Sponsor (Jan-June 1953)

OOO-sq.-ft. plant in Brooklyn where the imported products are processed, refined, and packaged, and coffee is roasted and blended. Ehlers today says it lias 85$ distribution in New York. New England, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey. Florida. Advertising entered the picture in 1()2(> when the firm retained S. T. Seidman & Co. as its agency. Weiss & Geller took over the account in 1940, and Erwin, Wasey & Co. became its agency in 1951. a year before the switch to Dowd, Redfield & Johnstone. One of the major changes following the shift to DR&J was a redesigned Ehlers package. The firm felt a need for a new container, "geared for today's selling," and suitable for attractive presentation on TV. It wanted a package that would compete favorably with other brands on a "crowded shelf shrieking with competition." according to Edwin Ehlers. Other requirements shaped up as follows: The product name must be legible and reflect product's quality. But there were a few drawbacks to making a really drastic change. Over the years, the Ehlers package had built up a certain amount of recognition and CHANNEL 12 KVOS-TV KVOS KPQ 10 00 WATTS 790 K C 5 000 WATTS 560 K C Here's 55.4Z of WASHINGTON STATE'S CASH FARM INCOME followers. The coffee had been pictured in its old container for quite some time in firm ads. Would the company be justified in tossing its accumulated consumer familiarity out? The final solution was a compromise between the old package and a startling innovation. The major portion of the can is still blue: brand name lettering was altered for easier readability; the red portion of the package was considerably reduced. Thus the new package has at least a speaking acquaintance with the former one, but modern design makes it more attractive to consumers and TV viewers. Ehlers' efforts to merchandise its product to grocers and consumers at the point-of-sale have been consistent throughout its history. The firm recently held a contest among grocers for the best display of Ehlers coffee. Over 2,000 retailers entered, and Ehlers handed out $1,500 in prizes to 30 winners. In addition, it makes avail **A11 of us know that today's mass communication media live by advertising. What is more, they are kept free and impartial by it. Corruption amongst newspapers and broadcasting stations exists only in those areas where they must depend for revenue upon subsidy from government or pressure groups." T. J. ALLARD General Manager CAB, Toronto able posters and other display pieces. Ehlers is among the top three coffee sellers along the Eastern Seaboard. Its chief competitors. Maxwell House and Savarin. are also heavy air users. Maxwell House shares sponsorship with other General Foods products over CBS Radio and TV networks. On TV, it has Mama and Red Buttons. Its radio programs are Wendy Warren and the News, and The Second Mrs. Burton. TV takes the biggest (hunk out of Savarin's ad budget. It sponsors Bob Wilson and the News, WNBT. It also uses announcements adjacent to such programs as Authur Godfrey's WCBSTV show and The Kate Smith Hour, WNBT. Its sole radio program is New York Closeup, WNBC. The latter has been important to the firm through extra merchandising support. * * * 72 HOMEMAKER SHOWS {Continued from page 38 I The most predominant length for homemaker shows is the half hour. At least 55% of the programs covered in the survey came under this heading. Next in popularity is the 15-minute size, which accounted for 22'< of the programs. Most of the others ranged between a half hour and a full hour. Few were shorter than a quarter hour in length of time. 3. Coiiffiii dt commercials: Nearly nine of 10 local TV shows of the homemaking variety feature cooking, plain and fancy, as the chief subject matter of the program. More than 50 ^ of the programs deal exclusively with cooking. Law ton's survey shows. Often, in these kitchen-appeal shows, dietetics makes an appearance. The "general" type of homemaking show also goes in strongly for advice on the care of household furnishings (cleaning a rug, for instance) and tips on caring for household equipment ( polishing a toaster, or else checking on worn electrical cords). Since housewives — thanks to years of conditioning by all ad media — are conscious of their appearance, the subject of personal grooming provides program material for about half the homemaking programs on the local TV air. Fashions and clothing, oddly enough, are a big item on only about 4% of these shows. Child care, too, appears as a frequent topic on about a third of the programs surveyed. Most of the homemaking programs, as might be expected, center around a particular personality who is an authority on the subject. And the "authority" is almost always a woman. She makes generous use ol the demonstration technique accompanied by a running commentary. If she has a guest (who is likely to be either an specialist on a subject, like a chef or a psychologist, or else a famous person), the program usually takes the form of an interview or discussion. The star id the show is usually the chief salesman. Some 90S of the shows replying to Lawton's survey indicated that the commercials were chiefly done by the "demonstrator," although about 63r< also used a station announcer either alone or in combination with the demonstrator to handle commercials. Only about one out of 10 shows indicated that it made SPONSOR