Weekly Spots

POSTED: May 31, 2010

(White Plains, NY) May 31, 2010 - According to Arbitron, Indianapolis, IN is the 39^th largest radio market with the population of 1,388,800. A year ago, Indy was the 40th market.

• The Indianapolis 500 Race is the biggest annual event held in this city every Memorial Day. Yesterday, Dario Franchitti was the winner and his team won $2.75 million. The raceway is nick-named the “brickyard” because the racing surface at Indy was once completely made of bricks. All the bricks have been removed, except for one yard of bricks at the start/finish line.
• Indianapolis was selected for the site as the new state capital in 1820. Jeremiah Sullivan, a judge of the Indiana Supreme Court, invented the name Indianapolis by joining Indiana with polis, the Greek word for city; literally, Indianapolis means "Indiana City".
• By the turn of the century, Indianapolis had become a heavy automobile manufacturer, rivaling the likes of Detroit. With roads leading out of the city at all directions, Indianapolis, being the center of the state of Indiana helped it get the motto is "The Crossroads of America."
• Indianapolis is the International headquarters of the pharmaceutical corporation Eli Lilly and Company, wireless distribution & logistics provider Brightpoint, health insurance provider Wellpoint, Roche Diagnostics, Thomson SA, Conseco, Interactive Intelligence, First Internet Bank of Indiana, Peerless Pump Company, CP Morgan and Dow AgroSciences.
• Monument Circle is in the shadow of Indiana's tallest skyscraper, the Chase Tower. Up until the early 1960s, Indianapolis zoning laws stated that no building could be taller than the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.
• Professional sports are big in Indy: Indianapolis is home the Indianapolis Colts of the NFL, the Indiana Pacers of the NBA, the Indiana Fever of the WNBA.
• Famous people from Indianapolis include: actors, Jack Steve Burton, Vivica Fox, James Dean, Brendan Fraser, Steve McQueen, bank robber John Dillinger, singer Babyface, David Letterman, jazz great Wes Montgomery, TV personality Jane Pauley, and one of our funny former Vice Presidents, Dan Quayle.

INDIANAPOLIS SPOT TEN

The #1 advertiser in Indy last week was REIS-NICHOLS (Jewelers) with 705 spots. #2 was the DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION with 517 spots, while SHANE COMPANY came in #3 with 494 spots. SUBWAY was #4, up from #10, with 440 ads and WTHR-TV 13 was #5 with 424 spots. SAFELITE AUTOGLASS was #6 with 421 announcements, while FOX TV NETWORK was #7 with 419 spots. THE HOME DEPOT popped from #15 up to #8 with 390 spots and KROGER was in at #9 with 381 spots. Coming in #10, up from #32, was AUTOZONE with 351 spots.

FOOD & BEVERAGE SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

With the holiday weekend, lots of people celebrated the Memorial Day weekend, with lots of beverages. KROGER lead the pack with 5,922 spots. SAFEWAY was #2 with 3,553 spots, while ALBERTSONS (SUPERVALU, Inc) was #3 with 2,617 ads. PUBLIX was #4 running 2,582 spots and TRADER JOE’S was #5 with 2,225 commercials. ALDI was #6 airing 2,184 announcements, while FRED MEYER was #7 with 2,079 ads. Moving from #71 to #8 last week was GFS MARKETPLACE with 1,965 ads and FRESH & EASY was #9 with 1,484 spots. Coming in at #10 was ALBERSONS LLC with 1,432 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

The #1 advertiser in the USA last week was THE HOME DEPOT once again, with 57,481 spots. #2 was SAFELITE AUTOGLASS with 33,387 ads, while GEICO was #3 with 33,230 commercials. AT&T was #4 with 25,227 spots and the US DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION was #5 with 24,772 spots.

Posted: May 31, 2010

Sam's Club, a division of discount merchandiser Wal-Mart and is one of the nation's leading operators of members-only warehouse stores. The division runs over 450 stores across the country. Sam's Club sells to some 41 million customers who pay an annual fee to become members. Members can shop at Sam's sprawling stores, which are typically 110,000 to 130,000 square feet, and offer more than 4,000 items, from fresh groceries to auto supplies, clothing, and pharmaceuticals.

Sam's Club was created by Sam Walton, the remarkable retailer who brought the nation Wal-Mart stores. Walton had built a chain of Arkansas five-and-dimes in the 1960s, and increased this to almost 300 stores in the South in the 1970s. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. incorporated in 1971 and was a billion-dollar operation by 1980.

The idea of a large club was not Sam's idea, it was first introduce by Sol Price with outlets called Price Club, which Walton based his stores on. The first Sam's opened in Oklahoma City in 1983. It was called Sam's Wholesale Club, the name that stuck with the chain until 1990.

The urban market of the warehouse store was a great complement to the small-town market of the Wal-Mart chain. The two chains added to each other without competing. In 1986 warehouse club sales accounted for less than 1 percent of total U.S. retail sales. But what Fortune magazine dubbed a "mini-industry" was nevertheless worth about $4.4 billion annually at that time, and the level of profitability was enticing. By 1989, the Sam's Club division brought in $4.8 billion in sales.

Sam's changed its name in 1990 from Sam's Wholesale Clubs to simply Sam's Clubs. A judge in North Carolina had ruled that the chain was not entitled to the word "wholesale" in its name, since in that state only from 11 to 15 percent of goods bought at the Sam's stores was actually intended for resale by others. State law required that at least 50 percent of goods sold be intended for resale, to merit the "wholesale" appellation.

By 2000, the warehouse club industry had shaken down to only three major players: Sam's, with over 450 stores; Costco, with close to 300; and BJ's Wholesale Club, with just over 100 units. Costco bought out Price Club creating the only strong national competition to Sam's Club.

BJ's Wholesale Club made about $132 million net income last year, Costco made more than $1 billion, while SAM's Club accounted for about 12% of Wal-Mart's more than $400 billion in annual sales, or $48 billion.

In what can best be described as "unique" in strategic thinking, Sam's bought spots in May, September and February in the last 12 months on Cable. That game them a total of only 13,170 spots.

On the Radio, the buying patterns look a bit more traditional. With 175,808 spots in the last 12 months, it is clear that Sam's Club sees radio as their media of choice (89% of all their advertising ran on radio). Biggest months were November with 33,544 spots, January with 27,966 and October with 24,448 spots.

TV mirrors the Cable buy, with that May, September and February buying months.

POSTED: May 31, 2010

The MasterCard story began in 1966 when a group of banks created a member-owned association that offered a credit card called Master Charge. Because most people shortened Master Charge Card to MasterCard, the name stuck. In 1968 the company extended its presence to Mexico, Japan and Europe, which helped them become the leading global payment network.

MasterCard became the first payment card issued in the People's Republic of China, and the company also launched Maestro^®, the world's first truly global online debit program, in partnership with Europay International.

In the nineties, MasterCard launched the "Priceless" ad campaign, elevating its consumer brand awareness, but also creating a verbal framework for many take-offs using the "priceless" tagline in movies and comedy routines.

By 2005, MasterCard embellished its customer-focused strategy to include advisory and processing capabilities to create a three-tiered business model as franchisor, processor and advisor, which help propel their public offering in 2006.

Currently, MasterCard has revenue of $5.10 billion with new income of $1.46 billion with only 5,100 employees.

American Express started out in Albany, NY in 1850 as the first and most successful express delivery businesses to arise during the rapid westward expansion of the United States. It was founded as a joint stock corporation by the merger of the express companies owned by Henry Wells (Wells & Company), William Fargo (Livingston, Fargo & Company), and John Warren Butterfield (Wells, Butterfield & Company. Yes, the very same Wells Fargo.

The U.S. Postal Service at the time was slow, expensive and nonexistent in many areas. Nothing larger than a letter-sized envelope could be sent by mail, and certainly nothing valuable, as a fair number of deliveries were lost or stolen enroute.

Although in its early years American Express was not itself a financial services company, its largest and most consistent clients were banks. Delivering the banks' typically small parcels - stock certificates, notes, currency and other financial instruments - was considerably more profitable than transporting larger freight. Soon the company would scale down its parcel and freight delivery business in favor of creating and selling its own financial products.

In 1882, American Express launched the money order business, which proved an almost instant success. The company introduced the world's first Travelers Cheque in 1891 and within ten years was selling more than $6 million annually.

When long distance opened to competition in the 1980s, Sprint seized the opportunity. By 1986, Sprint led all U.S. telecom companies by completing the first nationwide, 100% digital, fiber-optic network. At the same time, the company was a pioneer in data communications, establishing the world's third largest commercial packet data network in 1980.

In 1905, the U.S. Immigration Department awarded a contract to American Express to provide official currency exchange services. Over the years, countless newcomers completed their first business transactions in the United States at the American Express teller's window on Ellis Island.

American Express issued its first charge card in 1958. Within five years, more than 1 million cards were in use at approximately 85,000 establishments within and outside the United States.

Today, American Express' net income is more than $2 billion and they have 58,300 employees.

On Cable, American Express is clearly out ahead of MasterCard. Amex ran 163,955 spots against MasterCard's 34,178 spots. December was American Express' biggest month with 50,017 spots, while MasterCard also ran hot in December with 13,885 spots.

American Express takes MasterCard on with radio. Amex ran 213,295 ads to MasterCard's 76,768 spots. December was the top months for both, American Express running 50,017 spots to MasterCard's holiday run of 20,332 spots.

"Running spots on TV, priceless" Not quite, but this is the one place where MasterCard takes on the big guy and wins. MasterCard ran 45,740 spots against Amex with 34,096 spots.

Posted: May 31, 2010

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