Today Jacobs Media’s Paul Jacobs joins us for a guest posting:
Why is it that there are hundreds of Alternative, Active Rock, Hip-Hop, and CHR radio stations pleading with advertisers to spend money to connect with "hard to reach 18-34s," while advertisers resort to these kinds of brilliant tactics instead:
The 18-34 demographic, and in particular, the 18-24 segment of the 18-34 demographic, is notoriously difficult for advertisers to reach. This is seen as a problem, since the providers of various goods and services want to use this fertile time of life as the foundation for lifelong brand purchasing habits. The demo is known to make an annual migration from college to sunnier locales for Spring Break, and when they get there, they find the advertisers there waiting for them. Of course, non-traditional media is the way they have to go – the targets have not gone south to watch TV, listen to the radio or read the paper. According to the Washington Post, one company, which makes the Venus Breeze razor, goes so far as to politely approach women in their target demo and build good will by raking a nice spot on the beach for them to lay their towels upon. Hospitality tents, contests, games, giveaways, email collections…the list of ploys is endless.
If advertisers are so desperate that they’d have people go to Corpus Christi to rake a nice beach spot out for a teenage girl from Indianapolis during Spring Break, I bet there are a lot of stations who can come up with a better, and more efficient way of reaching thousands in much more creative ways.
All they have to do is ask. And that’s the problem – advertisers are placing a higher value on raking a spot on a beach ("buzz marketing") than partnering with great radio stations to develop effective promotion and marketing campaigns.
I’ll put radio’s ROI up against any of these hit-and-miss tactics. Advertisers are wasting their money on many of these street marketing techniques that get trade press, but little in the way of results. In this environment, we’re going to have to work harder to get the beauty of our efficient medium across to those who need to use it the most.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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