Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.ads From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: ads Mon, Mar 16 1992 Date: Mon, 16 Mar 92 05:48:19 EST Message-ID: 03-16 0000 DECISIONLINE: Advertising USA TODAY Update March 16, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network RADIO ADS OFTEN OVERLOOKED: Radio ads are often overlooked strategies of political campaigns. Some political observers are obsessed with TV. News organizations run truth tests on campaign ads and rival operatives keep tabs on the competition's TV buys as a clue to strategy. But radio is hard to track. "It's underground," says consultant Joe Slade White. "Radio is a wonderful tool for guerrilla warfare." RADIO ADS CAN TARGET AUDIENCE: Political radio ads can target very specific audiences - like black voters in Michigan and Illinois. Because there are no visuals to emotionally influence voters, campaigns can hit opponents harder and get away with it. Consultants also like radio because the less expensive medium permits more time - usually 60 seconds instead of the usual 30-second spot on TV - to develop a theme. HERBICIDE ADS TAKE HIP APPROACH: Two recent campaigns for herbicides use sly humor to slay weeds. "Name That Weed" for Ciba-Geigy's Magazine ads for Pennant weedkiller use visual puns: A stoplight with grass growing on top (signalgrass) or a dark window blind (black nightshade.) Ads for FMC's Command, a herbicide that kills a soybean-threatening plant uses tofu-loving Californians to tout the product. (For more, see special Weed package below.) VISA HOLDS AD CONTEST IN RUSSIA: A team from Moscow State University are working on ads to promote Visa cards in Russia as part of a competition run by the American Advertising Federation. Visa is sponsoring the contest, to be held in June. While credit cards are accepted in hard-currency shops in Moscow and other cities, most citizens aren't familiar with them. LENNON SONG USED IN AD: Nike ads for the new Air Huarache feature John Lennon's song "Instant Karma." Nike licensed the 1970 song from Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono. Fees go to the United Negro College Fund for a scholarship in Lennon's name. The ads also feature Nike stars such as Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls teammate Scottie Pippen and marathon runner Joan Benoit Samuelson. AD PAGES UP AT U.S. NEWS: According to Media Industry Newsletter, through March 2 this year, U.S. News' ad pages are up 19% from a year ago. "It seems to me they have quietly gone about the business of doing business," says Roberta Garfinkle, director of print media at McCann-Erickson ad agency. She credits a "good, solid editorial product. ... If you have that, the advertisers will follow." `MATLOCK' TO HAVE NEW CHARACTER: Andy Griffith said he didn't want to see "Matlock" end with the words "canceled." So when NBC axed it, he brought it to ABC. "Matlock" appeals to older viewers, not the most sought-after group by advertisers. "There had to be somebody out there buying something," or ABC wouldn't have wanted it, Griffith says. He will have a new partner, a lawyer:daughter played by Brynn Thayer. `CRITTERS' PUT ON HIATUS: "Capitol Critters," ABC's low-rated cartoon about rodents in the White House, is taking a breather, making way for "Who's the Boss?," which moves this week to Saturdays at 8 p.m. EST:PST. "Billy," a comedy starring Billy Connolly, replaces "Boss" at 8:30. ABC says future episodes of "Critters" will be announced at a later date. JENNINGS FAVORED IN POLL: A Harris poll found evening news viewers prefer top-rated ABC "World News Tonight's" anchor Peter Jennings. Tom Brokaw of "NBC Nightly News" just beat out Dan Rather of "The CBS Evening News" for second place. CNN's Bernard Shaw was next on the list. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON WEED: AD USES VISUAL PUNS: Ads for herbicides are breaking out of the "down-on-the-farm" image. "There's nothing I hated worse than the notion that I was being talked down to," says Gary Knutson, creative director at Raleigh, N.C., ad agency Howard, Merrell & Partners. His magazine ads use visual puns to sell Pennant weedkiller. "These unique images - weird visuals - will stick in the brain," he says. TOFU EATERS SELL COMMAND: Ads for FMC's Command use images of tofu eaters to sell the product. In one ad, a couple eating tofu with chopsticks wails, "No soybeans, no tofu!" (Tofu is soybean curd.) In another, a man pleads with farmers to use Command lest a ruined crop creates a tofu shortage. "You gotta be tough to make it here in L.A., but this constant fear of no tofu has got everybody rattled," he says. ADS POKE FUN AT CALIFORNIANS: Ken Hines of The Martin Agency of Richmond, Va. wrote the ads for Command. "It made sense to us that farmers would find having fun with people in L.A. amusing - because they probably think people in L.A. are a little wacky," says Hines. Hines seems to feel the same way. "They're worried about sea-lion pups when they've got people shooting at them on the freeway." (End of package.) Advertising Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM