Weekly Spots

POSTED: December 31, 2012

(White Plains, NY) December 31, 2012 – According to Arbitron, Boston, MA is the 10th largest radio market with a population of 4,082,100.

• The Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party both took place in the city, along with several early battles of the American Revolution, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston. The “Tea Party” slogan has been picked up by the far right conservative movement, today.

• America's first public school, Boston Latin School (1635) and college, Harvard College (1636) were both founded in the Boston area. There are a total of 51 institutions of higher education, including 7 junior colleges, 14 colleges that primarily grant baccalaureate and master's degrees, 8 research universities, and 22 special-focus institutions.

• In 1897, Boston opened the first subway system in the U.S. And most recently, the underground road system known as the Big Dig was to cost taxpayers $2.8 billion in 1985, the final result may cost more like $22 billion.

• Sports are important in Boston with many professional teams including MLB’s Boston Red Sox; NFL’s New England Patriots; NHL’s Boston Bruins; and NBA’s Boston Celtics which have produced 7 World Series wins, 3 Super Bowl championships, 5 Stanley Cups and 17 NBA titles, respectively.

• Famous bands from Boston: Aerosmith, Boston, and The Cars. And they have some famous comedians like: Dane Cook, Conan O’Brien and Madeleine Kahn. In literary pursuits they produced Emily Dickinson, Jack Kerouac, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Robert Frost. On the little screen Barbara Walters and Matt LeBlanc; and on the big screen, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

• More than a fair share of presidents came from Boston: John Adams, John Quincy Adams and John Kennedy. And how can we forget political statesman Sam Adams; one of the revolutionists and then Governor of the state of Massachusetts, as well as the name sake of an American Beer.

BOSTON SPOT TEN

For the final week of the year in Boston for 2012 the #1 advertiser on the radio was GEICO with 855 spots. Coming in #2 was AT&T WIRELESS with 600 ads, while QUICKEN LOANS jumped from #28 to #3 with 536 spots. HONDA DEALER ASSOCIATION landed in #4 with 520 spots and MACY’S was #5 running 458 commercials. MCDONALD’S was #6 with 449 spots, while THE HOME DEPOT secured #7 with 432 ads. The XFINITY BUNDLE was #8 with 375 spots and COMMONWEALTH MOTORS moved from #71 up to #9 airing 372 spots. #10 was held by KARS4KIDS with 357 announcements.

CAR CARE SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

In this category the #1 national radio ad runner was MOBIL SUPER with 2,459 ads. PEAK peaked at #2 with 913 spots, while ROTELLA was solid at #3 airing 702 spots. DELO was #4 running 580 spots and BERRYMAN stayed at #5 with 525 spots. MOTORKOTE captured #6 with 365 spots, while POWER SERVICE secured #7 airing 361 ads. DURA LUBE landed in #8 with 203 commercials and FUEL ESCORT moved from #14 to #9 with 177 ads. Coming in #10 was MR KLEAN CARWASH with 132 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

GEICO sure ended the year with a BANG coming in #1 again with 59,152 spots. MACY’S was #2 with 36,785 spots, fulfilling many holiday dreams; and TBS shot into #3 with 32,209 ads. AT&T WIRELESS was #4 airing 28,260 commercials and THE HOME DEPOT dropped from #2 to #5 with 27,933 spots.

Posted: December 31, 2012

The whole idea for AFLC started in 1955 with three brothers, John, Paul, and Bill Amos. They were not insurance experts, however they saw the need when insurance plans did not offer any short or long term disability insurance. From this they created Aflac—now the largest insurance provider of individual insurance in Japan and the leading provider of supplemental insurance in the United States.

Some of the highlights in their timeline: In 1958 – Aflac developed its ground-breaking cancer expense policy. In 1964, they changed their name to American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus; thus, the name, Aflac, which they didn’t adopt until 1989.

In 1991, Aflac launched its first national advertising campaign in the United States designed to increase the company's name recognition and lays the foundation for a decade of strong growth; sans duck.

In 1996, Aflac invents new electronic technology called SmartApp®. In 1999, SmartApp® received the Computerworld Smithsonian Award for Excellence in Technology.

In 2000, the Aflac Duck’s first commercial, “Park Bench,” aired.

In 2001, Japanese insurance giant Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company and Aflac Japan formed a business alliance. By 2003, Aflac was the industry leader in Japan. They brought the Aflac Duck to Japan in 2003.

In 2005, showing a fowl commitment, Aflac changed its logo to include the Aflac Duck. In 2007, Aflac is the first company to offer its shareholders a nonbinding Say on Executive Pay.

In 2009 Aflac expanded with its acquisition of Continental American Insurance Company, which is currently branded Aflac Group. And this year, 2012, Aflac appeared on Fortune magazine’s list of The World’s Most Admired Companies for the 11th time.

According to their most recent annual report, AFLAC created revenues of $24.32 billion with a net income of $1.96 billion, which represented a 14.7% growth in sales in 2011. They have 8,284 employees.

On Local Cable, Aflac ran 157,680 spots in the last 12 months. Their biggest month was September 2012 with 20,426 spots.

On Radio, Aflac seemed to be a sleeping duck until September. In all, they ran only 10,887 spots on the radio in the last 12 months. October was their biggest month with 4,453 spots.

On Broadcast TV, Aflac ran 60,921 spots in the last 12 months with their peak month being June with 7,374 spots. The sponsorship of in-game trivia questions helps the awareness of their product as well.

POSTED: December 31, 2012

SUBWAY is another amazing American start-up story. In 1965, Fred DeLuca and Dr. Peter Buck team up to open their first submarine sandwich shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Originally called "Pete's Super Submarines", they sold 312 sandwiches the first day. The average cost of a sub was between 49 and 69 cents.

In 1975, the chain's flagship sandwich, the classic BMT was first introduced. Going along with the subway transportation theme, it was named for the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit system; later it was referred to as "Biggest, Meatiest, Tastiest" in an ad campaign.

In 1983, The SUBWAY chain was ranked number one in the sub sandwich category by 'Entrepreneur' magazine, a spot that it has consistently held throughout the years. A year later, The SUBWAY restaurant chain opened its 1st International location in Bahrain in the Middle East. In 1985, the chain celebrated the 500th store.

The SUBWAY chain reached the goal of 5,000 restaurants with a restaurant opening in Texas in 1990. Five years later in 1995, the chain celebrated its 30th anniversary with the opening of the 11,000th location. The first SUBWAY locations then opened in China, Costa Rica, Egypt, El Salvador, Honduras, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan.

In 1996 SUBWAY launched their website, www.subway.com. Later in 2000, Jared Fogle, the man who lost 245 pounds by including low fat SUBWAY sandwiches in a diet and exercise program of his own design, was introduced to the world in the first in a series of television commercials. Tae-Bo inventor, Billy Blanks was featured in a SUBWAY TV commercial to help promote the SUBWAY brand as a healthier alternative to fatty fast food.

The SUBWAY brand is the world's largest submarine sandwich chain with more than 34,000 locations around the world. According to MSN Money web site, there are now more SUBWAY locations than McDonald's. The company name is still Doctor's Associates, Inc. and because they are a privately held company, there are no revenue figures available.

Arby's was founded in Boardman, Ohio on July 23, 1964 by Leroy and Forrest Raffel. Customers enjoyed the menu of roast beef sandwiches, potato chips, and Texas-sized iced teas. To name their new venture, the brothers decided on Arby's, which stands for R.B., the initials of the Raffel Brothers.Leroy and Forrest fine-tuned the operation and sold the first franchise to Sam Feldman the following year. The enterprising spirit that originated with the Raffel Brothers has fueled the development of Arby's throughout its 41 year history.

The company added an average of 50 restaurants a year in the 1970s, while creating and updating the menu favorites, Beef ‘n Cheddar, Jamocha Shakes, Curly Fries and Arby's signature sauces, Arby's BBQ sauce and Horsey Sauce®. Arby's continued expanding and by 1981 they were up to 1,000 units and introduced chicken to the menu.

Triarc Companies, Inc. purchased Arby's in 1993 and innovation quickly followed. Arby's introduced Arby's Market Fresh in 2001, a line of deli-style sandwiches and salads made with high quality and unique ingredients. In 2003, wraps extended the popular additions.

Following a thorough study of the brand and customer base, Arby's introduced the “I'm Thinking Arby's” campaign in 2005. On July 25, 2005, Triarc acquired RTM Restaurant Group, Arby's largest franchisee, and formed Arby's Restaurant Group, Inc., an Atlanta-based company comprised of more than 3,500 restaurants.

On September 29, 2008, Triarc Companies Inc. merged with Wendy's International, Inc. to form Wendy's/Arby's Group, Inc. which is the third largest quick-service restaurant company in the United States.

According to their latest annual report, Wendy's/Arby's created revenues of $2.43 billion with a net income of $17.91 million. They have 42,800 employees.

In all three media, Arby's aired 19.65% of the spots that Subway ran. Subway cleared 762,343 spots in the last 12 months, compared to Arby's 199,042 commercials in the same period. Arby's biggest month was October 2012 with 41,620 spots, while Subway biggest month was June 2012 with 75,921 ads.

On the Radio, Subway dominated with 679,583 spots to Arby's 56,966 ads in the last 12 months. Subway's biggest month was July with 80,072, while Arby's biggest month was June with 7,277 spots.

On Broadcast TV, Subway ran 421,203 spots in the last 12 months, while Arby's ran 110,136 spots in the same period. Subway's biggest month on TV was July with 54,241 and Arby's beefed up in April 2012 with 10,300 spots.

Posted: December 31, 2012

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