U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1961)

WW' u.-ji< |ilJ|JJl| COMMERCIAL CLINIC BATTLE OF THE BUMPERS The great American steel and ahnninum industries are waging the Battle <>l i he Bumpers in Detroit and the radio airwaves are the battleground. Commercial spots, using humor as the fire cap, have been cannonading hack and forth challenging the merits of the opposing products. The two antagonists are "Lulu La Lumium," a misguided young thing, and a rascally old steel pair called "Rusty" and "Salty." The cause is the automobile bumper. The spoils will be the automotive and bumper manufacturers' business. On April 17, WJR Detroit listeners first heard the beguiling tones of "Lulu La Lumium," pretty, but of dubious character. "Lulu" repreGreat Lakes Steel Co.'s ideas of new aluminum automobile bumpers and parts that Reynolds and other aluminum manufacturers are trying to sell to the auto industry. Two years ago, Reynolds produced several comic radio spots featuring "Rusty" and "Salty" (Reynolds' image of the "old fashioned" steel bumper) who were depicted as two characters continually fatting themselves upon auto parts not made of aluminum. In answer to this "affrontery," Great Lakes Steel, a division of the National Steel Corp., had its agency, Campbell-Ewald, Detroit, create a series of commercials that would depict aluminum parts as pretty, but flimsy. The campaign, a 13-week schedule on WJR only, is aimed directly at the automotive industry and is supplemented by space ads in several automotive and business magazines and the Midwest edition of The 117/// Street Journal. Campbell-Ewald has prepared 1 1 of these one-minute comic spoofs. Conceived and written by C-E's ra dio-tv writer, Ken Raught, all but one (the first) of these commercials feature just two characters: "The Old Steel Bumper" and "Lulu La Lumium." In the first commercial Mr. Raught created, there is an additional character: a young, naive steel bumper. But all of them follow a very tight format intended to provide quick and easy identification. Here are the basics of the format: Using a soap opera-type theme, an organ introduces an announcer who delivers a limerick on the topic of the playlet, then follows the dialogue between "Lulu" and the "Old Steel Bumper." The story concentrates on banter between the two about "Lulu's" doubtful merits. At the end, the organ plays a few sharp "stinger" chords, to indicate the plight of "Lulu's" situation (very much like the ending on a Helen Trent Show). Among the titles of these commercials are "The Ram Test," "Locked Bumpers," "The Bumper-to-Bumper Brigade" and others that indicate the various scrapes "Lulu" finds herself in. This is a portion of the first commercial that includes the third bumper: (A new and an old steel bumper, who can "bump with the best of 'em," are talking) (Sound of "Lulu's" car driving up) Neu' Steel Bumper: Gee, you're cute. Old. Steel Bumper: Watch it, son. She's one of that light metal tribe. I)i a few months she'll look like a crumpled gum wrapper. Lulu (mad): Look, old, crabby and frustrated: why don't you go out and bump a bulldozer? (Lulu's car revs up and she pulls away) New Bumper: She looked so soft, too . . . Old Bumper: Yea . . . soft enough to be dented by a rubber baby buggy bumper. . . . Remember, you're Great Lakes Steel, son. Stick to your own kind. You xuouldn't want an old cook-pot for a mother-in-law . "We feel this campaign has been most effective," says Gerald Yarbrough, C-E account executixc Eoi Great Lakes Steel. "This aggressiveness has set a precedent in the usually staid steel industry. But it was worth it. Almost all the comment on these commercials, and we have had a lot of response, has been favorable. This shows us we have been able, through this comic approach, to reach the very people (engineers and management) we were aiming to hit. It is interesting to note," Mr. Yarbrough added, "that Reynolds has brought 'Rusty' and 'Dusty' out of their files and are running them in competition to our spots." "Aluminum's advertising and sales promotion got ahead of its product development efforts," says Wilfred D. MacDonnell, president of Great Lakes Steel Corp. "Public opinion sampling revealed that many people think the aluminum bumper already is an accomplished fact on Americanmade automobiles. And we found that too many people think this non-existent aluminum bumper is superior to a steel bumper and less costly. Of course, the competitive aluminum bumper is still a dream. "The consequence of the unusual marketing strategy has been to place the steel bumper in competition against a product which does not even exist," he added. "And now, we are taking our gloves off too." ■ U. S. RADIO/June 1961 49