Sponsor (Sept-Dec 1958)

SPONSOR ASKS I Cont'd jruiii page 57 ) say. "Be nonchalant — lifiht up a Murad." W hen the slogans and stock cop) are essential, it's better to couple star and announcer — let the celebrity do a celebritv "s work and an announcer announce the slogans. \^ hen the star can actually do something with the product, believability goes up. Vi hen this can be done in a natural and integrated setting, so much the better. Then, if you can keep it completely in character, you've got it made. Remember the Burns and Allen commercials for Carnation? Gracie used the product in her own kitchen, the same kitchen set shown occasionally in the body of the show, and she talked about the recipes in her own language. Harry von Zell did the selling and left >ou with an apt commercial impression: "It's so easy, even Gracie can do it." Involvement, characterization, setting and situation all contribute to effectiveness. Other examples: Steve Allen's Polaroid shots of his guests; Dinah Shore and Pat Boone making Chevvie commercials really sing; Phil Silvers and his troops smoking up a storm with Camels. One further consideration — top billing should go to the product and not lo the ?tar. ^ RAB {Conid from page 41 ) folders, covering ever\ thing from radio listening data on the advertiser's prime prospects to success story folders showing how others use radio. RAB began setting up a close liaison with advertisers about four years ago when Kevin Sweeney became president. Sweeney found himself faced with several problems, not the least of which was radio's own morale. Radio station operators had watched their advertisers fleeing to tv and had done little, as a group, to stem the tide. Even worse, says Sweeney, was the tremendous "wall of apathy" which advertisers and agencies demonstrated toward radio. They knew little about radio, and they cared less. One reason for the situation, according to Sweeney, is that so many admen had never really been close to radio. They had come out of the service at a time when television was beginning to mushroom, and they quickly became enamoured with this new medium. This left radio, and RAB. with a whole generation of advertising men and women to educate on radio, Sweeney explains. And the education job was a vast one. "You wouldn't believe some of the fantastic questions they used to ask us," says Sweeney. After only four years, Sweeney is convinced that RAB has succeeded in making the majority of advertising men well informed on radio. "Today, you won't find one advertising agency that presents that 'black wall of ignorance' that confronted us in 1954. But there are still many advertising men who have no first-hand knowledge of radio, and that's the job that faces us." RAB's biggest single problem today. Sweeney continues, is to combat what advertisers think of as radio's lack of glamour. "We can tell radio's storv to an agencyman with an analytical mind, and he will listen to the statistics and understand them. But so many agencymen today are show business-minded; they can't see any glamour in radio — although it is there — and they tend to fall asleep if you start giving them statistics. Sweeney thinks that RAB"s major service to advertisers and agencies breaks down into three areas: 1) Keeping the advertiser "educated"' on radio. While television may make more headlines, Sweeney points out. radio is still growing in both coverage and effectiveness. The advertiser may not be aware of this growth, and RAB considers it a primary job to keep him aware and informed. 2) Showing advertisers how to use radio. This means, says Sweeney, pointing out to advertisers how radio can solve their specific problems. As an example, Sweeney recently returned from New Orleans where he spoke to a group of motel operators on what radio can do for them. 3 I Demonstrating how other advertisers are using the medium. This involves two aspects. First, which advertisers are using the medium, how much they're using, how they relate it to total media strategy, and how effective it's been. And second, what— in terms of the actual commercial message — radio advertisers are saying to the public. RAB's educational effort is aimed toward both national and regional advertisers. Among the national advertisers (and their agencies), RAB has a master file of more than 300, all with advertising budgets in excess of $150.000; RAB will hit each of these nation al advertisers several times a year. RAB's effort to reach regional advertisers is equally extensive. Out of the 52 weeks in the year, RAB salesmen will spend about 40 of them on the road, hitting city after city. They will visit every company spending $75,000 or more a year on advertising, from bakeries and banks to supermarket chains and men's wear retailers. During the course of a week, the team of two to four men will make about 50 separate and personalized presentations; the RAB rule is at least four a day, and they're usually held at 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Before he ever sees an advertiser or an agencyman, every RAB salesman undergoes an elaborate training program, usually lasting three months. Working under RAB v. p. and general manager Jack Hardesty, the new salesman is thoroughly grounded in every aspect of radio and RAB's program. When the salesman appears to be ready, he — as Hardesty describes it — "runs the gauntlet." He will be asked to prepare a presentation for a specific advertiser, to dig out of RAB's files everything he can learn about the advertiser, his markets and his problems. SWEET Enjoy sweet sales success from the Nation's 16th Television Market! Television Magazine credits the Charlotte I WBTV Market with 662,074 sets— 16th in the Nation— First in the South! Call CBS Television Spot Sales for a date! 29 NOVEMBER 1958