Sponsor (July-Dec 1955)

TIMEBUYING BASICS I wish I could tell you of some simple, easy way to get these facts. Unfortunately, there is none. Even the study we have just completed (for MBS) covers only the broad highlights and will become rapidly obsolete. It is too costly a process to put on a month-to-month basis. It will take us another six months just to analyze it in detail. One thing I can recommend — and this I do very strongly — and that is that you use your influence to get more data about the internal composition of audiences — ages, sexes, and so forth, of listeners — in other words, people — so that you can know your markets better. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q. After selecting a test market how long should a test campaign last and how many announcements should be used? A. (From George Abrams) I don't think there's any single answer to that question, but I think I can give you an answer based on the number of variations that we've employed in using test cities for various types of products. In the first place don't make your test too short. We rarely go into a test operation without running for at least six months. However, there are certain types of test operations which you may call saturation or penetration. We go in with great intensity and you couldn't keep this pace going with a heavy spot tv or spot radio schedule longer than a 13-week period. After your advertising runs, don't stop your test operation there; keep your research going so that you know what the after-effects of your advertising are. I mentioned that our test advertising is over a six-month period. We look at test markets for as long as two years. person is about equal to radio listening per person. How does he explain that? A. <From Jim Ward) Measurement of a set accumulates the total exposures of all people. Your set at home undoubtedly will be in use at sometime when you're not there. You will undoubtedly use it yourself. Any mechanical or over-all measurements of the set would total the use while you were not at home and the use while you were at home. When divided by the number of people who were exposed, that will show a material difference. For example, I think I said that my set at home is in use about five hours a day. This is true. It seems to go all the time. But if you were to measure the actual exposure of any individual in my family you'd find that in total he does not spend more than an hour or an hour and a half with the set. He then has the demand of other activities which will pull him away from it. Q. How do you judge market potential for a new product? A. (From George Abrams) That's not an easy one, because in many cases you go into a market with a new type of product as we just recently did, and suddenly through the sales recorded you suddenly realize that potential of this market of this type or category of product is much larger than you ever realized; that suddenly people find a need for it and maybe a latent need that they've always had; that suddenly they're going out and buying the type of product that they formerly didn't buy. In most cases, though, we judge potential for a new type of product through either recorded information, such as Nielsen, who will let you know the total market or through whatever public trade information we can get. * • • Q. Where market A has a record of buying more mouthwash per thousand population than market B, would you consider going into B rather than A with your mouthwash in an effort to create a greater demand? A. (From George Abrams) I think the answer to that one is that you don't select your market on one fact alone. I would say offhand that you're better off in going to a market where more mouthwash is used than going into a market where people use less. But I mentioned before that age is an important factor, and competition is an important factor. You take a variety of factors and assemble them before you make your decision. Q. Is it not true that increases in television and radio listening have cut down on reading time of magazines and newspaper advertising? A. They have. There's been a tremendous redistribution of all leisure time. This is particularly true of magazines and television too. The longer a television set lasts in a home the less time is devoted to it, because it demands leisure time; it demands attention. Q. Do you have any proven test markets in New England? A. i From George Abrams) Yes. Actually one of the best test markets in the United States, and the one that generally shows up in Sales Management's list of test cities, is Hartford, Connecticut. But is isn't typically New England. Hartford happens to be a market with good diversified industry, a good office worker category, has good media, and we've used it in the past with fairly good results. However, it was being over-tested. South Bend, Ind., for example, calls itself the number one test city of the United States. But the fact that Nielsen uses it as a test city; the fact that so many advertisers quickly think of South Bend or Hartford makes it right from the start unattractive. Indiana is exposed to the words of "amazing new discovery" so often that it loses its golden ring after awhile. Q. Jim Ward said tv viewing per home is much higher PAGE 16 than radio listening per home, but that tv viewing per Seminar U. AGENCY PRACTICES: SAINTS AND SINNERS Speakers: George Kern, associate media director, Lennen & Newell; Bob Reuschle, national sales manager, WLACTV, Nashville (then national sales manager WHUM-TV, Reading, Pa.). Moderator of seminar was Vera Brennan, head timebuyer, Scheideler, Beck & Werner, New York. RELATIONSHIPS AND RESPONSIBILITES GEORGE KERN: In discussing the subject for this meeting with the Planning Committee, they agreed that we would deviate somewhat from the topic "Agency Practices — Saints and Sinners," at least as far as my talk was concerned, in order to cover two subjects which we felt were particularly important to younger buyers and sellers of broadcasting time: The agencies' relationship with their clients and with the broadcasters, and The agencies' responsibilities to their clients and to the broadcasters. This might be "Old Hat" to many of you, but we thought it a worthy reminder to all of us. If we all have a clear understanding of these two subjects <1> our relationship with each other and (2) our responsibilities to each other and keep them always In mind, we are going to get along a lot better. It's understanding the other fellow's problems and assuming our own responsibilities that makes for a smooth working team. Now let's look at the agency and its relationship with its client and the broadcaster: An agency's position is a peculiar one In that it acts as an agent for both the client and the broadcaster. An agency therefore becomes a buyer and a seller and as a 2.