The announcement yesterday that Clear Channel is rebranding itself as iHeartMedia should come as no surprise. It’s just smart marketing.
The Clear Channel name has had a checkered past, often painted with the consolidation, voicetracking brush.
On the other end of the spectrum, iHeartRadio has become an amazing multimedia brand, transcending audio entertainment and expanding its horizons into concerts, festivals, awards shows, music celebrity, and mass appeal entertainment.
So it stands to reason that Clear Channel corporate would reboot its image and its brand equity with a name change that incorporates the excitement and trajectory of the iHeart handle:
As National Public Radio became NPR (although CEO Jarl Mohn reminds us that the “R” still stands for “radio”), and Radio Shack tried – and failed – to rebrand itself with shortened name, The Shack, companies need to re-examine their focus, their mission, and their audience. And with that goes the all-important brand name. These moves are happening in all corners of the business world, including the education sector. A few years ago, the venerable Specs Howard School of Broadcasting here in the Detroit area replaced the B-word with “Media Arts.”
Brand rehab and reexamination is part of the necessary messaging process to both consumers and advertisers. You may recall that four years ago, WTOP dropped “radio” in its IDs to emphasize “news, traffic, weather, on-air, online, mobile” – in short, a full-spectrum media and information service that is both “on-air and online.”
So, the iHeartMedia move isn’t an escape from radio; it is recognition that the company’s assets go well beyond the AM/FM band, and even streaming media.
And by the way, iHeartMedia, we hear you:
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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A rose by any other name…
Perhaps. But as someone reminded me on Facebook, the public has a very short memory. Thanks, Bob.