JacoBlog - Jacobs Media's Blog

The Vision Guy

Paul Jacobs chimes in on the importance of leadership with vision:

Several years ago, in a last-ditch attempt to save the company, the board of Apple Computers turned to the one person who truly understood the company's core values - Steve Jobs.  The rest is history.  By restoring the "mojo" of the company and focusing it on leading-edge technology and user-friendly, attractive designs, Apple today is a powerhouse.  The halo effect of the iPod has even turned around the fortunes of their long-dormant personal computer business, and now Macs are flying off the shelves.

Over a month ago, a similar event happened at Starbucks.  To stop its stock slide and to fend off new competitors like McDonald's, the company is bringing back their original visionary as CEO, current Chairman Howard Schultz.  In announcing his "transformation agenda" in a letter to employees, Schultz laid out four goals.  Here are two that caught our attention:

• Re-igniting emotional attachment with customers.
• Building for the long term.

Pretty simple, isn't it?  These two "bullet points" are the essence of any great brand.  And they are "action steps" that the leaders in the radio industry should carefully consider.  When you strip away the rhetoric and quiet the pundits, this is the recipe to turn radio around.

One of the most disappointing trends over the past decade has been the exodus of the "celebrity program director" - the visionary who truly understood the station's brand, core values, and its emotional relationship with its listeners.  They were the people who defended and protected the brand inside and outside the station.  While there are still a handful around, the loss of these outstanding product managers has led to the decline of great radio stations as local media institutions.

And when you lose the visionary, you lose the brand essence that created stations like WMMS, KVIL, and so many others that have deteriorated into ordinary, pedestrian radio stations.

We're often asked why, in the face of declining overall listening to radio, Public Radio continues to thrive?  It's simple - everything about Public Radio programming is long-term.  And they cherish their audience relationships.  They're patient, they nurture their programs, they research their listeners' needs.

Their conventions and meetings are more frequent, better attended, and more considerate of the values and qualities that contribute to product development, brand building, and audience relationships.  While admittedly they don't suffer under the pressures of Wall Street or profit goals, they are in fact businesses that need to pay bills (with a lot less government support than people think).  The bottom line is that Public Radio succeeds because they think long-term.

And while Public Radio doesn't have "celebrity" program directors you've heard of, most have been in their local communities for a long time and understand how to connect with the locals.  Additionally, Public Radio's core values are brilliant, concise, and imbedded in the minds of every person responsible for the creation of programming.  They are the guiding force behind their emotional attachment with their listeners.

So, the next time you are asked to create a strategic plan, stop writing reports.  Learn from great visionaries like Jobs and Schultz, as well as successful broadcasters, perhaps like the Public Radio station in your town.

Toys For Tots

Talk to the parents of young kids, and they'll tell you that one of the biggest challenges of this season's holiday shopping trips isn't crowded malls or finding the best deals.  It's locating safe toys for their children.

So you can imagine what the Toys For Tots folks are going through.  Because of all the toy recalls and a slow season for giving, they are falling very short of their goals by several million toys.

Realizing that many stations already have their end of the year plans in place, there still may be time for you, your morning show, and your station to help.

You can visit our website - www.jacobsmedia.com - and you'll see the Toys For Tots information in our "What's New" window, including how to contact the local chapter in your area.

Broadcast radio is under fire in so many different ways, but no medium or gadget does a better job of helping out communities than local radio.  This is where radio shines the brightest.  We hope you can help.

Sometimes, it's NOT about the music

At Lincoln Financial Media's FM 94/9 in San Diego, they proudly say, "It's about the music."  But when over 300,000 people have been evacuated and everyone else in the county is "on standby," it's about vital information.

So when the local public radio station that has a big reputation for news coverage had their transmitter go up in flames, FM 94/9 Program Director Garett Michaels and VP/General Manager Darrel Goodin acted quickly to air KPBS' continuous coverage.  As DJ Tommy Hough explained before throwing the switch on Tuesday morning at 8:30, the decision was simple:  "We have a signal.  They have a great local news team but no signal.  It's in everyone's best interest to hand over our airwaves to KPBS."

If you got into this business to make a difference, know that you do, every day.  Sometimes it's by playing a favorite song or making people laugh.  And sometimes it's by doing what's least expected but most needed.  Congratulations to FM 94/9 and KPBS for their unprecedented cooperation.

"Welcome!"

Jacobs Media's Dave Beasing weighs in on the value of saying "thanks!"

“Welcome!”

“You’ve just signed up for our database.  You’ll be getting more stuff from us.  Thanks!” 

Unfortunately, that’s about the extent of most first subscription emails.  The Email Experience Council and Direct Marketing Association says 72% of 118 top online retailers send “Welcome” emails, and these have significantly higher open rates than regular emails.  The good news is that most are sent within the first 3 minutes after sign-up – striking while the iron is hot.  The bad news is that 19% take more than 24 hours to be delivered, an eternity in the digital world.  Craft a good welcome email, as it’s the most important message you’ll ever send to a new listener.  Set the tone of the new relationship, inject some of your station’s personality, and – most importantly – use specifics to create anticipation for the next message.

NPRadiohead

In a very Public Radio way, Radiohead is going to sell its new album, In Rainbows, by letting consumers set the price they're comfortable paying.  They can set their own price - or pay nothing - in order to access the music.

And of course, that has similarities to the Public Radio model.  Listeners can choose to support their local station with a check - or they can simply opt to enjoy the programming without paying a dime.

Of course, Radiohead is going to do it without those annoying pledge drives.

As the music industry searches for a new revenue model, this one will be worth watching.

Your Image Sucks

If you're the NFL, you're getting a little worried.  (Of course, there's MLB's steroid issue and the NBA's gambling referees, but that's for another blog!).  After the Michael Vick mess, how do you go about re-selling the perception that all NFL players aren't dog killers?  You run great PSAs (see sidebar with links below).

That's been the NFL's solution, using a host of star players from Matt Hasselbeck and newcomer Brady Quinn, to Braylon Edwards and Vince Young.  As obvious and cliché as this tactic may be, surrounding these players with children or talking about their families is smart marketing.  As Lisa Baird of the NFL's marketing department clearly points out, "It's as simple as this.  We're going to do everything necessary to protect the strength of our brand."

The N.F.L.'s new TV advertisements: Braylon Edwards Willie McGinest Brady Quinn Matt Hasselback Matt Hasselback and Children Vince Young

This tactic can be especially useful for personality jocks that occasionally cross one line or another.  I remember how well it worked back when the late Henry "The Bull" Del Toro was the bad boy of the FM99 show back in the '80s.  Henry did some pretty vile things at times, but always came back with a high profile charitable tactic, such as locking himself in a cage at the local SPCA to draw attention and money to help orphaned cats and dogs.

In our focus groups, it was fascinating to hear listeners literally argue about Henry.  Just when the group would get into that mob riot mode about something heinous that Henry had done, another listener would remind everybody about one of Henry's noteworthy civic activities.  The show was able to maintain a comfortable balance between good and evil, enabling it to remain successful for many years.

The NFL's tactics have application for morning and personality shows everywhere, especially those that sometimes cross that line.  For Michael Vick personally, it will be a long road back.  But for the NFL, they will indeed recover and prosper.

CG Debate

If you watched the Democratic debate earlier in the week, you saw something historic - consumer-generated questions on YouTube.  Now cynics might make the case that this "debate" was just another televised series of evasions, spin, and posturing.  They might also claim that similar gatherings have included questions from the audience, so what's the big deal here?

But there's something truly "democratic" about people from all over the U.S. (or the world, for that matter) having the chance to submit questions via YouTube.  And it clearly made for more interesting, uncomfortable, and whacked questions - the types of queries that might even motivate more people to watch these boring spectacles.  When Barack Obama was asked whether he was "black enough," you just knew that the TV debate process was in uncharted waters.  Or the bizarre "question" about Al Gore - truly strange television, but something that humanized the debate.

Just as we in radio need to get more comfortable with giving up control, maybe next time politicians and the TV/cable networks will actually consider choosing the questions based on the number of votes they receive online.  What's the worst that could happen?  People choosing the most popular questions - or billboards or songs or "Rock Girls?"  After all, isn't that what we and the politicians are trying to do - appeal to the most people?

Here are some of the other "interesting" questions (click here for all of them):

"Not 'Stairway to Heaven' Again!"

Memorial Day 2007 has come and gone, and with it, another series of "Top 500 Countdowns." We know that many programmers have come to dislike these "evergreen events" because they often sound essentially the same year after year.

But when you look at the success of countdowns in the world of television programming, and you consider that the PPM methodology has many inherent similarities, those predictable countdowns may indeed turn out to be great events for stations.

We know that people love lists.  If you think about some of your own web surfing, the odds are good that you gravitate toward the "The Top 5 Housing Markets in the U.S." or "10 Money Wasters" or "The 100 Worst Movies of All Time."  We love to see things ordered, and to determine if our tastes match those of a survey audience, or whoever is putting the list together in the first place.

A look at VH1 shows you the importance of "List Programming."  Same with Blender magazine.  Just journey off to their site to see a series of "cynical countdowns," which also tells you that lists shouldn't always play it straight.  Morning shows, big personalities, and creative production teams can crank out some irreverent stuff that is memorable and "sticky."  (Isn't that essentially what Dave's "Top 10 List" does night after night, year after year?)

So, moving forward, we are going to be focusing even more on what we will now call "List Programming" - concepts that we can pass onto you.  And by the way, those Memorial Day Countdowns don't have to sound the same year in and year out.  Online voting, production enhancements, prizes, message boards, and integrating personalities and celebrities into the mix can juice things up to ensure that your '08 version sounds more compelling.

And maybe, just maybe, we'll reach that point where we can actually "pre-sell" these countdowns because PPM provides us with the evidence that they work.

The Consumer is Boss

I know, I know... you're thinking this is just another blog about Neo Radio.

But instead, it's the mantra of Procter & Gamble, the world's leading consumer products company.  In a recent Forbes article, P&G's philosophy of putting the customer first was examined.  Of course, they are the envy of the industry, and as Edward Landry, a VP at Booz Allen Hamilton notes, "There is a world of difference between knowing and doing,"

How does P&G do it?  They call it "immersion" - research that involves spending one-on-one time with consumers as they shop for and use products and services.  It all leads to determining how to make a product or service more relevant to a consumer, and it involves actually observing consumers in action.  According to P&G's marketing chief, Jim Stengel, "With the amount of information we have at our fingertips today, it makes it even more important to stay in touch, to get out there and talk to real people about real issues."

This type of ethnographic research goes well beyond calling people on the phone, and asking them what they do.  It's about watching them use products in real time, and listening to what they really have to say.  So, no numbers, but instead, incredible observations about real-time behavior.

This is exactly what Arbitron hired us to do earlier this year in a study we call "The Bedroom Project." We interviewed 30 18-28 year-olds in L.A. and Columbus, Ohio and watched them use media - iPods, computers, cell phones, TV, and of course, radio.  We interviewed them in their homes, their dorms, their cars, and yes, their bedrooms.

It produced some incredible video, and we're showing it in a couple of different presentations at the NAB/R&R/Jacobs Summit this fall in Charlotte.  The all-encompassing Arbitron presentation will occur on Wednesday afternoon (9/26) for an NAB "Super Session." On Thursday afternoon (9/27), Dave Beasing and Arbitron's Dr. Ed Cohen will look at "The Bedroom Project" from a radio-centric point of view during our Summit.  We hope you'll make the time to see both presentations.

As P&G has learned, there's nothing like ethnography to really get into the heads - and homes - of target consumers.  You've never seen anything like this before.

>>Click here to watch a "trailer" from "The Bedroom Project."

Mr. Irrelevant

It's a marketing coup - but it's a whole lot more.  If you don't know, Mr. Irrelevant is the title that is bestowed on the very final pick (#255) of the NFL Draft.  Instead of wallowing in the misery that ought to go with this lowly honor, Mr. Irrelevant has turned into a marketing phenomenon, kicking off an entire week of promotions that you'd think would go to the MVP of the NFL.  It was started by Paul Salata, an 80 year-old guy who used to slug it out in the NFL, and is now a smart businessman.  He saw the brilliance in elevating an otherwise less-than-random player into something special.  Hey, isn't that purple?

This year, Mr. Irrelevant went to "Team Irrelevant," the pathetic Detroit Lions.  He's Ramzee Robinson, and he's having a ball, and becoming a national celebrity at the same time.  (Hey, on THIS team, he could actually make the roster.)  But there are all sorts of radio applications to Mr. Irrelevant, starting with Steve Loomstein Day, a now annual event at KHITS in St. Louis, which we recently covered in this blog. That was the promotion where programming mastermind, Rick Balis, took a listener who had written the station a letter and made him a local star.

The idea of elevating someone totally obscure to your "star of the day" is a cool idea, and one that would resonate with fans.  The idea for Mr. Irrelevant was inspired by a Newport Beach bar that would randomly go through the phone book and find a local person to honor for the night.

So think about that, as you plan that fourth bar night of the week.  In addition to playing "Guitar Hero" on site, and doing everything you can to make each of these "events" a little special, consider diving into your database, and honoring a different listener each time you do one of those club nights.  A basic limo trade will help make it special for each night's big winner, in addition to getting his/her name on the bar's marquis.

It's simple, listener-friendly, and the type of thing your audience will talk about.  And perhaps those bar nights won't be so "irrelevant" after all.