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, May 19 1992 Date: Tue, 19 May 92 05:21:11 EDT Message-ID: 05-19 0000 DECISIONLINE: Advertising USA TODAY Update May 19, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network NBC TARGETS BLACK AUDIENCES: NBC is trying to lure black audiences next fall, with three of its seven new series aimed at TV's heaviest viewers. NBC is faced with filling holes left by such hits as "The Cosby Show" and "Matlock." The schedule includes "Rhythm and Blues" about a white deejay at a black radio station, "Here and Now" with Malcolm-Jamal Warner and "Up All Night" starring Patti LaBelle. `TORKELSONS' LEFT OUT OF LINEUP: NBC's schedule unveiled Monday left out some shows expected to be in the lineup. Those shows, however, are not necessarily canceled. They include "Eerie, Indiana;" "The Torkelsons;" "Walter and Emily;" "Mann and Machine;" "The Fifth Corner;" and "Nightmare Cafe." MAZDA MOVE HELPS NBC: Because sponsor Mazda agreed to start Sunday's LPGA final round an hour earlier, NBC was able to carry two NBA playoff Game 7s. The result: A 15.3 overnight rating for Knicks-Bulls - third highest on record for a non-Finals game - after an 8.5 overnight for Celtics-Cavaliers. About 35 million fans watched the game, an increase of 55% from the 9.9 rating for Bulls-Pistons last year. CONNORS PITCHING DEODORANT: Tennis star Jimmy Connors is finding a second career in human frailty. For Nuprin, he aches publicly. Now he's sweating for Faberge Power Stick deodorant. The ad takes a direct approach. Most deodorant ads show "a lot of people walking through an ad looking confident because their deodorant is working," says brand manager Janet Peacott of Chesebrough-Pond's. (For more, see special package on Connors below.) YAMAGUCHI TO APPEAR IN ADS: In the three months since she won an Olympics gold medal, skater Kristi Yamaguchi has been notable by her absence among athlete-endorsers. Now she will appear in magazine ads in the fall for clothing made from acetate fiber for Hoechst Celanese. Yamaguchi's agent says the skater will soon announce two more contracts. MAYTAG MAN BORED IN FRENCH: After 25 years, everyone knows the Maytag repairman is lonely. In French-speaking Canada, however, he's merely bored. In the French Canadian version of the ad, he is known as Le Reparateur Qui S'ennuie. That translates as the Bored Repairman. Le Reparateur is played by Serge Christiaenssens, a Quebec actor. CABLE TV TRIES TO GET OUT VOTE: Cable TV's American Movie Classics, Lifetime and MTV are campaigning to get out the vote. AMC's America Votes campaign, co-sponsored with the League of Women Voters, includes on-air announcements to urge viewers to register. At Lifetime, the campaign is aimed at the channel's target audience, women 18-49. Spots feature Lily Tomlin, Harry Hamlin and Mel Harris. CBS STAYS WITH `BRIDGE': "Brooklyn Bridge," CBS' much-acclaimed comedy by Gary David Goldberg, has a full, second season order of 22 episodes. Speculation was that CBS would commit to only 13 new "Bridge" episodes. "Bridge" is expected to be somewhere on CBS' fall schedule when it's announced later this week. `LATER' PLANS SPECIAL EDITIONS: Instead of running summer repeats of "Later with Bob Costas," NBC is putting together four weeks worth of "special editions" to begin June 15. The plan is to take the multi-part interviews Costas has done the past three years and shape them into one program, sort of a greatest hits compilation. The shows will be broken down into weekly themes: Comics, rockers, actors and news broadcasters. HYATT BEGINS CAMPAIGN: Hyatt Hotels Corp. broke ads Monday for its version of its Camp Hyatt children's summer program, this one targeted at teen-agers. The program is thought to be the first chain-wide effort aimed at teens, Advertising Age reports. Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos of Boston handles the Hyatt account. CORRECTION: NBC is the second-place television network. A item in Monday's Advertising Decisionline was incorrect. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON CONNORS: AD USES INTERVIEW STYLE: Tennis star Jimmy Connors is appearing in an ad for Faberge Power Stick deodorants. "I admit it, I'm vain," Connors says in an interview intercut with on-court scenes. Walking the court and dripping sweat, he says, "I don't want people saying, `Whew, that Connors, he's tough to be around."' CONNORS' IMAGE HAS CHANGED: Connors says he liked the interview style, which "gives me a chance to sit in the stands in a jacket and be myself." And perhaps to audition for non-tennis-related TV appearances. Though Connors won't say when he plans to stop playing, his likeable personality - replacing his youthful brattiness - has blossomed conveniently to help him segue from tennis star to pitchman. (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