Sponsor (July-Dec 1952)

-^tO. o*< IT'S MORE BOUNCE TO THE OUNCE ■i WITH ► AND IT'S MORE BOUNCE TO YOUR SALES STOCK O. K? ORDER TODAY! OFFICIAL ENTRY BLAN ( miss Sweet Peac Snuff for W52 Kotou I. u.«»j itiicin .\«»l* til (ficir oini Style. Like most Negro d.j.'s, WWCA, Gary, Ind., performer above is most effective as salesman when he phrases own sales pitch from client's outline. Show is from store 2. Take €idrantage of merchandising opportunities. Negrc appeal stations go all out to help as shown in WWRL, New York, mailing of autc graphed picture to dealers; WDIA, Memphis, card; WLOW, Norfolk, Va., contes to lopes: don't talk down Several years ago, one of the leading cigarette firms decided that a good way to boost sales was to aim a special advertising campaign at Negroes. The tobacco company quickly mapped out its plans, nicked what it felt was a surefire selling angle, and charged ahead. Then, executives of the big firm sat back contentedly to await results. They never came. In fact, the whole campaign was viewed by the average Negro smoker with the cold indifference reserved for a saloon keeper who has blundered into a temperance wienie roast. Ad\ertisin« men were soon called on the carpel by top brass, who loudly demanded an explanation. Nobody had a good one. Finally, many months later, the cigarette firm learned why its well-meant campaign bad laid an egg. Instead of featuring its premium brand, the tobacco firm had chosen as its star performer in the Negro market its 10-cent brand. And, since the firm's admen had held the notion that the Negro was an impoverished, ignorant minority, the pitch had been a racially stereotyped one, centering on an appeal of "Get more for your money." Today, with Negro-appeal radio adding an ever-growing dimension to the means of selling to the Negro market, advertisers still fall into the same kind of blunders when they buy time on Negro-appeal outlets. They start off with a prejudiced concept of the Negro market, and then proceed to do themselves more harm than good with a campaign that offends Negro listeners, or makes them feel that they are being ridiculed or talked down to. SPONSOR, realizing that selling to Negroes (or any other minority group) \ ia radio is a nicely-balanced blend of tact and good advertising tactics, has therefore prepared the following report covering many of the basic problems in this field. Information for it was gathered by SPONSOR editors in a nationwide survey of stations who air Negro programs, as well as through discussions with media representatives, agencymen and several clients who have used Negro-appeal broadcast advertising with success. A few readers may find some of the information that follows to be "old stuff" to them, having learned it the hard way by trial and error. But, for those advertisers who are eyeing the nation's $15,000,000,000 Negro market for the first time as a distinct economic unit, and who now realize that one of the best ways to reach and sell this market is through the use of Negro-appeal radio, these tips could prove invaluable : -X * » 1. Negroes, despite lower-than-white income levels, prefer the best of brandname merchandise and respond well to air advertising for such products. As Philadelphia's WHAT, an independent station that airs its programing exclusively for that city's 450,000 Negroes, put it to sponsor: "Through experience, we have found that Negroes have a sensitive prefer( rice for quality merchandise, and many of them will buy higher-priced 36 SPONSOR