jacoBLOG

OK, I’ll admit it.  I’m clearly of AARP age, but have thus far refused to join this group.  Call it a vanity thing, but the discounts aren’t worth the trouble for me, and this is clearly an organization I do not wish to be a part of.  (Of course, an estimated 37 million members disagree […]

Read More

We’ve been big fans of the video game, "Guitar Hero," for some time now.  And we’ve encouraged our client stations to make this game a part of bar and club nights, as well as station events.  There are new versions coming out featuring different songs.  And now the game is tied into the Family Values […]

Read More

Jacobs Media’s Eric Holmes weighs in on finding new music: For those who may not know, Justin Timberlake just started his own record label.  Esmee Denters was the first artist signed to Justin’s label, a talented young female singer who has built up a fan base singing on YouTube, and is now opening for him […]

Read More

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 […]

Read More

As readers of this blog know, the success of the iPhone has not been a surprise.  Besides answering many of the needs that mobile phone and iPod owners have, it is truly an innovative device. Equally impressive, however, is the way that Apple marketed this launch, from the day that Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone […]

Read More

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 […]

Read More

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 […]

Read More

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 […]

Read More

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal chronicled the marketing saga of Narragansett Beer, a once regional brand that was purchased by Pabst, and in the process, lost its way.  There are obvious parallels to radio here, as many once-great local stations have been neutered by consolidation.  As the story goes, Narragansett production was […]

Read More

Little Steven Van Zandt was kind enough to share his thoughts on the recent claims that radio airplay hurts record sales: As even the slowest of us start to realize there will be no getting out of this permanently bad economy, that it isn’t a cycle or a temporary blip, we will begin to see […]

Read More

I was recently emailed a pitch to attend the third annual "Marketing to Men 18-34" conference in New York City in August.  If I hurry and sign up now, it’s only $699.  If I wait until showtime, it’ll set me back $799.  As the email states, this is "the definitive conference for professionals trying to […]

Read More

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, […]

Read More

A recent poll by Maxim – their Man Poll – confirms what you’ve been reading in our 2007 Tech Poll.  Traditional media still play an important role for men, even 18-34 year-old guys. TV would be the primary source for three-fourths of these respondents (74%) if they were designing a campaign to reach themselves, followed […]

Read More

This email from Jacksonville.com – the all-things-Jacksonville site produced by the Times Union – says a lot about how far newspapers have come in their efforts to transition from ink to bytes.  As Gordon Borrell told us at Summit 11 in Dallas last fall, a smart way for "old media" to take advantage of the […]

Read More

Regular readers of this blog and Jacobs Media clients know our history with the "Cell Phone Only" issue.  Our first Tech Poll in early ’05 brought this issue to light.  Since then, Arbitron has followed up with its own studies, which have underscored this important research issue.  The PPM methodology includes CPOs, and they will […]

Read More

We’ve received quite a few reactions/responses to the latest findings from Tech Poll III, indicating the power of television among radio audiences.  I’ve heard everything from "How could you guys put out an anti-radio piece?" to "This is news?" But it is news – and it isn’t necessarily a negative.  It emphasizes the importance of […]

Read More

As if the music industry couldn’t get even more absurd, the musicFIRST coalition has trotted out a ridiculous "study" from a University of Texas (at Dallas) professor, Stan Liebowitz.  Mark Ramsey, Larry Rosin, and the NAB have already pilloried this bizarre piece of supposed (non-primary) research that claims that radio airplay actually hurts record sales.  […]

Read More

Sometimes when the numbers aren’t heading in the right direction, stations (and companies) get that directive to shake things up.  There are times when a little "interior decoration" – that is, changing the voice guy, sprucing up the van – can be a simple way to re-energize the brand. But there are also times when […]

Read More

Tomorrow is a red letter day.  OK, maybe not, but it’s a catchy day – 7/7/07.  And smart marketers have already jumped on the Lucky 7 bandwagon.  Advertisers from Papa John’s Pizza to Wal-Mart are building promotions around this date.  Wal-Mart’s spin is especially interesting, giving away weddings to couples who are getting married tomorrow […]

Read More

What’s the best way to predict a hit?  In today’s blog, Dave Beasing talks about a new website that takes a novel approach to the art/science of pop culture success…and failure. I’ve been wrestling with whether to confess my secret since February.  Oh, why not?  To my knowledge, no one who attends the same annual […]

Read More