The Jacobs Media Blog

Every business has its own lexicon.  Radio is no different. In the past decade or so, new and different words and expressions have been heard with great frequency. Meter, cluster, streaming, voicetracking, cell phone only, value added, NTR, and spoken word are all part of our new vocabulary. At the same time, other terms and […]

Some recently released stats about the meteoric rise of DVRs say a lot about where television viewing is headed. It turns out that more and more, consumers are watching TV shows when and where they want – not necessarily when they’re broadcast live.  You know this if you own a TiVo or more likely have […]

This past election should be a reminder to all of us that while some people consider basic assumptions as “givens,” others vehemently disagree. That’s been the case about climate change.  While 2012 has now been designated as the warmest year in the history of the U.S., marked by a number of extreme weather events, climate change deniers […]

Thanks to Arbitron, I was honored to do a joint presentation at their Client Conference yesterday devoted to “the digital dash.”  Valerie Shuman was a “great get” for this session (credit due to Dr. Ed Cohen who envisioned this session).  She’s the VP of Industry Programs for the Connected Vehicle Trade Association and had some great insights […]

Just when you thought that between the Hard Rock Cafe, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Scott Segelbaum’s “Rock Art Shows” that the genre has been brand extended for every conceivable exhibit, something new – and exciting – comes along. You may know Alan Cross, a self-described “professional music geek” from Canada, who always […]

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 […]