Sponsor (July-Dec 1954)

GOOD . . . advertising always pays in the ^ 1 I1/ I, ■■ 'I I: \ \S\ \y. RICH, GROWING NORTH CAROLINA MARKET D L I t K . . . coverage than ever before is yours with RADIO in the 15-county Winston-Salem NORTH CAROLINA Market DC J I . . . buy morning, afternoon and evening is Represented by HEADLEY-REED CO. In the end, the relative positions remain the same and you all wind up with nothing real t<> -how except a large financial expenditure." Uthougfa cautious in all hi evaluation of media effectiveness, Marshall i fairl) well convinced ■>! the sales Btrength « » f Howdy Doody. Ordinarily, he believes, it i difficult to pin-point a particular medium and -av that it i doing the Bales job, be< au-c BO maii\ other fat tor are operating. I.a-t -um mer, however, there were indications that even the conservative ad manager of Continental Baking regards as significant. During the summer a cop) switch was made on the Hostess segment from the cup cakes to Hostos Sno Balls. Onl) t\ and radio were used not new-paper. In all these markets the product mined well. However, in those markets where Howdj Dundy was not carried, such results were not obtained. Other factors might indeed be at work. but on the surface, at least, all Bigns point to the sales potenc) of Howdj Doody. The usual difficulty in assessing media is compounded by the happv circumstance of steadv compan) growth, a sign usually taken as signifying that many facets of an operation, in addition to advertising, are going well. Last year. Continental Baking Company reached a sales volume of $181-,000,000. As you might surmise from this, it is the largest in the field, having maintained this position since its birth in the Twenties. Nearest competitors are American Bakeries (Taystee Bread), General Baking Compan; (Bond Bread i. Ward Baking Co. (Tip Top Bread i . It would be a mistake to consider the bread advertising picture as primarily involving the big lour. Actually, as with many other products, bread is an important local or regional item in many sections. Often, a market's ad battle is not so much between national breads as between a national and local bread, with the local baker] outspending the national competitor. This is one reason why it is impossible for Continental Baking to follow a completely uniform policy in ever} market Vgenc) media man \\ in kin her explained it as follow-: "We actuall) cannot have one. simple overall plan that will work in each of the 89 < ontinental bakei \ areas." In -ome markets it was not possible to gel Howdj Doodj vet local management put on the pressure for tv. Examples are Oklahoma Citv where Continental Baking placed Ziv's The Cisco Kid «... WKY-TV, Sun, 5:306:00 p.m.. and Salt Lake City, where CBS Tele vi-ion Sales1 tnnie Oakley was < ailed into -eiviic on KSL-TV, Saturday, 6:30-7:00 p.m. Howdj Doody has Bince been added: the station count i now \'K In other market-, sheer population -i/c and extent of -et distribution may make additional shows advisable. The Continental Baking approach to spot tv was outlined bj Lee Mack Mar-hall as follows: "For the average market we consider Howdy Doody plus our announcements sufficient to do a -ati— factor) job. Where, however, the reachable population i extraordinarily dense and diversified, it i doubtful that we can cover it adequatelv with our one program and few announcement-. Additional program coverage seems to me to he advisable in -uch a case." The company is sponsoring Annie Oakley in New ^ ork Saturdays 7:308:00 p.m., on \\ \BI) — the show moves to WCBS-T\ in January to 5:30-6:00 p.m. In Los Angeles, three -how have been added: Gene Autry. KNXT, Sunday, 5:30-6:00 p.m.; Time for Beany, KTTV, Monday, 6:30-6:45 p.m.; Thunderbolt the Wonder Colt. KTTV, Tuesday, 6:00-6:15 p.m. Marshall regards Los Angeles a> a local tv market. Howdy Dood\ doe not rate well there againsl a number of popular local kid shows. It i interesting to observe that none of the added tv shows is strictly, or even primarily, adult in appeal. Gene Autry and Annie Oakley do attract grown-ups. too, but their essential appeal is "youthful." The youngster is so basic in Continental Baking's ad approach that he is even the heart of the sales message of the adult radio show Make (p 1 our Mind. Mothers are sold the idea that Wonder Bread helps build their children s bodies. Because public goodwill is essentia] to bread companies, Mar-hall notes. advertising cop) throughout the indii-trv i generall) prett) (lean. The companies refrain from knocking one another and avoid shrill exaggeration. [Please turn page) 96 SPONSOR