U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1961)

I he answer was round in a recent Nationwide study revealing that 90 pei cent of its clients renewed their auto insurance. "It seemed to us that this was a strong competitive claim," Kelley said. "Here was something a little different, something that no other company was stressing, something that was marked and noticeable." From this beginning came the basic key theme for the campaign: "9 out of 10 come back again for Nationwide car insurance." While Sackheim developed this selling theme, it moved into the next stage: media planning. Bill Pitts, vice president in charge of radio and television, explained that "we were looking for a new and exciting way to present the theme to the public. We wanted to break the old patterns." The usual pattern for pushing specialized types of insurance was newspapers. Last year, Nationwide used more than 300 newspapers east of the Mississippi, the area where most of its offices are located. Pitts believed the "9 out of 10" slogan was perfect for broadcast use. At this juncture, Sackheim and the client agreed that radio was the one medium that could cover the market, saturate it, and, at the same time, strike squarely at the man behind the wheel. The decision to use radio was aided considerably by the results of a small Nationwide radio test on WCBS New York. The company bought the Marty Glickman sports program, which preceded every New York Yankee baseball broadcast. "Nationwide sponsored the show as an experiment to check the validity of radio," Hal Graves, a vice president at Sackheim, explained. "The results were most gratifying," Graves said. The company ran two giveaway promotions on the program: it offered a portable emergency reflector and a baseball fact handbook. "The response was far beyond expectation," Graves said. He emphasized, however, that the most important result was not the quantitv of responses but the growing awareness of the Nationwide name as the program progressed into the summei . "At first, the letters only asked Eoi the reflector and the handbook, but later the listeners began requesting the 'Nationwide' reflectoi and the 'Nationwide' fact book. We were conscious of Nationwide's name building up." Sackheim's media recommendation for radio as the major medium for Nationwide's big auto insurance push was accepted. With the basic selling point agreed upon and the major medium selected, the next move was to develop a commercial approach that would grip the attention of the listener. A catchy opening wasn't enough: the agency wanted something more sustaining. Kelley explained the best method to disavow themselves from the heavy-handedness of most auto insurance commercials was to pro vide the listener with something lo laugh at. "Humoi in commericials," says Kelley, "gives people something to i eineni bei bc< ause ii < omes as a surprise; they're not expecting it." The basis of the humor is what happens to the one person in 10 who does not renew his policy. j£ Three basic gag lines are alternated dining the Nationwide jingle in answer to the question: "What about number 10?" This jingle illustrates how the humor is integrated: Nine out of 10 come back again — for Nationwide car insurance. If you drive a car, it's better by far — with Nationwide car insurance. Customers like what we stand for, — they g^ much more than they planned for: Nine out of 10 come back again — for Nationwide car insurance! Key agency planners in Nationwide's car insurance radio drive Strategy session on Nationwide's "9 out of 10" radio campaign involves Ben Sackheim's Joe Battaglio, I, broadcast supervisor; Bill Pitts, c, vice president of radio and tv, and Austin Kelley, account executive. U. S. RADIO/ September 1961