Television Advertising

Thomas E. Coffin, an NBC research director whose groundbreaking studies in the late 1940s demonstrated the effectiveness of television advertising, died May 13 in Stanton, Calif. He was 83. Coffin left a job as a psychology professor at Hofstra University to become NBC's television market research specialist in 1949. He was the first to conduct scientific studies that showed that people bought products after seeing them in television commercials, an unproven concept in TV's early days.

NEW YORK — Spanish-language media giant Univision Communications touted something that its English-language broadcast rivals cannot: Prime-time ratings at its flagship TV network, Univision, have grown 7% during the current season. Ratings gains in an era of shrinking TV audiences are uncommon as major broadcasters struggle to maintain their standing. Cable channels, social media and advances in technology — including digital video recorders — continue to nibble away at viewership, particularly among younger audiences.

Actors aren't the only ones in show business with troubles. Animals have their share of woes, too. I learned this when I did a TV commercial for a suntan lotion. I played the part of Tarzan, a big surprise to me, considering the nature of my physique. The only other character in the commercial was Tarzan's trusty pal Cheetah. When I reported to the set, the assistant director handed me the standard Tarzan outfit--loin cloth, club and fright wig.

Rick Santorum said Thursday that he ended his presidential bid because he ran out of money, his campaign was in debt and he would have been unable to air any advertising in Pennsylvania. “Money isn't everything in politics, but you do have to have enough to be successful and we were reaching a point where we were frankly not in the position,” Santorum said in his first interview since suspending his campaign Tuesday, on the "Today's Issues" show on the American Family Radio Network.

The first thing you hear is quiet. The commercials, by design, are an oasis in the middle of a Sunday afternoon resonating with noisy stadiums and somebody screaming at you to buy a truck. "People getting up to get a beer notice that the TV has suddenly gone soft," said producer-director Mario Pellegrini. "They stop and say, 'What is that?' " The next thing you hear is the tinkling of a piano, or the moan of a violin, or, if the objective is big-time tears, music from the song, "Memories."

Century 21 Real Estate Corp. in Irvine has embarked on a new television advertising campaign featuring a soulful rendition of the Bill Withers song, "Lean on Me," sung in the ad by Michael McDonald, formerly of the Doobie Brothers. " 'Lean on Me' will help us convey the message that clients can lean on us for all of their long-term real estate needs," said David Alpert, director of advertising for Century 21 Real Estate Corp.

Jan West holds a piece of paper at arm's length and wrinkles her nose as if the paper stinks. That's how most advertising agencies look at the infomercial, says West, who buys TV time for the medium. "They think it's sleazy. They actually have an attitude." Infomercials--30-minute programs intended mainly to sell a product or service--are the Rodney Dangerfield of television: They get no respect.

Jos. E. Seagram & Sons broadcast a liquor commercial on cable television recently, a move seen as a step toward trying to loosen the 48-year-old voluntary industry code that bans spirits from being advertised on TV. The spot for Crown Royal, a Canadian whiskey, was broadcast during a little-watched equestrian event on the Prime Sports network in March.

To S, V, L and D, add N for nonevent. Media buyers at advertising agencies said Thursday that new program ratings labeling shows for sex, violence, foul language and suggestive dialogue aren't likely to scare many sponsors of successful television shows. Most big national advertisers already screen TV shows for sex and violence before each episode airs and avoid shows they consider unacceptable. These advertisers have stricter standards than the networks, media buyers said.

These days, you'd have to be pretty daring--or pretty dumb--to put your home at risk to open an ad agency in Los Angeles. But that's what Cary Sacks and John Fuller did. Even as business in the Los Angeles ad market hit the skids nine months ago, the two daredevils left the local office of Della Femina McNamee and took out fat home equity loans to open Sacks/Fuller Advertising. "We knew we couldn't goof up," said John Fuller, the agency president.

President Obama's reelection campaign is launching a major television advertising campaign this week, according to a person familiar with the details, effectively kicking off the general election even before Republicans have settled on a nominee. The spots will begin airing on national cable channels and broadcast television in six key states on Thursday and Friday. It is unusual for an incumbent to begin airing commercials so early in the process. In 2004, President George W. Bush's campaign started running television ads in March.

Candidates, party committees and outside groups combined could spend as much as $3.2 billion on television advertising in the 2012 election. That estimate comes from Ken Goldstein, president of Campaign Media Analysis Group, a firm that tracks and analyzes political advertising. To put those numbers in perspective, about $2.1 billion was spent on television advertising in 2008, up 30% from the previous presidential cycle in 2004. The 2010 midterm saw $2.4 billion in TV ad spending, up 30% from 2006.

CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves once again pulled down one of the richest paychecks in corporate America — and the second-largest for the head of a media company — with a compensation package totaling $57.7 million in 2010. The 61-year-old broadcasting chief was paid $3.5 million in base salary, a $27.5-million bonus and nearly $23 million in stock and option awards, according to a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company also contributed nearly $900,000 to Moonves' pension fund and other compensation, including $2.5 million in reimbursement for taxes paid in New York.

Meg Whitman vastly outspent Jerry Brown on virtually every facet of the 2010 contest for governor. From focus groups and consultants to private planes and lavish fundraisers, Whitman campaigned like the billionaire she is, spending $177 million to Brown's $36 million. But in one key area ? television advertising ? the Democrat nearly kept pace with Whitman during the final sprint of the campaign, allowing him to make his case to voters before they cast ballots, according to financial disclosure reports filed Monday.

The potential for to-the-bastions drama in last week's primary election was hard to miss: A population supposedly enraged at government had the chance to register its vengeance at the ballot box. Republican candidates pressed the notion, vowing to take the country back were they fortunate enough to win the party's nominations after nasty primary contests. With Democrats, too, dismayed at the state's state of affairs, the prospects for a public revolt seemed enticing. Reality, as usual, fell far short.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who often speaks of his love for California, has promoted the state with his wife Maria Shriver in television commercials over the last five years. And as they invited viewers to visit, California's first couple got paid. Schwarzenegger and Shriver have received more than $235,000 since 2005 for appearing in commercials for the California Travel and Tourism Commission. The governor's aides said Schwarzenegger and his wife did not know about the income until The Times inquired about it this week, and they mailed the tourism commission a check to repay it on Thursday.

Another opponent of Sheriff Sherman Block's bid for reelection to a fourth term, Sheriff's Sgt. John R. Stites II, has purchased cable television advertising in an attempt to keep Block from amassing a majority of votes in Tuesday's election and avoiding a runoff. A spokesman for Stites said the purchase totals about $35,000.

In the latest sign that Internet companies are stepping up their pursuit of traditional TV advertisers, AOL on Tuesday jumped ahead of network prime-time's annual "upfront" advertising sales season by previewing its own "fall" lineup of programs.

CBS Corp., acknowledging Tuesday that it has changed its policy and now accepts commercials that advocate political causes, defended its decision to run a politically sensitive advertisement during next month's Super Bowl. The thicket that CBS finds itself in could become increasingly common for TV networks and local stations. Last week the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a decades-old prohibition that prevented corporations from buying ads and financing candidates and campaigns. Now media analysts are predicting that as much as $500 million in corporate money could flood this year's political campaigns, unleashing a torrent of issue advertising that will force TV executives to weigh the ever-shifting debate about which commercials cross the line.

The Super Bowl, which apparently is some sort of sporting event on Feb. 7, is a unique media happening: a moment when the nation comes together to adjudicate the meaning of advertising and to ratify its absurd, over-scaled importance in our culture. Yes, advertising has multiplexed and gone online, become socialized, product-integrated and user-generated. But the Super Bowl still creates the biggest single audience of the year. How advertisers choose to speak to that audience is the nearest thing we have to an instant cultural personality test.