Broadcast Advertising, October 1930 (Volume 3, Number 7)
The October 1930 issue of Broadcast Advertising, a Chicago radio trade monthly.
What it is
The October 1930 issue of Broadcast Advertising, a Chicago radio trade monthly. E. P. H. James of NBC opens a two-part talk on the new work radio created for direct mail, from dealer broadsides to follow-ups on listener letters. Showalter Lynch of KGW compares radio to fishing: sponsors choose programs they like rather than ones buyers like, then blame the program when the offer is weak. The editors ask whether the networks are losing ground to spot broadcasting and electrical transcriptions. Carson Pirie Scott sold its dealers on the Bobolink hosiery broadcasts before they aired, then drew about 9,000 letters by the following Monday. E. H. Sanders of Shell says print principles hold on the air. CBS announcer Norman Brokenshire recalls staging a reception broadcast in 1924. Also: a name-the-tune contest that sold 27 tons of Betty Jane candy in five weeks, and Chevrolet's transcribed series on 117 stations.
Why read it now
The best lesson here is Lynch's. When a program pulled nothing, he checked the offer before blaming the talent: the merchants' specials were not special, and a stall that priced strawberries a few cents under market sold eight crates from one mention. Offer strength ahead of creative polish is still the first thing to test in any direct response campaign. Carson Pirie Scott shows launch discipline inside the trade: dealers saw the act live, got broadsides, trade ads and window kits, and were ordering before the first broadcast. The Betty Jane contest held attention by asking listeners to name each tune, the opposite of contests that pull the mind away from the ad. Brokenshire's aim of putting the sales message inside the entertainment is today's host-read sponsorship, and the Northern California plan to phone homes and ask which station was on is an early form of the coincidental audience survey. Dated: the fishing jokes, the transcription debate, and sales claims with no baseline. Use: when a campaign stalls, test a stronger offer before you change the creative.
Passages worth keeping
there are just two conditions under which you can reasonably expect buyers to wear a beaten path to your door: you build a superior mousetrap, or you sell it at a substantially lower price.
لا يأتي المشترون إليك إلا لسببين: منتج أفضل بوضوح، أو سعر أقل بوضوح، والإعلان لا يعوّض غياب أحدهما.
You can't force your particular type of radio entertainment down their throats.
لا يستطيع المعلن أن يفرض ذوقه الخاص على الجمهور، فالجمهور هو من يختار ما يسمعه.
That would be like hiring a theater and putting on a splendid show without telling anybody about it.
البث وحده دون ترويج له يشبه استئجار مسرح وتقديم عرض رائع دون أن يعلم به أحد.
I have been endeavoring to find ways and means of putting advertising not before and after, not in between, but into the entertainment itself.
يريد المذيع أن يكون الإعلان جزءًا من الترفيه نفسه، لا فقرة قبله أو بعده أو في وسطه.
Listeners are obviously compelled to devote undivided attention to the program if they wish to compete in the contest.
صُممت المسابقة بحيث لا يفوز إلا من ينتبه للبرنامج كله، فهي تزيد الانتباه للإعلان بدل أن تصرفه عنه.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
Read the original worldradiohistory.com
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