(AUDIO) Is Your Creative Killing Your Revenue Growth?

5-8-14

Now we know what works for Macaroni Grill. Thanks to a detailed study from Marketing Evolution, commissioned by Clear Channel, we know that radio was very effective for the restaurant when coupled with TV. The mix was 77 percent TV and 23 percent radio. Perhaps we have to swallow the bitter pill of the lopsided percentage radio gets, however the good news is that, in the big, data-driven world we live in today, more data proving the effectiveness of radio are better than less data.

Return on Investment is more important than it's ever been for advertisers and the data from Marketing Evolution should be passed around to as many clients as possible to help close every sale. If you can't take the revenue from TV, take more from the newspaper or Pandora or Google. Rex Briggs is the CEO of Marketing Evolution. Briggs has been helping Fortune 500 marketers improve ROI for more than two decades. He's an expert in unlocking marketing ROI profits through measurement.

Briggs is credited with pioneering many digital measurement techniques, including post-click analysis, attribution modeling, online advertising effectiveness, cross-media measurement, social media effectiveness, and the integration of marketing mix modeling with attitudinal measurement. We spoke to Briggs at length about the study his company did with Clear Channel, how important it is for radio's feet-on-the-street to have more data, what radio can do to grab more revenue and why creative is so important for every advertiser. Ripping bullet points from the newspaper or client website and turning that into a radio commercial is a campaign killer. Anyone can say, "We're not a Clear Channel so we can't afford to put together big study's or come up with big data." Nobody can say every commercial on their station sounds great -- and that's a perfect place to start. Here's our interview with Rex Briggs.

(5/10/2014 10:24:01 AM)
That ownership and management has refused to, first, acknowledge and secondly, to address this issue speaks volumes to the integrity of the ownership.

Further, and this may be the most important part - slapping a little lipstick on, otherwise, crippled pigs (the spots) would only add to the expense of production, but little to the affect of any given set of spots.

Copywriting for radio is a profession - requiring knowledge, experience, skills and, if lucky, some talent.

(5/9/2014 9:48:13 AM)
Chris:
Excellent point. I think I need to interview someone else on that. While Rex focuses on R.O.I., helping us with creative specific probably goes outside what his company focuses on. I think I have that person this morning, from the creative side, which I will be posting Monday. Stay tuned.

Ed

(5/9/2014 9:20:42 AM)
Was really hoping to hear a little more on the creative end, and less on the bean counter aspects. The best piece in there is the damage being done by sales departments trying to rush spots to air same day/next day, using newspaper ads as copy info. I've seen a PILE of horrible copy in my years in radio. The general root of it all is selling companies advertising when they have nothing compelling to say. No story to tell. It's giving businesses reasons to say "I tried radio, and it didn't work.
(5/9/2014 8:44:25 AM)
Correct. Excellent creative DOES take a little extra time and a little extra effort. BUT, the difference it makes in the overall sound of a station AND to the success of a client's campaign cannot cannot be overstated.
(5/9/2014 8:12:18 AM)
One very important point about creative. It takes an investment of time by both the sales rep and the production staff. Good spots take TIME to write and produce. Many companies won't give their people that luxury these days, and that is part of the problem.

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Are The Cubs Killing WGN?

5-23-13

What will it take to bring WGN back to its glory days? It's one thing when you're a recognized sports station carrying play-by-play of a winning major market sports franchise. It's another when you're a hybrid news and sports station and one of the teams you carry is as consistently awful as the Chicago Cubs (currently 18 wins 28 loses in last place).

De Castro's answer to the whether or not the sports/news hybrid format can succeed was "I don't know." Perhaps that non-answer says a lot. On former Chicago Market Manager says over time WGN has been beaten down. 

Most researchers agree play-by-play is not very PPM friendly. When you add the dismal performance of a team like the Cubs, that play so many day games, on an aging frequency on a station trying to successfully execute both news/talk and sports in a major market you have to wonder if de Castro will look to make major programming changes to drive revenue and "grow the audience younger." Here's the perspective from a former Chicago market manager.

"While the call letters remain iconic, the brand has lost all of its luster.  It no longer stands for anything. None of the talent generate water-cooler talk, they all lack relevance to today's Chicago listeners. In neither morning nor afternoon drive do they do a good job of providing information when big news breaks #which used to be a WAGON hallmark#.The station really doesn't even have an identifiable logo #such as WLS's#, nor a single positioning slogan.  The incredible erosion of the Cubs' on-field product and the Cubs brand means that the team does not currently drive passion for WGN.  Because of the over-all station ratings decline and the eroding level of sponsor interest in the Cubs, WGN salespeople are meeting more resistance selling the station and are earning less- resulting in a steady stream of AE's leaving. Chicago is a market where media buyers tend to buy two AM stations for any client: WBBM-AM is a given, and for the past two years, sports-talk WSCR has replaced WGN as the other. They need to find a way to make the station compelling to media buyers who still spend 60% of all market revenue."

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Consolidation is Killing the Radio Business

1-2-12

Ed Levine once worked for Mel Karmazin at WJFK in Washington DC. He says he learned more working for Mel at Infinity in two years than anyone else at any time during his radio career. While employed by Infinity Levine was assembling a plan to make his dream of ownership come true back in upstate, New York. In 1992, Levine would give back his Infinity stock and launch his first station in Utica.

Levine, now with clusters in Syracuse and Utica, is the Radio Ink cover interview on January 21st which focuses on small market radio. Levine says there's a battle brewing between small market radio and the big guns. "Consolidation has caused radio revenue to go backwards. These are not McDonald's. These are not one-system fits all. Every radio station is it's own living, breathing organism."I think that's going to be a very interesting competitive battle over the next five or ten years. It?s really a battle for the soul of radio." Here's more from our interview with Galaxy Communications CEO Ed Levine.

On why the radio industry is not growing its revenue...
"It gets back to blocking and tackling and taking care of the local communities with local personalities, local promotions and local events. You will reap the rewards of that. We've spent the better part of the last 15 years, since consolidation really took hold, coming up with easy answers. At the end of the day, there are no easy answers. The more that we continue to eliminate staff, the more that we continue to broadcast nationally into small markets, the more vulnerable we are going to be. 

What has made radio great locally, is serving the community. It?s an old fashioned concept but it works. That doesn't mean you can't use technology to your advantage. I?m not suggesting you need a full-time news department 24 hours a day. I?m talking about putting some sanity back into the process. If you look at what's happened over the last 15 years, first it was cutting the fat, then you cut the muscle, then the bone. Now they are splitting tissues apart. A lot of the people that have done this are no longer in the industry but they did a lot of damage.

On Pandora...
They found a niche. If you want to have a product that competes with Pandora, and iHeartRadio, God bless. I don't have an issue with that. But to turn your radio stations into nothing more than local versions of Pandora is insane. We are so hung up right now on Pandora and how that's going to destroy radio. Our answer is we make our stations sound more like Pandora. That's crazy logic.  

On how to treat people...
Show them some respect. I think that's one item that has vanished from the radio business these days.

Do you agree with Ed? Leave your comments below or reach out to Ed directly at galaxyceo1@gmail.com

To read more from Ed Levine in our January 21st cover story, order an 1-year subscription to our digital issue HERE. To get a print subscription, go HERE or call 561-655-8778.

(1/2/2013 7:41:37 AM)
All radio, like politics, is local.

Only with radio, people vote with their dials and advertisers with their dollars.

(1/2/2013 7:08:00 AM)
Only corporate management and other delusional individuals would argue against Mr. Levine's position on the damage done by the consolidators and their minion clones.

However, sticking "live", warm buns back behind the microphones at the local level still won't do the trick.

For radio to re-engage audiences and advertisers will require a great deal more skills from those "live" communicators and the writer/producers of the advertising content.

Otherwise, all we would have accomplished is the reinstatement of higher overheads with a minimal chance of enjoying higher ROI's. Still, Ed's suggestions could be considered as an improvement... of a kind.

(1/2/2013 6:29:59 AM)
Great Message! Anyone who loves Radio is applauding...and hopefully taking action.

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The Mason Memo Part Two. Is Clutter Killing Radio? How Much is Too Much?

May 27, 2011

by Ed Ryan

CBS radio boss Dan Mason is one of radio's group heads not afraid to speak his mind and let everyone know what he thinks. When he writes a memo to his employees instead of worrying about somebody leaking it to the radio trades, his staff sends it out. He's visible at industry conventions, not worried about trying to fly under the radar. In light of the increasingly crowded and competitive battle for the consumer's ears these days, there's been a lot of talk about radio figuring out a way to speak with one voice. Mason wouldn't be a bad choice in that role.

His latest memo had to do with a directive given to CBS music stations. After a meeting with a music executive Mason came to the conclusion that the industry needed to do a better job identifying songs and artists on the air. Over the years, for some reason, stations have gotten away from opting, a lot of times, for unprepared and meaningless chatter that turns off the listener. That music exec told Mason identifying the artists would help him sell more music. That brings us back to the age old debate in radio. Why don't jocks back-announce songs? How much clutter is too much clutter? How much mindless chatter can the listener tolerate? There are many questions. And we turned to the industry experts for the answers.

Jacobs Media President Fred Jacobs says we're all struggling with those questions. "Doing great radio and finding the optimal avenues for different formats in which to deliver artist and title information is a key.  This is clearly a promotable benefit.  In research study after research study, listeners tell us that they value this information - and they're frustrated when they don't get it.   The trick is developing the balance of delivering the information in a timely PPM-friendly fashion.  For well-branded stations with strong personality, this won't be hard.  Creative programmers will find a way, and their audiences will benefit from having this information, rather than using Shazam or racing off to a search engine to find out the name of that damn song!"

Jaye Albright of Albright & O'Malley tells Radio Ink there is no boiler plate answer. "The more compelling the personality and the content, the more.  The less personable and relatable the non-music programming on a music FM is, the better the station will do with less of it, as long is the goal is short term only.  LONG term, developing strong entertainers who know how to use content as a magnet, the better the station will do. Listeners like it best when there is NO clutter.  Limiting unwanted elements that make money has always been the greatest programming competitive challenge. Running any clutter of any kind which doesn't drive revenue or usage is foolhardy.
McVay Media President Mike McVay says he's a huge fan of identifying the music. "WBEB/Philadelphia invented the tactic of "Song Tags." That's my favorite tactic. It's a quick recorded blip that announces the song title/artist name. Even if you have the visual tags on the listeners radio tuner, they still want to hear the name of the song that's been played. I do not subscribe to the "one size fits all" philosophy, but I do believe that you have to declare if you're a music station or a personality station. If you're a music station ... play 12 songs minimum per/hour. We've learned from the People Meter that the "tune out" types are gone by the second commercial, if they're tuning out, but if a listeners sticks through two spots, they're likely to hang-in for the complete set.

Lund Media Research President John Lund says the research says that listeners really want this. "Listeners do want to know what played. That?s why stations have this info on their website ? including the last 10 songs that aired.  But it is impractical to B/A all songs in every format since it breaks the flow ? especially in PPM markets. Title and artist is highly desired ? and that means back-announcing after the song, but not fore-announcing.  Stopping to B/A every song will be perceived by some as stopping down.  Must be programmed carefully.  I bet Clear Channel and Entercom are looking forward to all CBS stations back-announcing every song with title and artist.

Humans like humans, and listeners like to hear our air talents communicate one-on-one.  I don?t consider liners to be talk, but rather benefits of continued listening i.e., mini commercials for the radio station, and liners reinforce reasons to listen.  I disagree with one sentence below ? not all talk is perceived as ?all that clutter?.  That would be especially true this week on the Country FM in Joplin, MO Kix 102.5.

Second oldest question in commercial radio:  ?How many commercials an hour do we play?? Oldest is ?what format do we run???  Answer:  Do not play many more than the competition you share audience with.  We?re in the audience satisfaction business and we play the music targeted for the researched demo.  But if we have to stop down, keep it competitive.  Don?t give reasons for customers to shop other stores.

Gary Berkowiz of Berkowitz Consulting says "Yes, yes, yes. I have been a major advocate of this practice for a long time. Afterall, what do DJ's do? They tell you the songs they are playing. I advise my stations that when they are into music, always make the jock raps about the station benefits and the music. The biggest excuse I hear for not doing this is "They know all the songs we play." That is not true. In focus groups across the country, listeners frequently complain that they would like the radio stations to tell them the songs and artists more often. I have been using "song tags" on many stations for the past few years (a recorded backsell on every song played) and the listener reaction is always positive to them.

Listeners hear two things on radio stations. Music and everything else. They do not delineate promos, commercials, liners, etc. Its just music and everything else. For that reason, I try to play as much music as possible, keep it moving forward and still find a way to weave the personalities into the mix. If station promos are not highly compelling, I say drop em!  I believe 12 minutes/12 units max is best. Lately, its the units that are causing problems. I have always believed that listeners hear "messages" not "minutes".

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