Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 5, 1994                   TAG: 9410050089
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`SEINFELD' IS TV'S AD KING, BUT WHO ARE THE SPONSORS?

"Maybe a Cadillac," said another.

"Do they have any ads on the show?" asked a third.

"I think, Murphy Brown and that phone thing she does," suggested yet a fourth.

Eight "Seinfeld" fans were asked to identify what is advertised during the television comedy, and not one could recall what items were being sold around Jerry and Elaine and friends.

With this sort of reaction, let's hope the ad messages are subliminal, because companies are forking over as much as $390,000 for a 30-second spot during "Seinfeld's" Thursday night slot, according to the annual survey by Advertising Age, a trade publication.

"Seinfeld" is not even the No.1-rated show, but it commands the highest ad rate, Advertising Age said. "Home Improvement," which is No.1 with viewers, commands a paltry $350,000.

The "Seinfeld" rate is 32 percent higher than last year's, according to the magazine's survey.

For a rundown of ad rates, check out the chart beside this column. If you were an advertiser on a tight budget, you might consider a spot on a show such as "Touched by an Angel," where a half-minute costs about $75,000.

Awareness of "Seinfeld" ads might increase because of plans by Duracell U.S.A., the company responsible for that aggravating pink bunny that never stops rolling along and beating his drum. Duracell also has brought Herb, Flo, Trish and Zack Putterman to television. The popular "Seinfeld" is among programs due to get slice-of-life spots of the imaginary family living in a world where people run on batteries.

The Puttermans were introduced Monday on daytime television and Monday Night Football.

They also will be seen in promotions in more than 2,300 Cineplex-Odeon and Screen Vision movie theaters nationwide in October and November, intended to build awareness for the television spots. The campaign, titled "The Puttermans," was developed by Duracell's longtime ad agency, Ogilvy & Mather New York.

"The Puttermans," characters, brought to life with latex and prosthetic costumes, will be depicted in a variety of everyday situations with other people who are not wise enough to use Duracell batteries.

"The Puttermans" was directed by Hollywood's Barry Sonnenfeld, whose directing credits include "The Addams Family" and "Addams Family Values."

I made my first phone call from an airplane a few weeks ago, and it was fun to answer the obvious question: "Where are you?" Oh, somewhere between Atlanta and Seattle, I said.

In-flight calls might be new to infrequent flyers like me, but they may be old hat to regular travelers. Now they, too, can have a new experience, such as receiving a call while they're sky-high, somewhere between Atlanta and Seattle.

GTE Corp.'s Airfone has introduced service that allows people on the ground to call passengers at their seats on USAir and Delta Air Lines shuttles to Washington and Boston, along with United Airlines flights on the New York-Los Angeles route.

When a call comes through, the phone rings softly and a screen on the handset lights up with a message. After accepting the call, the phone dials the ground-based caller back.

About 2,000 planes are equipped with Airfone service. About 50 of the phones are equipped to receive ground calls, and about 250 will be upgraded by the end of the year, the company said.

Other in-flight phone providers such as AT&T's McCaw Cellular Communications and In-Flight Phone Inc., partly owned by MCI Communications Inc., also plan to provide the service.

Calling a passenger on a plane requires planning, however. The passenger must register to be reached by dialing asterisk 039 from the plane's phone or a special toll-free number on the ground. Users are assigned a special number and a personal identification number.

Users must pay for the call with a credit card; calls cost $2.50 a minute. Beginning next year, there also will be a $2 charge per flight to register to receive calls.