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The Effie Awards were founded more than 40 years ago by the American Marketing Association’s New York Chapter to recognize the most effective U.S. advertising efforts each year. As you might expect, the competition is always formidable for these awards, as agencies and brands compete very hard to win the right to display these prestigious […]

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No, this post isn’t about yet another faceless variety station called “Bob.”  It’s about a living, breathing personality named Bob – Bob Lester – who can teach us a great deal about how it should be done in 2010. That’s because for all that has changed in broadcast radio over the decades, one thing is […]

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It seems like the more the world becomes digitized, the smaller and more connected it truly is.  Earlier in the week, the phrase was Greg Verdino’s “Everybody in the audience has an audience.” In this post, “Every company is now a media company” comes from Vice co-founder Shane Smith, speaking about how brands like Intel […]

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As PPM rolls out across the land, programmers and managers often find themselves in an uncomfortable position with heritage talent.  On the one hand, a great personality show often becomes part of the station’s brand, generating loyal listening and advertiser support. On the other, some shows have a difficult time adjusting to the faster pace […]

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At a recent client conference, we had the chance to meet Greg Verdino, author of the new book microMarketing.  Greg’s an interesting guy who is immersed in the development of smart social media strategy.  He also is well grounded in our business, having worked for Arbitron a number of years ago back during the days […]

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Maybe Helen Reddy had it right. Women may lag behind in certain areas.  The data indicates that men are more likely to have a smartphone and download apps. But when it comes to social media, women lead the way. In profile sign-ups, time spent on social media sites, and in engagement categories. Yet, how many […]

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President Obama was here in the Detroit area last week, celebrating the comeback of the auto industry.  While Chrysler and GM are clawing their way back into respectability, Ford may have had the best strategy all along. By not taking (or apparently needing) the bailout money, Ford separated themselves from the other two in a […]

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I have often complained about station debuts that weren’t ready for prime time.  Management rushed them to market, and they simply weren’t good enough to compete on Day One.  In many ways, launching a new format should be like opening night for a musical on Broadway.  Unfortunately, new station kickoffs often lack the necessary rehearsal, […]

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Back in April, one of “the moments” at Kurt Hanson’s RAIN conference was the statement by Pandora’s Doug Sterne that while national ad dollars were the company’s “low hanging fruit,” the big focus would soon be on local advertising revenue. This struck me as a concern because as Pandora tops the 60 million registered listeners […]

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In his recent book, Seth Godin talks about the importance of employees becoming indispensable to their organizations.  He calls them linchpins.   This is a frequent theme in many of our presentations to airstaffs because all too often, jocks fail to view a larger role for themselves at their stations.  The need to do more than […]

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As the mobile wars heat up, and AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon beat each other up, while Apple, Google, and RIM engage in hand-to-hand combat for dominance, the marketing they’re using say a lot about where this space is moving. Verizon’s new campaign ought to resonate for radio people because it focuses on our inherent strength […]

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Apple has announced that its highly anticipated white iPhone’s release has been delayed.  It is fascinating how this company can create demand in so many different ways. What is so different about the white iPhone besides the obvious?  No one knows.  And that’s what makes us curious.  That’s what makes us want one. White iPhone.  […]

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S’plain this one to me: One of the most incredible web success stories of all time. 500 million subscribers. An unbelievable growth trajectory. A social game changer. And one of the most disliked companies on the Internet? According to a new University of Michigan American Customer Satisfaction report conducted with ForeSee Results, Facebook ranks in […]

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"If you own, manage, or program a Classic Rock, Classic Hits, Alternative, or Active Rock station – and you’re in a PPM market – chances are you’ve taken up residence in 'Happy Land.'”   That’s not coming from a guy who’s consulted these formats for 27 years now.  It’s a quote from Arbitron’s Senior Vice President […]

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If you looked at the airplay pattern for a band called the Disco Biscuits over the past year, you’d have to conclude this band is a total stiff: Yup, 11 spins nationally in the past 52 weeks is hardly a formula for success. But as The New York Times reported recently, this band is more than successful – […]

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Regular JacoBLOG reader, Conclave maven, and Arch/St. Louis all-round pro, Jay Philpott loved yesterday's blog – “140 Characters” – and responds with this cartoon, a link and his allotted 140 characters: This 140 character caption (I counted, and spaces are included) is about 7 seconds when spoken. Has Twitter cracked the attention span code? <CLICK […]

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A recent study by Deloitte ("New American Pantry") highlights a major problem for brands these days:  the recession has created a frenzy of savings, discounts, loyalty programs, and discount coupons.   And while consumers are out there looking for the next big deal, brand loyalty is out the window.  In fact, half say that when shopping […]

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There’s a trend afoot and it has to be the beginning of a larger statement that we may see repeat itself several more times during the next few years. First, Radio Shack decided to drop the “R-word” and attempt to reposition itself as “The Shack.”  It doesn’t appear to have been very successful, but the […]

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A fresh-out-of-the-research-oven survey from the Pew Research Center confirms what’s happening in App Land, and backs up this year’s Jacobs Media's Tech Survey VI: More smartphone owners are downloading music-centric apps.  And this is great news for broadcast radio. Pew notes that a third of mobile phone users now use these devices to play music, up from […]

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How do you know when an experiment just isn't going to work? And when you figure it out, how much time do you give it? We've all seen or been involved with "still birth" formats and morning shows that were sadly destined to fail.  Is a year too much time – or is it not […]

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