Weekly Spots

POSTED: September 5, 2011

(White Plains, NY) September 5, 2011 – According to Arbitron, Indianapolis, IN is the 39th largest radio market with the population of 1,412,400.

• The Indianapolis 500 Race is the biggest annual event held in this city every Memorial Day. The raceway is nick-named the “brickyard” because the racing surface at Indy was once completely made of bricks. All the bricks have been removed, except for one yard of bricks at the start/finish line.

• Indianapolis was selected as the site for the new state capital in 1821. Indiana Supreme Court judge Jeremiah Sullivan named the city.

• Indianapolis is called “The Crossroads of America” because it is believed that more interstates and highways cross here than anywhere else in the United States.

• In 1902 the building of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in the center of Indianapolis was completed to honor those who served during the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the U.S. Civil War, and the Spanish American War. It stands at the heart of Monument Circle and is made of bronze and limestone.

• Indianapolis higher learning schools include: Marion University, the University of Indianapolis, Butler University, Christian Theological Seminary and a campus of Indiana University referred to as IUPUI.

• Indianapolis is the International headquarters of the pharmaceutical corporation Eli Lilly and Company, wireless distribution & logistics provider Brightpoint, health insurance provider Wellpoint, Roche Diagnostics, Interactive Intelligence, First Internet Bank of Indiana, Peerless Pump Company, and Dow AgroSciences.

• Professional sports are big in Indy starting with the Indianapolis Colts of the NFL, the Indiana Pacers of the NBA and the Indiana Fever of the WNBA.

• Famous people from Indianapolis include: actors, Jack Steve Burton, Vivica Fox, James Dean, Brendan Fraser, Steve McQueen, bank robber John Dillinger, singer Babyface, late night TV host David Letterman, jazz great Wes Montgomery, TV personality Jane Pauley, and former Vice President, Dan Quayle.

INDIANAPOLIS SPOT TEN

In Indianapolis last week, the number one radio advertiser was the US DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION with 787 spots. The SHANE COMPANY sparkled at #2 with 636 ads, while AMERICAN FAMILY INSURANCE claimed #3 with 617 spots. Racing into #4 was the NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION (NHRA) running 588 spots and KROGER jumped from #17 to #5 with 484 commercials. AUTOZONE owned #6 with 467 spots, while SUBWAY wrapped up #7 with 467 ads. PNC cleared 464 spots making them #8 and REIS-NICHOLS clocked 423 spots to land in #9. THE HOME DEPOT moved from #26 to #10 airing 374 announcements.

BANK SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

The king of the hill of money in the Bank category was CHASE with 18,404 spots. WELLS FARGO was a solid #2 with 9,396 ads. PNC was #3 airing 5,726 commercials, while CITI jumped #8 to #4 with 2,519 spots. SUNTRUST was #5 with 2,310 spots and TD BANK was #6 with 2,008 ads. FIRST NIAGARA was #7 with 1,428, while some the “still” WACHOVIA markets ran 1,428 spots to keep them at #8. PERKSTREET FINANCIAL was #9 with 1,185 spots and Cincinnati’s FIFTH THIRD BANK was #10 running 1,067 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

THE HOME DEPOT has retaken the #1 hill with 53,990 spots. GEICO slips to #2 with 36,932 spots, while AUTOZONE zooms into #3 from #25 with 33,348 ads. SEARS also amazes, leaping from #63 to #4 with 27,050 spots. And coming in #5 was MCDONALD’S with 26,956 spots.

Posted: September 6, 2011

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. is a company of Time Warner, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) traces its history back to 1970 when R.E. “Ted” Turner obtained Atlanta UHF channel 17. In 1976, Turner created what was known as a SuperStation, a local TV station that could be seen around the nation. Several other stations copied Turner’s idea, most notably, WGN-TV in Chicago and WWOR-TV in New York. Because of many conflicts between the providers of content and the stations, SuperStations were phased out of the cable industry.

Ted Turner was always an idea guy who always thought outside of the box. His next creation, in 1980, was CNN, a twenty-four-hour cable news network. Once again, Turner was first into the space. The less successful CNN2, now called HLN, was also added to the Turner lineup.

In 1986, Turner Broadcasting System acquired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which set the basis for TNT in 1988. After TBS procured Hanna-Barbera Entertainment Co., the Cartoon Network was born. In 1994 Turner Classic Movies began airing classic movies.

Time Warner Inc. bought Turner Broadcasting System in 1996 and in 2001 Time Warner and AOL merged.

Turner Broadcasting System’s programs are translated into approximately thirty different languages and reach audiences in over 200 countries.

Some of their networks include: HLN, CNN, TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies, truTV, Cartoon Network, Turner Sports, Adult Swim, etc.

Time Warner, Inc. generated revenues of $26. 89 billion and a net income of $2.58 billion. Time Warner employs 31,000 people.

It would make sense that one of the pioneers in Cable programming would use Cable to promote themselves. In the last 12 months, Turner has run 4,016,530 spots selling their many offerings. As a matter of fact, that is 98.2% of all the ads they ran on Cable, Radio and TV. December was the biggest month with 526,819 spots.

Many of the Turner shows do not run in the traditional network TV schedules, thus the different approach to marketing. They ran 62,617 spots on the Radio in the last 12 months, but focused on October (14,814) and November (14,562) for their major impressions.

On TV, Turner ran only 11,502 spots in the last 12 months with December getting the most at 1,468 ads.

POSTED: September 6, 2011

McDonald’s is the leader in the fast food industry. The McDonald Brothers opened the first McDonald’s Bar-B-Que in 1940 in San Bernardino, California. Eight years later, the two closed it down for three months in order to make several alterations, not only to the building, but also to the menu. They cut down the menu to only nine items. In 1954, Ray Kroc traveled to the restaurant as a multimixer salesman and ended up becoming the brother’s franchising agent. One year later, Kroc opened up a McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Illinois.

McDonald’s opened the first Hamburger University in 1961 where future employees could attend the school and get a Bachelor’s degree in Hamburgerology. The University stresses their restaurant’s attention to service, cleanliness, quality, and operation procedures. That same year, Kroc bought complete rights to the McDonald’s name and the McDonald brother’s interests for $2.7 million.

The first two International McDonald’s outlets opened up in Canada and Puerto Rico in 1967. According to their website, they are now in over 117 different countries.

The famous Big Mac was added to their menu in 1968 and eleven years later the Happy Meal was introduced. The menu has since expanded to include: the Egg McMuffin, the Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Real Fruit Smoothies, salads, the Filet-O-Fish, various chicken sandwiches and products, desserts, french fries, etc.

The famed slogan, “i’m lovin’ it” debuted in Germany in 2003 as a global ad campaign. In 2008 McDonald’s proclaimed that their chicken products, french fries, Filet-O-Fish, and Hash Browns where changed to have “0 grams trans-fat per labeled serving”.

Last year McDonald’s generated revenues of $24.07 billion and a net income of $4.95 billion. They employ 400,000 people.

Burger King, the number two fast food chain in the world which in 1953 was the brainchild of founders and owners, Keith J. Kramer and Matthew Burns, and their new restaurant was loosely based on the success of the McDonald Brothers restaurants in San Bernardino, CA. The WHOPPER® sandwich debuted in 1957 as their star product.

In 1959, the company, then in trouble, was purchased by franchisers James McLamore and David Edgerton of Miami.

By, 1963, Burger King had opened its first restaurant outside of the United States in Puerto Rico. In 1975, Burger King began using drive-through window service.

Throughout the years, Burger King has changed their menu to give their customers a greater variety of foods to choose from. In 1978, Burger King created a new band of sandwiches to include chicken, fish, steak, and ham. Chicken tenders became available in 1986, and three years earlier, the crossian’wich was incorporated into their breakfast menu.

Burger King has gone through many acquisitions and mergers over the years. After Pillsbury purchased the fast food chain in 1967, Grand Metropolitan PLC purchased Pillsbury and Burger King in 1989. Grand Metropolitan PLC would merge with Guiness & Co. to create Diageo PLC in 1997. They are currently owned by 3G Capital of Brazil.

The famous slogan, “Have it Your Way” was a part of their 1974 marketing campaign. By 1978 they had moved on to “Best Darn Burger” and in 1986 it became “Burger King Town”. In 2001 the slogan was “The Whopper Says” before they returned to their previous slogan of “Have It Your Way” in 2004.

Two weeks ago, Burger King finally dumped their “creepy” king mascot and is attempting to reposition with the “fresh” angle. The new ad campaign is part of the national rollout of the California Whopper, which includes what they say, “is arguably the gastronomic trend of 2011”: guacamole. I guess they are going green.

They have over 12,300 Burger King locations across the globe. According to Burger King Holdings, Inc., the 2011 second quarter resulted in revenues of $596.2 million with a net income of $42.8 million. They employ 38,840 people.

On Cable, McDonald’s is clearly ahead of Burger King. McDonald’s ran 439,002 spots against Burger King’s 260,524 in the last 12 months which was 59.3% of the spots McDonald’s ran. The biggest month for Burger King was May 2011 with 27,276, while McDonald’s seems to be lovin’ May (47,811) and June (47,830).

On Radio, the distance between the two fast-food outlets widens. McDonald’s ran 2,155,665 spots in the last 12 months, while Burger King ran 273,557 ads. Burger King sizzled last month August with 66,133 spots and McDonald’s also blasted loudest last month with 194,255 spots.

On TV, McDonald’s ran 667,130 spots against Burger King’s 156,337 ads in the last 12 months. McDonald’s ran hottest last month with 67,945 spots, while Burger King ran hottest in the month of July 2011 with 19,035 spots.

Posted: September 6, 2011

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