Sponsor (Jan-June 1953)

\<'ir developments on SPONSOR stories Scd "Bab-O bounces bark*' Issue: 22 October 1 951, p. 27 Hull it'ef ' When Ajax cut into Bab-O sales, " * firm fought back with network TV After 20 years in network radio and TV, the B. T. Babbitt Co. is now embarked on one of the biggest radio announcement drives ever undertaken. To push its home cleanser, Bab-O, the company. \ ia Dancer-Fitzgerald-Sample, has bought announcements on 200 radio stations in 105 markets. The 52-week campaign, which began late last summer, consists of from five to 40 one-minute and 20-second announcements per week per station for an estimated annual total of about 150,000 announcements. Bab-O's entire ad budget is now in spot air advertising. The radio campaign includes announcements in about 25 TV markets and. in addition, TV spot announcements are used in 26 cities. Bab-O commercials highlight its "new bubble-action" and claim that it "foams away grease instantly." The message is partly in jingle form, and cartoons are used on TV. The spot drive was initiated right after Babbitt switched its agencies last August, with D-F-S taking over from the William Weintraub Co. Weintraub had been given the j-sb two years before of fighting off the inroads of Colgate's Ajax on Bab-O sales after the Duane Jones Agency daytime-serial-plus-premiums formula lost favor with the client. Weintraub substituted newscasts on nearly 500 MBS stations and boldly ventured into Saturday daytime TV with Bab-O as well as two other clients. The agency bought Two Girls Named Smith for Bab-O on ABC, noon-12:30 p.m., later switched to one girl named Smith i Kate, that is I on NBC TV at night. When NBC dropped the Kate Smith Evening Hour, Babbitt pulled out of network advertising. '"Radio: summer report" 6 April 1953, pp. 62 and 87 Lever Brothers, originators of the network radio summer hiatus, are going for 52 weeks with "Lux Radio" Subject: In recent years, CBS Radio has concentrated much time and effort in persuading Lever Brothers to keep Lux Radio Theatre on for the full 52 weeks. Until recently, it was largely an uphill job. The Lux show was the original hiatus-taker, first cracking the ice in the mid-1930's. Everything from tradition to a comfortable discount picture caused Lever to take a summertime exit for some eight weeks during 17 seasons of airing the show. Late last month however CBS finally did the trick. A small mountain of research facts and figures — which showed that summertime CBS audiences compared favorably with winter on a price-vs.size basis, plus some deft reminders to Lever that the summer season is also a soap-selling season, convinced the company that the buy was a good one to push their products. Another persuader: As CBS now calculates network rates, only the 52-week radio advertisers are entitled to the 8%% off f°r maximum consecutive weeks. Although Lux was still entitled to plenty of discounting on the basis of dollar volume, a 44-week run would not earn the 81/-/ < . Result: As of 1 June of this year, Lux Radio Theatre will take its usual summer vacation. But into the slot will go Lux Summer Theatre, a CBS-produced dramatic package with a name-star policy and eight scripts written around light, summery themes. The show will be done in Hollywood. * * * prosperous, progressive port of Mobile . . . Metropolitan Population Valuation Ala. State Docks 1940 1 14.906 1940 $20,000,000 1951 231.105 1951 J $30,000,000 , % Increase 101% % Increase '" 1 Where your test s«y CALL Adam Young, Jr. National Representative Ceneral Manager or F. E. Busby ON THE DIAL7TO Mobile, Alabama 18 MAY 1953 17