Weekly Spots

POSTED: May 7, 2012

(White Plains, NY) May 7, 2012 – According to Arbitron, Denver-Boulder, CO is the 20th largest radio market with a population of 2,362,700. Last year Denver was 19th.

• Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the state of Colorado. Located in the South Platte River Valley on the High Plains just east of the Rocky Mountains, Denver stands at 5,281 feet above sea level, thus the nickname Mile High City.

• Denver City was founded in November 1858 as a mining town during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush in western Kansas Territory.

• Denver has over 200 parks, from small mini-parks all over the city to the giant 314 acre City Park. Denver also has 26 recreation centers offering programs in cultural arts, sports & fitness, social enrichment, outdoor education, and events for youth and adults of all ages.

• Denver is home to a large number of local and national breweries. Some of the larger brewers include Coors and the New Belgium Brewing Company. Overall, Denver ranks 1st in the nation in terms of beer production per capita, and second overall in terms of number of breweries. The city also welcomes visitors from around the world when it hosts the annual Great American Beer Festival each fall.

• Some of the colleges in Denver: University of Denver, Johnson & Wales University, Catholic (Jesuit) Regis University, University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the Community College of Denver.

• Denver is home to the Denver Broncos of the NFL who have advanced to the Super Bowl six times and won back-to-back titles in 1998 and '99. The Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League; the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association; the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball; the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League; and the Colorado Crush of the Arena Football League all call Denver home.

• Some famous faces that started out in Denver include: Tim Allen - comedian and actor; Duane "Dog" Chapman - bounty hunter; Philip Bailey - R & B lead singer with Earth, Wind & Fire; The Fray - rock band; and Karl Rove - former Deputy White House Chief of Staff to George W. Bush.

DENVER SPOT TEN

The #1 radio advertiser last week in the Mile High City was BLUE STAR PRODUCTIONS with 980 spots. Coming in #2 jumped from #37 to #2 OVATION CELL THERAPY with 692 spots. THE HOME DEPOT was 33 with 654 ads, while AUTOZONE zoomed from #26 to #4 with 646 commercials. SHANE COMPANY commanded #5 airing 609 spots and KING SOOPERS (Kroger) bagged #6 running 570 spots. KEYBANK locked into #7 with 472 spots and GEICO was #8 running 471 spots. CAR TOYS drove from #44 up to the #9 spot with 417 ads and LOWE’S built something together with 404 spots at #10.

BUSINESS & CONSUMER SERVICES SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

CONSTANT CONTACT was the big dog last week in this category nationally with 9,487 ads. CENTURYLINK was #2 running 7,227 spots, while LIFELOCK landed in #3 with 4,213 spots. AAA took #4 airing 4,148 announcements and 1-800-444-PAIN was #5 with 3,020 commercials. ATS RESEARCH was #6 with 2,583 spots, while REGUS was #7 with 2,533 ads. HOOVER’S (Dun & Bradstreet) secured #8 with 1,895 spots and ANGIE’S LIST landed in #9 with 1,724 spots. STAMPS.COM was #10 with 1,546 ads.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

Even after pulling back a bit on spot count, THE HOME DEPOT remains #1 with 38,398 spots (ran 73,021 the previous week). Coming in #2, up from #13, was AUTOZONE with 29,557 spots. GEICO dropped from #2 to #3 airing 28,733 spots and WAL-MART exploded back into the top five from #65 to #4 running 26,616 spots. MCDONALD’S at #5 with 24,522 spots.

Posted: May 7, 2012

Volkswagen (abbreviated VW) is one of the world's largest automobile manufacturers. Volkswagen is the original brand of the Volkswagen Group, which includes Audi, Bentley Motors, Bugatti Automobiles, Automobili Lamborghini, SEAT, Škoda Auto and heavy duty vehicle Scania.

Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, in which it is pronounced ['f?lks?va?g?n]. Its current tagline or slogan is Das Auto (in English "The Car").

Volkswagen was originally founded in 1937 by the Nazi trade union, the German Labor Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront).

During the Second World War, the VW factories were charged with producing armaments and vehicles for the Third Reich.

After the war, the US market was open to buying the Volkswagen Beetle, also known as the Volkswagen Type 1, an economy car produced by Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003. With over 21 million manufactured in an air-cooled, rear-engine, rear wheel drive configuration, the Beetle became the worldwide longest-running and most-manufactured automobile of a single design platform.

The Volkswagen New Beetle is a small family car, introduced by Volkswagen in 1998, drawing heavy inspiration from the exterior design of the original Beetle. Unlike the original Beetle, the New Beetle has its engine in the front driving the front wheels and luggage storage in the rear.

In May 2011 Volkswagen opened the Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant. The plant makes cars specifically designed for North America.

Also in 2011, Volkswagen stopped production of the current body of the New Beetle, but this year, 2012, they rolled out a brand new, New Beetle. The 2012 Beetle strives to be less feminine than the old, New Beetle. The exterior is elongated in the front and rear, it doesn’t have a flower vase and there’s a Turbo Beetle trim with a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine and a spoiler.

According to MarketWatch®, Volkswagen said that its March sales in the U.S. jumped more than 34% to 36,588 vehicles. That is Volkswagen's highest total for the month since 1973, adding that its Passat brand sold 10,032 units for its best month ever.

On Local Cable VW ran 333,825 spots in the last 12 months. They ran the most in December 2011 with 41,288 spots.

On the Radio, VW ran 20,447 ads in the last 12 months. The most spots were run in December at 5,177 units and the least were run in February at 62 spots.

On Broadcast TV, VW ran 212,561 spots in the last 12 months with the most last month (April 2012) at 25,261 spots.

POSTED: May 7, 2012

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is an international retailer of technology and entertainment products and services with a commitment to growth and innovation.

In 1966, Richard M. Schulze and business partner James Wheeler opened Sound of Music, an audio specialty store, in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

In 1983, Sound of Music’s board of directors approved a new corporate name: Best Buy Co., Inc. and the first superstore opened in Burnsville, Minnesota. The store featured expanded selling space, a wide assortment of discounted brand-name goods, central service and warehouse distribution.

In 1990, Best Buy eliminated commission for standalone sales people, but retained bonuses for management and supervisors. Two years later Best Buy hit the $1 billion mark in annual revenues and in 1997 Best Buy became the first national retailer to sell DVD hardware and software.

Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, and Pacific Sales are currently subsidiaries of Best Buy. They also own over 100 Best Buy Express Automated Retail stores or "ZoomShops", operated by Zoom Systems, in airports and malls around the U.S.

On April 10, 2012, their CEO Brian Dunn resigned after working for the company for 28 years. Best Buy has 1400 stores, but planning to close at least 50, while opening 100 small format stores.

According to public records, Best Buy created revenues of $50.71 billion, but its net income was $-923 million. They project sales growth in 2012 to be 0.9%. The effect of online shopping has taken a toll on the “big box” stores.

At the end of fiscal 2011, they employed approximately 180,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees.

H.H. Gregg was founded on April 15, 1955, in Indianapolis, Indiana by Henry Harold Gregg and his wife Fansy.

The first store was an 800 square-foot appliance showroom and office, but by 1960 H.H. and Fansy already found the need to relocate their store to a space nearly three times larger. In just a few years, the company moved again into a 5,200 square-foot location on North Keystone Avenue in Indianapolis.

Sensing a move toward larger stores in the appliance and electronics industry, the decision was made to build a “superstore” on the North side of Indianapolis in 1979. Between 1979 and 1984, three additional superstore openings soon followed, including one in Lafayette, Indiana, as well as relocations on the South and East side of Indianapolis.

The company’s first move out of Indiana came with the purchase of Famous State Sales of Nashville, Tennessee in 1984.

hhgregg reached a turning point in 1986 when they purchased a small appliances and electronics company in Terre Haute, Indiana. They opened a 180,000 square-foot corporate headquarters, warehouse and distribution center in Indianapolis. The company also began to use computers for operational purposes for the first time.

By the end of 1987, hhgregg purchased Old Hickory TV in Nashville, Tennessee and opened three more stores.

By 1999, hhgregg acquired eight stores from the defunct Sun TV in Cincinnati. Between 2000 and 2003, hhgregg continued its expansion into the Ohio, Atlanta, and Louisville markets, bringing hhgregg’s total stores to 47 in October, 2003.

Over the next five years, hhgregg began building stores with a new hi-tech design and opened its first hhgregg Fine Lines in Indianapolis.

In 2007, hhgregg went public on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol: HGG.

Today, hhgregg is one of the nation's leading and fastest growing retailers of home appliances and consumer electronics with over 190 locations. According to their annual report, they created revenues of $2.08 billion in 2011, with a net income of $48.21 million, which they say was a 35.4% increase in sales. They have 5,600 employees.

Best Buy is certainly committed to Local Cable running 90% more ads than hhgregg in that arena. Best Buy ran 192,229 spots, while hhgregg ran only 10,661 in the last 12 months. Best Buy’s biggest month was last August with 33,523 spots, while hhgregg’s hottest month was December with 2,190 ads.

On Radio, hhgregg reverses Best Buy’s coverage with 90% more spots. The hhgregg people ran 102,525 radio spots in the last 12 months, while Best Buy ran only 18,642 spots. Best Buy’s biggest month was December with 4,146 spots against hhgregg’s November 2011 when they ran 20,653 spots.

On Broadcast TV, hhgregg ran 129,310 spots in the last 12 months, while Best Buy cleared 74,835 ads. The biggest TV month for hhgregg was December when they ran 21,041 spots, whiel Best Buy ran hottest last August with 16,277 spots.

Posted: May 7, 2012

For The Current Spots: