U. S. Radio (Oct 1957-Dec 1958)

#^ HOMETOWN U.S.A. commercial clinic Cater to the Indiyidual In Writing Commercials, BBDO's Siegel States When a couturier designs a dress, he is treating for a select few — often for a single customer — and he tailors his product accordingly. When a national advertiser creates a radio campaign, his potential market may be in the millions rather than the hundreds, but like the couturier, if he wishes to sell his product he nmst tailor it — and his commercials— to ring a bell with the individual consumer. Needless to say, the cojjy writer cannot custom-write for each listener, but he can and does write tor groups of listeners, catering wherever possible to their special tastes. According to David Siegel, copywriter, BBDO, New York, "Whenever a ^vriter sits down at a typewriter he should have a definite audience in mind. A commercial must be ^vritten either for a specific program or a specific market regardless of whether the advertiser is h)uving one station or 1,000." Mr. Siegel, ^\ho has written for Lucky Strike, Air France and Bristol-.Myers, among others, admits that personalizing commercials is quite a trick for the large-scale advertiser whose product appeals to a wide cross section of people. W^hile housewives and truck-drivers, teenagers and grandmothers all may smoke the same cigarette, he says, you can't sell them the same \vay. Lucky Strike, a long-time user oi radio, solves the problem by preparing different "banks" of commercials for the various audiences reached. For example, there are sets of commercials for college stations, Spanish language stations and Negro stations, in addition to popular nuisic stations and commercials to be heard on sportscasts. The approach to each type is different, Mr. Siegel says, a variation on the current campaign theme. The counnercials written tor the popular music stations tend to be "straight," according to Mr. Siegel, because of the broad audience appeal of such stations. David Siegel, BBDO copywriter. For example, a typical commercial might open with the noise of a tobacco market and the voice of an auctioneer follow^ed by Andre Baruch selling Lucky's "fine tobacco." A short, banjo version of the "lightup time" song woidd be interpolated next before the commercial closed with a spoken tag by Mr. Baruch. For a Negro station, Mr. Siegel explains, the same song would be recorded by a Negro vocal group such as the Clovers. The spoken part of the commercial would be done almost invariably by the station's disc jockey to take advantage ot his selling ability and following among the audience. "Those (Clovers are reallv ^\■ith it," he would say. "They sing, swing and make sense, too. Because when you smoke a Lucky, you're smoking light. . . ." For the Spanish language station, the jingle would be introduced bv the local annoiuicer, live, but would be in a longer version and sung in Spanish. The tempo woidd be changed to fit the Spanish lyrics. Commercials for Lucky's sports sponsorships are written to appeal especially to men and might emphasize the cigarette's "honest taste." A vocal group recorded this jingle for use on sportscasts this vear: Never was a man who could forget The taste of a genuine cigarette. Get the honest taste a man can like, The honest taste of a Lucky Strike. In addition, testimonials from famous sports and entertainment stars are frequently employed. Copywriters on the Lucky account, Mr. Seigel says, get a special kick out of writing for the college radio stations. "You can let yourself go here Avith a combination of sophistication and himior that the kids really seem to apprec iate." One such — obviously headetl for the Ivy League stations — teatiues "Elihu Lowell Cabot, goal post maker by appointment to the Ivy League," who is interviewed on a program called "Miscellaneous U. S. A.!" Mr. Cabot — whose voice is described as "a la F. D. R." — is noted not only for his partiality to Luckies, but also for the fact that he made the first pair of football goal posts. • • • U. S. RADIO September 1958 43