Sponsor (Sept-Dec 1958)

ice:.anuning their old attitudes toward radio and tv. Just as PiiG finally dropped the rule that it wouldn't sponsor a tv show it didn't own, all three soap leaders are studying some of the old taboos. One of the most important of these is the soap industry's preference for minutes. As one network official explains it, "We never got anywhere for \ears trying to persuade them that you can sell soap with a 20, and they V. ouldn't even listen when we talked Ill-second spots." The soap companies' over-riding objection to anything shorter than a 60 (except in introduction campaigns) has its basis in this basic marketing rule: when your product is similar to so many others, you need enough time to point out the differences. Now, however, soap companies are beginning to buy 20's in fringe time at night. And again, there are several reasons for this shift. One is shorter copy. Colgate's Zest. for example, uses the theme "For the first time in your life, feel realh clean." It is a point that can be made quickly, and a 20 can do it as well — if not better— than a 60. P&G's Ivor\ bar soap is another example; until about a year ago it had always used 60's; now it has started buying 20's. Another reason for buying 20's in fringe nighttime is that 60's in prime night hours are becoming as scarce as a bar of Ivory in Lever House. And soap companies, according to some spot tv salesmen, don't buy fast enough or early enough to get the availabilities when they're open. A third reason involves turnover audience. All three soap makers are so heavy in daytime tv that they want to get the turnover audience which fringe time at night offers. All these reasons, obviously, vary with individual brands. For example, P&G uses 20's for Liquid Ivory because the company feels it can capitalize on the long-established Ivory name and therefore get the message across in less time. And the Big Three has always used 20's to launch new products, usually dropping them for 60's once the product was on its feet.. Because they're using many more spots, however, they still add up to more over-all commercial time. One interesting aspect of the soap industry is the relative ability of timebuyers in the Big Three soap companies, sponsor's survey of both station of the request and the limited availabilities, that not much was left. By the time the timebuyer got the availabilities list and the time he made his decision, there was virtually nothing left at desirable times. "The timebuyers don't listen to us when we try to help them buy spot," said this executive. "And we can be a big help if they'll let us. Even in the soap industry, too much money is being spent by people who know too little about spot television." In terms of net tv strategy, these representatives and network spot divisions has turned up these items. The soap timebuyers vary widely in shrewdness. In general, P&G buyers are rated as the smartest, even though they are often bound by P&G rules. An executive in one representative firm insists that P&G buyers have millions to spend, but little imagination in the way they spend it. Lever timebuyers, on the other hand, use more imagination and have a freer hand, say many reps. Colgate timebuyers are getting more freedom, but CULLIGAN'S TWO-WAY SOAP SELL In an exclusive interview with sponsor last week, NBC executive vicepresident Matthew J. (Joe) Ciilligan expounded a new advertising and marketing strategy which he feels has pertinence to all advertisers — e'-pecially to soap manufacturers. The theory (which may develop into a full-scale sales campaign by NBC Radio) is called Engineered Circulation. Here's the basic premise: advertise use of the product when the consumer is likely to be using it, and advertise purchase of the product when the consumer is ready to go out and buy. In recent months. Culligan told sponsor, he has been meeting with >oap advertisers (among others) to explain his idea. Here, in essence, i« Ikiw he presents it: ■'A soap manufacturer's worst enemy is a package of his own product .-itting on the housewife's shelf. As long as it sits there, she isn't likely to buy another box. "The idea of Engineered Circulation is to stress use of the product in radio copy just about the time the housewife is ready to wash dishes or the family wash. And stress purchase of the product al>out the time she's ready to go shopping. "Imagine a housewife about to dig into the evening dishes. Just then, a radio spot asks her. 'Are your hands red and rough? Don't put them in that dishwater unless you are using Sudsy soap.' What impact that would have in moving Sudsy off the kitchen shelf. "Then, when she's on her way to the supermarket in the morning, let your radio copy sell her on buying Sudsy. By the time she reache« the soap section, she's going to head straight for Sudsy." are still bound by company policy more than Lever timebuyers are. Not all reps and network spot salesmen are convinced that P&G has the shrewdest buyers. A key sales executive of one network told SPONSOR this story. The top timebuyer on one P&G account called the network, asking for a list of availabilities for minute spots, both daytime and night, five or six spots per market. The network man pointed out, considering the lateness are some of the changes which are taking place among the Big Three: P&G is still numbers-oriented, buys for maximum power, highest ratings over a period of time. In terms of daytime, where P&G has no less than 13 network shows, the pattern is to buy a weekly strip. As one agencyman put it. They have the power and enough brands to do it that way, and they probably always will do it that way." P&G, which spent about $8 mil( Please turn to page 76) SPONSOR • 27 SEPTEMBER 1958