Weekly Spots

POSTED: June 20, 2011

(White Plains, NY) June 20, 2011 – According to Arbitron, Albuquerque, NM is the 68th largest radio market with a population of 712,600.

• Albuquerque lies on a plain along the banks of the Rio Grande River at the base of the Sandia Mountains. It is 5,000 feet above sea level.

• Albuquerque dates back 12,000 years, when the Anasazi Indians settled in the area and lived there for 2 centuries, from 1100 to 1300. In 1912, New Mexico was admitted to the US, the 47th state in the Union.

• The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a yearly festival of hot air balloons that takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA during early October. The balloon fiesta is a nine day event, and has around 750 balloons. The event is the largest hot air balloon festival in the world.

• In 1937, Route 66 was straightened so that it now runs right along Albuquerque's Central Avenue. It was the state's first completely oil-surfaced road, and the shortest east-west route through New Mexico.

• Higher learning: the University of New Mexico and Sandia National Laboratory brings science and technology to the city of the Old West.

• The city was named after Viceroy Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva, the Duke of Albuquerque. The "r" apparently fell out of use casually and over a long period.

• Sports in Albuquerque come down to the University of New Mexico Lobos and the minor league hockey team, the New Mexico Scorpions (WPHL).

• Famous people from Albuquerque: NASCAR drivers Al Unser Sr., Jr. and Bobby Unser, rock band the Shins, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, baseball’s Tito Landrum, director Jay Roach, fashion Model Elyse Sewell, pro football’s Ronnie Lott and Jim Everett and the creative talent Mike Judge of King of the Hill fame, lives in this New Mexico city.

ALBUQUERQUE SPOT TEN

In Albuquerque last week the #1 radio advertiser was THE SAFELITE AUTOGLASS with 815 spots. THE HOME DEPOT was #2 running 761 ads, while GEICO slid into #3 airing 709 announcements. The U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION bagged #4 with 638 spots and U.S. NEW MEXICO FEDERAL CREDIT UNION claimed #5 with 637 commercials. The AUTOZONE was #6 with 533 spots, while BOB TURNER'S FORD COUNTRY held down #7 with 519 spots. The NUTRISHOP was #8 with 488 spots and RICH FORD was #9 with 459 spots. SANDIA RESORT & CASINO put it all on #10 with 296 spots.

CARBONATED BEVERAGE SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

On top of the game is coca-cola with 5,175 spots. MOUNTAIN DEW was #2 running 2,167 ads, while SIERRA MIST NATURAL stopped at #3 airing 2,102 spots. 7UP slid into #4 with 1,971 spots and PEPSI THROWBACK was #5 with 1,691 spots. MELLO YELLO came in at #6 with 1,686 ads and DR. PEPPER stayed at #7 last week with 1,542 spots. PEPSI was #8 with 1,001 spots, while CRUSH rolled into #9 from #14 with 893 spots. Coming in #10 was CANADA DRY GINGER ALE with 586 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

Still the one, THE HOME DEPOT ran 50,731 spots to dominate National radio in the USA. GEICO again was at #2 with 37,632 spots, while SAFELITE AUTOGLASS rose to #3 with 37,068 ads. WALMART came in #4 with 34,163 spots and AUTOZONE arrived at #5 with 31,470 spots.

Posted: June 20, 2011

Chattem was founded as the Chattanooga Medicine Company on February 21, 1879 in the heart of downtown Chattanooga.

The first product was Thedford's Black Draught®, a senna based laxative, originally developed in 1840 by Dr. A.Q. Simmons of Snow Hill, Georgia. The product was renamed Black Draught® and first year sales were $35,488.

The Company acquired a second product called Dr. McElree's Wine of Cardui, a preparation or tonic for women based on the sedative and antispasmodic properties of Cnicus benedictus. This was the first US product for menstrual cramps.

The Chattanooga Medicine Company was one of the first businesses to recognize the value of outdoor advertising. Many painted sales messages appeared across the landscape usually on stores fronts and sides of barns located near well-traveled crossroads.

The Chattanooga Medicine Company was also a pioneer in direct marketing with the printing and distribution of millions of Cardui wall calendars and church fans and the popular Ladies Birthday Almanac.

During World War II, the Chattanooga Medicine Company stepped forward to become one of the nation's leading producers of foods and medicines for the U.S. Army.

Soon Dr. John C. Krantz discovered one of the first new antacid compounds commonly known as Dihydroxy Aluminum Aminoacetate and Dr. Irvine W. Grote, a Company advisor, discovered a second new antacid, Dihydroxy Aluminum Sodium. Until recently, these two compounds were manufactured by the fine chemicals division for use in "Bufferin" and "Rolaids", respectively.

During expansion the Company name was changed from the Chattanooga Medicine Company to Chattem Drug and Chemical Company and created two divisions, Chattem Chemicals and Chattem Consumer Products. During this era they focused on 32 products which included; first aid ointments, germicidal powder, vitamins, analgesic balms and liquids.

Over the years, Chattem’s strategy was to buy products from other drug and chemical companies to fill up their dance card. They also divested brands as they went along. This plan has worked for this giant in over-the-counter treatments.

During their rapid period of growth, particularly in the toiletries area, the company changed to Chattem, Inc. in September 1978.

In 2006, fueled by the growth of Selsun Blue®, Icy Hot® and Gold Bond®, sales exceeded $300 million for the first time.

In 2007, Chattem purchased ACT®, Unisom®, Cortizone®, Kaopectate® and Balmex® from Johnson & Johnson. The acquired brands were divested by J&J in connection with the recent acquisition by J&J of Pfizer Inc.'s Consumer Healthcare business.

As the result of the acquisition of these brands, and the subsequent growth of those brands under Chattem’s aegis, sales surpassed another milestone in 2007, exceeding $400 million and providing an excellent foundation for continuing growth.

On March 10, 2010 sanofi-aventis completed the acquisition of 100% of Chattem, Inc. Chattem manages the Allegra® brand, and is the platform for sanofi-aventis over-the-counter and consumer health products in the United States.

Sanofi-aventis U.S., based in Bridgewater, NJ, and employing 11,400 is a diversified global healthcare leader that discovers, develops, produces and markets innovative therapies. According to Christopher A. Viehbacher, Chief Executive Officer, the first quarter of 2011 will be down from $2 billion in 2009 to $945 million this year due to the expense of the H1N1 virus (Swine Flu) demands and the fact that many patents are set to expire from now until 2012.

On Cable TV, Chattem ran 636,269 spots in the last 12 months. Their biggest month was last month with 103,640 spots.

On Radio, Chattem ran 347,584 spots in the last 12 months with spikes a year ago in June (60,941) and again last month, May (53,350).

In TV, it appears that they are on a steady upward movement in this media. The total for the last 12 months was 434,977 with the last two months pouring it on: April (79,252) and May (82,836).

POSTED: June 20, 2011

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.

Some estimates claim that Lexus sold almost 34,000 cars in Japan in 2010, 17,857 cars in Europe and almost 230,000 in the US last year. Their parent company Toyota has 317,734 employees.

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 the 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 was the new Infiniti EX35 compact crossover, which was Infiniti's entry into the compact luxury crossover market.

Infiniti reported U.S. sales of 6,389 units for the month of May, a decrease of 21.0 percent versus 8,091 units a year earlier. Calendar year-to-date Infiniti sales have increased 5.1 percent to 40,986 vehicles for the first five months of 2011.

On Local Cable, Lexus takes a slight edge over Infiniti. Lexus ran 297,926 spots in the last 12 months against Infiniti’s 179,308 ads. Infiniti ran hottest in last August with 46,782 spots on Cable compared to Lexus that ran more spots in January that any other month (33,296).

On the Radio, Lexus really clobbers Infiniti. Lexus ran 107,983 spots in the last 12 months, while Infiniti ran only 16,815 radio ads. The hottest month for Lexus was September with 27,362 spots.

On TV, Lexus again excels with 130,015 spots to Infiniti’s 44,129 ads. On TV, Infiniti aired about 33.9% of the ads that Lexus ran on that media in the last 12 months.

Posted: June 20, 2011

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