Sponsor (May-Aug 1957)

OVER-COMMERCIAL ? (Continued Irani page 39) stead <>f parking (' a.m. to 6 p.m. slots. More careful supervision of programing. Keep an e\e on those disk jockeys who lend to yak-yak too much during a show, run out of time and then frantically bunch their remaining announcements in the waning minutes. There are main among both buyers and sellers who agree with Brent that programing is one of the keys to the puzzle. \ poorK -handled program with onl\ 111 announcements can sound more pvercommercialized than a wellhandled show with 20. A lot of show personalities can match up commercials for two compatible products (such as soft drink and pretzels I and put them back to back with a strong tie-up. heightening the effectiveness of both. The increasing number of light touch "talk" commercials is enabling some clever d.j.'s to alternate these with singing commercials, so that the listener is not too aware of the short time between commercials. (See "Should you get on radio's comed\ commercial bandwagon?". SPONSOR 11 May.) As for protective separations, competitive products and conflicting copy themes are not the only considerations. There also is the problem of separating two non-competitive — but incompatible— products, such as floor wax and peanut butter. Station traffic departments and show stars can do a lot to smooth out their commercial slotting if they have, or take, adequate time to plan their programs. "In order to be good, a station must have a character," says Jerry Sachs, Doyle Dane Bernbach timebuyer. "And in order to establish such character, it needs programing. When it crams too many spots into too little time, programing goes out the window— and the station has lost its character." (One of the reasons advanced b) magazine experts for the death of Collier's was its lack of character, i "Ads strung together," Sachs continued, "are nothing but a shopping guide. And a shopping guide is not programing." Sachs, who is as much concerned with "overcommercialization" of radio as is anyone else in the business, takes an objective view of the problem. It's a problem both broadcasters and advertisers must join forces to lick. "Advertisers have got to stop their clamoring for these prime hours. They've got to face the fact that radio selling is a cumulative thing: you chip awaj at a small piece of audience at a lime, then you go to another hour and chip awaj at another audience: 7 to 9 a.m. is not an umbrella that covers everybody. "Then there are the broadcasters. I he\ ve got a big selling job to do. They ve got to acquaint advertisers with the other hours in the radio day. They've got to come up with solid research to prove these other hours are good buys. They've got to develop I letter packages to attract advertisers into spreading out." Until such missionarv work takes hold, what of the immediate programing? Are shows and advertisers both suffering from announcement overcrowding? What of the listening housewife who may be bombarded by as many as 200 separate commercial impressions before she sets out on her trip to the super market? How the audience reacts "Chances are," says Albert Shepard. executive vice president and director of tv testing MRP (Motivating Response Patterns), "she just won't listen to them all. but will pick out of the fog of commercials only those she wants to hear. However, there is no general rule; a lot depends on specific products and special situations." A. C. Nielsen Co. reports that, in tv. minute-by-minute curves indicate no appreciable tune-out at commercial times. Thus it would seem that tuneout is influenced by programing — not commercials. In 1949, Schwerin Research Corp. measured for a network the effect of increasing the number of commercials in daytime programs. They ran matched-sample tests in the same show, the first time with five commercials and the second time doubling that number. All the commercials were approximately one minute in length. In Test I, the commercial time was in a relationship of about one to eight to the entertainment, while in Test II relationship was roughly one to threeand-a-half. The study indicated that the larger number of commercials had an adverse effect on liking for the show, the loss being 9% . I See chart, page 39. i "While the climate of radio listening has obviously changed since this stud\. Schwerin Research points out. "it assuredly is not more favorable to ward saturation use of commercials." None of these pieces of research presents too alarming a picture. Yet the "overcommercialization" battle goes on. "Radio was entirely too holy in the old days," said one hroadcaster. "They fell over backward trying not to double-spot. Then along came tv which went blatantly ahead piling up hitchhikes and cowcatchers and I.D.'s and station breaks until it sometimes winds up with five commercials in a row. \\ In the hell should radio be expected to be so moral about this thing?" "No station is over-commercialized." said another, "if you look at it over a 12 or 18 hour period. It's all due to timebuyers getting such ultimatums from clients as. 'You will buy 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to C p.m., and you will accept no substitutes!' ' Perhaps the whole subject was best summed up by Paul Weeks, vice president of H-R Representatives, Inc.. v hen he told sponsor: "Retention is influenced by a great manv factors other than the number of different impressions received within a given period of time. In fact, the number of commercials probably is one of the less important factors. "It is too easv to generalize about the commercial load of a program. Commercial load is a highly relative term, and depends a great deal on the calibre of the broadcaster. "In some cases, it is merely force of habit on the part of even some of the most astute clients who confine their agencies to the well-trodden boards and so prevent them from making creative, selective buvs in a variety of time periods which would yield optimum usable audiences. "Creative, selective buying is onehalf the combination to unlock the real potential of radio advertising. The other half is creative, impact-making commercials. "Several years ago." Weeks concluded, "when radio had been officially pronounced dead, it was the success of a handful of intrepid and imaginative agencies who knew better which startled the erstwhile crepe-hangers back into the fold. It is these very pioneers who now find things crowded, remembering as the) do the days when there was lots of elbow room on their rediscovered medium. It may well be that these same pioneers will go forth again in 1957 to conquer new worlds and new time periods." ^ ;;;; SPONSOR 18 may 1957