Sponsor (Sept-Dec 1958)

SPONSOR-SCOPE continued. Something to watch during the coming season: Keener preoccupation by the sponsor with the qualitative factors of his tv program as compared to the plain rating. The advertiser will be paying more attention to the show's characters in the light of: (1) their compatability with the commercial; (2) the ability to integrate them into the commercial; and (3) their extra-curricular values (attendance at the sales meetings, community affairs, etc.). As a P&G agency man put it: "The day's coming when pure efficiency will be just part of the quest. The program will become an inherent part of the marketing plans — as opposed to something on which you just hang the commercials." Observed another adman: "You can predict that the reaction against westerns will come first from the advertiser and not the viewer. Their longevity can be measured by this factor: Do they increase or decrease the impact of the selling message?" Here's a trend among the bigger spot agencies that should interest the seller: If the timebuyer isn't familiar with a local program for which a spot availability has been submitted, he asks the program department for an opinion. And if that department knows nothing about the show, tapes or a description are sought from the station. Reason: To make sure that the contents of the program are compatible with the commercial. National spot tv buying shows signs of moving into a real high the next two or three weeks. Among the products that will spell action are Florida Citrus (B&B), Dentyne (DFS), and Rolaids-Clorets (Bates). In the cold remedy field. Plough (Lake-Spiro-Shurman) is setting a 22week schedule for St. Joseph's aspirin for children beginning 14 October, and Musterole is heading for a 15-week run effective 1 December. An added starter: Nutrena Dog Food (Bruce Brewer, Minneapolis), eight weeks of minutes and chainbreaks in major Midwest markets. Same sponsor is mulling a spot campaign for its Faultless Starch brand. On the national spot radio front, new business this week included: Monticello 666 Cold Remedy (Hoyt), 22 weeks in 125 Southern and South Central markets; My-T-Fine desserts (BBDO), four weeks of seven-day saturation; Dormeyer Co. (John W. Shaw, Chicago), 13 weeks in 14 top markets. If you've ever worked for an agency with a Chicago meat-packing account, this item should put your nostrils at ease: Armour & Co. has moved its general offices from the stockyards to a Loop location (401 N. Wabash). Ampex didn't seem perturbed this week by the reasons that WGN-TV, Chicago, gave for shelving plans to syndicate Ding Dong School via videotape. Word out of the station was that the project had been called off because of "technical difficulties beyond WGN's control" — notably "the delay in the development of duplicating and distribution centers for Ampex tape." Ampex's rejoinder: (1) It could be that Ding Dong School was too "tired" a property for syndication; (2) Ampex is still in the process of licking the problem of program duplication, though it is installing its first duplicator for commercials; (3) the right engineering manpower is the answer to the duplicating problem. Meanwhile Ampex says that by the end of the year the top 50 markets will be equipped with its tape machines. (Tv homes in these markets: 38 million.) (For further updating on the videotape situation, see page 29.) SPONSOR • 6 SEPTEMBER 1958