(AUDIO) Car Dealer Says Pandora Works

To Joe B, Angelica, and others who are holding onto the past...

Quite a few points to address; the most important being "Pandora is not radio and those touting it as being wonderful don't get what radio is about."

1) Radio is whatever the client/consumer chooses to call "radio." Thinking that you still have the power to define it for each group is a misstep.

2) Do you honestly believe that people who have spent decades in radio "don't get what radio is about"? (I, and many others, fall into this category.) Is it possible you are not getting what "accountability" is about?

3) Re: "The personalities you listen to are your friends..." may have been radio's strong point a decade (or more) ago, but that's a watered-down statement in today's world of voice-tracking and jock layoffs.

4) Re: "I am tired of reading/listening to these worn stories about Pandora. It's all 'hype'..." ... "Please stop writing about it and let it just disappear." So, your solution is to not report on the activity which is captivating media buyers - who are shifting more dollars to new media campaigns each year? How wise is that? If you believe that Pandora (or its form of accountable advertising) will disappear, you are the one needing a reality check.

5) Re: "Do you think there might be just one other dealer who satisfied with the results of radio, or dare I say a radio and digital campaign..." Yes, on the first part, but more dealers are placing more money online for a reason. Also, the radio industry has not demonstrated a true "digital campaign" to date. Not, at least, in the sense of managing metrics and accountability. A banner ad run is not a digital campaign.

Be thankful that you have a publication like Radio Ink that's willing to put itself on the line to bring the fine points of advertising's future to you. As distasteful as those points may be they are where media buying is headed, with or without you.

Radio is a powerful media when done right. But there's been a fracturing of audience, across multiple new audio options, and that, coupled with radio programming not staying as sharp as it was in the past, means change is needed within the industry to maintain relevancy for advertiser and audience.

View the original article here

(LEGAL) What About Those Auto Dealer Disclaimers?

4-6-2012
We hear them every day, well we sort of hear them. Those disclaimers at the end of the automotive commercials, some that are read so fast or so low nobody can really understand them. Do they have to be run? Should listeners be able to understand them? We sent those questions to broadcast attorney John Garziglia.

Disclaimers are the government mandated broadcast of facts about a product or service in an attempt to keep the sell message from being deceptive. 

For radio station owners and management, the important thing to know is that the FCC does not regulate disclaimers.  Specifically, the FCC does not take action against radio stations for deficient disclaimers.  Rather, disclaimer enforcement falls to the FTC whose primary focus is the advertiser and advertising agency, not the radio station.

The FCC?s publication ?The Public and Broadcasting: How to Get the Most Service from Your Local Station?, which every station must under the FCC?s local public file rules keep in the local public file, states that ?the Federal Trade Commission has primary responsibility for determining whether an advertisement is false or deceptive and for taking action against the sponsor.  The Food and Drug Administration has primary responsibility for the safety of food and drug products.? In other words, the FCC does not really involve itself in the area of disclaimers.

But, broadcasters need to be cognizant of serving the public interest.  An allegation at license renewal time that a broadcast station consistently or knowingly ran false and misleading advertisements could cause the FCC to take a closer look at a broadcast station?s license renewal application.  Even so, there are few if any recent cases where the FCC has taken action against a radio station based upon the false or misleading content of spot advertising.  Rather, the areas in which the FCC does get involved are a failure of sponsorship identification, and the running of commercial advertisements by non-commercial educational stations, both of which are entirely different issues.  In recent high-profile cases of misleading financial product or drug advertising, it was not the FCC but either the FTC or FDA going after an advertiser or a radio personality who became a spokesperson for a questionable product. 

The FTC disclaimer rules include the 900 Number Rule, the Truth in Lending Act, and the Consumer Leasing Act, all of which have specific requirements that certain information must be "clearly and conspicuously" disclosed.  The FTC states that ?when the disclosure of qualifying information is necessary to prevent an ad from being deceptive, the information should be presented clearly and conspicuously so that consumers can actually notice and understand it.?  The FTC often takes action when a disclaimer or disclosure is hard for consumers to understand. 

There is no question but that lengthy disclaimers and disclosures make for lousy advertising copy and creative.  Even though disclaimers may be mumble mouthed, speeded-up, processed or unintelligible, making compliant disclosures is generally the advertiser?s, not the radio station?s, burden.   That being said, if a station becomes aware of a patently false ad for a commercial product or service, it should think twice about running it, not only to protect its own good will with its listening audience, but also so as to continue abiding by that nebulous but important FCC standard of serving the public interest. 

Fore more articles from John Garziglia go HERE
You may also like David Oxenford's BLOG

John F. Garziglia is a Communications Law Attorney with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice in Washington, DC and can be reached at (202) 857-4455 or jgarziglia@wcsr.com. Have a question for our "Ask The Attorney" feature? Send to edryan@radioink.com.

(4/8/2012 3:24:04 PM)
How 'bout an overall, general disclaimer run once an hour? Something along the lines of: "This station is not responsible for any advertiser's claims, especially the ones that are lies."

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View the original article here

(LEGAL) What About Those Auto Dealer Disclaimers?

4-6-2012
We hear them every day, well we sort of hear them. Those disclaimers at the end of the automotive commercials, some that are read so fast or so low nobody can really understand them. Do they have to be run? Should listeners be able to understand them? We sent those questions to broadcast attorney John Garziglia.

Disclaimers are the government mandated broadcast of facts about a product or service in an attempt to keep the sell message from being deceptive. 

For radio station owners and management, the important thing to know is that the FCC does not regulate disclaimers.  Specifically, the FCC does not take action against radio stations for deficient disclaimers.  Rather, disclaimer enforcement falls to the FTC whose primary focus is the advertiser and advertising agency, not the radio station.

The FCC?s publication ?The Public and Broadcasting: How to Get the Most Service from Your Local Station?, which every station must under the FCC?s local public file rules keep in the local public file, states that ?the Federal Trade Commission has primary responsibility for determining whether an advertisement is false or deceptive and for taking action against the sponsor.  The Food and Drug Administration has primary responsibility for the safety of food and drug products.? In other words, the FCC does not really involve itself in the area of disclaimers.

But, broadcasters need to be cognizant of serving the public interest.  An allegation at license renewal time that a broadcast station consistently or knowingly ran false and misleading advertisements could cause the FCC to take a closer look at a broadcast station?s license renewal application.  Even so, there are few if any recent cases where the FCC has taken action against a radio station based upon the false or misleading content of spot advertising.  Rather, the areas in which the FCC does get involved are a failure of sponsorship identification, and the running of commercial advertisements by non-commercial educational stations, both of which are entirely different issues.  In recent high-profile cases of misleading financial product or drug advertising, it was not the FCC but either the FTC or FDA going after an advertiser or a radio personality who became a spokesperson for a questionable product. 

The FTC disclaimer rules include the 900 Number Rule, the Truth in Lending Act, and the Consumer Leasing Act, all of which have specific requirements that certain information must be "clearly and conspicuously" disclosed.  The FTC states that ?when the disclosure of qualifying information is necessary to prevent an ad from being deceptive, the information should be presented clearly and conspicuously so that consumers can actually notice and understand it.?  The FTC often takes action when a disclaimer or disclosure is hard for consumers to understand. 

There is no question but that lengthy disclaimers and disclosures make for lousy advertising copy and creative.  Even though disclaimers may be mumble mouthed, speeded-up, processed or unintelligible, making compliant disclosures is generally the advertiser?s, not the radio station?s, burden.   That being said, if a station becomes aware of a patently false ad for a commercial product or service, it should think twice about running it, not only to protect its own good will with its listening audience, but also so as to continue abiding by that nebulous but important FCC standard of serving the public interest. 

Fore more articles from John Garziglia go HERE
You may also like David Oxenford's BLOG

John F. Garziglia is a Communications Law Attorney with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice in Washington, DC and can be reached at (202) 857-4455 or jgarziglia@wcsr.com. Have a question for our "Ask The Attorney" feature? Send to edryan@radioink.com.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

(AUDIO) New Jersey Car Dealer Says Pandora Works And I Can Track Results

To Joe B, Angelica, and others who are holding onto the past...

Quite a few points to address; the most important being "Pandora is not radio and those touting it as being wonderful don't get what radio is about."

1) Radio is whatever the client/consumer chooses to call "radio." Thinking that you still have the power to define it for each group is a misstep.

2) Do you honestly believe that people who have spent decades in radio "don't get what radio is about"? (I, and many others, fall into this category.) Is it possible you are not getting what "accountability" is about?

3) Re: "The personalities you listen to are your friends..." may have been radio's strong point a decade (or more) ago, but that's a watered-down statement in today's world of voice-tracking and jock layoffs.

4) Re: "I am tired of reading/listening to these worn stories about Pandora. It's all 'hype'..." ... "Please stop writing about it and let it just disappear." So, your solution is to not report on the activity which is captivating media buyers - who are shifting more dollars to new media campaigns each year? How wise is that? If you believe that Pandora (or its form of accountable advertising) will disappear, you are the one needing a reality check.

5) Re: "Do you think there might be just one other dealer who satisfied with the results of radio, or dare I say a radio and digital campaign..." Yes, on the first part, but more dealers are placing more money online for a reason. Also, the radio industry has not demonstrated a true "digital campaign" to date. Not, at least, in the sense of managing metrics and accountability. A banner ad run is not a digital campaign.

Be thankful that you have a publication like Radio Ink that's willing to put itself on the line to bring the fine points of advertising's future to you. As distasteful as those points may be they are where media buying is headed, with or without you.

Radio is a powerful media when done right. But there's been a fracturing of audience, across multiple new audio options, and that, coupled with radio programming not staying as sharp as it was in the past, means change is needed within the industry to maintain relevancy for advertiser and audience.

View the original article here