Weekly Spots

POSTED: March 7, 2011

(White Plains, NY) March 7, 2011 – According to Arbitron, Sacramento is the 27th largest radio market with a population of 1,850,200.

• Sacramento, the capital of the State of California, was discovered by the Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga in the 1800s and was named after the Spanish term for 'sacrament.'
• During the California Gold Rush, Sacramento was a major distribution point, a commercial and agricultural center, and a terminus for wagon trains, stagecoaches, riverboats, the telegraph, the Pony Express, and the First Transcontinental Railroad.
• The railroad was very important to the growth of this city. Located in Old Sacramento, the California State Railroad Museum is a complex of historic facilities and unique attractions.
• The California rice crop is grown in the Sacramento Valley where abundant water from nearby snowcapped mountains and several rivers, as well as ideal soil and growing conditions combine to make rice the dominant crop in the region.
• California State University, Sacramento, more commonly known as Sacramento State or Sac State, is the major local university.
• In professional sports, Sacramento has the NBA team Sacramento Kings, the WNBA team Sacramento Monarchs, in the Pacific Coast League (MLB minor league) the Sacramento River Cats and in NPSL Soccer, the Sacramento Knights.
• Famous people from Sacramento: Natalie Gulbis (golfer), Anthony Kennedy (Judge), Rodney King (can’t we all just get along) and actors, Tim Busfield, Randolph Mantooth, Sam Elliot, Molly Ringwald and Tom Hanks. Baseball players from Sacramento: Andy Fox, Doug Henry, Derrick Lee and Greg Vaughn. NFL players from the city are Harold Green, Donte Stallworth and Chris Oldham.

SACRAMENTO SPOT TEN

In the capital of California the #1 radio advertiser last week was EZ AUTO SOLUTIONS with 650 spots. The HD DIGITAL RADIO ALLIANCE was #2 with 605 spots, while PARAMOUNT EQUITY MORTGAGE was #3 with 573 spots. AUTOZONE was #4, up from #21, with 518 spots and MCDONALD’S served #5 with 483 commercials. PROGRESSIVE was #6 with 478 spots and GEICO was #7 airing 450 announcements. FRONTIER BUNDLE was #8 with 441 and JACKSON RANCHERIA CASINO & HOTEL was #9 rolling 414 spots. The SHANE COMPANY was #10 with 413 spots.

DOMESTIC CARS & TRUCKS SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

The debate over whether the federal government should have bailed out the US automakers continues but before we get all excited about how much they are advertising, we should notice that we only have 6 for our SPOT TEN. The #1 advertiser out of the American cars and truckers was CHEVROLET with 8,983 spots. Coming in #2 was FORD LINCOLN MERCURY with 5,226 spots, while CHRYSLER JEEP DODGE dropped from #1 to #3 airing 1257 radio commercials. CADILLAC was #4 with 521 spots and BUICK at #5 with 98 spots and GM at #5 with 47 ads. We are still not seeing the full range of US brands using radio to advertise.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

GEICO continues its streak with 50,787 radio spots in the USA making them the #1 advertiser. AUTOZONE jumps from #14 to #2 with 27,779 spots, while NETFLIX streams from #6 to #3 with 27,584 ads. MCDONALD’S holds #4 with 25,758 spots and the HD DIGITAL RADIO ALLIANCE stays at #5 with 22,726 spots.

Posted: March 7, 2011

Old Navy, Inc. is a subsidiary of The Gap, Inc. that was founded in 1969 by real estate developer, Donald G. Fisher when he simply could not find a pair of jeans that would fit him properly.

After seeing widespread success of the Gap stores throughout the 1970s, Fisher’s successor, Millard Drexler, wanted to diversify the company by acquiring or creating new retail chains. In 1983, the company acquired a two store retailer called Banana Republic, which they converted to an upscale version of the Gap. Expansion continued with the development of GapKids in 1986 and babyGap in 1990.

In the early 1990s, Drexler began to see the need for a retail chain that could provide quality clothing at a lower price point. After assessing the competition from other retailers, calls were made to see if the garment factories could produce a line using less expensive fabrics and finishes. In August of 1993, a prototype of this new format was opened under the name Gap Warehouse.

In 1994, after seeing great success of the lower price concept, the first Old Navy store opened in a shopping center in Colma, California. The store took its name from a bar that Drexler passed while walking one day in Paris, France.

By the end of the next year, in 1995, when Old Navy opened its flagship store in Manhattan, there were 131 stores total that produced $420 million in sales.

In 1997, Old Navy made business history by being the first retail brand to reach $1 billion in sales in less than four years. Old Navy now comprised nearly 20% of the Gap, Inc.’s total revenue.

In 2001, Old Navy made its international debut with the opening of 12 stores in Ontario, Canada. It was here that the company made the majority of its expansion during the early 2000’s, ending up with 33 stores opened by 2004.

By the mid 2000’s, Old Navy began using famous faces as part of a new ad campaign to market the store. Celebrities such as Molly Sims, Morgan Fairchild, Joan Collins, Fran Drescher, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Kristin Chenoweth, The Village People, Rupaul, and Lil' Kim were seen advertising some of Old Navy’s most memorable products like the Performance Fleece and Tech Vest.

By the company’s 10 year anniversary in 2004, Old Navy now accounted for approximately 40% of the Gap’s nearly $16 billion in revenue.

In 2007, Todd Oldham signed on as Old Navy’s creative Director of product and a new advertising campaign, geared more towards sophistication, came with him. While in the past the company had used the faces of celebrities in its ad campaigns, now Old Navy began launching the careers of unsigned musicians, most notably that of current recording artist, Ingrid Michaelson.

By decades end, in 2009, Old Navy made $5.3 billion in net sales.

Old Navy remains under the Gap, Inc. brand that includes Gap, Banana Republic, Piperlime, (an online fashion boutique launched in 2006) and Athleta (a performance apparel company acquired in 2008). It currently has well over 1000 open stores throughout the United States and Canada with over 7000 employees.

The parent company Gap, Inc. produced revenues of $14.2 billion with net income of $1.1 billion and has 135,000 employees. The figures below represent just what Old Navy ran.

On Local Cable, Old Navy ran 109,196 spots in the last 12 months. The biggest month was of course, December with 17,464 spots. They also ran hot last May with 15,095 spots.

Due to the fact that OLD NAVY really focuses on visuals and sight gags in their campaigns, the radio spot part is a bit more difficult to pull off. They ran 64,324 spots in the last 12 months, with only 96 spots in February of this year. Their biggest month was December with 15,258 spots followed by November with 12,853 ads.

On TV, OLD NAVY ran the bulk of their spots with 145,691 units in the last 12 months. December has the big holiday push with 22,617 spots and November had 15,895 spots. They started slow for 2011 with only 3,464 spots in January and 7,621 spots in February.

POSTED: March 7, 2011

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) is the largest publically held personal lines insurer and the second largest overall in the United States. The company was founded in 1931 as a part of Sears, Roebuck & Co., went public in 1993, and became a completely independent company after Sears divested its shares in 1995. It is currently a Fortune 100 company with $133 billion in total assets.

Allstate sponsors many sporting events including the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard NASCAR race, and the Olympics.

The Allstate name is associated with reliability and financial strength and has turned its slogan “You’re In Good Hands With Allstate” into one of the most widely recognized in business history. Since 2004, spokesperson Dennis Haysbert, has modified the slogan asking, “That’s Allstate’s stand. Are you in good hands?” The company’s most recent campaign features Dean Winters as the character of “Mayhem”, who is seen causing various hazardous situations for drivers.

Allstate also utilizes various forms of social media like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter to bring more widespread attention to the company.

Allstate Financial Services target the retiree market as well as the vast and often financially underserved segment of middle income consumers, who need loans.

They currently show a net income of $928 million and they have 35,000 employees. They serve customers in 17 million households.

State Farm, headquartered in Bloomington, IL, insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in the United States since 1942 and is the also the leading insurer in Canada as well. It was founded in 1922 by retired farmer and insurance salesman George Jacob, “GL” Mecherle who cared about fairness and doing the right thing for the customer. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. In 2010, State Farm was ranked #34 on the Fortune 500 list of the largest companies with over 17,700 agents serving their more than 81 million policy and account holders.

State Farm did not shy away from the media spotlight. Its famous jingle, “Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There”, was written by American recording artist, Barry Manilow, in 1971 and has gone on to be covered most recently in 2011 by the band, Weezer. The company also lends its name to the State Farm Arena in Texas as well as sponsors the State Farm Classic, a stop on the Women’s LPGA golf tour.

Not unlike many other of its competitors, State Farm has received some public backlash for allegedly fighting the claims of its insured members. After 2005, Louisiana and Mississippi pursued criminal investigations of the company, finding that State Farm had wrongly denied claims stemming from Hurricane Katrina.

Today, State Farm continues to expand and has added 13.9 million policies and accounts since 2000. Offering automobile, fire, health, and life insurance as well as bank and mutual funds, State Farm boasts a $51.8 billion net worth as of 2009 and approximately 68,000 employees.

In the last 12 months, State Farm ran 726,857 spots against Allstate’s 535,580 ads. The biggest month for State Farm was January with 99,299 spots, while Allstate also started the year with a bang running 55,524 spots.

On the radio, State Farm ran 343,374 spots in the last 12 months to Allstate’s 187,350 spots. July was Allstate’s hottest month with 32,043 spots and State Farm ran the most radio spots in last March with 67,692 spots and last month, February was very strong with 59,233 ads. It looks like Allstate is a little slow out of the gate with radio in 2011.

On TV, State Farm ran 135,765 spots and Allstate ran 143,911 in the last 12 months. Allstate’s biggest TV month was July with 15,471 spots, while State Farm had their biggest month in December with 13,895 spots.

Posted: March 7, 2011

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