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AMF promotes Nr by using tv to promote bowling
pinspotters
Over 30,000 pinspo today; in 1952 ther
diving equipment, produced by Voit Rubber Corp., AMF's most recent subsidiary addition. All of these products fall in the category of "leisure time equipment" in the eyes of AMF's executives.
And there's another, though not strictly a consumer, product. This is AMF's Automatic Pinspotter, an automatic device for bowling lanes. The pinspotter is augmented by a complete variety of bowling equipment, including lanes with underlane ball returns, bowling pins, ball racks, scoring tables and ball cleaning and polishing machines.
"We use our tv show to sell all of our consumer recreation products for US, with bowling as the vehicle of interest." This is the basic show purpose, as outlined to sponsor by both AMF's advertising and marketing executives: Jerry Donovan, advertising director of the bowling products group; Jack Dabney, marketing director for AMF; Vic Ancona, Dabney's assistant, and Tom Young Jr., account executive at Fletcher D. Richards, agency for AMF bowling products.
How about those ratings? "You have to look below the ratings surface
to determine the value of Bowling Stars to AMF," Young states. "We are running a show with specialized appeal to hit our principal audience — bowling enthusiasts." As an indication of AMF's success in reaching this audience, Young revealed that in markets where bowling is a particularly popular sport, "our ratings go as high as 18.0 or 19.0."
"We estimate we're reaching about five million bowling fans and prospective bowlers with each Bowling Stars show, and for the money we're spending, we're very happy with that audience," the adman stated.
AMF is making a bid for increased audience, however, with its new timeslot, which it acquired on 5 January. Previously, the program was telecast from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. Sundays, against the formidable Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen competition on CBS and NBC.
Bowling and AMF: Bowling's importance to this American business giant has been magnified tremendously since 1951. It was then that AMF introduced its present automatic pinspotter, a product designed to revolu
tionize the sport by taking it out of the back-room, pool-hall type of location and putting it into palatial surroundings. Modern, well-lit, attractively decorated establishments are springing up all over the country today— some of them boasting as many as 60 lanes. Replacement of the pinboy with automatic pinspotters — and television — are credited by AMF executives with creating this bowling boom. "The pinspotter made it possible for the alley operators to accommodate bowlers on a 'round-the-clock basis; bowling shows on television whetted the appetites of millions who had never tried the sport," says Donovan.
AMF estimates there are over 20 million bowlers in the U.S. today, and they're spending a whopping $350 million a year on their sport — 10 times more than the total gate receipts -for major league baseball in 1956.
Women are prominent in the bowling picture too. The Women's International Bowling Congress, established in 1917 with 40 members, today lists more than 900,000 members. Hundreds of bowling establishments have blossomed forth with afternoon leagues for the ladies — and some lanes even
SPONSOR • 25 JANUARY 1958