Estimating The Audience Size (the Mirror Giveaway)
At a time when there were no TV ratings -- the A.C. Nielsen Company would not begin measuring TV ratings until 1950 -- Anacin aspirin decided to take a chance and sponsor the show. But this decision worried the advertising executives at Anacin, who thought that they might be wasting money by sponsoring a show with a sparse audience.
A simple, non-scientific scheme to gauge the size of the audience was hatched. During one commercial spot, Anacin offered a free pocket mirror to the first 200 viewers who wrote in requesting one. As a precaution, they purchased a total of 400 mirrors in case the audience was twice as large as they expected. Although the free mirror was offered only during that one spot, Anacin received nearly 9000 requests for mirrors.
Read more about this topic: Mary Kay And Johnny
Famous quotes containing the words estimating, audience, size and/or mirror:
“I am sure that in estimating every man’s value either in private or public life, a pure integrity is the quality we take first into calculation, and that learning and talents are only the second.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“I never failed to convince an audience that the best thing they could do was to go away.”
—Thomas Love Peacock (1785–1866)
“O hideous little bat, the size of snot,
With polyhedral eye and shabby clothes,”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)
“Commitment, by its nature, frees us from ourselves and, while it stands us in opposition to some, it joins us with others similarly committed. Commitment moves us from the mirror trap of the self absorbed with the self to the freedom of a community of shared values.”
—Michael Lewis (late 20th century)