Or capturing the vibe. Or breaking your station out of that "every day's the same day" mold. Pepsi did it with this spot – "My Generation" – which resonates with Classic Rockers, and with people of every generation. The Pepsi logo looks awfully reminiscent of Obama's, too. But the bottom line is that during a key moment when America stopped to observe something momentous in its history, Pepsi reflected it with this spot. What did your station do?
Today's guest blog is from our own Ralph Cipolla regarding the importance of utilizing social networking sites. So, I go on market visits, do the WTDA-importance-of-all-things-tech rant, and often quote Leo Laporte, who said this at Jacobs Media Summit XIII in Austin, TX: "Go back and tell your personalities – if they are not on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and writing a daily blog two years from now – at the latest – they will be irrelevant." Wow. However, here is what I often hear from more "experienced" members of the...
When I read those Dan Brown novels – especially Angels and Demons – I couldn't help but be taken aback by the mystique and history of the Vatican and, of course, the Pope. But the 21st century reality of his holy highness is that the guy "gets" interconnectedness" and multi-platform communication. While you may think about Pope Benedict XVI as droning on in Latin in front of thousands of worshippers in St. Peter's Square, think about email, texting (the prayer of the day), Facebook (the Pope has a profile),...
The Clear Channel "restructuring" last week continued an industry-wide workforce diet that has been taking place for more than a year. A week doesn't go by where we don't hear from colleagues who have lost their jobs. And many of them have been top performers. It's the economy, stupid. No need to get into a philosophical argument about whether or not these are sound business decisions. Our job is to solve problems for our clients. Instead of wringing our hands about what just happened, we're going to do something...
New data from Nielsen Online clearly shows that the key hours for viewing web video is while workers are at their desks, Monday through Friday. The traditional 9-to-5 segment is "prime time" for online video, as the workforce uses their time (and their companies' high-speed connections) to watch everything from YouTube to Hulu to NBC Universal – to your station's video – that is, if you're providing it. Overall, nearly two-thirds of those who stream online video do so during the traditional weekday 9-to-5 window. This is a key...
While the specifics of precisely who got axed during this week's Clear Channel "restructuring" are still woefully incomplete, a perusal of the cobbled together lists reveals that sales departments may have taken the biggest hits. Tom Taylor's "Radio-Info" reports that Bain Capital has a preference toward sales people who have been around a long time. Obviously, those are the people with the deepest client and agency relationships, which translate into a greater likelihood of immediate sales. But if in the process, younger reps have been the chief victims, what...
Jacobs Media's Bill Jacobs provides insight regarding the popularity of iPhones among the middle class. As a not-so-cheap device, there’s a sense that the main people buying iPhones are those who are well-off. Odds are that’s somewhat true when it comes to smartphones from other manufacturers such as Blackberry, but there’s plenty of evidence that purchases of iPhones run the socioeconomic gamut. In a relatively short period of time, the iPhone has become the second most popular smartphone in the world. Second only to Nokia. And Nokia’s share of the smartphone market...
While the body count numbers continue to roll in, and AllAccess does the tallying (amazing their server hasn't melted down), the much-rumored Clear Channel cutbacks, layoffs, and axings have finally been announced. Mark Mays reports it will amount to a 9% reduction in the company's workforce. The fact they chose to hide behind Inauguration Day is no accident, if not ironic. Nonetheless, everyone in radio is taking notice, and wondering about the implications. So, here is some instant analysis, and like all good blogs, these observations are open for your...
While Classic Rock stations argue about whether they should expose a Springsteen track from the much-awaited new album, Working On A Dream, or Triple A's debate whether they should play the single two or three times a day, and Active Rockers ignore it all together, NPR has figured it out. And in the process, they've become "The Bruce Station." Last weekend, they streamed the entire album, song by song, on their website. And they're the only media outlet that broadcast Bruce's concert at the inauguration celebration this past Sunday....
Jacobs Media's Keith Cunningham weighs in on the immediacy – and impact – of Social Networking on the news & current events: Think back to last week when US Airways flight 1549 splashed into the Hudson River. While the heroism of the pilot and rescue workers has dominated the headlines – and deservedly so – I can’t think of a recent event where the terms “new media” and “citizen journalism” have become so intertwined and so crystallized. In the first minutes after the crash, thanks to Twitter user Janis...
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