Weekly Spots

POSTED: April 30, 2012

(White Plains, NY) April 30, 2012 – According to Arbitron, Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle, PA is the 80th largest radio market with a population of 592,100. It was the 78th market last year.

• Harrisburg is the capital of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Harrisburg's site along the Susquehanna River is thought to have been inhabited by Native Americans as early as 3000 BC.

• During the Civil War, Harrisburg was a significant training center for the Union Army.

• Aside from the government, Harrisburg in the past was involved in heavy manufacturing including the production of steel, and agriculture (the heart of the fertile Pennsylvania Dutch Country) and food services (nearby Hershey is home of the chocolate maker, located just 10 miles east of Harrisburg).

• Sports Teams include: Harrisburg Senators Baseball; Central Penn Piranha (BNEFF Football); Harrisburg City Islanders (USL Soccer); Harrisburg Stampede (SIFL Indoor Football); Central PA Vipers (IWFL, Women's football); Keystone Assault (WFA, Women's football); Harrisburg Horizon (EBA, Basketball); the Harrisburg Lunatics (PIHA, Inline hockey); and the Harrisburg RFC (Rugby).

• In higher education they have: Harrisburg University of Science and Technology and both Temple and Penn State have campuses located in Harrisburg. The office of the state university system is based at the Dixon University Center which oversees the activities of more than 100,000 students statewide.

• Some famous people from Harrisburg, TV producer Christian Bowman (Lost); Brian Kelley, professional pocket pool player;NFL players, LeSean McCoy, Jaimie Thomas, Kenny Watson and Kris Wilson; film maker Edwin Sherin; musician Glenn Branca; the band Fuel; singers Dan Hartman and Patti LaBelle.

HARRISBURG SPOT TEN

The #1 advertiser in Harrisburg last week was THE HOME DEPOT with 764 spots. SLEEPY’S was #2 with 340 spots, while GEICO came in #3 with 260 spots. M&T BANK was #4 with 245 commercials and HYUNDAI DEALER ASSOCIATION hit #5 airing 237 spots. SAM’S CLUB soared from #29 up to #6 with 235 spots, while FREEDOM TOYOTA SCION landed in #7 running 222 ads. XFINITY BUNDLE was #8 with 210 commercials and BOB RUTH FORD hit #9 with 203 spots. PRONOT PLUMBING is #10 with 192 spots.

CANDY, GUM AND SNACKS SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

This category drives convenience stores and candy machines everywhere. CHEETOS (Frito-Lay) was #1 airing 8,099 spots. ORBIT GUM (Wrigley’s) chewed into #2 with 1,827 spots, while OREO (Nabisco) covered #3 with 707 spots. The chewing gum 5 (Wrigley’s) was #4 with 616 spots and COMBOS (Mars) made #5 airing 224 spots. RITZ (Nabisco) was putting on #6 with 219 commercials, while POPCHIPS (Sonora) was solid at #7 with 101 spots. BELVITA (Nabisco) stayed at #8 spreading 99 spots nationally and MAUNA LOA (Hershey’s) was #9 again with 86 spots. And coming in #10 was NATURE VALLEY (General Mills) with only 75 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

THE HOME DEPOT continues to amaze with a total of 73,021 spots last week keeping them #1 with almost twice as many spots as #2, GEICO. GEICO ran 37,754 spots, while MCDONALD’S came in #3 with 26,666 spots. WAL-MART shifted the bulk of their commercials to SAM’s CLUB pushing it from #18 up to #4 last week with 21,855 spots (Wal-Mart dropped to #64 with 5,273 spots). And coming in #5 was LOWE’S with 17,902 commercials.

Posted: April 30, 2012

USAA started in 1922 in San Antonio, Texas, when 25 Army officers came together and decided to insure each other's automobiles. Major Walter Moore purchased the first policy for $114.74 and became the first member.

USAA ended the 1920s with a net profit of $144,000 before dividends. USAA's membership doubled from 15,000 to 30,000, despite the Great Depression and they published their first Annual Report in 1932.

By 1932, 60% of all eligible U.S. military officers were members. Between 1941 and 1945 (World War II) USAA's membership, policies in force and assets grow, despite the cessation of new automobile products and decrease in driving due to wartime restrictions on gasoline, spare parts and tires.

After the war, USAA began writing policies in Europe, which led to record membership growth (43%).

In 1961, USAA's bylaws were changed to read: "Once a member, always a member" which meant that USAA membership no longer had to be relinquished when an officer resigned his commission or left the service. In 1962, USAA began providing homeowners insurance. And the next year, USAA Life Company was formed. USAA had 700,727 members at the conclusion of 1969 and their net profit, before dividends, was $23,820,000.

They blasted into the 1970s with USAA Fund Management Company to provide mutual fund services. At that point, five of six active-duty officers were USAA members. In 1976, USAA opened its new headquarters office in San Antonio, Texas. Located on 232 acres, the new office featured the company's first employee fitness center and company store. By 1977, USAA reached $1 billion in assets. In 1978, they opened USAA Federal Savings Bank.

In the 1990s, USAA formed a task force to serve members and families affected by the Gulf War, making it easier to conduct USAA business when affected by military action. In 1997, USAA offered adoption assistance benefit to employees and by the end of the 90s, they had 3.6 million members.

After Sept. 11, 2001, USAA was the only insurer invited to participate in the Department of Defense's Survivor Assistance Center near the Pentagon. USAA deployed special member services teams to Lower Manhattan. USAA provided special deployment assistance to members called to respond to the fight on terrorism. And in 2002, USAA won the J.D. Power & Associates' Chairman's Award.

In 2008, when most financial services companies posted record losses and the S&P 500 Index total return dropped by 37%, USAA earned $423 million in net income and generated positive investment income.

And in 2011, Forrester Research ranked USAA Bank highest among all brands from all industry categories in "The Customer Experience Index."

According to their Annual report of 2011, they show net assets of $2.294 billion. They have more than 22,000 employees.

More than 50% of all spots run by USAA are run on Local Cable. They ran 172,076 spots on Cable in the last 12 months. Their hottest month was June with 22,489 spots cleared.

On Radio, USAA ran 134,809 spots in the last 12 months with the largest month being December with 15,333 ads.

On Broadcast TV, USAA ran 36,655 commercials, with the largest display to begin 2012 in January with 5,640 spots.

POSTED: April 30, 2012

Weight Watchers International, Inc. (NYSE: WTW) is a global-branded consumer company and the world's leading provider of weight management services. In the more than 45 years since its founding, the company has built its meetings business by helping millions of people around the world lose weight through sensible and sustainable food plans, exercise, behavior modification and group support.

Weight Watchers was founded in 1963 by a Brooklyn homemaker, Jean Nidetch. Nidetch struggled with her weight for years and tried almost every dieting fad with no results. She decided to form a support group of her friends where they would get together and confess their various obsessions and downfalls with food; this support group turned into a weekly gathering of friends encouraging each other and sharing ideas and advice. Realizing that this weekly support was a key factor in providing motivation and encouragement for successful and long-term weight loss, Jean began to hold meetings at other people’s homes as well. This proved to be so successful that in 1963 Weight Watchers was incorporated, and hosted its first proper meeting in Queens, New York. Hundreds of people turned out for this first meeting, and as people realized that the concept did actually work, they began to learn more about the theory behind Weight Watchers and then held their own classes across the globe.

In contrast to other diets that might provide a list of foods that must be, or should never be, eaten, Weight Watchers has no directly comparable requirements on its primary plan. Participants lose weight by creating a calorie deficit on their PointsPlus system, which provides a framework for creating that deficit.

From 1978 until 1999, Weight Watchers was owned by the H. J. Heinz Company, which continues to produce packaged foods bearing the Weight Watchers brand. Weight Watchers was acquired in a leveraged buyout in 1999 by Artal Luxembourg and went public in 2001. Artal continues to own over 50% of the shares of Weight Watchers as of 2010.

In 2010, consumers spent over $4 billion on Weight Watchers branded products and services. Each week, approximately 1.2 million members attend over 45,000 Weight Watchers meetings around the world, which are run by more than 12,000 leaders. According to public records, Weight Watchers created revenues of $1.82 billion with a net income of $304.87 million, which represented a 25.3% increase in sales in 2011. They have 56,000 employees.

Sensa has been on the market since 2007, but it was not Dr. Hirsch's first weight loss product. In the early 1990's, Dr. Hirsch recruited 3,193 dieters to carry inhalers filled with aromatic ingredients, which they were to inhale whenever they felt hungry. They were told to follow their usual diet and exercise habits, and they were given a new inhaler each month. At the end of six months, the average participant in the study had lost 30 pounds.

The aromatherapy ingredients used in this study became SlimScents, which are now marketed separately from Dr. Hirsch, a neurologist.

Dr. Hirsch's second product involved both scent and taste. In 2005, he gave 1,436 diet patients a product he called Tastant crystals. At the end of six months, the average weight loss was 30.5 pounds—slightly more than for SlimScents. Tastant Crystals are now marketed as Sensa.

Sensa commercials ran on cable TV and it also offered from the company website. A one-month supply of the crystals costs $59, with discounts for buying three and six months of the crystals in a single order.

Sensa has garnered lots of media attention due to its unusual weight loss method in which users sprinkle their food with flavorless crystals called Tastants that prevent them from overeating.

Sensa is unique in that it’s based entirely on the science of smell, so there are no stimulants, pills or drugs in Sensa that work against your body’s natural impulses.

There isn’t a lot of information on how much revenue this company creates or how many employees they have.

On Local Cable, SENSA leads Weight Watchers a bit. Weight Watchers ran 367,132 spots against SENSA’s 414,195 in the last 12 months. SENSA ran hottest last August with 50,635, while Weight Watchers poured it on last month - March 2012 - with 138,558 spots.

On Radio, SENSA is way out in front of Weight Watchers. SENSA ran 270,752 spots in the last 12 months against Weight Watchers 14,035 ads. SENSA ran hottest in January with 31,548 spots, while Weight Watchers loosened their belt and ran the most in May 20.

On Broadcast TV, SENSA cleared 310,784 spots in the last 12 months, while Weight Watchers ran 78,001 ads. SENSA ran the most last month with 34,677 ads, while Weight Watchers ran their month best in January to start the year with 19,759 spots.

Posted: April 30, 2012

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