Weekly Spots

POSTED: January 2, 2012

(White Plains, NY) January 2, 2012 – According to Arbitron, Charleston, SC is the 83rd largest radio market with a population of 573,100.

• The city was founded in 1670 and its name is derived from Charles Towne, named after King Charles II of England.

• South Carolinians became more devoted to the idea that state's rights were superior to the Federal government's authority. It was no wonder then, that on December 20, 1860, the South Carolina General Assembly made the state the first to ever secede from the Union. On January 9, 1861, the Citadel (in a sense, the South’s West Point) cadets fired the first shots in the American Civil War.

• On August 31, 1886, Charleston was nearly destroyed by an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale that was felt as far away as Boston and Bermuda.

• On Friday, Sept. 22, 1989 Hurricane Hugo slammed Charleston, S.C., with 135 mph winds and a 20-foot storm tide. More than $7.2 Billion in damages, but once again, Charleston came back.

• Today, Charleston is a major tourist destination, with a considerable number of luxury hotels, hotel chains, inns, and bed and breakfasts and a large number of award-winning restaurants and quality shopping.

• Charleston is home to a number of professional minor league and amateur sports teams: The Charleston Battery, a professional soccer team, the Charleston River Dogs, a minor league baseball team, and the South Carolina Stingrays in ice hockey.

• Famous people from Charleston include: comedians Stephen Colbert and Andy Dick, golfer Beth Daniel, actors Will Patton and Thomas Gibson, singers Darius Rucker and Melanie Thornton, model Lauren Hutton and Senator Fritz Hollings.

CHARLESTON SPOT TEN

In Charleston, SC last week, you will notice lots of cars dealers and the name STOKES. The #1 radio advertiser was RICK HENDRICK JEEP CHRYSLER DODGE with 879 spots. Coming in #2 was GEICO airing 686 announcements, while STOKES KIA landed in #3 with 605 spots. KIA COUNTRY took #4 running 519 spots and STOKES HONDA held #5 with 517 ads. STOKES VOLKSWAGEN controls #6 with 513 spots, while LOW COUNTRY VOLKSWAGEN dropped from #4 to #7 with 433 spots. NETFLIX clicked into #8 with 386 spots and the US DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN RESOURCES was #9 with 370 spots. In at #10 is MCELVEEN BUICK GMC – CHEVROLET with 361 spots.

CARS AND TRUCKS (LOCAL DEALERS) SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

And the numbers on specific dealers last week in all the markets looks good as well. LARRY H MILLER AUTOMOTIVE with dealers in UTAH and ARIZONA was #1 in LOCAL DEALER category with 1,694 spots. Upstate New York’s FUCCILLO KIA was #2 in the nation with 1,526 spots, which as they say, IS HUGE! WEST PALM BEACH KIA captured #3 with 1,277 ads, while in the SOUTHEAST SUTHERIN NISSAN secured #4 with 1,163 spots. CENTENNIAL TOYOTA SCION soared in LAS VEGAS from #34 to #5 with 1,149 spots and DAVID STANLEY CHRYSLER JEEP DODGE in OKLAHOMA was okay at #6 with 1,076 spots. ORLANDO KIA landed at #7 running 1,013 spots, while ADVANTAGE SUZUKI in the NEW YORK area cemented #8 with 955 ads. MIAMI’S MAROONE FORD reached #9 with 938 spots and in ALBUQUERQUE, RICH FORD came in #10 airing 931 commercials.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

Back on top was GEICO to end the year on a positive note running 60,644 spots. Coming in #2 was SEARS, up from #13 airing 36,673 – the same week they announced they would be closing some stores. WAL-MART held solid at #3 clearing 30,028 spots, while CHRYSLER JEEP DODGE came from #8 to #4 with 26,197 spots. MACY’S moved from #14 to #5 with 25,810 spots.

Posted: January 3, 2012

In the 1960s, Ernie Talley owned a retail company in Wichita, Kansas. He saw many hardworking customers who either did not have the cash to purchase goods for their homes or who had been turned down for credit. Seeing them leave empty-handed gave him an idea to rent used merchandise with an option to own it.

The idea soon caught on and Talley opened the first rent-to-own store, Mr. T's TV Rental, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, offering new and pre-leased products.

A concept, born out of the desire to serve the needs of customers who lacked the cash or financing to buy the products they wanted and needed, has today grown into a $6.7 billion dollar industry serving millions of customers.

Rent-to-own, rental purchase or rent with an ownership option — depending on which state you live in — is a unique transaction different from other retail transactions. At RAC, they offer quality merchandise, free service and delivery, 90 days same as cash, convenient payment options, loaners if needed, and lifetime reinstatement. All of this is provided with no down payment or credit report required.

According to their web site, more than one million customers rely on the brand-name products and services Rent-A-Center provides.

Since opening in 1986, Rent-A-Center (RAC) has grown from 16 stores to more than 3,050 in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada through acquisitions and new store openings. Their largest acquisition was in 1998 when RAC bought 1,409 stores from Thorn Americas. In 2006, they acquired 782 stores from RentWay, their third largest competitor at the time.

In 1995, their parent company, then known as Renters Choice, went public on the NASDAQ stock market under the symbol "RCII." The Plano, Texas-based company, now called Rent-A-Center Inc., is the nation's largest rent-to-own operator with revenues of $2.73 billion and a net income of $171.64 million according to their latest annual report. They employ 18,990 people.

On Cable, RAC ran 51,960 spots in the last 12 months. The biggest Cable month was last January 2010 when they cleared 6,006 spots.

The Rent-A-Center runs most of their spots on Radio; 57.33% of their spots were run on radio, which totaled 154,761 ads in the last 12 months. The biggest Radio month was March 2011 when they ran 19,348 spots.

TV is an important part of the mix for RAC with 63,250 spots ran in the last 12 months. The biggest TV month was last month November 2011 with 8,243 spots.

POSTED: January 3, 2012

Coca-Cola pre-dated Pepsi Cola by about seven years. Coca-Cola was invented by Doctor John Pemberton a pharmacist from Atlanta, Georgia. John Pemberton concocted the Coca-Cola formula in a three legged brass kettle in his backyard.

Frank Robinson, Pemberton’s bookkeeper had excellent penmanship, so he scripted "Coca-Cola" into the flowing letters which has become the famous logo of today. The soft drink was first sold to the public at the soda fountain in Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta on May 8, 1886.

Over the course of three years, 1888-1891, Atlanta businessman Asa Griggs Candler secured rights to the business for a total of about $2,300. Candler would become the company's first president, and the first to bring real vision to the business and the brand.

In 1894, a Mississippi businessman named Joseph Biedenharn became the first to put Coca-Cola in bottles and start the bottle beverage revolution.

In order to stand out against all the “me-too” carbonated beverages, Coke decided to create a distinctive bottle shape to assure people they were actually getting a real Coca-Cola. The Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana, won a contest to design a bottle that could be recognized in the dark. In 1916, they began manufacturing the famous contour bottle. The contour bottle, which remains the signature shape of Coca-Cola today, was chosen for its attractive appearance.

They have also been a great advertiser on the radio over the years and some of their slogans are locked in millions of minds. Here is just the short list:

Coca-Cola Bottling Co Consolidated in 2010 produced revenues of $35.14 billion with a net income of $11.81 billion, which represented growth in sales by 13.1%. They have 139,600 employees.

Pepsi Cola, was also invented in the south in the summer of 1893, by a pharmacist, Caleb Bradham of New Bern, North Carolina. Bradham created something he called "Brad's drink" made of carbonated water, sugar, vanilla, rare oils, pepsin and cola nuts. "Brad's drink" was renamed Pepsi Cola five years later. The new name was based on the main ingredients of pepsin and cola nuts. And the Pepsi generations began.

After seventeen years of success, Caleb Bradham lost Pepsi Cola. He had gambled on the fluctuations of sugar prices during W.W.I. Caleb thought that sugar prices would continue to rise but, instead they fell, which left Bradham with an overpriced sugar inventory. Pepsi Cola went bankrupt in 1923.

Assets were sold and Roy C. Megargel bought the Pepsi trademark. Eight years later, the company went bankrupt again. Pepsi's assets were then purchased by Charles Guth, the President of Loft Inc. Loft was a candy manufacturer with retail stores that contained soda fountains. He sought to replace Coca-Cola at his stores' fountains after Coke refused to give him a discount on syrup. Guth then had Loft's chemists reformulate the Pepsi-Cola syrup formula.

During the Great Depression, Pepsi gained popularity following the introduction in 1936 of a 12-ounce bottle. Initially priced at 10 cents, sales were slow, but when the price was slashed to five cents, sales increased substantially. With a radio advertising campaign featuring the jingle "Pepsi-Cola hits the spot / Twelve full ounces, that's a lot / Twice as much for a nickel, too / Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you," arranged in such a way that the jingle never ends.

In 1940, history was made when the first advertising jingle was broadcast nationally. The jingle was "Nickel Nickel" an advertisement for Pepsi Cola that referred to the price of Pepsi and the quantity for that price. "Nickel Nickel" became a hit record and was recorded in fifty-five languages. Pepsi, like Coke, has always fed language into our pop-culture with their slogans:

In 2010, PepsiCo Inc. had revenues of $57.84 billion with a net income of $6.32 billion, which represented 33.8% growth in that year. They have 294,000 employees.

On Cable TV, Pepsi outshined Coca-Cola. Pepsi ran 289,649 spots in the last 12 months compared to Coca-Cola’s 110,483 ads. Coke’s biggest month on Cable was September 2011 with 14,950 spots, while Pepsi was hottest in July 2011 with 35,514 spots.

On the Radio, Coca-Cola edges out Pepsi. Coke ran 320,804 spots in the last 12 months against Pepsi’s 282,443 ads. Coke’s biggest month was last December with 68,655 spots, while Pepsi went all in with 50,387 spots in June 2011.

On TV, Pepsi cleans Coke’s clock running 118,236 spots against Coca-Cola’s 46,415 spots. Pepsi ran the most spots last February with 17,038 spots, while Coke cleared the most spots in December 2010 with 7,433 spots.

Posted: January 3, 2012

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