JacoBlog - Jacobs Media's Blog

The Responsive Chord

Long before I read the famous Ries & Trout Positioning book, another little book from the '70s helped guide how I've approached messaging and marketing throughout my career.  Written by an ad guy named Tony Schwartz, The Responsive Chord is one of those neat guides that helps clarify the power of how a message or campaign needs to impact the entire nexus of attitudes, beliefs, and cultural touchstones that consumers carry around in their brains.

Lately, I've been doing my usual number of Listener Advisory Board groups - or L.A.B.s - a window into the souls of radio listeners from Seattle to Southfield.  And if you dig deeper than just the standard radio questions, you learn a great deal about what consumers are thinking, worrying about, and feeling.

These days, it is indeed the economy (stupid).  And if you go beyond asking them about their favorite music or the morning show they listen to most often, they'll open up about their lives, their concerns, and how their lives are being changed by the price of gas and the precariousness of their jobs.  People are hurting; they're worried about their careers, their nest eggs, and paying for the next tank of unleaded regular.

And that tells us a great deal about how to best strike their "responsive chords."  Will we do it by playing the top 350 songs from the last music test or by featuring 40 minutes of non-stop music or by giving away concert tickets?  While those are all things that stations should do to keep even or stay ahead of the ratings game, they aren't going to move the needle.

But reflecting listener lifestyles and concerns is something that radio can do - that iPods, satellite radio, and their cell phones cannot.  That's why we've dusted off and updated our gas memos for our clients.  And why we are looking for ways to help listeners make their lives easier and better in an increasingly difficult environment. 

It's not just good radio - it's a way to reach them that no one other medium or gadget can.

Radio's Hot New Team

No, it's not a morning show in Atlanta on an Active Rock station, nor is it the new talk show in Cleveland. 

But radio's newest team, Rehr & Haley, may be the medium's best bet for a reimagined future.

At the recent NAB Convention, CEO David Rehr and RAB leader Jeff Haley worked together to deliver a positive message to the industry.  The "Radio Heard Here" campaign is an effort to remind America (and its advertisers) that our medium is a valuable and ubiquitous form of entertainment.  Rehr noted that "The sleeping giant has awakened," while Haley referred to "a renaissance in radio with respect to programming."

While the more cynical will look at this campaign as a lot of hot air, the fact is that radio needs champions and cheerleaders like Haley and Rehr.  For too long, there's been no one in a position of authority that has stepped out in a major, visible way to defend, promote, and champion this medium. 

It is too common these days for conversations among radio people to quickly deteriorate into industry bashing.  I've been guilty of this, too, because it often seems like the pressure on radio is immense, the competition daunting, and the reactions just too slow to make any difference.  We need to turn the conversation around.

And there's no better place for a new initiative than at the top of radio's most prominent associations.  We are seeing indicators as well as that some broadcasters are stepping up, facilitating more creative output, and welcoming new ideas.

Our W.T.D.A. campaign - designed to integrate our traditional medium with digital products and features - takes Seth Godin's new Meatball Sundae to heart.  Radio needs to marry its big cumes and wide reach with the technology that has captivated the country.  It can be done, but it will require that radio ownership supports Rehr and Haley's initiatives, and invests in radio's future.

Dave Beasing recently sent me a book by Dan Pink called A Whole New Mind:  Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.  Its premise, according to Pink, is simple: "The future belongs to a different kind of person.  Designers, inventors, teachers, storytellers — creative and empathetic right-brain thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who doesn't."

The Age of Consolidation is ending.  Radio needs to get back to its creative foundation.  Rock on, David and Jeff.  If there was ever a time for a positive outlook and some creative proactivity, it is right now.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

In last weekend's New York Times Book Review, a featured book is "The Beatles: The Biography" by Bob Spitz.  At nearly 1,000 pages and the umpteenth biography of the Fab Four, you have to wonder what could Spitz possibly tell us about the Beatles that we don't already know.

But as reviewers Jane and Michael Stern enthusiastically point out, the book is loaded with compelling story after compelling story of how the Beatles came together, evolved as musicians and people, and became the cultural heroes we know and love.

And the review reminded me, once again, of the importance of bands having histories, stories, and faces.  That's what attracts fans and builds loyalties that transcend iTunes and whatever else is the technological flavor of the month.  If you're wondering when Rock will bounce back in a big way, let me suggest that it's going to require the record labels telling stories and building fan bases, rather than relying on the same old antiquated methods of promotion, favors, and hype.

When Everything's Free - Moo #3

Jacobs Media clients recently received an advance, uncorrected proof, of a cool new book called "The Big Moo," edited by Seth Godin.  It's the product of 33 marketing gurus who volunteered their work for three charities.  Notably, none of the articles is attributed, so you can read them without the bias of knowing precisely who wrote what.

As promised in an earlier blog, we're going to devote several blog entries to some of our favorite "Moo's."  An early one, "Everything Is Free," openly wonders how most business would fare if they were forced to follow the Public Radio model.  Those of us in commercial radio know that drill.  Yes, while Public Radio airs their form of advertising (known as "underwriting announcements"), the majority of their funding comes from extracting money from their customers.

How would your station perform under those circumstances?  Have you curried enough favor from listeners?  Have you truly served them well?  Do you offer them compelling programming to the point where they'd pay to continue hearing it?

We may sneer at how XM and Sirius are hemorrhaging money as they grow, but the fact is that in the not-so-distant future, their entire survival will depend on subscriptions.  They are clearly proceding with that pressure in mind, working hard to develop hard-to-duplicate programming.

We cannot predict the future of terrestrial radio, of course, but "Everything Is Free" asks whether we treat our customers like family, whether we involve them in our programming, and what we'd have to do with our product in order to persuade our audience to pay for it.  Good questions all.

If you'd like to buy copies of "The Big Moo," go to www.thebigmoo.com. Here's the article, "When Everything Is Free":

WHEN EVERYTHING IS FREE

Washington, D.C. 2010, April —(AP) Spiraling price competition from China, India, Wal-Mart, and Internet programmers is driving prices down to their lowest levels in one hundred years, the U.S. Commerce Department said yesterday.
Based on data it has collected, the Commerce Department issued an extraordinary warning: U.S. businesses should consider changing their business models to a donation-based system or face highly uncertain prospects, including Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In a related story, bankruptcy filings readied record levels last week…

Right now, the article above is a science-fiction story. Maybe a really bad one. But imagine if price competition played out to its ultimate end: Everything is free.

Or virtually free.

What if your company's business model was like that of public broadcasting?

That is, all of your products are free. You only earn revenue by convincing customers to donate money that represents their value of your product.

What if your company's business model was like that of public broadcasting?

That is, all of your products are free. You only earn revenue by convincing customers to donate money that represents their value of your product.

More than one thousand public radio and television stations in the United States operate this way every year. Many public broadcasters thrive, too. Average public-radio-station revenue is at its highest levels in years. National Public Radio is the fastest-growing radio format. In her will, Joan Kroc, a loyal NPR listener, left NPR $200 million when she died in 2003. It's not just the rich patrons that care, though. More than 25,000 people were so upset with a personality change on NPR that they signed an online petition within days. To get 25,000 people to sign anything is a feat in itself. Passionate attachment to public broadcasting is at an all-time high, supplemented by monetary donations and the volunteerism of customers who keep public broadcasters on the air.

A public-broadcasting business model could be creeping up on your company faster than you care to imagine or admit.

Severe price pressure is a growing reality for manufacturers of furniture, software, and electronics, as well as providers of call centers, accounting, and oilier white-collar jobs that can be accomplished by anyone with enough training. Perhaps a public-broadcasting business model isn't such a far-fetched scenario after all. A model that relies on donations and is based on free seems alien, but maybe that's the best route for the future of your organization.

For a moment, imagine that within a year global competition causes your company to rely on donations to survive. How will you prepare? How will you change your relationship with customers? Will you change at all?

Will you begin to treat customers like family? Will you involve them in the business, as many family-owned businesses do? I low will you attract and keep customers who will chip in extra money if you can't meet your yearly revenue goals?

How will you change your product to become so valuable that customers will pay a fair price after they've used it freely for a year?

What will you do differently to survive?

-From "The Big Moo" Edited by Seth Godin (p6)

Interviewing Brick Walls

A Rocker DJ friend of mind (who would prefer to remain anonymous for reasons you'll figure out shortly) told me about a great article in the June edition of "O" (Oprah's magazine).  It's called "How To Interview a Brick Wall," based on a conversation with New York Times contributor, Seth Kugel. 

A few of Kugel's tips are great fodder for DJ/morning show interviews.  "Connect before you attack" suggests some breezy chatter before launching into the meat.  Find something your interviewee likes to chat about, make them comfortable, and then move into your substance.

Or "Prepare unexpected questions" suggests using an offbeat question or two that the interviewee never gets asked.  Finally, "Shut up" which is a great tool to practice because most interviewees will keep talking if you respond with some silence.

There's more, of course, and in the June issue of "O" - it's all about men (the theme is "Ah Men!" and Oprah's on the cover this month )