Welcome Radio Ink Readers!
In the January 8, 2008 edition of Radio Ink Magazine, Daniel Anstandig wrote about trends on the 2008 Trend Radar. The following is the article that was pubished, as well as examples of this year's biggest trends.
The 2008 Trend-Radar
By: Daniel Anstandig
A glance at the “2008 trend radar” shows revolutionary change surrounding the way that media outlets and marketers are crafting their communication to consumers. In this week’s Radio Ink, we’ll investigate three trends that give insight into the ways that leaders in media are now reaching consumers and researching/collecting information about their desires.
1. TRANSPARENCY
Transparency is a buzz word in programming and sales this year. As it pertains to listeners, there is unprecedented resonance with programming that is “authentic.” On-air imaging that sells a station’s actual music and features go miles further than grandiose claims of “best music and biggest variety.”
“Number one at work” and “the best music in town” are not benefits to the end-user. Save your airtime on claims of the “best or biggest.” If there’s one consistent key-finding in any of our recent consumer studies or focus groups, it’s that the audience does not believe “ambiguous” marketing claims that seem to make quality judgments on their behalf. They are more open to plain and understandable… “transparent” marketing of your brand.
For an example of this trend in action, view the commercials for the iPhone. Their ads were plain and lucent, demonstrating the iPhone’s appearance and features. Apple didn’t hire attractive “hip” young people to act cool and trendy while using the phone on television. Instead, they let the versatility of the phone speak for itself. In the iPhone commercials, they showcased what the product does. Then, they let the audience decide what it meant to them.
iPhone Ad, Example 1:
iPhone Ad, Example 2:
In radio, our product is not only what comes out of the speakers, but the EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE that listeners have when they tune in. The most effective ads sell the product (music/talk) and the emotional experience of the customer. I&Eye Productions created an exemplary campaign for radio called Animal Testing. This campaign follows philosophy of selling a radio station’s product (the music) as well as the emotional calling-card of the station.
I & Eye "Testing" Campaign, Part One:
I & Eye "Testing" Campaign, Part Two:
Transparency in the world of ad sales…
Local-direct advertisers are demanding more transparency in their campaigns. When an advertiser runs a campaign online, they can track the exact number of impressions, exact number of click-throughs, and exact number of completed sales. Radio stations that offer integrated marketing campaigns (on air and online together) will be able to offer some of these statistics, which can increase the confidence and credibility in their product. We’ll take a closer look at this in a future edition of Radio Ink.
2. SNACK-O-TAINMENT
Snack-o-tainment is a word that was first used by Wired Magazine to describe how poeple now consume entertainment in bite-sized pieces. Whether it’s television, movies, games, or your radio station, the attention span of an average listener is diminishing.
Especially if you are targeting the 18-34 year old demographic, this is no time for promos that take 15-30 seconds to wind up and get to the point. Between cell phones, television, the internet, movies, games, fashion, e-mail, and podcasts, listeners can meander effortlessly from media to media without personal regard to your agenda. Bottom-line for personalities and imaging-producers: Get-yer-point-across-when-ya-got-em.
Paul Bahr and Mike Madrigal at Short Bus Radio do a terrific job of communicating a station’s “personality” and “emotional calling card” quickly through the context of their imaging.
Hear examples online now at www.shortbusradio.com!
3. BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TARGETING
This is an extension of the “age of transparency” we appear to be entering as a society. Now, technology is making it possible for us to track the actions of consumers with more precision than ever before.
Behavioral research is now becoming integrated into the “marketing feedback loop” at many prominent companies—and it is resulting in much more complex targeting. Behavioral research includes profiling a consumer’s purchasing behavior as well as their behavior leading up to their purchase.
For instance, companies like Disney are able to piece together the keywords that someone may enter and the sites they may visit preceding the purchase of a Disney cruise. This type of data can help to make their marketing more precise—and it may establish a “handshake” or communication with the consumer earlier in their search.
Aside from the new targeting and “clustering” of population that this type of data enables, it also opens a new window into the real recorded actions of consumers. Marketers—and radio programmers--are no longer left with nebulous data or perceptual research to observe their audience.
Arbitron’s People Meter (“PPM”) and data from internet-radio streaming / online usage bring us to the verge of a profound breakthrough in research for radio.
The PPM has the potential to integrate valuable behavioral data to a programmer’s war-chest of information. With the PPM, we know that the average number of times a radio listener uses radio is 28.5. We also know that they spend an average of 36 minutes per episode of listening, according to Arbitron’s latest PPM results. Minute-by-minute data will soon be available, which offers insight into exactly which songs, imaging, and personalities retain audience best.
In a future edition of Radio Ink, we’ll look at the PPM more closely and how its feedback of our audience’s behavior can immediately impact programming decisions—and retain listeners longer.
In the mean time, you may be interested in the results of our thorough analysis of Adult Contemporary radio through the eyes of PPM. Mike McVay and Daniel Anstandig presented the results of this study at Arbitron's Consultant Fly-In in December, 2007. Click here to download the powerpoint.
Daniel Anstandig is President/McVay New Media Consulting. Reach him at dan@daer.com.
By: Daniel Anstandig
A glance at the “2008 trend radar” shows revolutionary change surrounding the way that media outlets and marketers are crafting their communication to consumers. In this week’s Radio Ink, we’ll investigate three trends that give insight into the ways that leaders in media are now reaching consumers and researching/collecting information about their desires.
1. TRANSPARENCY
Transparency is a buzz word in programming and sales this year. As it pertains to listeners, there is unprecedented resonance with programming that is “authentic.” On-air imaging that sells a station’s actual music and features go miles further than grandiose claims of “best music and biggest variety.”
“Number one at work” and “the best music in town” are not benefits to the end-user. Save your airtime on claims of the “best or biggest.” If there’s one consistent key-finding in any of our recent consumer studies or focus groups, it’s that the audience does not believe “ambiguous” marketing claims that seem to make quality judgments on their behalf. They are more open to plain and understandable… “transparent” marketing of your brand.
For an example of this trend in action, view the commercials for the iPhone. Their ads were plain and lucent, demonstrating the iPhone’s appearance and features. Apple didn’t hire attractive “hip” young people to act cool and trendy while using the phone on television. Instead, they let the versatility of the phone speak for itself. In the iPhone commercials, they showcased what the product does. Then, they let the audience decide what it meant to them.
iPhone Ad, Example 1:
iPhone Ad, Example 2:
In radio, our product is not only what comes out of the speakers, but the EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE that listeners have when they tune in. The most effective ads sell the product (music/talk) and the emotional experience of the customer. I&Eye Productions created an exemplary campaign for radio called Animal Testing. This campaign follows philosophy of selling a radio station’s product (the music) as well as the emotional calling-card of the station.
I & Eye "Testing" Campaign, Part One:
I & Eye "Testing" Campaign, Part Two:
Transparency in the world of ad sales…
Local-direct advertisers are demanding more transparency in their campaigns. When an advertiser runs a campaign online, they can track the exact number of impressions, exact number of click-throughs, and exact number of completed sales. Radio stations that offer integrated marketing campaigns (on air and online together) will be able to offer some of these statistics, which can increase the confidence and credibility in their product. We’ll take a closer look at this in a future edition of Radio Ink.
2. SNACK-O-TAINMENT
Snack-o-tainment is a word that was first used by Wired Magazine to describe how poeple now consume entertainment in bite-sized pieces. Whether it’s television, movies, games, or your radio station, the attention span of an average listener is diminishing.
Especially if you are targeting the 18-34 year old demographic, this is no time for promos that take 15-30 seconds to wind up and get to the point. Between cell phones, television, the internet, movies, games, fashion, e-mail, and podcasts, listeners can meander effortlessly from media to media without personal regard to your agenda. Bottom-line for personalities and imaging-producers: Get-yer-point-across-when-ya-got-em.
Paul Bahr and Mike Madrigal at Short Bus Radio do a terrific job of communicating a station’s “personality” and “emotional calling card” quickly through the context of their imaging.
Hear examples online now at www.shortbusradio.com!
3. BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TARGETING
This is an extension of the “age of transparency” we appear to be entering as a society. Now, technology is making it possible for us to track the actions of consumers with more precision than ever before.
Behavioral research is now becoming integrated into the “marketing feedback loop” at many prominent companies—and it is resulting in much more complex targeting. Behavioral research includes profiling a consumer’s purchasing behavior as well as their behavior leading up to their purchase.
For instance, companies like Disney are able to piece together the keywords that someone may enter and the sites they may visit preceding the purchase of a Disney cruise. This type of data can help to make their marketing more precise—and it may establish a “handshake” or communication with the consumer earlier in their search.
Aside from the new targeting and “clustering” of population that this type of data enables, it also opens a new window into the real recorded actions of consumers. Marketers—and radio programmers--are no longer left with nebulous data or perceptual research to observe their audience.
Arbitron’s People Meter (“PPM”) and data from internet-radio streaming / online usage bring us to the verge of a profound breakthrough in research for radio.
The PPM has the potential to integrate valuable behavioral data to a programmer’s war-chest of information. With the PPM, we know that the average number of times a radio listener uses radio is 28.5. We also know that they spend an average of 36 minutes per episode of listening, according to Arbitron’s latest PPM results. Minute-by-minute data will soon be available, which offers insight into exactly which songs, imaging, and personalities retain audience best.
In a future edition of Radio Ink, we’ll look at the PPM more closely and how its feedback of our audience’s behavior can immediately impact programming decisions—and retain listeners longer.
In the mean time, you may be interested in the results of our thorough analysis of Adult Contemporary radio through the eyes of PPM. Mike McVay and Daniel Anstandig presented the results of this study at Arbitron's Consultant Fly-In in December, 2007. Click here to download the powerpoint.Daniel Anstandig is President/McVay New Media Consulting. Reach him at dan@daer.com.
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