Posted by Sideline Reporter on October 25, 2009 at 16:59:39:
There's been a flurry of activity over the past couple of days, surrounding the announcement that Google and MySpace are entering the music world. All radio industry trades are reporting these events as if they are an unexpected consequence of this thing called the World Wide Web.
We'll let everyone else knock about the idea that Google - with its radio ad serving system and, now, music service - is "new" competition. Suffice it to say that this is a part of internet's evolution that radio executives, stuck in defensive positioning over the past decade, couldn't envision. We've heard the lines about how radio survived the introduction of television; radio survived the eight-track tape; the radio industry outlasted the Walkman; therefore, the radio industry will live on forever. And it will, albeit in a far less relevant form than in previous decades - unless radio tries a more focused approach to entering the world of new media.
May I suggest that the latest threat does not come from Google or MySpace as radio industry trade publications predict. Can we put on the table a theory that another story, which broke on the same day as the Google item, may be a much bigger problem than radio losing the race as a music discovery vehicle?
You may have missed the item about Cablevision introducing a new "interactive format" commercial. The story ran in AdAge, and it was posted at AudioGraphics the same day. Here's a sentence from the article: "Launched the week of Oct. 5, the new ad format allows Cablevision's digital-cable subscribers to order up samples, coupons and gift cards from the likes of Unilever, Procter & Gamble's Gillette, New York retailer Century 21 and Benjamin Moore."
That this had nothing to do with radio, on the surface, is probably why none of the radio industry trades mentioned it. Let me throw out this thought, though: This "interactive format" commercial is going to force a sea change in all broadcast and cable advertising. It will, for the first time, place a direct link between the audience and advertiser while striking out the middleman in normal Per-Inquiry spots.
Cablevision's interactive format allows audience members to use their remotes for purchasing, requesting information, requesting coupoons, etc., etc. (Let your mind wander.)
Of greatest importance is that Cablevision now has the capacity to report back to an advertiser the exact number of people who have responded to the message.
Re-read that last sentence because it is where a majority of advertising is headed. It's not too late for the radio industry to start making adjustments in delivering the same.
Explaining options is a weak link in radio's sales chain and herein lies radio's problem when it comes to advertisers. An evolving landscape makes it difficult when radio, as an industry, is still trying to learn basic concepts for training a sales staff to market both over-the-air and online avails. Other industries are well past that point and onto analyzing and testing campaigns for greater response.
Another problem faced by the radio industry is the way it presents itself to potential advertisers. In much the same way that radio made its appearance online, the industry just doesn't seem to understand that the internet is not about boasting - it's about helping others better themselves. Let's take a quick tour of 7 radio station web sites to see what they have to offer relative to explaining advertising packages.
WJR Detroit - Citadel
This is an excellent example to start with. It shows the typical narrow-minded approach to positioning a radio station by selling the points of the station. The telling line is WJR can provide an integrated, multi-media solution that combines “best of breed” practices of radio and Internet to supercharge your company or organization. Trite, by any standard. An apparent flaw is its lacking a message on the benefits that advertising on WJR brings to any client.
Another standard web site design flaw on this page (with its objective of enticing potential advertisers to spend money with WJR) is the presence of so many other items being sold (or linked to) that it's easy for a visitor to get lost in the clutter.
105.9 The X - Pittsburgh - Clear Channel
Coming from a company that claims to lead the online radio revolutions, this is classic impotency, or hubris marked by a lack of any explanation as to "why" an advertiser should follow through with contacting "The X."
Here's the selling point of note for this page: If your ad is on our sites, you can be confident that people will see it. Strong claim, huh? What exactly will the station be providing to bolster my confidence that "people will see it"?
To zero in on minutia that is replicated on many web sites, answer this question. Why would the words on this page, "Want to Advertise on TheX," be a link back to this same page? These words are located on the upper-center-left (exactly where your eyes fall upon first loading the page).
102.9 The Hog - Saga Communications
There's not much to say about what this page offers potential advertisers; little to nothing may be the best description. With the exception of the phrase "Want to advertise on 102.9 THE HOG?," which leads to opening an email, The Hog exerts no effort to help anyone wanting to spend money there. This is a very common mistake made by radio groups. The lesson to learn here is No effort leads to no response.
Star 103fm and Y100fm - Cox Media Group
I'm placing these in the same panel. They represent the "cloning" of pages across a radio group, a dangerously inept way of using online to convey a message. This is a good time to point to a simple fact about nearly any form of online advertising, even advertising the fact that you have advertising: There is a difference between an information page and a landing page.
Conveying information is something we all try to do. In all cases, information must be packaged in a way that's laser-focused on the audience reached. Cloning a page that's used across all radio group stations is a sure way of remaining unfocused. Leaving a small space for each station to "fill-in-the-blank" (as you'll notice on these Cox pages), opens a large company to inconsistencies in positioning. Many times, it simply lets poor approaches stand far too long.
97.9 The Loop - Emmis
Here is radio's worst offender at offering nothing of value to potential advertisers. The Loop is a heritage Chicago station that's either suffering from too much hubris to see what's happening around it, or its management has so much business that it doesn't care what people uncover when researching whether to advertise on this station.
Not only does this page offer a smorgasbord of non-relevant information for someone who clicked on the "Advertise with The Loop" link, it also offers no information at all to the person who is looking for a reason to spend money at The Loop. The call to action here is Advertise with The Loop. Unfortunately, it also doubles as a punch line. The kicker? This page is designed by Emmis Interactive, a reported leader in radio industry online ventures. (*See Reader Response, below.)
WCBS FM - CBS Radio
The best is saved for last. Across my travels at radio industry web sites, CBS Radio is the company that comes closest to delivering what is needed for a potential advertiser to gather information about radio advertising.
This online sales kit offers information relative to what is required for advertising. It shows the various formats (and file sizes) and more details about options than any other site I've visited. The only problem - and it's minor - is that the "Digital Media Spec Sheet" and "Information on Targetspot" are provided in a must-download Microsoft Word document file. The result is that CBS is probably losing many people who simply do not download a file that must be opened to read. Reworking these pages into a PDF or HTML file would greatly enhance the number of follow-throughs from these pages.
If you're going to pick a company that's doing a good job of promoting its advertising prowess online, this is the one.
This article started by discussing the latest from Google. It was turned around to include the interactive advertising system that Cablevision has introduced.
As radio leaders talk about the recession supposedly being over, and we have the head of the RAB now calling for the radio industry to "broadly adopt RDS RT+ radio text functionality" (AllAccess.com), let's take a minute to digest the timing on each of these calls. One has Peter Smyth echoing the misguided words of David Fields, in that next year will be the year because the "bad" is behind us." The other has Jeff Haley, RAB CEO, asking a question that should have been brought up in 2004, when all this talk about radio moving into the digital age started to gain a little steam (emphasis on little).
Anyone who thinks an ending recession will bring radio advertisers back to any degree worth mentioning has been missing all the action that new media used to established itself. For Mr. Haley, who wants desperately to connect to anything new media, your problems go far deeper than a few meta tags that identify songs. Start looking at changing the mindset of outdated managers who still believe that advertising should remain unaccountable.
Look at what Cablevision is introducing as "interactive." Then, ask yourself: Is this something that Cablevision just started to push yesterday, or has it been in the pipeline?
My guess is that unlike radio, Cablevision has been planning their move for a few years.