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 2 1992 Date: Mon, 2 Mar 92 05:57:42 EST Message-ID: 03-02 0000 DECISIONLINE: Advertising USA TODAY Update March 2, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network STARS ARE DOING VOICE-OVERS: Although most TV and movies stars still don't lower themselves to appearing in ads, some are making big bucks doing voice-overs. "It's a piece of cake. There's no set, there's no makeup - you walk in, and you do a couple takes, and you're out of there in an hour or so," says Jeff Danis of International Creative Management. The pay, he says, often is "a solid six figures." (For more, see special Voice package below.) CLINTON WON'T BACK OFF: Democratic presidential contender Paul Tsongas has called on Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton to "take a pledge" to stop running negative TV ads. But Tsongas said he won't drop a new radio ad attacking Clinton. "As long as they continue attacking, I'm going to fight back. Unilateral disarmament is not my thing," he said. `DELTA' TO AIR IN FALL: In a sitcom called "Delta" to debut this fall on ABC, Delta Burke plays a woman who works in a beauty shop by day and is a would-be country singer by night. "She's a lady who just left an 11-year marriage and moved to Nashville," says executive producer Barry Kemp. Although the setting is country music, "It's not about country music anymore than "Coach" is about football," he says. `COACH' GETS A TIMEOUT: ABC will take "Coach" off the air for six weeks starting March 24. It will be replaced by Linda Lavin's new sitcom "Room for Two." The company line is that "Coach" will be back with new episodes in May, and the network won't have to air repeats. "Coach" is ABC's second-highest rated show. `SHRIVER' TO GET ANOTHER SHOT: NBC's hour-long "First Person with Maria Shriver," which got weak ratings when it aired opposite the Winter Olympics two weeks ago, will get another shot March 15th. This time, it will be a half-hour show. The guests will include Michael Douglas and Luke Perry. HALLMARK CREATES NEW UNIT: Hallmark Cards Inc. has created a new unit to produce big-budget TV series, miniseries and theatrical movies, MEDIAWEEK reports. The new unit, Signboard Hill Productions, will "be a profit center for Hallmark" by selling its TV shows to network, cable or syndicated TV companies, a Hallmark spokesman says. CHILDREN ARE SPENDING: Children are serious consumers, according to industry information. Figures released recently at the Marketing Institute's Consumer Kids Conference in California showed that children ages 4 to 12 spent nearly $10 billion of their own money in 1991. Marketing experts say the kids are an underaddressed group and could make a difference for retailers in these tough times. NEW GAY MAG PLANNED: A new gay magazine called Out is set to be launched in June. "(We want to) create a magazine where advertisers have a comfortable place to appear," says Out president Michael Goff in MEDIAWEEK. "We'll skip the ranting polemic and move into good-quality journalism." He estimates a circulation base of 75,000. So far, it has signed Sire Records and Rizzoli books to run ads. PEPSI TO PUSH MOUNTAIN DEW: Pepsi-Cola Co. will spend more than $20 million to advertise Mountain Dew and Diet Mountain Dew in 1992, Advertising Age reports. It is the most aggressive push ever for the line. The TV campaign will be backed up buy print ads. BBDO Worldwide of New York handles the account. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON VOICE: AD AGENCIES SEEK UNIQUENESS: Movie stars are becoming more willing to put their voice in ads, and ad agencies, always looking for something new, jump at the chance to use a different voice. "We were looking for a hip voice that was in the target market," says Dave Lubars of Providence, R.I., agency Leonard Monahan Lubars and Kelly, which cast a screen star for its Keds ads. VOICE CAN BE MEMORABLE: It helps if the actor doing a voice-over has a memorable voice, which many do. Lubars used "L.A. Law" star Susan Ruttan for an American Tourister ad. "She had this kind of exasperated, put-out tone, yet not whiny," he says. "The best commercials use voices for those reasons, not just because they're celebrities. ... People think celebrities can sell. Not true. A great idea sells." SOME STARS DON'T GET CREDIT: Ad agency Leo Burnett uses famous voices that often go uncredited. For Allstate, Jonathan Winters does relatively serious ads. "The desire is to get away from the slickness of a typical voice-over announcer," says group creative director Greg Taubenack, "They've got this honeyed voice and can be enthusiastic on call - and yet lack a certain character and distinctiveness." ACTORS CAN LIVEN WEAK SCRIPTS: Actors, like the star who narrates United Airlines' ads, can make even the most banal scripts resonate, Taubenack says. "We're not giving him dialogue of Eugene O'Neill or Tennessee Williams or Shakespearean quality to read, but he can bring an unexpected dimension to the lines he does read for us." (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