Sponsor (July-Dec 1954)

5 Tips on selling via km radio Wlwil type of show to buy? Wli.it copy slant? Best time slots? 1 1 «'!-«' in are answers SEVEN WAYS YOU CAN IMPROVE YOUR NEGRO AIR CAMPAIGNS 1. 2. 4. \ever use Segro-appeal radio to sell a second-rate product, or one iiluili is stereotyped as a "colored" product. Segroes today earn good wages, prefer to bu\ premium-priced and top-quality merchandise Don't tr\ to usr high-pressure selling methods in \>gro Radio. The Segro listener resents a, will thou his dislike at the cash register. tpproach should be simple, factual, built on logical "reason why" I tperiences of leading Segrc-appeal stations and top advertisers shou that, with few exceptions, commercials aimed at Segro dialers produce the best results uhrn lhe\ art done live //» NegTO artists 4ttempts by advertisers to produce a synthetit "Negro speech" in agent i iu/h iisiialh don't work out. Stations recommend that the talent lie tarnished fact sheets, be allowed to uorl. "in own style" Dunt expect short-term niirin/es from ScgTO radio. Campaigns ■mist l,t' i (insistent, last as the) ate in "regular" radio to get results. Veteran advertisers prefer 26 and 52-week Segro air campaigns Jive programs, and music slums composed of race records are not the only way to sell the Segro air audience. True, they attract a big audience. Hat gospel programs, homemakers reach more Segro uomen Although quality of available radio research in Segro market is improving, there are still many gaps. A good picture of local Segro radio can often be obtained quickly from sponsor's own distributors 3Phe W DAS, Philadelphia disk jockej didn't like the look of (he copy. But he read il anyway. \\ iiliin minutes, the Negro-appeal station's phones were ringing. Negro callers were furious. Station manage] Boh Klein started ■ In' kin in a burr) and soon di>covered what had gone wrong. A large super market, anxious t" ~i i mulate weekend sales in its meat departnii-nl. had -eni o\er -onie last-minute cop) which wini something like this: "Say, lolk . . . want some good ol' Southei ii eating ? \\ ell, just get a load of some of these weekend meat specials just waitin for you to come in and bu) em." I be ( opj went on to explain w bat the "spei Lais" were. Pig knuckles. Ham hocks. Chitlins. Plate beef. Kidneys. \ml other meal cuts in the lowest price bra< kets. \ t\ pical comment from a Philadelphia Negro listener who lived in the -wank Lincoln Drive ana of Germantown Bummed up the trouble. "I wouldn't Iced thai kind of -tulT |<> m\ ] die," -hi told the station. Needless to say, the advertiser's next set of commercials on the Randy Dixon Show went back to plugging the prime steaks and better-grade poultrj which had been featured su< cessIiiIK before. "Negro listeners will blow their tops at the 'condescending' commercial, \\ DAS' Bob Klein explained. "In this ■ ase, the 'good ol' Southern eating was exactlj the kind of things Negroes don't look hack to with am fond remembrance." Things like this don't happen too often iii Negro Radio today. Advertisers and their commercials are carefull) screened. Manx stations have firm policies about advertising acceptability. *' \ recent sun e) ol Negro consumer habits indicated an overwhelming preference for national!) known. brand-name products," Manager Harr) Novik of \\ LIB, New York, told SPONSOR. "Given a choice, a Negro consumer will always bu) qualit) merchandise if he or -he ' an possibl) afford it and will not be satisfied with a little known or substitute product. We test out new products and get a reaction to advertising claims from a panel of Negro editor and community leaders before we accept them on the -tatiun. In fact, it's safe to saj that Negro Radio i generall) more cautious in accepting advertisers than are print media slanted to Negroes." This system ol "advertising quality control i now growing in Negro-appeal radio. The National \ Nilwork, for instance, has turned down offers of business which il feels won't measure up to a qualit) standard. Individual stations like WI.RI). Atlanta; WBCO, Birmingham; \\I>1\. Memphis; KV\Y >.m Fran« W KM \. Montgomery; \\ MFS. Chattanooga; KWBR, Oakland, and many others — hold a ven strict check on the t\pe of advertising the) find aci Please turn to pagt 146) Negro Radio section. talent story, station listings continue p. 137 56 SPONSOR