Weekly Spots

POSTED: June 21, 2010

(White Plains, NY) June 21, 2010 - According to Arbitron Hartford, CT is the 50th largest radio market with a population of 1,048,300.

• Hartford, the capital of the State of Connecticut, is located on the Connecticut River, 24 miles south of Springfield, Massachusetts.
• Hartford is nicknamed the "Insurance Capital of the World" because many of the world's insurance companies are headquartered there. Some of the bigger names: Travelers, Aetna, The Hartford, The Phoenix Companies, Inc. and one of the most unusual names for an insurance company, Hartford Steam Boiler.
• Hartford is also home to CIGNA, Colt Firearms, U.S. Fire Arms and United Technologies.
• The Wadsworth Atheneum and Trinity College are located in the Hartford area, along with the Hartford Conservatory, the University of Connecticut - School of Business, the Hartford Seminary, the University of Connecticut School of Law and Rensselaer at Hartford.
• The University of Connecticut men's and women's basketball team - the UConn Huskies - also play a number of their home games at the XL Center downtown.
• Some famous residents of Hartford include: Brooke Burke - model dancer, Mark McGrath – TV host and lead singer of Sugar Ray, Stephenie Meyer - author of the novel Twilight and Eric Mangini - former head coach of New York Jets.

HARTFORD SPOT TEN

The #1 advertiser in Hartford last week on radio was GEICO with 454 spots. HYUNDAI was #2 with 417 spots, while BOB’S DISCOUNT FURNITURE was #3 with 369 ads. PRICE CHOPPER was #4 with 299 spots and THE HOME DEPOT came in #5, down from #1, with 286 spots. The HD DIGITAL RADIO ALLIANCE was #6 with 259 spots, while CONNECTICUT LOTTERY was #7 running 250 spots. GOODWIN COLLEGE aired 238 spots giving it the #8 slot and SIX FLAGS THEME PARKS was #9 with 234 spots. AT&T U-VERSE was #10 with 231 spots.

BANKS & CREDIT UNION SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

Nationwide the #1 radio Bank advertiser last week was CHASE with 5,801 spots. NAVY FEDERAL was #2 airing 4,613 spots, while PNC came in #3 with 4,092 spots. FIFTH THIRD BANK was #4 with 3,640 ads and SUNTRUST was #5 with 3,408 commercials. CAPITAL ONE was #6 with 3,263 spots, while USAA BANK was #7 airing 1,601 advertisements. WELLS FARGO was #8 with 1,591 ads, while BB&T was #9 running 1,561 ads. KEYBANK came in #10 with 1,157 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

Jumping back into #1 was GEICO last week with 42,189 spots. THE HOME DEPOT dropped to #2 with 34,824 spots, while AUTOZONE kept coming up to #3 with 26,801 ads. McDonald’s was #4 with 25,080 spots and the HD DIGITAL RADIO ALLIANCE comes back into our report this week at #5 with 19,757 announcements.

Posted: June 21, 2010

Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) is the world's largest office supply store, with over 2,000 stores worldwide in 27 countries.

The idea for Staples was created in 1985, while founder Thomas G. Stemberg was working on a proposal for a different business. He needed a ribbon for his printer, but was unable to obtain one because his local dealer was closed for the Independence Day holiday. A frustration with the reliance on small stores for critical supplies combined with Stemberg's background in the grocery business led to a vision for an office supply superstore. The first store was opened in Brighton, Massachusetts in 1986. The 500th store was opened in Vero Beach, Florida, in 1996.

Based in Framingham, Massachusetts, Staples has catalog and delivery businesses and serves customers in Argentina (as Officenet Staples), Austria, Belgium (as Staples Office Centre), Brazil, Canada (as Staples (English), in Quebec as Bureau En Gros), China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland (as Staples Advantage), Italy (as Mondoffice), Netherlands (Staples Office Centre), Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, and the United States.

On September 4, 1996, Staples and Office Depot announced plans to merge. The Federal Trade Commission decided that the superpower would unfairly increase office supply prices despite competition from OfficeMax. Staples argued that chains such as Wal-Mart and Circuit City represented significant competition, but this argument did not work. After the denial of the merger by the FTC, a strong rivalry was created between Office Depot and Staples.

Staples shows revenues of $24.28 billion with a net income of $738.67 million. They predict a 5.2% growth in 2010 and they have 54,149 employees.

Staples ran 36,678 spots on Cable TV in the last 12 months. They focused on January, March, April and May. April was the biggest month with 9,127 spots.

On Radio, the buying pattern is a bit different than Cable or TV. They did a campaign in August (back to school) and then peak in October and in December. In December Staples ran 36,556 spots, but only 100 in July.

On TV, the push was in August with 11,719 spots. They only ran 23,558 spots on TV in the last 12 months, compared to radio at 171,259 and Cable at 36,678 ads.

POSTED: June 21, 2010

The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY), known until April 2004 as the Hershey Foods Corporation and commonly called Hershey's, is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America. Its headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town permeated by the aroma of cocoa on some days and home to Hershey's Chocolate World.

It was founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894 as the Hershey Chocolate Company, a subsidiary of his Lancaster Caramel Company. Hershey's chocolate products are sold worldwide and include: Almond Joy, Cadbury, Hershey's Bliss, Hershey's Pot Of Gold, Hershey's Kisses, Milk Duds, Mr. Goodbar, Reese's Fast Break, Reese's Pieces, Skor toffee bar, Take 5 candy bar and York Peppermint Patties, to name a few.

Hershey’s also produces candies such as: Good & Plenty, Jolly Rancher, Payday, Ice Breakers, and chocolate pantry products for cooking with chocolate.

Hershey had revenues of $5.30 billion last year with net income of $435.99 million. They grew by 3.2% in 2009. They have 12,100 employees.

Mars, Incorporated is a world-wide manufacturer of confectionery, pet food and other food products with more than $20 billion in sales each year.

Frank C. Mars, whose mother taught him to hand dip candy, sold candy by age 19. The Mars Candy Factory he started in 1911 with Ethel V. Mars, his second wife, in Tacoma, Washington, but failed. Then in 1920, Frank Mars had returned to his home state, Minnesota, where the company was founded that year as Mar-O-Bar Company.

Today they are headquartered in McLean, Virginia, and is entirely owned by the Mars family, making it one of the largest privately owned U.S. corporations. Most of its production activities in the US take place in Hackettstown, New Jersey.

Because it is still a family owned company, they are famous for their secrecy. A 1993 Washington Post Magazine article was a rare raising of the veil, as the reporter was able to see the "M"s being applied to the M&M's, something that "no outsider had ever before been invited to observe.”

Their product line includes: 3 Musketeers, Dove Chocolate, Kudos, M&M's, Mars Bar, Mars Delight, Milky Way, Nutro, Skittles, Snickers, Tracker, and Twix, to name a few. They have 70,000 employees.

In Cable, Mars is slightly ahead of Hershey’s. Mars ran 378,537 spots in the last 12 months against Hershey’s 310,568 ads,

Hershey’s covers Mars on the radio, with 125,240 spots against Mars running only 18,781 spots.

And according to the TV stations Media Monitors watches, Hershey’s dominates the airwaves against Mars. Hershey’s ran 473,458 spots against Mars at 141,520 in the last 12 months.

Posted: June 21, 2010

For The Current Spots: