Sponsor (July-Dec 1954)

person doesn't have a good personalis .mil .1 ■ heei lul attitude, he can i fit in u itli ..in kind ol agencj . " Uong the lines of abilitv . < «ni radio-h people (and that's nearl) .ill ol ii1 need i<> be able t" express ideas « • 1 1 papei a> well as visualize them on television and radio. There isn'l mu< Ii tui no\ ei al Robei tson's agenc) . |ohn I b) has been there 15 years. I. .mill Everson and Margaret Pierson, radio b< i ipl v> i itei . have been there eight years. When the agencj started doing a lot ol tv two wars ago il added three people i" the staff. I he) 're ~iill there. Tr rrj'do: The opposite of "live" is "dead." "To sa) a commercial is filmed, -avs Marshall, "is just a nice wav ol sa) ing ii dead. I sing live commercials is point number one in Marshall's Credo tdverlere I ideo. "Live television ha revitalized all advertising," he says. "Some agencies don't take live television ver) seriously. \\ e do. "Mi. (harm of live commercials i I I I ! I "Sagebrush Serenade" "Western Requesrin" "Lee Nichols Show" THE MART STORES H "For the first time we had -volume sales that could directly ri be attributed to our advertising." DOUGLAS OPTICAL "We attribute a good share o) our traffic to the terrific impact ol our KWBB spot announcements." Represented by Ceorge W. Clark, Inc. I thai the) > an hi' limelv . '"'I lie in -t thing we look for when we plan a t\ announcement i a timel) theme. Point two in hi < reed is "a beautiful picture." "Ever) scene ol oin i\ commercials we tr) in make beautiful to look at. \\ i want nice composition. We want io he able to snap a photograph of an) part ol an) of our commercials and have ii ionic out a complete, attractive picture thai sa) something. Mar-hall i against ver) elaborate u sets. "The onl) important thin iw hat's on the screen," he savs. "Often small things within the scope of the camera like a prett) arrangement of Flowers on a table and a lovel) lace tablecloth — are 10 times better than a $500 background." Closeups arc used in the Robertson t\ commercials. "When we show .i sizzling -teak, we -how a real. honest-to-Ood sizzling -teak right oil the "rill. We show a closeup of it. You can almost smell it on your -creen. We don't show the whole damn banquet hall: what we -how i a steak, a juicy, sizzling, delicious steak." I The agenc) u>es real food in all its commercials. Mar\ usuall) prepares it right in the studio and sometimes the preparation is part of the commercial.) "When we show a couple of people talking. " he says, "we show head shot-. People want to see the expression in other people's faces. A lot of tv iruined h\ long shots." Besides forbidding long shots. Robertson also frowns on pan shots. Most of the time a pan shot takes too long and doesn't -how enough. "'l ou haven't time to pan in a one-minute commercial," he says. "What we want are quick takes of tight shots. Pan shots are confusing unless they're natural, slow, graceful. You can't get a graceful pan shot in an I.D. Other requisites of good live commercials: spontaneit) and a good "pitch personality . "Here where we contradict ourselves just a little hit." Robertson said. "We said everyone around here ha to he versatile. That's true up to a point, hut we do have two "pitch" people who do nothing else. "Hob Petre and Lillian Helling deliver most of our commercials. I guess \ ou'd call them talent. "We don t let them do an\ thing else. We don't want them to think about anything else. The result i thai when the) deliver a commercial, the) put it i ighl in \ our lap."' I'etre is a formei radio newscaster and a professional photographer. \li-Helling i an actress and was a Barbi/on model. Petre moie oi l< — punches awa\ at his commen ials; Lillian handle hers in a more conversational manner. "We don't let Bob and Lillian u>e prompting devices."' Robertson said, "We want spontaneity. You don't spontaneit) when your "pitch' person is reading his lines off a prompting gadget. If thev can't memorize the whole commercial, we take era off camera and let them read it. "We want Bob and Lillian to project.' Hobert-on emphasized. "We want 'em to gel over to each viewer. We want each viewer to think he's being addressed personally. The si i to project . . . "I hat s the :«ecret ol a good play, you know." Robertson observed. "When the spectator becomes part of the play. We want the viewer to take pari in the commercial . . ." There's one more thing that Robert! son wants in hi commercials. It's "spoken" copy. The agencv doesn't allow "literal v" radio ami television copy. Thev want writing to be simple, colloquial. "You might sav that what we want in each of our commercials is a little drama. Of course we get into the pitch pretty damn fast. says Robertson. "We sell prettv hard. But with i eopv and a beautiful picture, its a hit like a short little drama . . . Props storod at /ionic: |n the afternoon John Eby and Marv Robertson drove me to see some of the sights around Denver. Rut most of the drive u a busini - The first stop was the Robertsoa home, located on the edge of town overlooking a beautiful valley. We stopped at the house to pick up props needed for that night tv commercials. One room of the bou-e had been converted from a bedroom to a tv prop storage room. "1 have to use a lot ol mv own tin for our commercials, Marv said. "I Use mv own -teiling. taUe. loth anil china for some of the food commercials. W e went outside to the garden where Marv picked a bouquet of flowers. "We're using some flowers in a commercial tonight. 104 SPONSOR