U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1959)

side by side In flights of six weeks' duration. Cities Service averages 3,300 announcements a week over about 125 stations from the Atlantic to the Rockies pany while llu-y'ic lis^lu on the job helps them get the most lioni it. aiul is good psychology, too. "Radio is the logical nicdiuni to use to reach the service station operator at his place of business." Outlining a typical (a'tics Service cam])aign, Dan Kane, broadcast media director at Ellington, explains that the company utili/cs flights averaging about six weeks in lengiii and broadcast over "two oi three stations in a gi\en inaikei area." Driving times — especially mornings between 7 and 8 a.m., depending on market c harac lei istics — are selected for a concenti alion of oneminnte announcements on Wednesdays, Thursdays ai:d Fiidavs. Comes the weekend, reminder ID's are used instead, "about every half hour" both Saturday and Sunday to catch the more varied pattern of traffic as well as a broad cross-section of the in-home audience. "Our chief concern is reaching the largest possible number of listeners, whether or not they're actually behind the wheel when thev hear our commercials," Mr. Kane declares. "Buying morning traffic times is a logical step because listening in general is reaching a peak at that time, and the highway listener is a bonus." Although the man of the household generally decides what automotive products will be used in the family car, he adds. Cities Service commercials don't restrict their appeal to him alone. "We feel," says the broadcast media director, "that family opinion is important." Referring to a recent "Last Word" study by the Radio Advertising Bureau regarding gasoline buying habits, Ml. Kane notes that tlie sur\ey, "conducted subsequent to cjur adopting this pattern, bears out that this is the right approach — we're doing even somewhat better than the level the liineau predicted." The sill \ e\ (lis( losed these salient lads, atcording to RAB: • Radio reaches nujre gasoline station customers than any other mediiim before the purchase is made— better than a fifth more customers than newspapers, more than twice as many customers as televisicjn and magazines combined. • Radio gets more time in with gasoline station customers before the purchase is made— considerably more time than is spent with all other media combined. • Radio delivers the "last word" to gasoline static:>n customers before the purchase is made. It reaches more than three times as many customers within 30 minutes as all other media combined. • Automobile radio alone is as important as any cjther single medium, accounting for nearly two-thirds more of the total exposure time of gasoline station customers than the secondranked medium. Use of a radio "flight pattern" gives Cities Service the advantage of concentrating its radio buys in specific periods of time and thus broadcasting a "stronger voice," the Ellington agency points out. "Through bunching our announcements both as to days in the week and weeks in the year, we aj>proach more of a saturation level," says Mr. Kane. "This wouldn't l)e the case with a sustained elioit of lesser frequency." .\nother consideration which the oil firm feels gives further value to use of radio in flights is the Cities Service calendar of promotional events. Schedules on the listener's medium are timed to (oiiuide with such promotions. Antique Prints "One promcjtion, ior example, was our offer of antique car jjrints suitable for framing," Mr. Kane recalls. "The listener was invited to go into his nearest Cities Service station, and without obligation fill out a card requesting that the prints be sent to his home — which they were, without charge. An appreciable part of our air time was devoted to publicizing the offer, and the volume of rccpiests was so gratifying we subsequently conducted promotions ottering anticpie locom.otive prints and llun anticjue steainlioat prints." Tying in with the seasons. Cities Service advertising copy also reminds the automobile driver of the time to switch to anti-free/e in the fall, the need for snow tires in the winter, and the approach of warm Aveather \\ hich calls for a spring chec k-up and change of oil. In general, Cities Service believes, there are no wide seasonal lluctuations in its over-all sales. Product emphasis is changed to suit the weather, but the radio schedule continues in its pattern regardless of which way the wind blows. The company supplies gas stations with "TBA" — that is, tires, batterie-and "accessories" such as anti-free/e and other petroleum b\-products — as well as gas and oil. Local stations — both Cities Service and radio — are high on the list of important factors in the agency's campaign planning, according to Mr. Kane. Cities Service stations, he 32 U. S. RADIO • November 1959