The Jacobs Media Blog

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.  […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

How many times have we heard that in the past few years?  And it’s an honest lament from programmers and promotion directors that grew up in the business during a flusher time when marketing budgets were plentiful.  But these days, unless your name is Jack or Fresh, it may be a tougher putt to procure […]

How many times have we heard that in the past few years?  And it’s an honest lament from programmers and promotion directors that grew up in the business during a flusher time when marketing budgets were plentiful.  But these days, unless your name is Jack or Fresh, it may be a tougher putt to procure […]

Jacobs Media consultant Ralph Cipolla boldly inserts himself into the debate about the iPhone’s impending success – or lack thereof. Anyone who consults, markets, or consults marketers has read, re-read, and can recite by rote all of Ries & Trout’s “22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.”  In 1994, Al Ries formed “Ries & Ries” with his […]

A few weeks back, a confidential Wal-Mart executive report was leaked to the New York Times.  The conclusion of this analysis was that the hallmarks of Wal-Mart – deep discounts, one-stop shopping, and huge variety – are working against the company’s efforts to go more upscale. As a result, Wal-Mart is not effectively competing with […]

An amazing story played out recently on CBS-TV and the network has done something virtually unprecedented – it brought back a show it cancelled. In this case, it’s "Jericho."  Apparently, one of the problems with the show’s ratings came from too many viewers watching it on TiVos and DVRs – and not in real time […]

As Dylan said, "You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."  And it’s looking more and more like PPM will indeed be a fast-moving reality.  I can tell you that the past several months in Philadelphia have been an education, and it’s still the top of the first inning. When I […]

Tomorrow, an interesting protest will be taking place, and terrestrial radio could and should be a part of it.  Led by Kurt Hanson’s SaveNetRadio, the idea is to create a "Day of Silence" for stations’ web streams to protest the Copyright Royalty Board’s rate increases. At the same time, the goal is to support the […]

Remember that now-famous campaign that helped launch "Desperate Housewives" where ABC printed up dry cleaning bags and distributed them in key markets around the country?  It was a clever way to use another "medium" (dry cleaners?) to get their message across.  And in the process, the campaign itself generated media buzz because everyone was talking […]

I’m not going to tell you where I was when I picked up a copy of the May edition of Fortune Small Business. The cover story caught my eye:  "Old Dogs, New Tricks: Innovators find fresh ways to profit in out-of-fashion industries." I figured there was a blog in there somewhere, especially when I turned […]