Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.ads From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: ads Tue, Jun 30 1992 Date: Tue, 30 Jun 92 05:22:40 EDT Message-ID: 06-30 0000 DECISIONLINE: Advertising USA TODAY Update June 30, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network REEBOK ADS FOCUS ON DAVE: Decathletes Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson were the centerpiece of a six-month ad saga for Reebok. The ads derailed Saturday when O'Brien, the Olympic gold medal favorite, failed to make the U.S. squad. Reebok will now try to regain footing from the marketing faux pas of its $20 million Dan and Dave:World's Greatest Athlete Olympic ad campaign. It will now focus on Dave. (For more, see special Reebok package below). NBC SELLS $460 MILLION OF ADS: With 26 days remaining before the Summer Games begin, NBC is casting its Barcelona Olympics hopes into the political winds. NBC says it has sold about $460 million in ads for its over-the-air Olympics telecasts. That's 92% of its $500 million goal. That still leaves the network at least $40 million short, but NBC believes much of the difference will come from presidential campaigns. NBC DEPENDS ON CANDIDATES: NBC will either make it or break it on the Olympics depending on the political situation, says Jon Mandel of Grey Advertising. "NBC's already been to most advertisers twice. The only answer is somebody new - like this three-way presidential campaign." If the Bill Clinton and Ross Perot presidential campaigns come through, NBC conceivably could get $30 million or more from political ads. `LOVE AND WAR' COULD BE HIT: Next week, TV critics get a look at the new fall series. Critics think the new hit of the season will be a sitcom from the creators of "Murphy Brown." "Love and War" follows the romance of Susan Dey and Jay Thomas and airs after "Murphy Brown" on Mondays. Advertisers who buy ad time for various products seem to agree that "Love and War" will be a hit. TV'S UNRECOGNIZED ANCHOR: Bill O'Reilly, the anchor of the highly rated syndicated "Inside Edition" swears he is TV's unknown soldier. Still, he is attracting viewers. The program's ratings have risen 18% in the past year in post-network news time periods, important to local stations because they lead in to prime-time programming. CBS RADIO CUTS STAFF: CBS Radio Networks, a unit of CBS Inc., has eliminated 15% of its work force as advertising markets remain weak. "Advertising rates have been abysmal," CBS radio spokeswoman Helene Blieberg told Bloomberg Business News. "We have seen a 20% decline in rates for most of 1992." FOOTBALL AD TIME BEING SOLD: Group W Sports Marketing says it is offering more than 600 college football games on regional sports networks for the upcoming season. The advertising rates on the regional broadcasts range from between $500 and $3,000. `DOOGIE HOWSER' SELLING WELL: "Doogie Howser, M.D." has been sold in 18 of the top 30 markets, syndicator Twentieth Television says. In all, 35 markets have bought the show, representing 40% coverage of the nation. The syndicated version of the show is slated to air in the fall of 1994. DREAM TEAM EARNS HIGH RATINGS: The USA Dream Team delivered for NBC Sunday. The U.S. Olympic men's basketball team's easy victory over Cuba drew a 9.3 overnight rating, comparable to the numbers earned by last May's Sunday night playoff between the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls. The lopsided game didn't scare away viewers. In fact, ratings went up each half hour during the Tournament of the Americas game as the margin grew. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON REEBOK: REEBOK WILL CONTINUE TO USE DAN: Reebok still has plans to use Dan O'Brien in ads, even though he failed to make the U.S. Olympic squad. The Reebok ads during the Olympics will focus on Dave Johnson. "Sure we're disappointed, but we went into this knowing the risks, and we've had a contingency plan in the hopper all along," Reebok ad executive Dave Ropes says. REEBOK REPLACES DAN AND DAVE AD: Under a previously arranged deal with NBC, Reebok was able to quickly drop the Dan and Dave ads that were to run Saturday. Instead, they are replacing them with ads of baseball pitching ace Roger Clemens and Canadian Football League speedster Rocket Ishmail. Reebok will use previously shot Dan and Dave footage and have the ads redone for commercials that center mostly on Dave. ADS GOT PLENTY OF MILEAGE: Reebok acknowledged criticism of the campaign but contends it got plenty of marketing mileage from it, though they don't plan to be involved with much more of the Olympics blitz. Reebok still intends to spend more than $10 million on Olympic ads. Before Saturday, Reebok decided that Dan and Dave would only represent 30% of air time. (End of special package on Reebok). Advertising Editors: Ed Kelleher and JoAnn Luzzatto. (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