Hear 2.0

Beware Fairy Tale Marketing

From Brand Autopsy...

And I like it so much I'm going to copy it verbatim:

Does marketing need reform?

It’s no wonder consumers have become jaded, cynical, and distrustful of marketing – they’re forced to endure fairy tale marketing from marketers.

My comments:

Even the most cursory listening to your radio station reveals a zillion spots with a manufactured (read: fake-sounding) story. And our own "stories," as demonstrated by our own TV spots, aren't much better.

It's the difference between being real and being Mother Goose.

It's the difference between authenticity and "Best Mix"icity.

You choose. Or your audience will do it for you.

Take a picture - it lasts longer

Is it possible to involve the audience with your advertising and in so doing demonstrate its effectiveness?

Well, JANE magazine thinks so.

Check out how they're doing it here.

Thanks to AdRants.com for the link.

Barrons socks it to Radio

Radio Business Report quotes from the cover story of Barrons, which features what RBR calls "a scathing attack on radio stocks as a place to invest." According to RBR, the story says that the folks who run radio companies "may not be facing up to the full extent of the industry's challenges." While the demise of radio has been forecast many times before, "things could really be different this time," the article said.

Not to suggest there aren't elements of truth in this, but where in God's name is Radio's PR campaign? Are we really that bad off as an industry? Are we going to simply stand by as Barrons uses the photo shown here to illustrate their story? Is this an accurate depiction of YOUR corner of the industry? Because it sure doesn't describe mine.

Paradigm Shift This

Here's a book you should look into.

It's called "The Power of Impossible Thinking" by Wharton prof Yoram Wind.

It'll shake up your thinking and crack open your stale "mental models." Strongly recommended.

Especially if you're a record label.

For those of you who don't mind long Adobe PDF documents, you can find the ENTIRE book at no charge here.

More Sports fallout

First, a supportive note from a former Sports Radio PD, after I told him some of his former peers were none too appreciative about my piece critical of Sports Radio:

"Hey Mark, of course most don't agree-they are the same dumb asses that wanted all stats sports radio...they think guy talk is cool for testoterone,,,but it is over done, and found on all male leaning stations, regardless of format. it always comes back to entertainment, and branding heros is a part of the imaging, root for the underdog, and the common man(woman)."

And also, the ratings results are in for the hero-driven Olympics, and as the Daily News says:

"With 188 million viewers tuning in so far, the Athens Games are on track to be the most-watched summer Games ever."

RIAA is once again W-R-O-N-G

From today's All Access:

The RIAA today brought new copyright infringement lawsuits against 744 individuals on a variety of P2P platforms, including eDONKEY, LIMEWIRE, GROKSTER and KAZAA, among others. So-called "John Doe" lawsuits were filed in ATLANTA, ST. LOUIS, OAKLAND, NEW YORK, AUSTIN, COVINGTON, DENVER, TRENTON, and MADISON, while an additional 152 lawsuits were filed against "named" defendants (meaning individuals who were identified through the litigation process and then declined or ignored an RIAA proposal to settle the case).

"Just as enforcement strategies for street piracy adapt with changing circumstances, the same goes for combating piracy online," said the RIAA Pres. CARY SHERMAN. "We are adjusting and expanding our efforts to target illegal file sharing on additional platforms like eDONKEY and others. There will always be a degree of piracy, both on the street and online. But without a strong measure of deterrence, piracy will overwhelm and choke the creation and distribution of music."

MY COMMENTS:

The RIAA continues their idiotic and time-honored approach of appealing to customers by suing them. One correction, though, RIAA: Without this "strong measure" of deterrence, piracy will not choke the distribution of music, it will only impair the distribution of music in the way you prefer to distribute it. In some industries, attention is paid to giving the consumer what they want the way they want it. No doubt yours is the only exception.

Also, will someone please show me how these harsh efforts have reduced file-sharing? Because all the statistics I've seen show that file-sharing has INCREASED DESPITE these lunatic lawsuits.

Isn't that the definition of insanity, something doesn't work but you keep doing it?

When oh when will a bold radio station with a high proportion of file-sharing listeners take up this banner and fight?

That's what I call a cause.

Radio Badvertising

Here's a post from management consultant Tom Peters' crew called "The Museum of Badvertising."

Delta ("Delta Gets you There") and Century 21 ("We won't show you houses you don't want to see") are lambasted for promising to deliver the most basic, low-level benefits, without saying anything distinctive and without telling us anything unique about themselves.

I could make the same criticism about lots of Radio Station TV spots - especially the ones that illustrate what the station plays with a me-too roster of artists that are literally a cross-section of any and every station and resembles nothing so much as a pastiche of music videos.

Yawn.

Creating Customer Evangelists for Free

In case you lack either the time or the inclination to do the smart thing and buy Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba's great book, Creating Customer Evangelists, I hereby present the next best thing:

It's Ben and Jackie's Customer Evangelist Manifesto.

And you can download it for free.

Please do.

You Can't Fight a Good Lie

A No-Nonsense Marketing Smart Tip
August 25, 2004

Every day in your market numerous stations make positioning claims. Claims listeners don't hear. Claims listeners don't believe. Claims listeners aren't impacted by or attracted to. Claims that fail to tip listener behavior in the direction of the stations doing the positioning. How is it that listeners believe what they want to believe no matter what you say?

Radio and the Cardiff Giant

In 1869 the fossil of a "giant" was discovered. He was 10 feet tall with 21 inch feet. So strange a sight was he that thousands of visitors shelled out 50 cents a piece to see him at a remote farm in Cardiff, New York.

Scientists scoffed that this "fossil" was nothing but a sloppy hoax, a bad likeness carved from a slab of gypsum. Science had spoken. The Cardiff Giant was, in the words of one writer, "an impossibility, a statue, a clumsy fraud, and just plain silly." But did that keep away the crowds? Not on your life. The throngs kept thronging - in spite of the "truth." So strong was the desire to believe the myth, the myth was truer than the truth.

Who is Your Market's Cardiff Giant?

Every market has its local institution, the radio station that can do no wrong and can withstand all competitors. They own their position so you can't. All you can do is throw your marketing dollars at the audience hoping to dent them just the wee littlest bit.

Maybe they're really that good. Or maybe they're the Cardiff Giant. No matter how true your message. No matter how sizable your merits. No matter how decisive your music quantity. No matter how entertaining your morning show. People believe what they want to believe. They believe in the Cardiff Giant.

Print the Legend

Positioning is poorly designed when it speaks facts which may be true - but which fly in the face of what the audience wants to believe. If the audience WANTS to believe that your competitor is the variety station, don't waste your time trying to change their minds. If they WANT to believe that your competitor is a non-stop music machine, find a different benefit to communicate. The customer - and the listener - is always right.

If you don't believe me, just ask Huckster extraordinaire P.T. Barnum. He badly wanted to tour the Cardiff Giant but the "fossil's" owner refused. Undeterred, Barnum cast a fake of the fake which outdrew the original!. Remember, it's not the facts that count, it's what the audience believes that counts. As the movie cowboy says, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

TLC's "Taking Care of Business"

And you thought business wasn't entertaining?

Don't tell that to TLC, whose Taking Care of Business premieres this October.

Why am I talking about this? Because my friend Richard Laermer, head of RLM Public Relations, is one of the Four Bizketeers who invade various small businesses and help them transform into raging successes. It's Trading Spaces for the boardroom!

See Richard in your living room this Fall.

And tell your friends, TLC stands for "The Laermer Channel."