Weekly Spots

POSTED: January 9, 2012

(White Plains, NY) January 9, 2012 – According to Arbitron, Allentown/ Bethlehem is the 70th largest radio market with a population of 710,000. They actually went up slightly in population, but dropped from 69th to 70th rank.

• Allentown was originally named Northamptontown by its founder, Chief Justice of Colonial Pennsylvania's Supreme Court, William Allen, who drew up plans for the rural village in 1762. In 1838, the city officially adopted the name Allentown after the Chief Justice.

• The 1850s and 1860s saw the rise of a strong local iron industry. By the post Civil War era, a large influx of German and Irish workers had created a mini-Pittsburgh along the banks of the Lehigh Valley.

• By the dawn of the 20th century, the community had fully recovered from the economic disasters of the 19th century. Silk mills had taken over from the dying iron trade, but they were not alone. Allentown's diverse economy produced everything from parlor furniture to beer and cigars.

• As portrayed in the 1982 Billy Joel song, Allentown, the city of Allentown was the poster boy for cities that lost lots of jobs due to the change from industry to service. They are making progress into a service based economy with the Allentown Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) developing business projects for the benefit of Allentown.

• Two four-year colleges call Allentown home: Cedar Crest College and Muhlenberg College.

• Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom are two popular amusement parks located just outside of the city.

• In sports: they cheer the baseball team Lehigh Valley IronPigs and a soccer team called the Pennsylvania Stoners.

• Famous people from Allentown include: Detroit Lion Keith Dorney, boxer Larry Holmes from Easton, John Spagnola NFL tight end, Congressman Charlie Dent and former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca.

ALLENTOWN SPOT TEN

The #1 radio advertiser in Allentown last week was BROWN-DAUB KIA with 432 spots. FAMILY CAR MART came in #2 airing 406 announcements, while GEICO was #3 running 325 spots. RITE AID jumped from #16 to #4 with 198 spots and EASTERN PA BRIDAL SHOW EXPO tied the knot at #5 with 194 spots. AUTOZONE zoomed from #40 to #6 with 172 ads, while RCN BUNDLE connected at #7 with 167 spots. TURBOTAX accelerates from #37 to #8 with 161 spots and CHAPSTICK opens at #9 running 154 commercials. Coming in #10 was QUICKEN LOANS with 153 spots.

COSMETICS SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

In this beautification category the leader was PROACTIV SOLUTION with 17,229 spots. CHAPSTICK reached #2 with 15,858 spots, while BARE ESCENTUALS took #3 airing 2,811 ads. HYDROLYZE was #4 with 970 ads and PALMER’S was #5 with 283 spots. CHAMONIX comes in #6 running 197 ads and HYDROXATONE takes #7 with128 spots. CREMA INERNACIONAL SUPER VITAMINADA was #8 with 112 spots, while LASH was #9 running 33 spots nationally. CLINIQUE was #10 with 30 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

GEICO keeps #1 with 69,001 spots. RITE AID makes a major push moving from #13 to #2 with 33,693 ads. MCDONALD’S moves up from #9 to #3 with 28,380 spots, while TURBOTAX makes its annual statement moving from #18 to #4 airing 22,353 spots (the same week they made a major direct mailing to customers). VERIZON came up from #12 to #5 with 20,231 spots.

Posted: January 9, 2012

Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) is a leading credit card issuer and electronic payment services company. In 1985, the idea was test marketed in Chicago, San Diego and Atlanta.

In 1986 Discover card launched nationally by Dean Witter Financial Services Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Sears, Roebuck and Co. They kicked off with their big TV spot the “Dawn of Discover” during Super Bowl XX.

Since its inception, the company has become one of the largest card issuers in the United States. The company operates the Discover card, America's cash rewards pioneer, and offers student and personal loans, as well as savings products such as certificates of deposit and money market accounts.

In 1997 Dean Witter, Discover & Co. merged with Morgan Stanley Group, Inc.

In 2004 marked the resolution of the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard for anticompetitive practices cleared the way for financial institutions to issue cards on the Discover network. The ruling frees financial institutions to issue payment cards on competing networks, opening the door to increased payment card choices for issuers, merchants and consumers.

In July of 2007, Morgan Stanley spun off Discover Financials Services as a public trade independent corporation. In 2008, they acquired Diners Club International.

Discover finally reaped the reward for their anti-trust law suit in 2008 against Visa and MasterCard when they were awarded $2.75 billion. It was the third largest reported antitrust settlement in U.S. history according to the Discover web site.

In 2010 Discover took over The Student Loan Corporation, which included $4.2 billion of private student loans and other assets.

The company's track record of pioneering accomplishments includes the introduction of cash rewards, known as "Cashback Bonus" - America's #1 Cash Rewards program. Discover card was one of the earliest to offer 24/7 customer service and secure account numbers for online purchases.

According to the latest public records, Discover produced $2.2 billion net revenues and has more than 10,000 employees. In December 2010, Discover Financial Services reported net income of $513 million for the fourth quarter of 2011, as compared to $350 million for the fourth quarter of 2010.

On Cable TV, Discover Financial ran 204,684 spots in the last 12 months. Their biggest month was April with 32,414 ads, followed by January with 29,659 spots.

On the Radio, Discover targeted key months. They ran 116,155 spots in the last 12 months with the hot months being January (start of a new year) 60,837 spots, then February with 26,050 ads. They are most quiet until July when they ran another 25,051 spots.

On TV, Discover Financial ran 52,399 spots in the last 12 months. The biggest month was July with 8,993 spots. July is when their Cashback Bonus kicked off.

POSTED: January 9, 2012

General Motors Company (NYSE: GM), commonly known as GM is a multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.

GM does business in some 157 countries, while producing cars and trucks in 31 countries. The GM International Operations segment sells vehicles under the brands Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Daewoo, FAW, GMC, Holden, Isuzu, Jiefang, Opel and Wuling brands.

General Motors was founded on September 27, 1908, in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company for Buick, controlled by William C. Durant. It acquired Oldsmobile later that year.

In 1909 Durant brought in Cadillac, Elmore, Oakland (later known as Pontiac) and several others. In 1909, General Motors acquired the Reliance Motor Truck Company of Owosso, Michigan, and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company of Pontiac, Michigan, the predecessors of GMC Truck.

Durant lost control of GM in 1910 to a bankers' trust because of the large amount of debt taken on in its acquisitions coupled with a collapse in new vehicle sales.

A few years later, Durant started the Chevrolet Motor car company and through this he secretly purchased a controlling interest in GM. Durant took back control of the company after one of the most dramatic proxy wars in American business history.

GM’s unprecedented growth lasted into the early 1980s when it employed 349,000 workers and 150 assembly plants. When the top executives came to Washington to ask for a bailout, GM was forced into Chapter 11, but has since resolved their crisis.

In the public offering in November of 2010, GM raised $15.77 billion, as well as $4.35 billion in preferred shares, more than the initially planned $4 billion.

According to the GM Annual Report, they showed revenues of $135.59 billion with a net income of $6.17 billion, which represented sales growth of 29.6% in 2010. They have 202,000 employees.

Chrysler Group LLC, headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan, was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925.

The company was founded by Walter Chrysler (1875–1940) on June 6, 1925 when the Maxwell Motor Company (est. 1904) was re-organized into the Chrysler Corporation. Walter Chrysler had originally arrived at the ailing Maxwell-Chalmers company in the early 1920s, having been hired to take over and overhaul the company's troubled operations.

Then in January 1924, after getting rid of the Chalmers brand, Walter Chrysler launched the well-received Chrysler automobile.

Following the introduction of the Chrysler, the Maxwell was dropped after its 1925 model.

Among the innovations in its early years: the first practical mass-produced four-wheel hydraulic brakes, a system nearly completely engineered by Chrysler with patents assigned to Lockheed, and rubber engine mounts to reduce vibration. Chrysler also developed a road wheel with a ridged rim, designed to keep a deflated tire from flying off the wheel. This safety wheel was eventually adopted by the auto industry worldwide.

In 1998, Chrysler and its subsidiaries were purchased by German-based Daimler-Benz AG, creating the combined entity DaimlerChrysler AG. Under DaimlerChrysler, the company was named DaimlerChrysler Motors Company LLC, with its U.S. operations generally referred to as the "Chrysler Group".

On May 14, 2007, DaimlerChrysler announced the sale of 80.1% of Chrysler Group to American private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., therefore being known as Chrysler LLC, although Daimler (renamed as Daimler AG) continued to hold a 19.9% stake.

On April 30, 2009, Chrysler LLC filed for Chapter 11 reorganization and announced a plan for a partnership with Italian automaker Fiat.

On June 10, 2009, the sale of most of Chrysler’s assets to "New Chrysler", formally known as Chrysler Group LLC was completed. The federal bailout for Chrysler was reported to be as much as $12.5 billion.

According to Chrysler, December 2011 car sales surged 37% from a year ago. For the year, the company’s vehicle sales jumped 26% from 2010, led by gains for its updated 300 Chrysler sedan and extensively overhauled Jeep lineup.

The Ford Motor Company was launched in a converted factory in 1903 with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors, most notably John and Horace Dodge (who would later found their own car company). Henry's first attempt under his name was the Henry Ford Company in 1901, which later became the Cadillac Motor Company in 1902.

During its early years, the company produced just a few cars a day at its factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Groups of two or three men worked on each car from components made to order by other companies. Henry Ford was 40 years old when he founded the Ford Motor Company, which would go on to become one of the world's largest and most profitable companies, as well as being one to survive the Great Depression.

As one of the largest family-controlled companies in the world, the Ford Motor Company has been in continuous family control for over 100 years.

In the recent bailout frenzy of a year ago, Ford decided not to take any of the money offered by the Federal Government, which helped their image with consumers.

According to Ford’s Annual Report, they produced revenues of $128.95 billion with net income of $6.56 billion, which represented 9% growth in sales for 2010. They have 164,000 employees.

On Cable, GM was the king with 1,106,126 spots in the last 12 months. Coming in #2 was Ford with 841,261 spots and Chrysler held down third among the “big” three with 631,255 ads. GM’s biggest month on Cable was last August with 107,521 spots, while Ford ran the most spots in April with 92,785 spots. Chrysler cleared the most in May with 86,493 ads.

On Radio Chrysler leads the way with 952,441 spots in the last 12 months, while Ford came in #2 airing 432,103 spots against GM’s 368,445 ads. The biggest month for Chrysler on radio was December 2011 when they ran 105,295 spots. Ford was hottest last month as well with 62,034 spots. GM ran the most in August with 44,207 spots.

On TV, the game was very even. GM ran the most in the last 12 months with 847,073 spots to Ford’s 829,786 ads with Chrysler in at 679,833 spots. GM’s biggest month was June 2011 with 92,752 spots, while Ford ran the most in October at 81,947 spots. Chrysler cleared the most in March with 67,254.

Posted: January 9, 2012

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