U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1960)

Radio Strategies 6 Fonda Container Corp. Agency: Smith, Hagel & Knudsen Inc., New York Product: Paper plates Marketing Objective: To establish brand identification for paper plates. Radio Solution ; Radio saturation in 42 top retail food markets. (Digested from U.S. RADIO, June I960, p. 38) E\'ER since the family made a beeline for the barbecue pit, mother has been looking for ways to cut clown on work so she can join the family fun. One of her biggest boons was the paper plate. It ended the after dinner drudgery of dish washing, and freed her from the kitchen sink. It seems logical that the housewife would know the brand name of the paper plate she buys. However, when the Standard Packaging Corp. surve)ed the field for its Fonda Container Division in 1959, it discovered that the housewives interviewed were not completely familiar with the brand names of paper plates they bought. Brand Identification f As a result. Smith, Hagel & Knudsen Inc., New York, agency for Standard Packaging and its divisions, undertook a campaign to encourage the house^vife to buy the Fonda name. One of the big parts in building the brand name was played by radio. In its 1960 campaign, Fonda invested 35 percent of its total advertising budget in radio. A total of 42 markets were covered by the campaign, which ran for 12 days on 58 stations. To spread the Fonda name when it w'ould do the most good, two flights were scheduled: three-day-aweek flights during two weeks before Memorial Day, and two weeks before the Fourth of July. Frequen cies varied with cities, with single station markets airing 12 to 15 spots a week, and multi-station markets as many as 60 a week. For 1961, the agency reported that the spot radio schedule woidd be exjianded to three two-week flights. Strategy Considerations "Our advertising strategy depends on our distribution, our sales curve and our budget," said Edward Van Horn, agency vice president. "Fonda used spot radio in 1960 for the first time. When radio was bought in 1959, we were on a network schedide. Since Fonda's distrilnition pattern did not fit the coverage of the net\\ork, we decided to support markets where our distribution was strongest with spot radio. "We chose the 50 top markets for retail food sales, compared this to the distribution of our paper plates and cups, and selected our radio markets with these two factors as a basis." As for sales curve, 65 to 70 percent of Fonda sales are made between Memorial Day and Labor Day. "The radio campaign was designed to give a boost to the sales curve as it begins to go up for the summer. The Fonda radio schedule began just as the housewife started to think of paper plates for the Memorial Day weekend," said Mr. Van Horn. The best time to reach her, according to Eric Ainsworth, agency media director, is when she is thinking about her shopping list. "For this reason the schedule was concentrated on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Thursday and Friday are the big shopping days of the week. Our Wednesday schedule allowed us to plant the Fonda name as the housewife started to plan her shopping list," he said. "Announcements were scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., based on the assum])tion that this is housework time," Mr. Ainsworth explained. In selecting the stations there were three considerations. First, the housewife listening figure. Second, the availabilities that presented themselves when it came time to buy. Third, the merchandising support offered by the stations. "For Fonda's purposes, a company with a small sales force and no detail men covering the outlets, the help a station could offer in setting up Fonda displays and sparking enthusiasm among distributors was an important consideration," said Mr. Van Horn. Campaign Strategy By combining marketing common sense with a fresh creative effort, the agency developed a campaign strategy that included: Summer advertising when most sales were made; radio advertising at the beginning of the peak selling time; radio markets based on retail food sales figures; announcements scheduled on big shopping days; creative approach combining music, hard sell and a light touch. • • • 70 U. S. RADIO AIRFAX 1961