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JacAPPS President Paul Jacobs, following John McAfee's opening keynote on day one of Radio Ink's Convergence ? in which McAfee made some scathing observations about smartphones and privacy ? drew a laugh from the crowd as he asked, "Who would schedule a panel on monetizing mobile after that?" But Jacobs kicked off this key panel with some RAB stats, showing that in 2013, radio was flat to down while mobile was up 16 percent. "Where would you put your focus?" he asked the crowd.
More stats showed that radio advertisers are spending only 12.5 percent of their ad dollars on radio, and Ford Motor Co. is requiring that its dealers spend ever-larger portions of their co-op money on digital. But, he said, "Car dealers aren't sophisticated digital advertisers." He said, "Car dealers are looking for digital solutions, but is radio getting in their face?"
Panelists Jim Kott, SVP of products and marketing at Abacast, and Joe Schembri, VP of corporate business development, sports sales and sponsorships at Entercom, agreed about the importance of mobile. Schembri said, "I see digital as the Holy Grail, and mobile as the key to what we do moving forward." And all agreed that in digital, it's not about numbers, it's about ideas. Schembri said, "Opportunity lies in providing the concepts and ideas" ? not in what a given station is about. Kott said larger advertisers are "trying to get high-impact campaigns, things where there's a visual component to it" ? and advertisers of all sizes are very interested on geotargeting, not wanting to waste a penny of advertising money on someone who's not a prospect. Schembri said, "You can say, 'We're No. 1 25-54, or, 'We have 17,254 people in your market that you can touch in a minute.'" And it's the second will get the call back.
Asked for some specifics, Schembri noted that consumer packaged goods "really resonate with mobile," as consumers may come in to buy with smartphone in hand. Kott said that people now want a multi-faceted approach, that may include not just spots, but video preroll and display."
Kott later noted, however, that if there's no mandate to commit to digital from the top, from the president's level, "It's not going to happen. It's not going to be successful." Schembri agreed that commitment and dedicated digital staff are crucial. All the panelists agreed that bonusing digital is a terrible practice; as Jacobs said, "What is the value of a great idea?" Schembri noted that in the direct business he does, CPM never comes into play. "It goes back to the idea, and the results that are driven from that." Radio needs its "swagger" back, he said, and to truly believe and commit to the power of radio and mobile.
Follow Day Two of Radio Ink's Convergence on Twitter at #CONV14
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