Perot to Aim for the High Road in Ads

Over the next month, the depleted political arsenals of the three presidential hopefuls are down to two final ingredients: debates to win and ads to spin.

While many Americans eagerly await the debates, it is the upcoming TV advertising for independent candidate Ross Perot that experts say could mark a precedent-setting departure from the 30-second, here’s-mud-in-your-eye spots that have traditionally filled the final ugly weeks of past elections.

Advertising executives are watching closely, because if Perot’s ads move the needle, marketing experts say, they could affect the way future political advertising is created.

Beginning tonight on CBS and continuing Friday on ABC and NBC, Perot will spend millions of dollars to air--in prime time--30-minute infomercials aimed not at attacking President Bush or Bill Clinton but at creating an image of himself as a decent guy who has great ideas for reducing the national debt and improving the sad state of the nation’s economy.

This is essentially the same advertising used to sell vegetable shredders and weight-loss programs. But instead of Ali MacGraw pitching cosmetics or Robert Vaughn hyping baldness cures, you’ll have Ross Perot--selling himself.

“It’s an attempt to suggest that he’s a candidate of substance,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, author of “Dirty Politics” and dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. The 30-minute format “is especially good as a way to explain yourself when you’re re-entering a race.”

Media buyers say the cost of tonight’s 8 p.m. infomercial on CBS will be in excess of $360,000. Perot’s ABC spot on Friday at 9:30 p.m. will cost close to $600,000. The campaign is said to be negotiating with NBC for an estimated $500,000 ad slot on Friday at 10:30 p.m.

The Perot campaign is also negotiating for half an hour of advertising that would simultaneously appear on all three major networks, said Murphy Martin, the Dallas-based ad consultant who will act as a liaison between the campaign and Perot’s new ad group, dubbed the 270 Group--the number of electoral votes needed to win the presidential election.

Is a 30-minute Perot TV show something that voters will buy? “Infomercials only work when there are substantive themes behind them,” said Steven Dworman, publisher of the Los Angeles-based Infomercial Marketing Report. “If he uses the time to talk about what a great guy he is, people will switch channels. But if he uses it as an informational forum to discuss the federal deficit, he could make a very powerful impression.”

Still, it will not be easy for Perot to find a 30-minute time period--at a reasonable hour--available at the same time on all three networks. Even with all of his money, Perot’s late entry places him at a media buying disadvantage to Bush and Clinton, ad executives say.

“Perot has more money than there is available network time,” said Phillip B. Dusenberry, chairman of the New York office of BBDO Worldwide and former ad consultant to Ronald Reagan. “No network is going to turn down one of its reliable, year-round advertisers in order to accommodate Perot.”

Perot’s ad consortium is headed up by 44-year-old Dennis McClain, president of Temerlin McClain, an Irving, Tex.-based division of the New York agency Bozell. It is one of the largest agencies in the Southwest, and its clients include American Airlines and J.C. Penney.

McClain, who has worked at a handful of ad agencies, was unavailable for comment on Monday.

Because Perot must also sell himself--and not just his ideas--the campaign is also expected to air portions of Perot campaign rally footage filmed earlier this year by San Francisco adman Hal Riney. Perot fired Riney in July, just days before dropping out of the race.

Perot isn’t expected to entirely forgo the traditional 30-second spot. His media buying will include 30-second ads to promote his upcoming infomercials.

A commercial for a commercial? The notion may sound silly, but it’s been done before.

Earlier this year, Volvo ran ads to promote a 30-minute infomercial that aired in larger markets, including Los Angeles and San Diego.

And in the primary elections, Jerry Brown ran short ads to tell voters where and when to look for his half-hour infomercial.

The Brown infomercial was so effective that it helped him raise $4.6 million in donations--all under his self-imposed contribution limit of $100 each. The infomercial cost $50,000 to produce and was broadcast sparingly with a media budget of just $150,000, said Sidney Galanty, producer of the Brown infomercial and president of the Santa Monica-based political consulting and production firm, Galanty & Co.

“Perot wants to seem more substantive because he won’t do many 30-second commercials,” said Galanty.

“But in the end, what unfortunately moves most people are the really negative, 30-second spots.”

Briefly . . .

The Los Angeles agency Stein Robaire Helm has picked up the $1.3-million account for Teva Sport Sandals of Carpinteria, Calif. . . . The Venice-based agency Bomb Factory has won the creative portion of the $5-million ad business for Sebastian International, the Woodland Hills-based hair and beauty products company. . . . Cooper/Dana/Foran of Woodland Hills will oversee marketing efforts by the California Veterans Memorial Commission to build a memorial in Sacramento to honor all California veterans. . . . The Harbor-UCLA Medical Center has named Long Beach-based Beeler & Associates to aid in marketing of Los Angeles County Hospital.