jacoBLOG

Our resident golf fan, Ralph Cipolla, chimes in about Tiger, The Masters, Nike, & marketing strategy.  FORE!! In 1995, Tiger Woods played golf for Stanford and Nike had zero presence in the golf world.  One year later, Nike cut a deal with the 21-year old PGA Rookie, and now the swoosh is the fastest growing […]

Read More

For the first time in more than 20 years, I am off to Las Vegas next week for the NAB Convention.  Over the years, our company has gravitated to the NAB Radio Show always held in the fall, skipping this spring mega-convention. But this year, we're going back to broadcasting's biggest show, and based on […]

Read More

Over the last couple of days, we have talked about the importance of branding, even in the digital world of search and clicks.  Does it really matter whether you have a great brand when consumers simply looking for the cheapest price online? Brands do matter, and in the radio biz, they are especially important.  In […]

Read More

Over the last couple of days, we have talked about the importance of branding, even in the digital world of search and clicks.  Does it really matter whether you have a great brand when consumers simply looking for the cheapest price online? Brands do matter, and in the radio biz, they are especially important.  In […]

Read More

Yesterday, we talked about how Apple's PR efforts almost always create consumer excitement, while Microsoft – despite it size and heft – almost always fails to generate any positive buzz for its products. It simply comes down to product quality, for the most part, coupled with the consumer's experience over time.  Windows operating systems haven't […]

Read More

The guy who designed the Ford Mustang, Donald N. Frey, died last month.  The New York Times notes that in Mike Mueller's book, Mustang: An American Classic, he talked about the frenzy that original pony car made 46 years ago this month: "Estimates claimed as many as four million people pushed their way into Ford dealerships that weekend alone…The few Mustangs […]

Read More

We test drove our iPad all weekend, and it performed well.  Here's a quick video tour to give you a taste of what the newest gadget from Apple is all about:   If you want to talk iPad strategies for your apps, feel free to give us a call.

Read More

On the eve of what could be a momentous launch of digital gadgetry – the release of the Apple iPad - I received the strangest email from Amazon regarding my Kindle.  It invited me to spend anywhere between $84.99- $119.99 on a sleek Kindle cover by Cole Haan. I'll tell you what – the coolest cover […]

Read More

Some of you may be tired of hearing about Pandora in this blog, but I have a feeling that given its trajectory, I'm not going to be the only one expressing concern.  And as you'll see in the upcoming release of Jacobs Media's Tech Poll VI, your core listeners have discovered Pandora, allowing it to […]

Read More

There is no shortage of articles and think pieces on the Internet about why Google has been successful – and what other organizations and businesses can learn from their ascendancy.  I have aggregated a few of these thoughts as they apply to our industry.    It is interesting to note that Google wasn't first.  We were […]

Read More

There is no shortage of articles and think pieces on the Internet about why Google has been successful – and what other organizations and businesses can learn from their ascendancy.  I have aggregated a few of these thoughts as they apply to our industry.    It is interesting to note that Google wasn't first.  We were […]

Read More

Barnes & Noble's controversial decision to appoint the head of their web division, William Lynch, to CEO of the entire company was surprising and bold. And it should be a message to the executive staffs of broadcasting and newspaper companies about the changing tides of the media business. Barnes & Noble has been getting its […]

Read More

Yesterday, we took a look at how radio's robust spotloads may be conspiring to hurt the medium as the mobile Internet becomes ubiquitous.  But in the Internet world, we have seen the demands for web advertising, which has put pressure on traditional media.  Broadcast radio salespeople have a tough putt on their hands, as more and more advertisers […]

Read More

Recently Sean Ross boldly took on the topic of radio commercial loads in his "Ross on Radio" column.  Sean's point was that given the proliferation and popularity of sites like Pandora and Slacker, consumers are making those inevitable comparisons.  And the results aren't very pretty. As Sean put it, "…Slacker and Pandora will never have […]

Read More

Here we are, in the middle of March Madness, and there are certain things you can count on: upsets, untimely injuries, broken brackets, and …social networking. In an interesting strategic move, Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt asked his team to give up their cell phones for the NCAA tournament.  The idea is that these devices […]

Read More

Last week, I had the privilege of speaking at the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters conference on behalf of old client and friend, Vance Harrison, the president of this group.  I always enjoy these get-togethers because while we're all racing to help connect the new and old media dots, these conferences are reminders of why most […]

Read More

Over the past couple of days, we've talked about this whole concept of local, and how radio stations should be focusing their efforts and resources in a changing media environment. If you're buying what I'm selling, you have hopefully reached the conclusion that local market radio stations need to be victorious in the battle they […]

Read More

In yesterday’s post, we began a discussion about the value of radio stations focusing budget and personnel on the local space, especially given the preponderance of global media competition. The local question is mitigated by the reality that so many local market radio stations are shadows of their former selves, ravaged by the impact of […]

Read More

One of the joys of writing a blog is that there is no shortage of opportunity to weigh in on the burning issues of the day.  Or to occasionally be a little frivolous and light-hearted, particularly in contrast to some of the difficulties and challenges the many media professionals are facing. But today, it's a […]

Read More

You hear this all the time: "We do all these cool things on our website but we just can't seem to monetize them." There are two key elements in play: having great digital content and developing and training a staff that can create and market it to advertisers.  We know from every article about where […]

Read More