To help you get ready for the matchup between those Los Angeles Rams and the upstart Cincinnati Bengals, today’s stories in the “junk drawer” will give you something to talk about if the commercials are meh and the halftime show is disappointing.
At some point, the NFL may stop us from even saying “The Big Game,” but until that time, we’re all trying to figure out how our brands can glom onto this mass appeal event of the year, or counter-program it all together.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the game, and your favorite team wins. You might be able to guess my pick from the junk drawer’s appearance this week.
Onto the coin flip and the opening kickoff:
Item #1: LET’S GET READY TO RUMMAGE!
There are all kinds of drama and storylines between these two teams. And the musical festivities seem designed as a response to last year’s generally underwhelming show featuring The Weeknd. This year, the league has pulled out all the stops with five headliners of various vintages: Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, and Dr. Dre. The extravaganza at halftime has been hyped as a true Hollywood spectacular.
But if you haven’t seen this teaser video from Pepsi (yes, the halftime sponsor), you haven’t seen anything. As my friend, Jeff Rowe, referred to it, “It’s jaw-dropping,” as each performer gets “The Call” to perform.
And even with a leadup like that, it truly is an amazing piece of production that could end up being the lead-in to the actual show itself. If you have four minutes, I promise you won’t regret watching what the NFL hopes will be a preview of a memorable halftime production:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3NhX6-5mO0
If the actual halftime show is half as good as this video, it will be considered a huge success. Now, that I think of it, if the football game comes close to matching “The Call’s” energy and production quality, it will be a fun night.
Item #2: Neil Young vs. Joe Rogan (vs. Spotify)
In another big matchup, the fallout over this battle – with Spotify playing the part of the NFL – continued this past week.
When Young first gave Spotify his ultimatum – my music or Rogan’s podcast – SiriusXM was the first media player to step out and truly embrace the moment. They brought back their Neil Young
dedicated channel soon after the Spotify squabble began.
The channel includes solo Neil, as well as his music with CSNY, Buffalo Springfield, and Crazy Horse. “Neil Young Radio” also includes tracks from his new album, Barn, celebrity guest DJs, and as the artist described it, “some stuff that no one’s ever heard before.”
Not to be outdone, Young cut a quick deal with Amazon Music. By clicking on a dedicated link, new subscribers can get four months of the service free, and then pay $7.99/month thereafter.
Young has been a stickler for quality audio, and kicked off the deal by mentioning that “Amazon has been leading the pack in bringing Hi-Res audio to the masses, and it’s a great place to enjoy my entire catalog in the highest quality available.” He also gave shout-outs to Apple Music Qobuz for providing “my Hi-Res music.”
All folks looking for my music can easily head to AMAZON MUSIC and click here https://t.co/xvhKGMkA36 – all new listeners will get four months free. pic.twitter.com/a66GaGUKEk
— Neil Young Archives (@NeilYoungNYA) January 28, 2022
In a related story, the right-wing video site, Rumble, offered Rogan $100 million (the purported amount he got from Spotify) to move his podcast to their platform. In a comedy performance on Tuesday in Austin, Rogan told the audience he rejected the deal, and added this comment:
“No, Spotify has hung in with me, inexplicably. Let’s see what happens.”
It struck me as interesting that broadcast radio has mostly sidestepped this brouhaha, outside of reporting on the back and forth between Rogan, Young, and Spotify.
Neil Young specialty programming has been minimal on the radio airwaves. And to my knowledge, no one fired up a Neil Young HD2 channel when the “skit” (that’s the way the Swedes say it) hit the proverbial fan.
To put a period on this still evolving “controversy” is this generational tweet from Allen S. Nelson IV, dug up by KLOS’ Marci Wiser that cleverly sums up this still developing kerfuffle:
Item #3: Folger’s Goes Classic Rock
And in perhaps the most eye-opening advertising move of the week, Folgers coffee has abandoned its traditional theme song to go with a 1980’s Joan Jett song.
Chances are, you’ve heard “The Best Part of Wakin’ Up (is Folgers in Your Cup”), a jingle the brand has used for more than three decades.
The problem is, thanks to the pandemic, more and more of us were waking up and brewing our java at home, rather than venturing out to Dunkin’ or Starbucks.
And according to a story in Marketing Dive – “Folgers tunes in classic rock to try to perk up brand.” So, they’re going younger, swapping out their old, tired theme song for the cheerful lilt of Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation.”
Junk drawer denizens can already guess where this campaign has gone wrong. Here’s the :30 version:
First, “Bad Reputation” might not be the best song for selling coffee, especially for a stodgy brand.
Second, positioning the coffee as badass would seem to have its downsides.
Third, isn’t the premise that people are staying home and brewing coffee in their kitchens more 2020 than today? What took Folgers so long to figure this out?
And finally, that New Orleans jazz band in the spot is designed to remind us of Folgers’ connection with “The Big Easy,” a city where it claims to be one of the community’s biggest employers. It’s clearly a case of trying to jam too many messages in a spot.
Maybe there was a better way to do this. I’m reminded of Coca-Cola’s old jingle – “Things Go Better With Coke.” Back in the 1960s, the brand hired some of the biggest and best artists to record the familiar song in their own styles. For the campaign, Tom Jones, the Bee Gees, Petula Clark, and even the Moody Blues tried their hand at Coke’s catchy tune. They made for great, memorable, sing-along commercials that got in your head. And the association with the biggest recording artists of the day must have made Pepsi nuts.
Here’s the Supremes taking their shot at the Coca-Cola song:
Maybe Folgers could have made the same tactical move by having big artists record “The best part of wakin’ up.” Like Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Joan Jett, or maybe Neil Young.
Enjoy the game, and if things get slow, you can always brew a pot of badass Folgers to help get you through the night. Or grab a Coke.
Thanks to Steve Goldstein, Jeff Rowe, and Marci Wiser for contributing to today’s “junk drawer.”
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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One of your most entertaining blogs ever. Loved it. Well done!!!
Thank you, Mike! Means a lot.
Re #1, Pepsi’s gotta be hatin’ life, even if Snoop is as innocent as he says. Terrible timing, not their fault.
https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/215522/snoop-dogg-accused-of-sex-trafficking-and-assault?ref=mail_morning_recap
Yeah, the timing really sucks. You never know when you’re dealing with celebrities. Appreciate it, John.
Agree with Mr. McVay’s assessment of today’s post.
Neil Young’s music-and everything else streamed these days doesn’t quite match up to the spark of hearing it on the “push one button” device, FM radio. Not having it separated by 8 minutes of irrelevant commercials is another issue.
I once proposed to our “cluster” that we take one of our worst performing stations and build a “cume magnet” out of it. All Christmas. All pop culture talk all the time (during that big “Comic” event yearly in San Diego), and saving space for events like the Neil Young ‘crisis”. Changing the format when the season or situation warranted it, and using the other 7 stations in the cluster to promote it. Yes, radio could do that on a stream (which people could hear) as opposed to and HD2 (or 3 or 4) channel (difficult to hear on a good day). You could state that Sirius has hundreds of channels to choose from so it’s no big deal to take one or two and devote them to an issue. Radio can do the same with adding streams, utilizing a non-performing signal, and HD channel or all 3. I’m reminded of the “Album Side” feature-playing an entire album at midnight – ’cause hardly anyone was listening at the time-so what’s the threat? Talk about it the rest of the day. Ahhh the missed opportunities. Grateful for those like Fred-who keeps us thinkin’.
Dave, the way you describe programming “in the moment” still runs counter to how most programming teams think about their strategies. The missed opportunities indeed. Appreciate you commenting on this one.
Man, you’re needed in this town–and this industry–more than ever, Dave!
Regarding the Folgers jingle, they’ve had many a celeb singer take a crack at it already including Aretha, Randy Travis, and Paul Stanley of KISS. All in the traditional sleepy format though. Would be interesting to hear a more contemporary artist do a complete revamp of it, rather than a weak tie in to a Joan Jett song.
Craig, I did not know about those Folger’s “covers.” And I agree the Joan Jett strategy is a dubious one. Who thinks “Bad Reputation” is badass? 50 year-olds?