Weekly Spots

POSTED: October 17, 2011

(White Plains, NY) October 17, 2011 – According to Arbitron, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL is the 19th largest radio market with a population of 2,422,000.

• The word "Tampa" may mean "sticks of fire" in the language of the Calusa, a Native American tribe that once lived south of today’s Tampa Bay. This might be a reference to the many lightning strikes that the area receives during the summer months.

• Tampa, as a market, is really a collection of small towns with St. Petersburg and Clearwater leading the list.

• The restaurant Hooters started in Clearwater, FL in 1983. And several other major companies call the Tampa Bay area home: Bomis, Chris-Craft, OSI Restaurant Partners, WellCare Health Plans, TECO Energy, Raymond James Financial and MacDill Air Force Base.

• Tampa is represented by teams in four major professional sports leagues: the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays, and in the Arena Football League’s Tampa Bay Storm.

• Higher learning institutions include: University of South Florida, University of Tampa, Hillsborough Community College, and Southwest Florida College.

• Some famous faces born in Tampa Bay include: actresses, Brittney Snow and Evelyn Brent; baseball players Steve Garvey, Fred McGriff and St. Louis Cardinal manager Tony LaRussa; musician Nat Adderley and filmmaker Les Blank.

TAMPA SPOT TEN

In Tampa last week the #1 radio advertiser was 1-800-411 PAIN with 708 spots. MORGAN AND MORGAN (attorneys) was #2 with 562 spots, while UNIVERSAL THEME PARKS took #3 with their 556 announcements. MCDONALD’S lovin’ it at #4 with 547 spots and FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH was #5 airing 530 spots. FIFTH THIRD BANK moved from #13 to #6 with 496 commercials, while VERIZON was #7 with 495 spots. TAMPA’S LOWRY PARK ZOO climbed from #72 to #8 with 482 spots and CENTURY KIA nested at #9 with 431 ads. BRANDON HONDA was #10 with 428 spots.

FINANCIAL PRODUCTS & SERVICES SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

In this category, JOHN CUMMUTA WEALTH BUILDING PROGRAMS took first prize with 4,554 spots. CREDIT CARD RELIEF was #2 with 2,968, while FREEDOM DEBT RELIEF was #3 airing 2,562 announcements. DEBTSMART AMERICA took #4 with 2,348 spots and WESTERN UNION stopped at #5 with 2,017 ads. SUPERSONICPAYDAY was #6 with 1,950 spots, while CONSOLIDATED CREDIT COUNSELING SERVICES was #7 running 1,783 spots. COMPUTER FUNDING was #8 airing 1,380 spots and CHECK INTO CASH was #9 with 1,379 spots. And coming in at #10 was PEACHTREE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS with 1,230 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

There seems to be some interesting developments nationally in radio. GEICO bouncing back into first place with 43,035 spots and it is clear the insurance wars are on. STATE FARM came in #2 with 33,646 spots, while THE HOME DEPOT falls to #3 with 31,081 spots. MCDONALD’S was #4 with 26,995 and AUTOZONE zooms from #42 to #5 with 21,582 spots. ALLSTATE jumps from #10 to #6 with 21,266 spots. And then further down the list, we find PROGRESSIVE with 9,895 spots at #30.

Posted: October 17, 2011

McNeil Consumer Healthcare is a pharmaceutical company. The company was founded on March 16, 1879 by 23-year-old Robert McNeil, who paid $167 for a drugstore complete with fixtures, inventory and soda fountain, as a retail pharmacy, in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. Robert McNeil was a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (University of the Sciences in Philadelphia).

In 1904, one of McNeil's sons, Robert Lincoln McNeil joined the company and together they created McNeil Laboratories in 1933. The company focused on direct marketing of prescription drugs to hospitals, pharmacists, and doctors. Development of acetaminophen began under the leadership of Robert L. McNeil, Jr., who later served as the firm's chairman.

In 1953 McNeil Laboratories introduced Algoson, a preparation containing acetaminophen together with sodium butabarbital, a sedative. In 1955, McNeil Laboratories introduced Tylenol Elixir for children, containing only acetaminophen.

In 1959, Johnson & Johnson acquired McNeil Laboratories and a year later the company was able to sell Tylenol over-the-counter.

In 1961 the company moved into its Fort Washington, Pennsylvania headquarters. Along with its Fort Washington plant, McNeil also has plants worldwide.

In 1977, two companies were created: McNeil Pharmaceutical and McNeil Consumer Products Company or McNeil Consumer Healthcare. The focus of McNeil Pharmaceutical is to market prescription drugs only, while McNeil Consumer Healthcare markets over-the-counter and prescription pharmaceuticals including complete lines of Tylenol and Motrin IB (ibuprofen) products for adults and children.

McNeil’s parent company Johnson & Johnson reported revenues of $61.59 billion with net income of $13.33 billion. The parent employs 114,000 people.

Out of the three media, 58% of all McNeil spots ran on Local Cable. The total for the last 12 months was 679,241 spots. The biggest month was last April with 72,713 spots.

Radio did not get the lion’s share of ads for McNeil, in fact they only ran 30,941 spots in the last 12 months, with last October standing out with 20,872 ads.

On TV, McNeil ran 460,582 spots in the last 12 months with the high water mark being March 2011 when they ran 56,014 spots.

POSTED: October 17, 2011

The IKEA story began in 1926 when founder Ingvar Kamprad was born in Småland in southern Sweden. He was raised on 'Elmtaryd', a farm near the small village of Agunnaryd. Even as a young boy Ingvar knew he wanted to develop a business. At the age of five Ingvar Kamprad sold matches to his nearby neighbors and by the time he was seven, he started using his bicycle to increase his selling territory.

The name IKEA was formed from the founder's initials (I.K.) plus the first letters of Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, the farm and village where he grew up. IKEA originally sold pens, wallets, picture frames, table runners, watches, jewelry and nylon stockings—whatever Ingvar found a need for that he could fill with a product at a reduced price.

When Ingvar Kamprad outgrew his ability to make individual sales calls, he began advertising in local newspapers and operating a makeshift mail order catalog.

In 1947, furniture was introduced into their offerings and in 1951; the first IKEA furniture catalogue was published. And in 1953, the first brick and mortar IKEA furniture showroom was opened in Älmhult, Sweden. In 1955, IKEA took a big step and began to design its own furniture.

When the new IKEA stores opened, they featured the products POÄNG and BILLY bookcases. In the 1980s, IKEA expanded dramatically into new markets such as the United States, Italy, France and the UK.

In the 1990s, IKEA grew again with their Children's IKEA that focused on home furnishing solutions to meet the needs of families with children. The IKEA Group was formed and added a corporate responsibility for the environment.

In 2009, IKEA broke from tradition of this privately owned company and opened their books to the public for the first time. Again in 2010, they showed improvements of 6% and produced $31 billion in revenues with a net income of $3.6 billion. Europe accounted for 79% of sales, with North America adding 15%, while the Asia-Australia region delivered 6%. They have 127,000 employees.

Ashley Furniture's Worldwide Headquarters in Arcadia, Wisconsin continues to be the core manufacturing and distribution center for the Ashley Companies.

Founded by Carlyle Weinberger in 1945, the company started as a sales organization with branches in Chicago and Goshen, Indiana.

In 1970, Ashley invested in the Wisconsin-based Arcadia Furniture. The Wisconsin factory encompassed 35,000 square feet and had 35 employees. At first the two companies maintained their separate identities, with Arcadia focusing on production and Ashley on sales. But they eventually merged.

By 1982, the merged company's annual sales reached $12 million and it had moved its corporate headquarters from Chicago to Arcadia. By the mid-1980s, Ashley offered a line of roughly 350 different furniture products, and had turned its design and manufacturing away from "heirloom pieces" toward products aimed at middle-income buyers.

Ashley Furniture sells home furnishings and accessories available through two distribution channels: independent furniture dealers and more than 400 Ashley Furniture HomeStores which are independently owned and operated by licensees in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and Japan.

Ashley Furniture has 16,300 employees.

On Local Cable, IKEA aired 53.9% as many spots as Ashley. IKEA cleared 106,310 spots in the last 12 months, while Ashley Furniture bought 197,099 ads. Ashley’s biggest month was last November with 28,730 and IKEA was hottest in the month of August with 13,473 spots.

On the Radio, IKEA ran 14,540 spots in the last 12 months, while Ashley placed 37,868 spots in the same time period. Biggest month for IKEA was December 2010 with 5,932 and Ashley’s hottest month was April 2011 when they ran 5,586 spots.

On TV, IKEA aired 33.6% as many spots as Ashley which totaled 233,218 in the last 12 months. IKEA ran 78,291 spots in the same stretch. Ashley ran hot in June with 22,951 and last month (September 2011) with 22,580 ads. IKEA ran the most spots in August (2011) with 13,977 spots.

Posted: October 17, 2011

For The Current Spots: