The Jacobs Media Blog

Mark Jaffe, general manager of ModernMan.com, writes a compelling article in MediaPost’s “Engage: Men” series called “Don’t Market To Guys, Entertain Them.”  Jaffe is primarily talking about effectively getting advertising messages to men, but from a radio programming perspective, the challenge is the same. How can you communicate what your brand and call letters stand […]

On the one hand, I admire DJs and personalities who have a desire to be in the know when it comes to the ratings.  After all, its their report card.  But on the other, you have to worry that there’s a tendency to get so caught up in the gyrations of the ratings that it […]

You probably saw all the confetti raining down from the sky after the release last week of that Annenberg School study confirming that radio listeners bond with their favorite DJs.  Put together by Paula Woodley, this study surveyed listeners from seven L.A. radio stations, and confirmed that the “stickiness” of radio brands comes from personalities rather […]

It seems like I write a post like this every year.  Maybe like me, your email box is inundated with digital and social e-newsletters that clue you in to the latest news, speculation, and research findings. And while many of these resources are helpful and informative, radio broadcasters who are curious and have a wider world view […]

OK, maybe I’ve got the Declaration of Independence a bit wrong, but it’s been a confusing week.  WMMR has dubbed it a “9 Day Weekend,” and businesses all over America are trying to figure out what happened with productivity this week. In the meantime, comScore is trying to make some sense of it all.  Its […]

It’s strange when a holiday like the 4th of July falls in the middle of a week.  But that’s the way the calendar played out this year.  So whether you’re on vacation, will be on vacation, or will be right back to it tomorrow, have a great Independence Day celebration wherever you are. And we’ll […]

All advertising is not created equal. I happened across one of those Silicon Alley Business Insider charts last week that was a reminder that your advertising goes a lot farther when your message is compelling and you’re a trusted brand. So here’s the quiz – which tech company spent the most in 2011?  And your […]

So here we are, wrapping up a six month process with Techsurvey8 as we’ve gone from design back in January to delivery in late April at the Worldwide Radio Summit.  As many of you know, 170 stations and more than 57,300 respondents later, we have collectively put something together that is very special. I would like to […]

Today marks the fifth birthday of the iPhone. Does it seem like five years to you?  Longer?  Shorter? Well, at any rate, this little device has changed our lives.  Thomas Hazlett (a law professor at George Mason University) wrote a great piece in the Wall Street Journal cataloging the history of the iconic device, the long […]

In yesterday’s post, we discussed an article from Steve Smith about mobile: “The Age of Branded Action.”  Today, let’s take a deeper dive and look at radio brands and how they’re approaching the mobile space. In my mind’s eye, I try to picture two guys sitting in a bar.  One whips out his smartphone, and […]

The conversation about the impact of mobile and how to best utilize it is occurring in every smart company among marketers, content creators, and hopefully, CEOs. Google’s Eric Schmidt intoned the mantra back in 2011, “Whatever you’re doing, do mobile first,” to explain how every new initiative in his company is now filtered through the […]

I started with this question as I opened “Must See Video,” a panel I moderated at the 2012 Morning Show Boot Camp: “Why are we talking video at a radio conference?” And of course the truth is that video is the radio star.  For Boot Camp attendees who grew up with the mantra, “theatre of […]

BHAG?  Oh no, not another acronym! And to show off my PPM prowess in teasing and creating occasions, I’m not going to tell you what BHAG is until the end of this post, but trust me when I tell you that most people in radio don’t have one.  (Don’t scroll down!) Today’s entry focuses on […]

We recently ran a post about the need for radio sales reps to become proficient marketers. The fact is, successful marketers have never been more challenged to deliver the goods in a rapidly changing media environment.  And that reminded me of a MarketingSherpa email alert that Entercom’s Tim Murphy forwarded to me. A recent survey of […]

I like to think of myself as a “Consumer Whisperer.”  Over the course of any given year, my company is involved in umpteen research studies, from quantitative to qualitative, all designed to determine what it is real people are trying to tell us about our stations, our brands, and our medium. So, we tried something different […]

The strategies of “radio” pure plays aren’t a mystery.  In fact, the CEOs of the biggest streaming brands are telling us exactly what moves they intend to make as they march the ball down the media field. Radio either responds to the challenge, or it faces an inevitable world where new competitors have better presence […]

We all work hard at building our brands, promoting our products, and trying to cash in on our equity – whether it’s radio or any other business. That’s why we continue to hear clients ask us, “How can I make money on Facebook?” or “Where’s the ROI on Facebook?”  As Lori Lewis has discussed many […]

David Field’s on Twitter. No kidding, and it’s a great thing to see one of radio’s finest CEOs sending out interesting tweets about his company, his personal observations, and what catches his eye and moves him.  You can check out his musings at @DavidFieldETM.  He’s setting a great example for his fellow broadcast CEOs. I’m telling you […]

Hard to believe, but it was 27 years ago that I pulled my Mazda RX7 into Charlotte, Michigan, and flipped the fourth AC in the market – WMMQ – to America’s first FM Classic Rock station. The format back then was a bit broader than most of today’s more “modern” Classic Rockers, but it’s interesting […]