U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1961)

^ HOMETOWN U.S. A. commercial clinic How a Major Agency Creates And Produces Radio Commercials A client walking into BBDO Inc., New York, to approve music and copy lor a new radio commercial would have a surprise if he weren't wise io ihe \\.i\s ol die agency's production stall. He would first go to the account executive's office (no surprise here). Together they would wend their w.i\ through the mammoth agency's corridors to the elevator, from whence they would alight on the 10th Moor. Then they would work their way through a long hall, past high shelves ol tapes, cutting rooms and storage bins. Finally they would enter a room where a young man in his 30's sits at a piano. After introductions, the client would sit back and listen as the young man bangs out some tunes for a new commercial, much in the fashion of an old Tin Pan Alley song-plugger. And this is the way main of BBDO's radio commercials with music have been born during the past fi\e years. The man at the piano is Ben Allen, writer-producer, who has a professional scorn for the word "jingle." "It's a degrading term," he says, "but for lack of something better, I call a spot a musical commercial." He has an equal distaste for the label "jingle writer," and feels more at home with the phrase "music-oriented advertising man." BBDO, he explains, is one of the few major agencies that creates both music and words for its clients. Most firms farm the work out to independent production companies. Fully 99 percent of BBDO commercials are born under the agency's roof, he points out, which is a high batting average along Madison Avenue. "Writers in outside firms are actually advertising-oriented musicians," Mr. Allen defines, "with an approach to creating a commercial that is somewhat different from an agen< y man's." His own work philosophy makes it mandatory to start working on the words ol a commercial before composing the music. "After all, the advertising message is mote important. Without it you begin to wander all over the place." Woids are supplied by the copy department. They may be the final words used lot the jingle: and they may be "ground words," symbolic of a theme that must be carried out but can be (hanged. II Mr. Allen comes up with some phrases that put the theme across more effectively, the original words are thrown out and he starts from scratch. piiiliiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiuiiiiiiuiiiM 10 Best Radio Commercials, 1960-RAB ijBudweiser B D'Arcy, St. Louis ( ihun King BBDO, Minneapolis Fold /. Walter Thompson, Detroit |L k M I Dancer-Fitzgerald-Sample, N. Y.% jjLucky Strike BBDO, New York (Nescafe J William Esty, New York INorthwest Orient Airlines m Campbell-Mithun, Minneapolism ISchlitz g /. Walter Thompson, Chicago g Winston | William Esty, New York (Wrigley's Doublemint 1 Arthur H. Meyerhoff, Chicago g illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll^ S I he latest radio commercials to come from the BBDO team were done lor the Pepsi-Cola Co., an account the agency acquired last year from Kenyon & Eckhardt Inc., New York. The successor to the "Be Sociable" theme takes its keynote from t he phrase, "Those who think young." Mr. Allen did not get a crack at doing original music for this one, but tinned in his own arrangement of "Makin' Whoopee." The key four lines from the commercials, which go on the air across the country by February 15, are these: The lively crowd today agrees those who think young say, "Pepsi please !" They pick the right one, the modern light one, now it's Pepsi — for those who think young ! Mr. Allen picked his own talent for this commercial, which he normally does anyway. His "discovery" for the Pepsi spots is Joanie Sommers, a 19-year-old jazz stylist from the West Coast. She sings the hi its for the spots, and will be promoted by the agency as "The Little PepsiCola Girl." The music for the Lucky Strike cigarette commercial, "Remember How Great A Cigarette Used to Taste," is a creation of Mr. Allen. It rated the number five spot in the list of the "10 Most Effective Radio Commercials" selected by Radio Vdvertising Bureau (see box). He also wrote and produced the Campbell Soup "Good Things Begin to Happen" melody and the music for the local New York Yellow Pages spots. Also among his credits is the music for the "Miss America" song, made famous by Bert Parks' annual rendition. • • • 52 U. S. RADIO • February 1961