I was recently emailed a pitch to attend the third annual "Marketing to Men 18-34" conference in New York City in August. If I hurry and sign up now, it’s only $699. If I wait until showtime, it’ll set me back $799. As the email states, this is "the definitive conference for professionals trying to make an impact on elusive male consumers."
Of course, I could save the money, the airfare, the hotel, and taxi costs and call Doug Podell or Jim Fox. They know a lot about reaching and marketing to 18-34 men. Or I could reach out to Wade Linder, Evil Jim, Ken Carson, Dave Richards, Todd Nukem, and many of the other Active and Alternative programmers we work with every day. These guys – and many others like them – are experts in appealing to those "elusive" 18-34 men, and perhaps should be running this seminar, rather than paying to attend.
And that leads to other questions: Why do advertisers and marketers pay to attend these seminars, and yet in terrestrial radio, selling younger guys is still considered to be next to impossible? Why are young male demos coveted by many in the ad community, but radio still hasn’t figured out how to package and market this obvious asset? Why doesn’t the RAB connect with this group – a speaker roster that includes executives from ESPN, the NFL, Unilever, A&E, the NBA, and BBDO? And why does radio continue to leave money on the table, despite its great ability to deliver these listeners in bunches?
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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IMHO, you sort of answered your own question Fred: “radio still hasn’t figured out how to package and market . . .” Although, I would rephrase it: “Radio isn’t passionate about figuring out how to package and market . . .”
Take a guess at what “radio” organization had the strongest presence at the most recent Association of National Advertisers conference (FYI, I gave a keynote presentation to the ANA members). Answer: Google, with their recent acquisition of dMarc!
Google is passionate about marketing, the future and growth. It appears that radio is passionate about music, the past, and inertia (see this post: https://www.sandboxwisdom.com/sandbox_wisdom/2007/07/elbert-hubbard-.html
P.S. Hope you are well. Have a kick-ass Summit XII!