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As the attention spans of consumers continue to shrink, it’s not hard to see how that phenomenon has impacted brands and branding. We speak in shorthand, we multi-task.  And we’re always on the move.  And smart brands move with us. We abbreviate everything.  The text message turned 20 years old a few days back.  But at the beginning, […]

A recent Social Media Today blog post by J.C. Kendall, CEO of TekPersona, gave me a serious case of déjà vu.  He calls it, “Facebook: Waste of Time for Most Advertisers.” Kendall points out that there’s increasing evidence that Facebook as a money-making tool is looking like a bust.  He quotes IBM reports that underscore […]

When jacAPPS celebrated its fourth anniversary last month, it brought back memories of conversations I was having around that time with clients, friends, and family members when they’d see me whip out my iPhone (and before that, my Treo) at a restaurant or meeting. Some would ask me, “Why would you even want email on […]

OK, it’s true.  I did not attend Radio Ink’s “Forecast 2013” event earlier this week, but I followed the conference on Twitter and through trade press articles. This running theme about how radio is misunderstood by advertisers continues to amaze, perplex, puzzle, and yes, even anger me.  As a programmer and programming consultant, I have […]

I want to know how many PhD dissertations will be written about the technical end of both President Obama’s and Governor Romney’s campaigns. As a great source for some in-depth graduate school research, there’s a very long but insightful article in The Atlantic by Alexis C. Madrigal that explores the back end of the Obama […]

“Brands will be more successful in this space by knowing who their target audience is, what content will be relevant for them and which platform will be most effective in reaching this audience.” Werner Brell, Red Bull And with that quote, the managing director of Red Bull Media House lobbed a content grenade at every […]

Many years ago when my brother Bill joined the company, he asked me what title he should have.  The Oliver North scandal was the big news story of that day (long before General Petraeus), so I offered up “Lieutenant Colonel.”  He was not amused. But here we are, more than 25 years later, and this […]

The announcement of Hostess’ demise a couple weeks back was probably one of those moments that signified for many of us the sad truth that many venerable brands that have been around for decades are vulnerable.  For many of us, Hostess products were part of our wonder years. It’s hard to imagine a world without Twinkies […]

Back on Monday with fresh content.  No leftovers.

Yes, we’re headed into another incredible season where radio’s involvement with the holidays will be… the same as it ever was. Many stations have already gone wall-to-wall Christmas (or holiday) music.  Some will be involved in community fundraisers, while still others will give away any numbers of prizes, mall shopping sprees, or the “__ Days Of […]

I have become a fan of blogger and marketer Greg Satell and his Digital Tonto musings.  In a recent post, Greg addressed head-on the value of a strategic philosophy as opposed to an ideology. And as he dug deeper, this thought jumped off the screen: The Myth of “Great Strategy and Poor Execution” A popular […]

The tablet revolution is amazing.  Techsurvey8 indicated that a quarter of our mega-sample already owned one of these devices as of this past February.  And remarkably, about a third of those who haven’t yet taken the plunge say they’re very or somewhat likely to do so at some point this year.  So lots of growth […]

Yesterday, we highlighted a Swedish advertising agency – Honesty – and its decision to remove “digital” from all their employees’ titles. As CEO Walter Naeslund explained in an Ad Age piece, this was an effort to get the entire staff engaged in digital and mobile.  His thinking was that using “digital” in titles essentially siloed […]

Several weeks ago, Saga’s Steve Goldstein shook up the radio world with the announcement that his company was ending the title of “Program Director” in favor of “Brand Manager.”  We covered that story – and added our views – in a blog post. Now, nearly 4,000 miles away in Stockholm, Sweden, an ad agency has upped the […]

I have run across a number of articles and blogs that spell out lessons learned from the election last week.  It’s interesting that in spite of all the media, the hype, and the analyses, we have to wait for the results in order to truly understand what it was all about. But that’s often the […]

There was lots of buzz late last week about an NPD Group study that revealed not only that Internet radio and on-demand music services are growing, but that some of it these increases appear to be coming at broadcast radio’s expense. Overall, listening to Internet radio has climbed 27% year to year, and while AM/FM radio only […]

What a week! The East is still trying to recover from Sandy and another storm blows through. The election is over (but somehow not in Florida), and apparently, going after older white guys turns out not to be a great strategy.  (Are you listening, Rock PDs?)  And then there’s Diane Sawyer and Karl Rove, both of […]

As the guy who brought Classic Rock to radio, I am frequently asked why Rock has not produced another band of the magnitude of the Beatles.  The reasonable answer is that the media world of the ‘60s was so much more simplified and focused than it is today. When you think back on those famous […]

Bill Weston, program director of legendary WMMR/Philadelphia, is a guy who truly stands at the intersection of media and technology.  The MMR team has embraced the digital tools, with strong participation from the airstaff – especially morning icons, Preston & Steve – right up to Greater Media’s corner office.  This morning, Bill brings home the […]