Sponsor (1956)

2. GETTING THE MOST OUT OF THE RATE BOOK (cont.) the nature of the product you are advertising, the requirements of the client, the budget, etc. There is no question in my mind that on a dollar basis, the saturation plans cannot be beat. I even went to the trouble to look up a couple of these things. Any of the stations which have special rates for 15, or 10, or eight, or whatever the number is, will offer these packages at a substantial saving over the same number of announcements run in a longer period of time. It would be very convenient if the stations would agree on what is saturation. However, I think it is too much to hope for, and maybe it isn't their job. Perhaps the agencies should decide what is saturation. But it is a little bit annoying when you have decided that saturation is 10 a week, and then the plans start at 12, and go by 12, 24 and 36; and then there are those that go by 15, 20 and 25. You find that all the saturation plans fit the idea you had in mind. As far as the use of the rate book is concerned, the final word I should like to say is simply that there is a world of information there. There is more than most of us realize, if we would take the trouble to read it. I would like to suggest one caution. If you don't understand the rate card, call the rep or get in touch with the station. The wording is sometimes extremely involved. It is very clear to the manager of the station, but it is not always clear to the buyer. We had an instance in our office where one of my associates, who is very keen, noted that a station had listed a rate for six times a week, and asked for the rate on a 10times-a-week schedule. The client was running 10 times a week — two a day for five days a week. But the station manager wouldn't allow the discount, because he meant six days a week, although that is not what the rate card said. If you don't understand, don't try to guess. Your chances of guessing right are, at best, 50/50. Now, as for off rate card deals the first thing I want to say it that no finger should be pointed at the agencies, either by the sellers or other agencies who feel their position is a little more sanctimonious. I have heard it said there are agencies who don't buy off rate card, and all I can say is that it must save them lots of time, and I think it is wonderful. But where an agency buys off rate card, it is doing it because it has an obligation to its client to do so. Any agency-client relationship requires that the agency buy for its client at the lowest possible rate. Whether that is a published rate or an unpublished rate has no bearing on the situation. In my opinion it is the stations that must hold the line. If they want standard rates, they have to maintain them. To quote from my friend Linnea Nelson who said it a long time ago, "We cannot buy anything the stations haven't got to sell." Buying off rate card takes more time on the part of the agency. It is very simple to look up a rate in the book, set up an estimate, get an approval and buy. Buying off rate card is not saving an agency time. No agency person in his or her right mind would say that they wouldn't prefer rates to be standard. But just as long as rates aren't standard, any agency which is doing a conscientious job will have to take the trouble and time to find out the best possible rate. Some people say, "Well, how do you know?" Those things have a way of getting around. Any buyer who is on his toes is going i" have i" feel the way and just inquire. And once in a while, he will be awfully surII i: handed to him on a silver platt < i We had such an example recently in our agency -a situation where we thought, "Here is a station thai probably holds to its rati card." However, when we told the rep, "Sorry, we are not tuning to buy your station," we added, "Our budget doesn't cover." Within two hours, we had a call back, offering us, with the station's consent, an offrate card deal. I think it was as much as 25 '", lower. The evil of the industry, if it is an evil, should not be laid at the door of agencies generally, or any group of agencies. When you get into buying off rate card, you simply have to go on the premise that you are bargaining. You have to go as far as you can, and hope that nobody gets it cheaper. On this you have no assurance. You only know that you are ahead of the game, if, money-wise, you got it off the rate card. As long as the stations do not stick to the rate cards, we have to get in there and feel the situation out and get the best possible rate we can, hoping that another agency didn't do a better job of bargaining. ELDON CAMPBELL: Buyers have the responsibility of reading Standard Rate & Data more often today than their predecessors had five, six, seven or eight years ago. A rate was usually good for about a year on a major station, or any station in the country as a matter of fact; and then it was changed, usually up, seldom down. In the last five years, this change of published rate gets as rapid as every three months. There is no question but what buyers have the responsibility to buy at the very best price for clients. There is also a word in our business known as "efficiency," and sometimes the word efficiency and the word "economy" get confused. You can spend $100 very efficiently in our medium, or you can spend it very inefficiently, while being "economical" and there is a slight difference. We have the responsibility of maintaining our price, becoming a hard-silver industry. No one else has that responsibility but the station owner, operator and manager, and his minions, the representatives and the salesmen. You people should full well face up to one thing as buyers, nonetheless. If this industry is to achieve stature, it is going to have to have this: an understanding that when you are faced with a buying situation where you have responsible broadcasters, stations of obvious importance in their communities who stick absolutely to their published rate, that these stations not become either politely or impolitely the butt of ridicule by the "smart" buyer. This is the smallest thing we ask from you in our business. We still say buy at the best price, and you will buy at the best price because your client will see to it that you do. But since we are all in this together, there is only an imaginary wall between the buyer and the seller. We are all in a great industry, and we on the media side are proud to have you people on the agency side in our industry, in the advertising business. The wall is a paper wall. That is the least I think we can ask. There is nothing smart about buying at a better price today from Station A when you discover tomorrow that your competitor has bought — your competitor, not ours — on the same station for a competitive client at a lower price. This is an untenable position for you at that moment. just as it is an untenable position for the guy who will do it. In our medium, we ask not that you price us but that you respect us when we publish our price and stick to it. That is a respect I think we should have. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q. When a station consistently has to make under-thetable deals, shouldn't this be a danger flag for the buyer indicating the reason may be that the other stations in the market are better buys? 262 FALL FACTS BASICS