Weekly Spots

POSTED: October 4, 2010

(White Plains, NY) October 4, 2010 - According to Arbitron, Minneapolis, MN is the 16th largest radio market with a population of 2,712,500.

• The name Minneapolis is attributed to the city's first schoolmaster, who combined mni, the Dakota word for water, and polis, the Greek word for city. Minneapolis is nicknamed the "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City".
• Minneapolis' collegiate scene is dominated by the main campus of the University of Minnesota where more than 50,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students attend twenty colleges, schools, and institutes.
• Professional sports are well-established in Minneapolis. First playing in 1884, the Minneapolis Millers baseball team produced the best won-lost record in their league at the time and contributed fifteen players to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Minnesota Vikings and the Minnesota Twins arrived in the state in 1961. The Vikings were an NFL expansion team and the Twins were formed when the Washington Senators relocated to Minnesota.
• Some notable residents from the Minneapolis area: Warren E. Burger jurist, William Demarest actor, William Orville Douglas jurist, Francis Scott Fitzgerald author, Jean Paul Getty oil executive, John Madden sportscaster, E. G. Marshall actor, Kate Millett feminist, Prince Rogers Nelson singer, Jane Russell actress, Winona Ryder actress, Charles Monroe Schulz cartoonist, Michael Todd producer and of course the bigger-than-life character, politician, wrestler and entertainer, Jesse Ventura.

MINNEAPOLIS SPOT TEN

Last week in the Twin Cities the #1 radio advertiser was MENARDS with 577 ads. GEICO was #2 airing 542 announcements, while THE HOME DEPOT slotted in #3 with 500 spots. WHITE CASTLE was #4 running 420 spots and CBS TV NETWORK was #5 with 410 spots. TOYOTA was #6 366 commercials, while SHANE COMPANY was #7 with 348 spots. CENTERPOINT ENERGY was #8 with 348 spots and RAINBOW FOODS was #9 with 343 spots. WAL-MART climbed from #13 to #10 with 330 spots.

DEPARTMENT STORE SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

KOHL’S is king this week with 17,667 spots making them #1. MACY’S was #2 running 15,324 commercials, while BURLINGTON COAT FACTORY wrapped up #3 with 2,380 spots. JCPENNEY was #4 airing 2,039 announcements and SEARS landed in #5 with 1,200 spots. FRED MEYER was in at #6 with 1,198 spots, while LORD & TAYLOR jumped from #22 to #7 with their 566 spots. THE BAY hit #8 with 532 spots and BEALLS, INC was #9 running 508 spots. And coming in #10 in the Department Store category last week was T.J.MAXX with 285 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

GEICO wins the crown this week with 56,394 spots. THE HOME DEPOT demoted to #2 with 35,805 spots. WAL-MART moved from #18 to #3 with 32,140 ads, while MCDONALD’S held steady at #4 with 23,998 spots. AUTOZONE sped up to #5 from #10 with 23,989 spots.

Posted: October 4, 2010

Taco Bell Corporation is based in Irvine, California and is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., that specializes in Mexican-style quick service and food.

Taco Bell serves tacos, burritos, signature quesadillas, grilled stuft burritos, nachos, and other specialty items such as the Crunchwrap Supreme, in addition to a wide variety of Big Bell Value Menu items.

Taco Bell serves more than 2 billion consumers each year in more than 5,800 restaurants in the U.S. More than 80 percent of its restaurants are owned and operated by independent franchisees. There are currently more than 278 restaurants operating in Canada, Guam, Aruba, Dominican Republic, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Asia and Europe.

We know they serve tacos, but why the “bell?” Well, it seems that Glen Bell, a former Marine, began the chain with his first restaurant in San Bernardino, California. He named it Bell's Drive-in. Note: this is the same town that gave us McDonald’s.

Glen Bell was 23 when he left the Marine Corps in 1946. He was an avid Mexican food take-out fan and was quite aware of how hard it was to find restaurants that served Mexican fast food. So, Mr. Bell started by selling various hot dogs, including a chili dog in a Mexican neighborhood. At the same time, he researched tacos.

Kermit Becky, a former L.A. policeman, bought the first Taco Bell franchise in 1964.

In 1978, the chain was sold to PepsiCo. It was spun off along with Pepsi's other fast food restaurant holdings as Tricon Global Restaurants in October 1997. Tricon became Yum! Brands in May 2002.

Taco Bell has the largest sales per system unit in Yum!, having $1.17 million sales per system unit, excluding licensees.

Some popular slogans from Taco Bell include, “Taca-taca-taca-taca-taca-taca Taco Bell!,” “Ooh! What a difference Taco Bell makes!,” “The Cure for the Common Meal,” “Just Made for You,” “Hello Taco Bell!,” “Yo quiero [I want] Taco Bell,” “Zesty!,” “Spice Up The Night,” (For Taco Bell's late night day part) “Good To Go,” (Paired with various Crunchwrap promotions) “Fourthmeal” and most recently“Think outside the bun.”

Let’s see how they advertised:

On Cable, Taco Bell placed 303,219 spots in the last 12 months. They started out strong in the beginning of this year running 30,693 spots in the first month; and beating that total in August with 34,908 spots.

Radio was their strongest media with 344,356 ads in the last 12 months. Last month they ran the biggest total of 44,034 for August.

TV was less a weapon for Taco Bell with 83,368 spots for the last 12 months with March being their biggest month running 8,378 spots.

POSTED: October 4, 2010

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. First introduced in 1989 in the United States Lexus has been ranked as the highest-selling maker of luxury cars. By 2006, Lexus vehicles were sold in 68 countries and territories worldwide.

And in one of the rare reverse rollout plans, in 2005, the division launched in Japan, becoming the first Japanese luxury car to be introduced in its home market, after being successful outside of the home market. After all, the name Lexus stands for Luxury Export US.

In 1990, during its first full year of sales, Lexus sold 63,594 LS 400 and ES 250 sedans in the U.S., the vast majority being the LS model. By 1991, sales had increased to 71,206 cars in the U.S. market, making Lexus the country's top-selling luxury import. That same year, Lexus received first place in J.D. Power’s studies on initial vehicle quality, customer satisfaction, and sales satisfaction.

In 1993, the GS series came to America, based on the Toyota Aristo, which had sold for two years prior in Japan. That same year, Lexus also became one of the first marques to debut a certified pre-owned program, with the aim of improving trade-in model values.

Through 2008, Consumer Reports has also named Lexus among the top five most reliable brands in its Annual Car Reliability Surveys of over one million vehicles across the U.S. The Lexus slogan is "The Pursuit of Perfection."

Infiniti the luxury car division of Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co., Ltd started in 1989 in North America and its global operations have since grown to include Mexico, the Middle East, South Korea, Russia, Switzerland, China and Ukraine. Today, the Infiniti global network includes more than 230 dealers in 15 countries.

The Infiniti brand was introduced to create and sell premium vehicles that wouldn't have otherwise fit in with Nissan's more mainstream image. Not by coincidence, Infiniti was created around the same time as Japanese rivals Toyota (Lexus) and Honda (Acura) launched their luxury brands.

The Infiniti was sold first in Japan as the Leopard and then converted for US sales, while the Lexus was designed for the US market. The Lexus started at $21,000 and the Infiniti was $23,000.

By 2000, Infiniti was facing extinction. The company rededicated itself to developing a dynamic and powerful line-up of sporty luxury cars. Car and Driver reported that Infiniti executives invited members of the motoring press to a meeting where they "swore never again to take their eyes off BMW." Although this effort began with a completely redesigned Q45 flagship for the 2002 model year, it was the G35 that turned sales around for Infiniti in 2003.

For the 2007 model year a redesigned version of the G35 sedan was introduced, followed in 2008 by a new version of the company's G coupe, the G37. Also released in 2008 is the new Infiniti EX35 compact crossover, which is Infiniti's entry into the compact luxury crossover market.

Both Lexus and Infiniti have a strong position in the US market; let’s see how they used media to sell their vehicles:

On Cable, Infiniti aired about 61.6% as many spots as Lexus in the last 12 months. Lexus ran 347,037, while Infiniti ran 213,890 spots.

On Radio, Infiniti aired only 26.4% as many spots as Lexus. Lexus came in with 283,117 spots and Infiniti hit 74,639 ads.

On TV, Infiniti only aired about 23% as many ads as Lexus. Lexus cleared 180,214 spots, while Infinite played 42,902 times.

Posted: October 4, 2010

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