Sponsor (Jan-Apr 1958)

ROBLEM Those changing spots: Beech-Nut Gum uses many commercials to tell its "flavor lasts" story. At Y&R, Bill Dollard (in shirtsleeves) buys the time while Bill Backer writes enough commercials to keep the series fresh blows of a relentless hammer, the sell was driven into the public noggin. On the other hand, the chart shows that many equally successful advertisers in saturation radio are changing copy as frequently as mother changes diapers. With this school of admen, the public is entitled to a bit of entertainment along with the sell. The theme, or sales story, may be repeated in 10 rotating commercial cuts, but in each, the lead-in or situation copy has been varied. The sell is not actually softened, the basic copy points are still repeated, but the capsule that delivers them has been sugar-coated. "Hard Sell is too often confused with Hard Listening," a copy chief told SPONSOR. "It's one thing to sit here on the sending end and decide that a radio listener will not tire of hearing your minute of deathless prose or happy little jingle no matter how often it is repeated. It's another thing to be on the receiving end. All too often we neglect to take into consideration the listener's state of mind." Whether copy is changed often or remains the same throughout a campaign apparently is not the deciding factor in a campaign's success. A good, bouncy jingle, for example, can be played over and over again just as a hit tune can be played over and over again without wearing out its welcome. Today's copywriters and jinglesmiths are removing the irritants. As saturation radio accumulates its massive audience, new people hear the commercial for the first time, but those who have heard it before are not annoyed. If they have heard it often enough, they may even whistle or hum along with the e.t. The copy which has given radio a lot of new "sound," however — the light touch commercials — would seem to be the ones that demand the variety of versions within a saturation campaign. Pepperidge Farm, Tetley Tea, Beech-Nut Gum, Rambler, Dodge, Ford, Life Savers, Piels Beer and other commercials of a whimsical nature are usually sent out to radio stations in batches with instructions to rotate. Since their effectiveness and listenability depends largely on the good humor backdrop to the pitch, these are generally produced and distributed in groups. To play and replay but a single cut of such a "talk" commercial would be tantamount to telling the same joke over and over again. "The persons we're using in our commercials to sell Pepperidge Farm and Schweppes," says Reva Fine, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather copywriter on both the accounts, "are real people — Commander Whitehead and Parker Fennelly. To the radio listener, these men have become friends, and one doesn't expect a friend to tell the same story again and again. Thus we use a variety of approaches and situations to get across the product idea." Of those admen to whom SPONSOR spoke, all agreed on one thing — vary the showcase if necessary, but never current campaign's product message. Rambler cars, which have enjoyed great success through radio this year (sales up 81% over a year ago), follows this concept. Says Ray Mauer who, with Jim DeFoe, writes Rambler radio/tv copy at Geyer: "It's unquestionably important to have a central theme to take advantage of the repetitive impact of radio. But it's equally important to put this theme within a framework that has freshness and change." "Variety in the approach to the basic product story is a fine thing," says Ed Schneeberg, B&B copywriter on Maxwell House Coffee (an account which has a good supply of varied commercial approaches to its central theme), "but variety should never dilute the sales story." An excellent example of commercial variety and its use in saturation radio is Tetley Tea. The copy is written by George De Coo at Ogilvy Benson & Mather, and David McCall is the copy supervisor on the account. Tetley had a new product story to tell about a year ago — (1) that Tetley Tea is from only the tiny leaves from the top of the tea plant; (2) that these leaves are ideal for tea bags; (3) that Tetley leaves come from at least 22 different plantations. It is strictly a quality story. Today, practically every radio listener is familiar with the "I like those tiny little tea leaves" jingle. Listeners have also come to know a man named {Please turn to page 67) 25 JANUARY 1958