Maybe you remember seeing Minority Report and the creepy scene in the mall where Tom Cruise gets bombarded with personalized ads as each nearby store gleans personal information about him from scanning his eyes.
Far-fetched? Not really. In fact, today’s mobile beacon technology comes close to replicating that futuristic scene (minus the eye part), serving up coupons and deals to smartphones as people walk through malls and stores.
In fact, everyone seems to be getting into the personalized messaging act – except radio. Delta announced last week that every one of its 22,000 flight attendants has been equipped with a phablet enabling them to see an array of personal information about each and every passenger. Delta stresses that this data was all provided by fliers themselves when signing up for frequent flyer programs and other services.
In fact, I was on a Delta flight the other day, and after the welcome announcements to passengers was made, I heard the flight attendant say this:
“And we’d like to thank Mr. Fred Jacobs for being a 2 million miler with Delta.”
In my pre-flight fog, I almost missed the acknowledgment, but suffice it to say, this is data the airline has about me. They also know my food and seating preferences, as well as my birthday. As an article in Mashable notes, it won’t be long before Delta flight attendants are greeting passengers personally, along with little reminders about our travel history, birthday greetings, and other info.
Now some people may find this creepy or even intrusive. But this is all permission-based acknowledgment. And in a world inundated with big data, this is a clever and effective way of making customers feel valued, special, and important. In an impersonal world, it is not different than the way our grandparents were greeted by the local pharmacist, butcher, or dry cleaners decades ago.
It also begs the question about why radio stations couldn’t do the same thing. At a number of our client stations, I’ve encouraged management to begin a program of segmenting the email database by birthdays. In that way, the airstaff is issued a daily list of birthdays, and they make brief but personal phone calls to all the celebrants. I can tell you that this small gesture is greatly appreciated by listeners, going above and beyond sending them the perfunctory birthday eCard.
Perhaps a couple of clicks further down the road is the ability to profile listeners by their contest activity, event participation, and request preferences. So that when they call in the station, their phone number triggers that data to display on a screen. Instead of treating calls on the request line as nuisances, perhaps stations will begin to think of them as customer service opportunities.
Big data doesn’t have to be impersonal. In fact, Delta’s activity suggests that data-driven personalization is here to stay. If Domino’s recognizes your phone number, address, and pizza preference, why couldn’t Delta use that same model for food and beverage preferences?
And why couldn’t your station use this data to create a richer, more personalized experience?
Enjoy the flight.
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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My wife and one of my sons went to a local convenience store the other day that also has a pizza oven and deli. It is a little out of the way but the quality of their pizza and salads make it worth the effort. They specialize in making “you bake” (you give them the order, they make it, but then you get a price break if you wish to bake it yourself). We were going to get our favorite “you bake” and salad. The “you bake” was ready but there were no salads in the cooler. There were three employees standing around a table in the deli area, talking, all of them familiar to us as people who worked in that area. My wife politely asked if they could make up a salad to go along with our order, only to be told that they did not have time. Needless to say, the Pizza Hut was good but tasted like a consolation prize.
Listeners are the customers your advertisers are paying you to have access to. They are the assurance of your next paycheck. Small independent stations that treat their listeners well will be able to retain, build loyalty and have an audience that will go out their way to tune in. Give the listener a chance to feel slighted, and they will settle for the “Pizza Hut” station a little further down the dial. There would be nothing special they would be tuning in for, but it sounds good and can be accessed with next to no effort.
Thank you for the article. This is the first I have heard about Delta, but I am familiar with the Domino’s program. Two million miles? Wow!
Thanks for the comment and underscoring the value of personalized service. It truly matters, Kurt. BTW I’m closing in on 3 million. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. 🙂
Using technology, something we usually associate with making things less personal, to connect with people is genius. With the right information and technology you could use RDS, an app or some future car radio to welcome the listener when they turn on their car, give them a traffic and news report or maybe play their favorite song based on the information provided. Whatever they prefer to start their day with and then slide them into regular live programming.
Great inspiration to start my day Fred!
Thanks so much, Sean. I thought the Delta story was a good one with lessons for local radio. Much appreciated.
Very interesting article. I admit the Delta thing is a little creepy since you don’t know any of these people personally. I have always been an advocate of a station getting closer to it’s listeners primarily through on air shout outs and doing live remotes and fund raisers. Since technology has advanced to the point where we can increase this reaching out strategy, then I say go for it. Listeners like being acknowledged in one form or another. And they ARE a radio station’s most important asset. Right?
In a world of Pandora, Spotify, and SiriusXM, the local station should lean and leverage personalization. Thanks, Curt.