I’m pleased to welcome back Saga Norfolk’s President/GM Dave Paulus for a guest blog:
We get burdened on a daily basis with those impossible demographic requests from agencies and clients that can’t get it….they just can’t change out of that old "demo box."
Here’s an interesting real life example for you to consider:
I was in a WAWA store, 11:45am, standing in line waiting to check out next to a young guy. He was buying a "tall boy" of Budweiser, a pack of Salem Lights and a hot dog. I was buying a turkey breast sandwich, with light mayo, a side of fruit and a diet Snapple. He got "carded" and I looked over his shoulder and it said he was 22 years old.
I had celebrated my 44th birthday the day before.
He jumped into his ride, a 1995(ish) Honda accord, and squealed his tires out of the parking lot. I "glided" 🙂 into my 2004 Toyota Avalon and headed to the gym.
I got back to the station(s) afterwards, and found out we had lost a buy….18-49 adults…
Then, it really hit me hard. This guy and I are being counted the absolute SAME by the agency that just "walked" us. We’re the SAME PERSON!? REALLY? THE SAME PERSON?
As difficult as it is, we have to "sell cells." If we’re gonna get stuck in this huge demographic skew, we must show agencies and clients that radio is best bought in "cells." One/two station(s) 18-24, one/two station(s) 25-34, one/two station(s) 35-49 and so on. We are hurting as a company and as an industry if we just sit back and allow this ridiculous buying pattern to continue, Unchallenged!
When you look at it on paper, it just pisses you off. When you stand in line at WAWA, it just stuns you!
Challenge the standards.
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Great post Dave —
One further amplification of your point — not all 44 year old men are the same either. Yet qualitative is hardly used by either the buyers or the sellers in radio. In my career I have done dozens of format searches. Not ONCE has a client said to me: “Get me the best qualitative I can get.” The only thing I am pretty much EVER told is: “Get me into the top 5 25-54.”
Dave, I think this entire concept has PISSED everybody in our biz OFF for a number of years…and I’m not sure what we can do about it…unless we can get the head of all the ad agencies to join us for a day hanging around the WAWA stores! But don’t hold your breath on that…