4-9-2014
The fans of a sports team are the members of a club. Their team gives them identity, purpose, and adventure.
Political parties, too, give their members identity, purpose, and adventure. Religious organizations and book clubs give their followers identity, purpose, and adventure.
A grandmother adores her grandchildren because they give her identity ... purpose ... and adventure.
Radio alone among the media has the ability to reinforce identity, provide purpose, and advocate adventure.
But rarely does radio tap in to this power.
The Straight Dope (Cecil Adams) is an online answer man famous for providing insight into complex issues. Here?s a question posted on his message board that he hasn?t yet found time to answer, so I?ll do my best to fill in for him:
?Why is Jimmy Buffett such a popular touring artist? He?s had only a few hits, but he sells out every concert. Here in the Cincinnati area, his concerts are the first ones to sell out every summer at Riverbend and he has a huge fan base of Parrotheads. He even has his own satellite radio station and a restaurant connected to his fame, Cheeseburger in Paradise. So what makes him a permanent tour draw over a thousand other musical acts who have had the same level of radio success? Is it that he?s successfully marketed his tours as a ?brand? featuring the concept of mellow music, good times, and summer drinking? Is it the constant touring? Is it dumb luck??
My answer: Jimmy Buffett is an icon because he gives his audience identity, purpose, and adventure. Buffett is Captain Jack Sparrow, a lighthearted, good-timing cartoon pirate. He is sunshine and sand and bikinis and beer. He is freedom from worry. He is innocent mischief.
Jimmy Buffett represents a specific way of looking at the world. You agree with him or you do not.
The Grateful Dead also represented a clearly defined worldview, and their iconic status, like Buffett?s, rose far above their talent.
Most radio stations allow themselves to be passively defined by their playlists. They lack the courage to plainly say, ?This is what we stand for. This is what we believe in. This is how we see the world.?
Most advertising is weak because it isn?t written to persuade. It?s written not to offend. Most radio stations feel generic for precisely the same reason. By trying to include everyone, the station attracts no one very strongly.
People pay attention to whatever gives them a sense of identity, purpose, and adventure. We define ourselves by our alliances. Radio, when it is courageous, steps forward and raises a flag to rally the members of a tribe.
Rush Limbaugh raised a flag, and it seems to have worked out pretty well for him.
Each of us is on a treasure hunt. The differences that separate us are found primarily in the things we value.
Abraham Maslow believed a third of our society lives below the search for identity or above it. Those who live below the search are focused on securing food, shelter, and safety. This is their economic reality. Those who live above the search have a clear sense of identity and they know their purposes precisely. This is their emotional reality. Those who live above the search have adventures that depend on nothing outside themselves.
People who live below ? or above ? the search for identity are effectively immune to advertising. The first group can?t afford what you?re selling and the second group doesn?t care. These people are rarely prospective customers.
Fortunately for businesses everywhere, two-thirds of us buy what we buy to remind ourselves ? and tell the world around us ? who we are. These two-thirds of society are the backbone of the economy. We have needs that have not been met, hungers that have not been satisfied, dreams that have not been fulfilled.
Radio stations have the power to meet those needs, satisfy those hungers, and fulfill those dreams.
But do they have the courage?
Roy H. Williams is president of Wizard of Ads Inc. E-mail: roy@wizardofads.com.
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