Sponsor (1956)

2. GETTING THE MOST OUT OF THE RATE BOOK (cent.) A. (From Beth Black > Yes, I think that is a fairly obvious point. On the other hand, how do you know they do it consistently? Aren't we all prone to think that maybe they do it only for us? This brings up the whole question of pricing, and price is only one consideration in buying. It is a very important one, but it is a factor that has to be weighed. A station could be all deals, and could still be doing a good job. The people who listen don't know anything about costs. It is a danger signal, but it wouldn't be an answer. It wouldn't mean that you shouldn't buy. It would be one factor only. Q. If two stations in one market are equal in rate coverage, and one station offered an off rate card price, do you fee that the timebuyer should contact the other station, tell it of the competitor's offer and wait for a lower bid? A. (From Beth Black) Yes. Q. Many stations have a cheaper "local" rate, which some national advertisers take advantage of by buying through local dealers or distributors. This cuts out the agency and rep. How can agencies and reps stop this unethical practice? A. i From Eldon Campbell* I feel about a local rate about like I do on unpublished rate. If the qualification of a local advertiser is clearly defined, it is a legitimate and justifiable position for a station to take. It's always been an amusing thing to me in the radio business that the local rate problem has become a matter of supreme concern to agencies and representatives, and some stations. Yet across the hall in the advertising agency, in the print department, the matter of local < retail ) rate of the newspaper has never become a white banner, something to constantly fight at. The local retail rate card of most newspapers in the U. S. is an accepted fact. It is 150 years old. But a lot of radio and tv stations have a single rate. It is a very much happier position to be in, because you don't have to be solemn every morning at nine o'clock. Geography is not the kind of a definition that qualifies local versus national accounts. The basic point is the economics, the kind of a business that the advertiser is in. Q. How can agencies and reps stop this unethical practice? A. 'From Eldon Campbell i I don't agree it is unethical, per se. (From Beth Black) I can give you an experience I had with an agency which came up many years ago. At that time, NARTB had on file records of all stations which had local rates. "This was pre-television, so I don't know how tv is affected. ) We were able to show the client that in the places where he could get the local rate, when the agency commission was added, it would cost more than if the campaign were placed on a national basis. In that sense, we could do something for the rep because we got the campaign on a national basis. This was contingent on a relationship between the agency and the .•■re the client recognized his ODiigation to see that tne agency was compensated either by adding the commission to the local rate or by letting us place it on a national basis. When a local rate is allowed on the basis that a station is delivering circulation that is of no importance, or of Importance to a local laundry, lor instance, it is a very legitimate method of determination. As fa) a the nev papei are concerned, they only have one national rate, which is why we don't get agitated a'-iout their local rates. The sins of the newspapers are so few. It is all there in the rate cards. You can make up the estimate. You can buy it at the quoted rate and no less. You don't have to worry about somebody else getting it cheaper. The local rate has been there for 150 years, so you don't worry about it. (From Eldon Campbell) A company manufactures a product for distribution and sale in the immediate confines of the metropolitan area of any city in the U. S.. It has a direct competitor who is selling nationally all over the country and making the same identical product, distributing it from coast to coast. Both of these clients should pay the national rate. The fact that the first manufacturer who makes the product, sells and distributes it in only a very limited geographical area does not qualify him for a local or a retail rate. He is not in the retail business. He is in the manufacturing business. He is in the processing business. He is in the distribution business, just as his competitor is. His competitor, while he is national and goes all over the country, is just as local in this particular market, just as interested in the sales in that area as the man who sells only in that area and manufactures in that area. This is what I mean by geography. I cannot see that a man who is local by his address necessarily is a local rate qualifier. <From Beth Black) The important point is that it is retail. 3. How buyers, sellers can cooperate Speakers: Linnea Nelson, tv consultant for Kudner Agency, N. Y., and Adam Young, Jr., president, Adam Young, Inc. LlNMvA NKLSON: Let's face the fact thai we can't group station representatives any more than we can group agencies. They are all made up of a lot of individuals, and we must accept them as individuals. All the agencies, the better agencies as well as representatives set policies either through group meetings like the 4 A's and the Station Representatives Association. But all too often these policies do not filter down through to the people who have daily outside contacts. This is very unfortunate because it has always been my feeling that general agency policies should be a part of the everyday life of everybody working within the agency or station rep's office. An advertising agency can have several policies, and so can a rep, but it's well is remember that each is dealing with different clients. So these policies can be deviated from without harm to take care of various clients and situations. No agency spokesman has a right to say, "We never buy spot broadcasting for our clients," because that is not so. Nor has a station rep the right to say, "Our stations never deviate from the rate card," because that is not so either. We need a great deal more education on both sides of the fence. We ail know that this business has grown so rapidly that this has become extremely important. I lie ivp:, :.a\ thc.\ want to make both radio ami teleVision easier to buy. One of the ways they could help in accomplishing this would be to stop arguing about which size, color, or form to use, and accept what over the years (since li>32, I believe) we have been fighting for — the standard contract form. Let's not have to go through reams of paper with all kinds of clauses for each announcement we purchase. Let representatives understand that an agency cannot 264 FALL FACTS BASICS