 1 flense turn lo page 67) nouncement thai the show contained (this coming as a middle break with Miss Tilton.) Miss Tilton speaks as well as she sings and thus the copj was put across convincingly and interestingly. No hoakum, no tricks, only words well presented and. I feel sure. well received. radio review J SPONSOR: Charles Antell's Formula No. 9 Solis S. Cantor, Philadelphia PROGRAM: Announcements Onlj a guj with thinning hair or a person who writes an advertising column would l;:'" 'ntentlj to a five-minute nan ,,„ hah '•"*'■ N""■•■ ' am decidedh oi the foj '"' ;""1 make a stab al the latter, this is u "'''" I did ol ,,i evening dur 1 ' " entitled "Nighttime Frolic" over station WAAT, Newark. Here, at approximately 9:45 p.m. I was treated to one of the most fascinating discourses on the restoration of the follicles ever composed. A straight announcement somewhat longer than .1 student-lawyer's summation, delivered by a "friendly" announcer, this tract made such stalwart points as: why rub vegetable oil on your scalp? If it was any good, olives would have hair! Also included was a good three minutes about sheep and how they care for their hair — using lanolin, of course. After the preamble, we then got around to the clincher about Charles Antell's Formula No. 9 which contains liquefied lanolin (a sheep derivative in case you're not up on these things) . After offering me the year's supply for the whole family for only $3 with a money-back guarantee plus a free bottle of shampoo (with lanolin and hormones, this latter being sheer madness), our genial announcer stated — "I've done everything but go to your home and put Formula No. 9 in your hair. Now it's up to you." The threat that this persuasive gentleman would come to my home almost caused me to call the phone number, but this was counteracted by the three bucks so all I did was sit back and marvel at the soundness of the copy, however lengthy, and the unvarnished pitch of the man giving it. (If that hairline of mine goes any farther back than the middle of my skull. Antell and I may do business yet.) radio review SPONSOR: Nupax AGENCY Emil Mogul Co., N. Y. PROGRAM: "Bold Venture," NBC Obviously, the folks who compound Nupax are seeking to widen their market by the type of radio show they are airing. For Bold Venture, the Ziv-produced transcription starring Bogart and Baby, keeps your nerves on edge for a full 29':30" and its sponsor is the product which advises: relax with Nupax. The show is a hypo-ed half-hour replete with gunplay, Havana music, and waterfront violence featuring those two fine performers, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, plus the superb musical effects of David Rose. The program's commercial format is as routine as it is sound utilizing straight copy plus a Bogart lead-in to the middle break in which we glide into a Nupax plug. \ 1 seem to be complaining so often, I didn 1 carry away with me one thing of real worth about the product— no line that stood out. no gimmick that spelled its name, no symptom-device that's still in mind. And. frankly, I think something of this nature is essentia] to i:.>od radio copy. On the other hand. I will concede that these straight announcements are intelligently conceived, well written, and skillfully delivered. SPONSOR