Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1959)

VOL. 15: No. 41 13 Advertising More about PRO-PRINT PRESENTATION: Magazines do a better job than TV in reaching the buying market for a total of 18 household product categories ranging from cake mix to automobiles. That’s the Magazine Advertising Bureau claim in the new presentation unveiled recently in N.Y. for magazine admen (see page 3). One example cited by MAB is that of dentifrice advertising. On TV, says the bureau, the average evening show costs the sponsor $94,000 to reach 7.8 million household heads whose value as a dentifrice market is about $8 million. Using magazines, says MAB, the same number of households can be reached — but a better grade in terms of income level — and delivering a $9 million dentifrice market at a price slightly more than % of the total TV costs. (Dropped from MAB’s calculations: young viewers, who may swell the audience figures for TV, but who don’t represent a market in most cases except for low-price, fastturnover items, in MAB’s estimation.) Another aspect of magazines vs. TV that’s due to be promoted by MAB this year is the “mood” created by print media, which readers must pay for as against free TV. “Magazines create a mood, which produces a psychological climate ( which in turn, makes the reader more receptive to the advertiser’s messages,” said Richard E. Deems, exec, v.p. of Hearst magazines, at the MAB meeting. The MAB presentation is already rousing considerable interest, and some ire, in TV research circles. When we asked one network research dir. what he thought of the study, he replied: “Magazines may well have a valid point when they say they reach an audience with a higher education level than TV, since TV is virtually a mass medium. But the MAB study appears to be research designed to show up the best points of print media, particularly in comparing ‘split-second exposure’ of magazine ads, however slight, with the more intensive exposure of commercials in nighttime TV shows.” “Goodwill” commercials on TV & radio by advertisers for legitimate purposes of public service or education are deductible from income taxes as business expenses, the Internal Revenue Service says in proposed new regulations. The proposed revision, clarifying 1956 IRS rules on institutional ads in all media, makes it plain, however, that firms which lobby for special legislation or engage in partisan politics in their advertising won’t be able to deduct that expense. Comments on the proposals are due by Oct. 19. Station Rate Increases station Base Hour Minute Date WRCV-TV Philadelphia .... .. $3200 to $3700 $826 to $860‘ Sept. 16 KhJ-TV Los Angeles .. 1750 to 2000 400 to 500 Sept. 1 KCKa-TV Sacramento .. 1100 to 1200 275 to 300 Sept. 1 WISN-TV Milwaukee .. 1000 to 1200‘ 265 to 280 Aug. 16 WTOL-TV Toledo .. 900 to 1000 200 to 260 Sept. 1 WREC-TV Memphis WHEC-TV & WVET-TV .. 900 to 1000 200 to 240 July 1 Rochester 800 to 900 180 to 220 Oct. 1 WDBJ-T Roanoke .. 600 to 700 140 to 190 Sept. 1 KMJ-TV Fresno .. 660 to 700 176 to 190 Sept. 1 WTVJti Peoria .. 600 to 600 100 to 120 Aug. 1 KCRG-TV Uedar Rapids .. 500 to 560 90 to 120 Aug. 16 Note: WLUK-TV Green Bay, Wis. has replaced Aug. 1, 1969 rate card with card No. 6 dated Aug. 16 which cuts base hour from $600 to $600, with min. remaining $120. ‘20 Sec. only. 2 New Class AA (6:30-10 p.m. daily). Class A hour changins: from $1000 to $800. “World-Image” Needed: There’s going to be “an ex plosion upward in the world economy,” and the problem of world-wide advertising must be approached “with a method, not with a conclusion or a conviction,” Sylvester L. (Pat) Weaver, chmn. of McCann-Erickson International told members of the Assn, of National Advertisers gathered for an international advertising workshop in N.Y. Oct. 8. In another ANA talk, Minn. Mining & Mfg. exec. v.p. & marketing dir. Louis F. Weyand pointed out some of the situations in foreign TV that must be faced in advertising American products marketed abroad. In Italy, he said, there is a system of buying into one 20-min. commercial break per broadcast day, while in Sweden, as in many other countries, it is against the law to have commercials because of government control of broadcasting. In Finland, however, where 3-M sponsors Ziv’s venerable Cisco Kid, Weyand’s firm is allowed more commercial freedom than in the U.S. “In the commercial at the end,” said Weyand, “the Cisco Kid runs in and says ‘if you want to be like me, use Scotch Brand cellophane tape.’ ” Newspapers’ “image” is more favorable than that of TV-radio’s, claims a year-long study recently completed in the Richmond, Va., area by the research dept, of Richmond Newspapers, Inc. The inquiry also found that TV & radio create generally the same public impression. Of 9 attributes checked, newspapers outscored TV & radio by wide margins in 7 — “intelligence,” “attractiveness,” “credibility,” “morality,” “courage,” “reliability,” “equity.” TV was front-runner in 2 — “warmth” & “unprejudiced.” Newspapers made their worst showing in the latter category, trailing both TV & radio. Other findings: 52% of respondents with grammar-school education said TV today is more interesting than it was a year ago; only 31% of college-educated respondents agreed. Newspapers got '71% of the votes for “most honest advertising,” com'pared with 8% TV, 2% radio, 19% “no difference.” Newspapers will be replaced by TV as the leading medium for petroleum-product advertisers in 1959, predicted Norman E. Cash, TvB pres., last week to American Petroleum Institute meeting in Colorado Springs, Colo. His figures: Gasoline advertising in newspapers declined from $32,257,000 in 1956 to $28,613,000 in 1958, while in TV it jumped from $20,228,000 to $27,611,000, with the TV outlook in 1959 for over $30 million. As one success example. Cash cited Chevron Supreme which, starting from scratch, climbed to high place among 19 gasoline brands in N.Y. with the aid of a cartoon spot campaign which got 33% more of Chevron’s budget than any other ad medium. People: P^ul Smith, pres, of Calkins & Holden before its merger with Fletcher D. Richards, appointed supervisor & dir. of Fletcher Richards, Calkins & Holden creative activities, continuing as vice chmn. & plans board chmn. . . . Henry W. See elected BBDO v.p. . . . Donald M. Smith, ex-Kenyon & Eckhardt, appointed v.p. & special asst, to the pres., Donahue & Coe . . . Ernest Ricca named mgr., Doherty, Clifford, Steers & Shenfield Los Angeles office . . . Gilbert J. Supple named adv. dir., Shulton Inc., succeeding Walter P. Lantz, appointed mkt. research dir. . . . Edmund H. Rogers Jr., N. W. Ayer Hollywood, named v.p. Horace Schwerin will address the Best. Adv. Club of Chicago Oct. 14 on “Why Has TV Research Become the Enemy of Sound Judgment?” Obituary Norman W. Levally, 54, Leo Burnett v.p., died Sept. 22.