The Race Is On

The Dallas Times Herald is busy applying a measure of new-think to Dallas readers, trying to convince them that the hare really can beat the tortoise.

A Herald promotional campaign, keying off the afternoon paper’s recently-acquired lead over The Dallas Morning News in Sunday circulation, explains to television viewers, “The hare (the Herald) finally beat the tortoise (the News).”

But the campaign has more to it than simply rubbing salt in the News’ wounds. The folks at the Herald are interested in capitalizing on what they believe to be the reading public’s subconscious image of the News as a slow-moving, plodding, unimaginative beast. On the other side of the coin, the Herald hopes to imprint readers with an image of itself as an energetic, fast-moving animal, capable of whipping the tortoise any day of the week, once it gets on the right track. That track, the Herald presumes, has arrived or will arrive with the Tom Johnson regime.

This new, uncommonly aggressive Herald posture is scoring with at least one key advertiser, Neiman-Marcus. Traditionally, Neiman’shas placed nearly all its advertisements with the News becausethe morning paper had upper-crust Dallas in its pocket and because Stanley Marcus simply neverthought much of the Herald. Not soany longer. Neiman’s currently isconducting a six-month test withHerald advertising. Results are duein early 1975.