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 Fri, May 22 1992 Date: Fri, 22 May 92 05:21:01 EDT Message-ID: 05-22 0000 DECISIONLINE: Advertising USA TODAY Update May 22-25, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network NBC WINS MAY SWEEPS: NBC won the May sweeps with a 12 rating and 21 share, topping CBS's 11.9:20. ABC was third with an 11.6:20. A ratings point equals 921,000 homes; share is the percentage of TVs in use. Sweeps are used by local television stations to set advertising rates. LEWIS' ADS TO AIR AROUND WORLD: Olympian Carl Lewis will carry the torch for Panasonic in advertising that will be shown around the world. Panasonic parent Matsushita paid $17 million to be a worldwide Olympic sponsor. Lewis will push its camcorder and flat screen television in ads to air in 30 countries during the Games. U.S. newspaper ads are already being run. (For more, see special Lewis package below.) PLAN ALLOWS INVESTING COUPON: Securities and Exchange Commission boss Richard Breeden unveiled proposals Thursday to amend the Investment Company Act of 1940, which governs mutual funds. One proposal would let investors send their initial investment with a coupon from newspaper or magazine ads. The SEC would set the requirements for the ads' content. SEC commissioners will review the proposals this summer. HIGHLY-ACCLAIMED SERIES RETURN: Many of the network's low-rated but highly-acclaimed new TV series have made the cut and will return in the fall. They include CBS' "Brooklyn Bridge," NBC's "I'll Fly Away" and "Reasonable Doubts," and ABC's "Civil Wars," "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" and "Homefront." Last season, shows such as "China Beach," "thirtysomething" and "Twin Peaks" got the ax. NEW SHOWS SEEN AS MORE RISKY: Network's itchy trigger finger mentality in canceling shows has mellowed in the face of ever-expanding viewing choices, says Alan Wurtzel of ABC's marketing and research services. Wurtzel describes the TV business as "playing the odds, and since most new shows fail to match or exceed the show they replaced, a new show is probably more of a risk than something we can give a second chance. NBA GOOD FOR NBC, BAD FOR TNT: NBC's 12.9 rating Sunday for Game 7 of the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls series was the fourth-highest weekend rating ever before the NBA Finals. It improved NBC's playoff rating to an overall 6.3, 7% above last year. TNT's NBA playoff ratings, hurt by the early exits of the Detroit Pistons and the Los Angeles Lakers, are down 9%, to 3.0, compared to last year. COMANECI RETURNS TO SPOTLIGHT: Nadia Comaneci, 1976 Olympic gymnastics star, is creating a stir once again, but this time as a model and spokeswoman. She will be featured in some of Jockey's underwear ad campaign. The ads debuted in Canadian publications, but the deal could expand to the USA. On June 8th, a billboard campaign begins in Montreal and Toronto. GLENDINNING FILES CHAPTER 11: Glendinning Associates, the Westport, Conn.-based marketing and consulting firm, has filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan. Glenndinning president Frank Pringle, quoted in ADWEEK, says the reorganization plan has gained the support of its lenders and clients. "We look at it as a strategic move to streamline the company," he says. BOSTON FIRMS MAY MERGE: Ad agencies Cabot Communications and Arnold Fortuna Lane, both of Boston, have signed a letter of intent to merge. The merger would create New England's second-largest agency, with $140 million in billings and 240 employees. BOWEN MAY JOIN BUSH EFFORT: Gordon Bowen, a creative executive who handles Coca-Cola advertising at agency McCann-Erickson, has been approached to help with President Bush's re-election campaign, ADWEEK reports. Bowen has not decided yet if he will be involved with the ad campaign, the trade magazine says. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON LEWIS: ADS ALREADY RUNNING IN USA: Olympian Carl Lewis will star in ads for Panasonic. The ads will be shown in 30 countries during the Summer Olympics and are already running in the USA. "The consistency will be Carl and the Olympics," says Bob Greenberg, Panasonic's vice president of communications. GLOBAL MARKETING POPULAR: Global marketing is the current rage among multinationals. "The more affluent people are the people who buy our $2,000 television sets," says Greenberg. "For them to come to JFK and O'Hare (airports) and see one type of advertising for Panasonic, and then to go to Orly or Heathrow and see another just doesn't make sense anymore." OLYMPICS MAKE GOOD AD VEHICLE: Marketers are beginning to appreciate how sturdy an ad vehicle the Olympics can be, from sponsoring training centers to advertising during the Games. The shift in 1994 to alternating winter and summer games every two years means the Olympics never really have to go away. "Coca-Cola proved you can get at least 24 months of viable exposure out of the Olympics," Greenberg says. (End of package.) ADVISORY: Decisionlines will not be published Monday, May 25, in observance of Memorial Day. Decisionlines will resume publication on Tuesday, May 26. 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