Weekly Spots

POSTED: May 28, 2012

(White Plains, NY) May 28, 2012 – According to Arbitron, Rochester, NY is the 57th largest radio market with a population of 957,300.

• On November 8, 1803, a 100 acre tract in Western New York along the Genesee River was purchased by Col. Nathaniel Rochester, Maj. Charles Carroll, and Col. William Fitzhugh, Jr., all of Hagerstown, Maryland. The site was chosen because of three waterfalls on the Genesee, offering great potential for water power.

• Rochester was first known as "The Young Lion of the West", and then as the "Flour City". By 1838, Rochester was the largest flour-producing city in the United States.

• Rochester is where, in 1847, Frederick Douglass founded the abolitionist newspaper The North Star. Douglass, a former slave and an antislavery speaker and writer, gained a circulation of over 4,000 readers in the United States, Europe and the Caribbean.

• Rochester is home to a number of international businesses, including the floundering Eastman Kodak and Bausch and Lomb. Xerox was founded in Rochester in 1906 as The Haloid Company, and retains a significant presence in Rochester, although its headquarters are now located in Norwalk, Connecticut.

• Institutes of higher learning include: Colgate Crozer Divinity School, Monroe Community College Damon City Campus, St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry, the University of Rochester (including the Eastman School of Music) and Rochester Institute of Technology, known as RIT.

• Famous people from Rochester: Pat Kelly and Brian Kozlowski of the NFL; Tim Redding from the MLB; PGA legend Walter Hagen; brothers Stephen and Brian Gionta of the NHL; World Series of Poker star Josh Arieh; NFL owner Malcolm Glazer (Tampa Bay) and one of America’s funniest people Kristen Wiig, who just retired from SNL to focus on movies.

ROCHESTER SPOT TEN

In Rochester last week the #1 radio advertiser was PATRICK BUICK GMC USED CAR SUPERCENTER with 667 spots. FUCCILLO KIA was huge at #2 with 593 ads, while CHARISMA JEWELERS sparkled at #3 airing 579 announcements. FUCCILLO HYUNDAI parked at #4 with 559 spots and AUCTION DIRECT USA was #5 running 495 commercials. M&T BANK locked into #6 with 410 spots, while QUALITY HOMES OF ROCHESTER was #7 with 390 spots. THE HOME DEPOT moved from #13 to #8 with 361 spots and NISSAN DEALER ASSOCIATION takes #9 with 340 ads. ACE SWIM & LEISURE relaxes at #10 with 321 spots.

HOME CENTERS SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

The king of the hill of Home Centers is THE HOME DEPOT running a grand total of 60,737 spots nationwide. LOWE’S in at #2 ran 25,613 ads, while ACE HARDWARE was the place at #3 airing 11,206 spots. LUMBER LIQUIDATORS was solid at #4 with 4,166 commercials and MENARDS took #5 with 3,809 spots. ORCHARD SUPPLY HAREWARE (OSH) earned #6 with 1,701 ads, while NORTHERN TOOL + EQUIPMENT moved #11 to #7 with 859 spots. SURPLUS HARDWARE was #8 with 561 spots and HARDWARE HAWAII beached at #9 with 193 spots. And coming in #10 in this category was CITY MILL with 159 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

THE HOME DEPOT was #1 again last week with 60,736 ads. GEICO was #2 with 31,854 commercials, while the US DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION was #3 running 26,766 spots. LOWE’S moved from #8 to #4 with 25,613 spots and MACY’S soars from #31 to #5 with 24,807 spots.

Posted: May 28, 2012

LivingSocial is an online business that offers daily deals and discounts. It was started in 2007 as Hungry Machine by four employees from Revolution Health.

Hungry Machine developed two apps that were deployed on Facebook: Visual Bookshelf and Pick Your Five—which grew to over 85 million downloads.

In July of 2008 LivingSocial closed more than $5 million in Series A funding led by Grotech Ventures, which included a personal investment from Steve and Jean Case. Steve was co-founder of AOL.

In 2009, LivingSocial released its first LivingSocial iPhone App and its first daily deal on July 27, 2009, for the restaurant Zengo in DC’s Chinatown.

They also bought the web site BuyYourFriendADrink.com. The next year, 2010, they secured a $175 million investment from Amazon and an additional $8 million investment from Lightspeed Venture Partners, helping fuel the company’s continued aggressive growth and launch of innovative new products.

In November of 2010 LivingSocial invested nearly $5 million for a controlling majority stake in Jump On It, Australia's leading social shopping, which made LivingSocial the biggest social shopping player in Australia.

On October 19, 2010 LivingSocial announced the acquisition of social adventure company Urban Escapes, paving the way for the launch of Adventures.

Then on September 10, 2010 LivingSocial launched Families, offering great values on activities for the whole family. That same year they launched in London.

That same year they completed a $14 million Series C round of venture funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with U.S. Venture Partners, Grotech Ventures and Steve Case's Revolution, LLC participating.

In November of 2011, LivingSocial launched Instant Escapes, a new service that made it easy for members to book great weekend trips at the last minute. They also developed Room Service, a white glove delivery option that brings some of D.C.'s finest restaurants into LivingSocial members' homes.

In 2011 LivingSocial entered the high-end dining arena with the launch of Gourmet, providing members with access to exclusive, one-of-a-kind foodie experiences.

In June 2011 LivingSocial expanded its global footprint even further when it announced the acquisitions of Ensogo, the market-leading deal site in Thailand and the Philippines; DealKeren, an Ensogo company based in Indonesia; and GoNabit, a daily deal pioneer with a presence in four Middle Eastern countries. Daily Deals was launched in the Netherlands, bringing the total number of countries in which LivingSocial operates to 21, now spanning six of the seven continents including Asia.

LivingSocial announced the acquisition of French daily deal site Dealissime.com and Socialmedia.com, a leader in online display advertising.

In 2011, LivingSocial acquired InfoEther, one of the leading technology consultancies specializing in the Ruby software development language and Web development framework, Ruby on Rails, upon which LivingSocial is based.

LivingSocial also acquired a majority stake in LetsBonus, a pioneer in the collective buying movement in Europe and the leader in Spain in 2011. The move bolstered LivingSocial’s international expansion across Spain, Italy, Portugal, Argentina and Mexico.

So far this year, LivingSocial opened 918 F Street, a first-of-its-kind live events venue where LivingSocial and its merchant partners will offer pop-up restaurants, classes and hands-on activities. An ambitious test for the company, 918 F Street will give local merchants additional space and state-of-the-art facilities to reach new customers and share the best of Washington, DC.

Amazon, which owns a little less than a third of LivingSocial released financial information in their Annual Report. According to those sources, LivingSocial had a $558 million loss last year on $245 million revenue, with operating expenses of $686 million. LivingSocial has about 5,000 employees.

The marketing strategy has been affected by the company’s tough economic realities.

On Local Cable, LivingSocial was doing well until the end of November when they pulled the plug on Cable. They ran 61,524 spots in the last 12 months with their biggest month being last June at 19,023.

On Radio LivingSocial ran 172,778 spots until November, then dropped to below 400 in December and then only running in the hundreds per month for the rest of 2012. The hottest month was last July 2011 with 48,022 ads.

TV is not a major part of the LivingSocial game plan with only 2,688 spots ran in the last 12 months. The biggest month was last May 2012 when they ran 2,063 spots.

POSTED: May 28, 2012

Centrum is a brand of multivitamin made by Wyeth, a division of Pfizer. According to Pfizer, multivitamins help to support the immune system with nutrients. They also help to neutralize free radical damage in the body with antioxidants like vitamins C and E. The word vitamin is a combination of the words ‘vital’ and ‘amine’, meaning they are organic substances needed for proper growth and function.

The Centrum multivitamin has been on the market since 1978 and there are currently nine different formulas targeted towards different age groups and for different lifestyles. The varieties include: Centrum, Centrum Ultra Women’s, Centrum Ultra Men’s, Centrum Silver, Centrum Silver Ultra Women’s, Centrum Silver Ultra Men’s, Centrum Performance, Centrum Cardio, and Centrum Kids. All Centrum varieties contain the same vitamins and minerals, but in different quantities.

According to product labels, Centrum varieties contain 100% of one’s daily value of vitamin C, D, E, thiamin (B-1), riboflavin (B-2), niacin (B-3), B-6, folic acid, B-12, pantothenic acid, iron, and iodine. It also contains 115% of one’s daily recommended magnesium value. Other vitamins found in the Centrum brands include vitamin A, K, biotin, calcium, zinc, chloride, potassium, and nickel.

Centrum multivitamins are available in tablets and liquids, as well as chewable tablets for children. It is the best-selling multivitamin in America.

According to the latest reports, the parent company Pfizer produced revenues of 67.43 billion with a net income of $8.70 billion. They have 103,700 employees.

One A Day multivitamin is produced by the Bayer Corporation, makers of the famous Bayer Aspirin brand.

One A Day offers an extensive selection of multivitamins to choose from: Women’s, Men’s Health Formula, Men’s Pro Edge, Women’s 50+ Advantage, Menopause Formula, Men’s 50+ Advantage, Women’s Prenatal, Women’s Active Mind & Body, Women’s Active Metabolism, Cholesterol Plus, Energy, Maximum, Essential, Teen Advantage, and Vitacraves Gummies. With so many different types of vitamins, the product website also offers an interactive feature that suggests the best One A Day variety for an individual.

Oneaday.com states that their essential multivitamin contains 100% of 10 important vitamins needed on a daily basis including vitamin A, vitamin B varieties, vitamin C, vitamin D, and Vitamin E. Each One A Day vitamin is specifically formulated to promote healthy bones, blood, and tissue.

Another important nutrient found in this product is potassium, which aids in proper nerve impulses, digestion, and release of insulin. Calcium and phosphorus are also found in the product and they work together to create strong bones, teeth, and aid in muscle contractions.

Bayer was a company founded in Germany in 1863 by Friedrich Bayer and his partner, Johann Friedrich Weskott. Their latest records show revenue of $36.53 billion with net income of $2.47 billion, which represented a 4.1% increase in sales in 2011. They have 111,800 employees.

On Local Cable, One A Day clearing out spent Centrum. One A Day ran 243,012 spots, while Centrum ran 78,213 in the last 12 months. One A Day hit hardest in the month of July 2011 with 44,184 spots, while Centrum ran hottest in November 2011 with 12,538 ads

On the Radio, Centrum led the way with 40,123 spots to One A Day’s 7,301 ads in the last 12 months. Centrum cleared the most spots in January 2012 with 13,617 spots and One A Day ran the most spots on radio in May 2011 with 2,851 spots.

On Broadcast TV, things were pretty close between the two vitamin leaders. One A Day ran 109,929 spots in the last 12 months, while Centrum delivered 81,838 spots. Centrum’s big month was November with 11,725 spots against One A Day running hottest in July 2011 with 14,594 spots.

Posted: May 28, 2012

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