Weekly Spots

POSTED: June 6, 2011

(White Plains, NY) June 6, 2011 – According to Arbitron, Baton Rouge, Louisiana is the 79th largest radio market with a population of 576,400.

• Baton Rouge was founded in 1699 by French explorer Sieur d’lberville and called “le baton rouge” or “the red stick.” This term referred to the Native American settlements during the Creek Nation period in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

• Baton Rouge’s largest industry is petrochemical production and manufacturing. Baton Rouge’s ExxonMobil facility is the 2nd largest oil refinery in the country and among the top 10 largest in the world.

• The arts and theater are important aspects of the culture in Baton Rouge. At the center of it all is the Shaw Center for the Arts, which houses the Brunner Gallery, LSU Museum of Art, the Manship Theater, as well as traveling exhibits. Other notable establishments include the Baton Rouge Gallery, The Baton Rouge Little Theater, and the Baton Rouge River Center, home of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra.

• The sports scene in Baton Rouge revolves around its collegiate sports teams: LSU Tigers and Southern University Jaguars plus professional teams, Redfish Rugby team and the Baton Rouge Capitals, minor league soccer team.

• The largest university in the city is Louisiana State University, or LSU, which has over 32,000 students. Southern University, Our Lady of the Lake College and Baton Rouge Community College are also located within the city metro area.

• Notable people from Baton Rouge include: music producer and judge of American Idol, Randy Jackson; actor, Shane West; Major League Baseball players Andy Pettitte and Jonathan Papelbon; and U.S. Hall of Fame Gymnast, Carly Patterson.

BATON ROUGE SPOT TEN

Last week in Baton Rouge the #1 advertiser on the radio was the US DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION that was urging everyone to “buckle-up” with 592 spots. THE HOME DEPOT was #2 with 549 spots, while CONSUMER RESOURCE NETWORK jumped from #23 to #3 with 394 ads. FRENCH MARKET COFFEE was #4 with 356 spots and GEICO was #5 airing 337 announcements. AUTOZONE parked at #6, up from #61, with 307 spots, while LOUISIANA DEPTMENT OF HEALTH & HOSPITALS was #7 with 302 commercials. ALL STAR KIA captured #8 with 286 spots and COCA-COLA was #9 with 286 spots. The ALL STAR AUTOMOTIVE GROUP was #10 with 242 spots.

LAWN & GARDEN SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

Everyone is out to have the finest lawn and the leader in this category last week was SEVIN with 8,436 spots. SCOTTS was #2 with 4,752 spots, while their brand ORTHO was #3 with 4,684 ads. WHITNEY FARMS (Scotts again) was #4 with 3,323 commercials and OSMOCOTE (Scotts as well) was #5 with 1,502 spots. EARL MAY SEED & NURSERY was #7 with 403 spots, while BORDINE’S was #8 with 274 spots and coming in #9 was SUBURBAN LAWN & GARDEN with 246 ads. RAY WIEGAND’S NURSERY was #10 with 229 spots. For those who are keeping count, The Scotts Company ran a total of 14,261 spots in the top 100 last week in the USA.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

THE HOME DEPOT continues its streak of #1s with 65,903 spots last week. GEICO was still in #2 with 36,872 spots, while AUTOZONE traveled from #15 to #3 with 34,146 spots. MCDONALD’S was “Lovin’ it” at #4 with 26,301 spots and #5 was WAL-MART running 24,601 spots.

Posted: June 6, 2011

5-Hour Energy is a flavored energy shot drink made by Living Essentials, LLC based out of Farmington Hills, Michigan. It was introduced in 2004 by Carl Sperber and is the number one selling product in the energy shot category in the United States. It can be found in many locations where health, lifestyle, and sporting goods are sold.

According to the company, 5-Hour Energy drink is a blend of B vitamins (B3, B6, Folic Acid, and B12), amino acids, and nutrients. It contains no sugar, no herbal stimulants, and only four calories. The Original blend contains about as much caffeine as one cup of coffee, the Extra Strength formula contains about as much caffeine as 12 ounces of coffee, and the Decaf blend contains about the same amount of caffeine as a ˝ cup of coffee.

The Original 5-Hour Energy is available in 5 flavors: grape, pomegranate, berry, orange, and lemon-lime. Extra Strength is available in berry and Decaf comes in a citrus flavor. The drink can be used to help people feel sharp and alert during many different scenarios throughout the day: in the morning, after lunch, before workouts, during sports, for travel, and for weekends.

The makers of 5-Hour Energy recommend drinking ˝ of a bottle to provide moderate energy and the whole bottle for maximum energy. Unlike many of its competitors, it provides energy with no “sugar crash” later.

The company is also looking to take the international market in the upcoming years.

And believe it or not, they have a new competitor called COCAINE ENERGY a drink that promises a whopping 280 MG of caffeine per dose.

As of December 2010, national sales of 5-Hour Energy exceeded $1 billion and they only have 185 employees.

On Cable, 5-Hour Energy ran 463,675 spots in the last 12 months. The high was last August with 55,609 spots ran that month.

On the Radio, they must have thought the 5-Hour Energy drinks were great stocking stuffers with 30,219 spots offered in December. For the last 12 months they have cleared 132,268 radio spots.

On TV, they look like they are adding some energy there, with February running 12,843 ads and March showing 12,926 spots. They ran 78,738 spots on TV in the last 12 months.

POSTED: June 6, 2011

Goldenwest Diamond Corporation is one of the largest direct diamond importers in the country. The company is better known by its trade names of The Jewelry Exchange, Jewelry Factory, and Jewelry Source. It is based in Tustin, California.

The company was started in 1977 by Bill Doddridge after starting his career working in his step-father’s pawnshop. After saving enough money, Doddridge bought his own pawn shop, Buena Park Loan & Jewelry.

Soon after, he found that supply did not meet the demand at the pawn shop and Doddridge began designing and selling his own jewelry designs. He found he could create pieces for far less than buying used jewelry from pawn customers by maintaining low margins. By 1984, all of Doddridge’s jewelry was guaranteed to appraise for double the cost.

In 1986, the business moved to Santa Ana, California and jewelry manufacturing was brought in-house. A year later, Doddridge began importing his diamonds directly and began focusing on his jewelry business full time.

According to the company’s website, what makes the Jewelry Exchange different from most other jewelry stores is that they are one of the country’s leading jewelry manufacturers, eliminating the manufacturer mark up in prices and then passing the savings on to its customers. In fact, they have the lowest production costs of any jewelry manufacturer in the United States.

Currently, Goldenwest Diamond Corporation has 19 locations throughout the country, including stores in some of the largest cities like New York City, Detroit, and Washington, DC. The company offers engagement rings, earrings, pendants, precious and semi precious stones, necklaces, bracelets, and watches. Goldenwest is a private company with approximately 300 employees.

Sterling Jewelers, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Signet Jewelers Limited. It is the largest specialty fine jewelry company in the U.S. by sales and number of stores. Signet Jewelers is based in the U.K. and is the world’s largest specialty retail jeweler with national brands such as Kay Jewelers and Jared The Galleria of Jewelry.

Sterling’s history started in 1910 when Henry Shaw opened his first store in Lorain, Ohio. By 1937, the company, operating under the name Shaw-Rogers, was split into the Shaw- Rogers and LeRoy’s Jewelry Company. In 1940, LeRoy’s became Sterling Merchandise Company.

In the 1960’s Sterling Merchandise Company opened its first store in Lima, Ohio and within 10 years had more than 50 store locations, making it one of the largest specialty jewelry retailers.

In 1987, Signet Group, PLC purchased Sterling, creating the largest jewelry retailer in the world. Sterling also acquired Westhall Company and its 82 stores, which had previously been Shaw-Rogers.

In 1990, Sterling acquired Kay Jewelers, Inc (506 stores) which doubled the size of the company. Three years later, Sterling opened the first Jared The Galleria of Jewelry superstore.

In 1998, the company sales exceeded $1 billion for the first time in its history. By 2005, the sales exceeded $2 billion.

Sterling Jewelers has its own exclusive brands that are widely recognized today. In 2000, they launched the Leo Diamond; in 2008, they introduced the Open Hearts collection in collaboration with actress Jane Seymour; and in 2009, they introduced the Love’s Embrace line.

Sterling’s parent company, Signet Jewelers Limited, had more than $3.4 billion in total revenue reported in January 2011. They also had more than $200 million in net income during that same period. They have more than 16,000 employees worldwide.

On Cable TV, the two giants of the gem biz are within hundreds of each other in the last 12 months. Sterling ran 174,726 spots against Goldenwest’s The Jewelry Exchange that had 175,044 spots placed. The biggest month for Goldenwest was December, of course, with 22,367 against Sterling’s 44,401 in December, but that was their biggest month. Sterling ran 53,242 spots in February – Valentine’s month. It should be noted that in the months June, July, August, September and October, Sterling ran NO spots on Cable.

On the Radio, Sterling is certainly powering over with 223,015 spots in the last 12 months against The Jewelry Exchange (Goldenwest) with only 38,073 ads. Sterling’s strategy is simple: October (40,262), November (49,738) and December (41,741).

On TV, the ring is on the other hand with Goldenwest (The Jewelry Exchange) running 202,819 spots against Sterling’s 59,712. Biggest month for Goldenwest was December with 33,121 spots, while Sterling ran 17,501 in November and 17,203 in December of last year.

Posted: June 6, 2011

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