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Three months after tv:
are up
Following 26-week tv test campaign, sale of bean and brown bread products continues sharp rise over 1954
Mm ow long can you coast uphill after dropping a tv campaign?
One company which has learned part of the answer is Burnham & Morrill of Portland, Me. In the third month after completion of its 26-week test tv campaign in Green Bay, Wis., B&M sales were 107% above the same month last year when there was no tv campaign — or any other advertising.
Just how much longer can the results of its $12,500 test on WBAY-TV continue to be felt?
No one will ever know because B&M shortly after the third month without tv decided to go back into the medium in Green Bay. The company is now using two announcements weekly on WBAY-TV's morning show, Party Line (via John C. Dowd, Boston).
B&M SALES 3RD MONTH AFTER END OF TV TEST
(18 September-18 October 1954 vs. 1955)
i
9 02.
27
02.
brown
bread
brown bread at wholesale level
1954
vs. 1955
1954
re. 1955
1954 v
. 1955
AREA A (50-mile radius
of Green
Bay)
I. MANITOWOC, WIS
60
0
45
50
0
0
2. OSHKOSH, WIS.
50
50
10
25
20
0
3. APPLETON, WIS.
90
100
60
75
40
150
4. GILLETT, WIS.
0
40
0
110
0
20
5. GREEN BAY, WIS.
190
530
190
375
0
50
6. MENOMINEE, MICH.
0
100
0
25
0
0
TOTALS A
390
820
305
660
60
220
AREA B (50-100 mile radius of Green Bay)
7.
FOND DU LAC, WIS.
0
50
0
15
0
0
8.
STEVENS POINT, WIS.
0
80
0
50
0
0
9.
WAUSAU, WIS.
40
50
15
0
0
0
10.
NORWAY, MICH.
100
0
0
0
0
0
11.
SHEBOYGAN, WIS.
60
110
47
30
0
20
12.
WIS. RAPIDS, WIS.
0
0
0
0
0
0
TOTALS B
200
290
62
93
0
20
TOTALS A and B
590
1110
367
755
60
240
While B&M had a natural interest in seeing just how long it could coast on the results of its test campaign, the desire to insure further sales increases outweighed scientific curiosity.
Results of the B&M tv test were reported openly in the pages of SPONSOR from the 7 February 1955 through 8 August 1955 issues. This was the first media test ever to be reported in the pages of a trade paper as it happened.
For the 26-week period of the test, B&M scored a 98% gain over the same weeks of the previous year when it used no advertising at all in the market. This was termed "unbelievable ' by the client because Green Bay previously had been one of its most unproductive markets.
In the first month after the test ended, sales were 58% over the same month of 1954. Then, in the second month after tv, eyebrows really lifted in the Portland, Me., headquarters of B&M: Sales were 128r; over the previous year. The third month sales gain of 107%. while down from the previous month, is still considered a remarkable testimony to tvs staving power.
It's the brown bread sales which show the biggest rise over the previous year. They're up, as the chart at left shows, 180 dozen over the previous year, a 300% gain.
The 27-ounce size of B&M beans this fall has shown consistently larger increases over the 18-ounce. This probably reflects the fact that repeat purchasers are inclined to seek the economv of larger-size cans. The 27-ounce size showed a 106% sales gain in the third month after tv compared with 88' ; for the 18-ounce size. (See 5 Sept. and 3 Oct. 1955 issues.) * * *
38
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