Weekly Spots

POSTED: February 14, 2011

(White Plains, NY) February 14, 2011 – According to Arbitron, New Orleans, LA is the 52^nd largest radio market with a population of 1,015,600. It had been down to the 55^th market two years ago, but the Big Easy is coming back.

• La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans) was founded in 1718 by the French Mississippi Company, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville and was named for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans.

• In the early 20th century, New Orleans’ most significant development was a drainage plan devised by engineer and inventor A. Baldwin Wood. Until then, urban development was largely limited to higher ground along natural river levees and bayous.

• When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005, the city's federal flood protection system failed, resulting in the worst civil engineering disaster in American history. 80% of the city flooded. Tens of thousands of residents who had remained in the city made their way to shelters of last resort at the Louisiana Superdome or the Morial Convention Center. Over 1,500 people died in Louisiana during the Katrina hurricane.

• Annually, tourism in New Orleans can be a $5.5 billion industry and accounts for 40 percent of New Orleans' tax revenues. Tourism has employed as many as 85,000 people, making it New Orleans' top industry. This industry is slowly coming back.

• The influence of Jazz can be felt everywhere. Some of the great names in music were from New Orleans: Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino, Pete Fountain, Al Hirt, Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, Harry Connick, Jr., the Marsalis family, which includes Branford, Ellis, Jason, and Wynton, and then of course, Dr. John Rebennack and the talented Neville Brothers.

• Professional sports in the crescent city has the one time champions of the NFL the New Orleans Saints, the New Orleans Hornets of the NBA, the New Orleans VooDoo of the AFL, and the New Orleans Zephyrs (baseball) of the PCL.

NEW ORLEANS TEN

The #1 radio advertiser last week in the “city that care forgot” was GEICO with 818 spots. Next up was RAMSEY’s DIAMOND JEWELERS with 470 spots, while WAL-MART came in #3 with 419 ads. COX CABLE hit #4 with 377 commercials and AUCOIN HART JEWELERS leaped from #12 to #5 with 330 spots. H&R BLOCK landed at #6 with 316 announcements, while LOUSIANA DEPT. OF HEALTH & HOSPITALS was #7 with 309 spots. NETFLIX ran 301 spots to net #8 and THE HOME DEPOT was #9 airing 289 commercials. CONSUMER RESOURCE NETWORK was in at #10 running 265 spots.

DATING SERVICES SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

Here we are on Valentine’s Day and we look at the category of Dating Services. Hitting the heart at #1 was CUPID.COM with 3,701 spots. And IT’S JUST LUNCH made their reservation at #2 with 256 spots, while COUGAR LIFE roared from #10 up to #3 with 189 ads. LAVALIFE lit up #4 with 120 spots and EHARMONY landed in #5 with 118 spots. EQUALLY YOKED broke into #6 with 55 spots, while PERFECT PARTNERS was #7 with 47 ads. DATING DIRECTIONS moved from #22 to #3 last week with 34 spots and THE ATLANTA RAVEN flew into #9 with 25 spots. And LUNCHDATES sat down at #10 airing 23 spots nationally.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

The all-powerful GEICO stays at #1 with 45,163 spots. WAL-MART made its moves from #21 to #2 with 33,906, while MCDONALD’S comes in #3 with 25,096 ads. AUTO-ZONE was #4 with 21,962 commercials and PROFLOWERS blossoms from #9 to #5 with 21,610 spots.

Posted: February 14, 2011

Nissan Motor Company, Ltd., shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Japan.

Founded in 1934, Nissan built trucks, airplanes, and engines for the Japanese military. The company's main plant was moved to China after land there was captured by Japan.

In the 1950s, Nissan made a conscious decision to expand into worldwide markets. Nissan management realized their Datsun small car line would fill an unmet need in markets such as Australia and the world's largest car market, the United States. In 1958 they first showed cars at the 1959 Los Angeles auto show, and sold a few cars that year in the United States. The name Datsun came from an acronym of their partners’ first letter of their last names: DAT. Nissan phased out the Datsun brand in March 1986.

The company's global headquarters are located in Nishi-ku, Yokohama. In 1999, Nissan entered an alliance with Renault S.A. of France, which owns 44.4% of Nissan as of 2008. Nissan is among the top three Asian automakers , which includes Honda and Toyota. Nissan is ranked third in Japan.

Nissan also manufactures the Infiniti luxury brand. The Nissan VQ engines, of V6 configuration, have been featured among Ward's 10 Best Engines for 14 straight years, since the award's inception.

From 1993-2002 Nissan partnered with Ford to market a consumer-friendly minivan: The Mercury Villager and the Nissan Quest. The two minivans were manufactured with all the same parts and were virtually identical aside from several cosmetic differences.

In 2002, Ford discontinued the Villager. In 2004, Nissan brought out a new version of the Quest, which was designed in house.

Most recently, Nissan suspended manufacturing at their Egyptian plant due to the political revolt taking place there. Nissan's sales in Egypt totaled about 12,000 vehicles in the last fiscal year, compared to about 3.5 million vehicles sold worldwide in the same year.

Cable, Nissan ran 619,225 spots in the last 12 months. The months with the most spots run in July (78,677) and August (82,571).

Radio, Nissan ran 792,498 spots in the last 12 months with high marks in March (96,054), May (93,872), August (91,875) and December (84,459).

On TV, Nissan ran 334,272 spots in the last 12 months with August being the biggest month with 45,998 spots.

POSTED: February 14, 2011

PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) is a retail chain of specialty pet supplies and services such as grooming and dog training, PetSmart PetsHotel dog and cat boarding facilities and Doggie Day Care. The name PetSmart is a paronomasia (pun). It can mean, Pet Smart and Pets' Mart.

PetsMART was founded in 1986 and opened its first two stores in 1987 under the name PetFood Warehouse in the Phoenix area. In 1989 the name and logo changed from PetFood Warehouse to PETsMART.

PetsMART continued to grow and in 1993 went public. In 1994, PetsMART formed PetsMART Charities, Inc., a nonprofit organization that’s dedicated to ending euthanasia and finding homes for homeless pets. Petsmart.com made its debut in 1996.

In August 2005, the company announced that it was rebranding its name from PETsMART to PetSmart. This move, which de-emphasized "Mart" and emphasized "Smart", was designed to emphasize its evolution from a pet supply store to a solutions-oriented company.

As of May 2010, PetSmart had more than 1,160 stores and about 165 locations with PetsHotels and Doggie Day Camps. Many PetSmarts also contain Banfield Pet Hospital veterinary offices.

PetSmart also produces its own brands, such as, Grreat Choice, Sophisticat, Exquisicat and Authority. They also carry Groomax, grooming tools for both dogs and cats, (including brushes, combs, nail trimmers, shampoos, and conditioners) in their stores.

PetSmart sells fish tanks, stands, and aquarium decorations under the Top Fin name. Top Fin also makes gravel, filters, heaters and other accessories, including starter kits that include several basic components. The former PetSmart label for store brand fish supplies was Proquatics. Bird products are created under the Top Wing label, and include most items needed for birds, including cages, bowls, perches, and other products. PetSmart also has a small animal brand, named All Living Things.

PetSmart created revenues of $5.34 billion with a net income of $198.33 million and grew 5.4% in sales in 2010. They have 22,000 employees.

PETCO’s story began in 1965 when Walter Evans opened a mail-order veterinary supplies business with only five associates called UPCO – United Pharmaceutical Company.

The first retail store opened in La Mesa, Calif. in 1976 – and was an instant success. The mission then was to buy quality pet and veterinary supplies and sell them directly to animal professionals and the public at discount prices.

With two stores in California, primary customers at that time were ranches, kennels, catteries and grooming shops. In 1979, UPCO changed its name to PETCO to better connect the company with the pet supply business. The first PETCO opened just outside of California in 1980 in Tigard, Ore.

PETCO’s growth as a major retail player started in 1988 when the company acquired two pet supply chains, WellPoint and the Pet Department, more than tripling the number of PETCO stores from 40 to 130 and expanding their footprint into the Washington, Oregon and Texas markets.

In 1994, PETCO went public as the largest pet specialty retail chain in the industry, with 218 stores in 13 states.

By 1997 PETCO had grown to 455 stores in 34 states and launched a cutting-edge customer loyalty program, PETCO Animal Lovers Save – or PALS. Today, PETCO serves more than a million loyal PALS members.

In 1999, the PETCO Foundation was established to manage and promote charitable giving to animal causes. The foundation has helped save the lives of more than 2 million animals that would have otherwise been homeless and at risk of being put to death.

In 2001, PETCO brought its expansive range of products and services to the Web with the launch of PETCO.com and by 2002 had grown to more than 600 stores in 44 states.

A new partnership with the San Diego Padres kicked off 2004 for PETCO with the sponsorship of the brand new ballpark in downtown San Diego, introducing baseball fans worldwide to PETCO Park.

Today, PETCO is privately held and still growing, with more than 1,000 stores in all 50 states and more than 22,000 associates across the country.

On Cable, PETCO only runs about .5% as many spots at PetSmart. PetSmart ran 190,415 ads in the last 12 months, to PETCO’s 858 spots.

On Radio, PetSmart was out in front of PETCO again. PetSmart ran 318,709 spots against PETCO’s 36,448 ads, which was about 11.4% of what PetSmart ran. PetSmart’s biggest months were April (34,260) and November (34,726).

On TV, PetSmart ran 58,977 spots in the last 12 months to PETCO’s 2,071 ads. Overall with all three media, PETCO only ran 6.9% as many spots as PetSmart.

Posted: February 14, 2011

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