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Yes, with the emphasis on "a little".
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Bob Hoffman on Advertising B.S: missed opportunities in the 50+ demo
- Thread starter joebtsflk1
- Start date
Yes, with the emphasis on "a little".
Anyone that dismisses the need to advertise to the group with the most disposable income.
If the clients aren't buying spots for this demo, you're selling wrong.
If there was only one person doing the selling, you might be right. But there are literally thousands of salesmen from hundreds of companies, and the results are the same.
Why blame the radio people? Obviously the problem is with the advertisers.
Exactamente. And (at least from my reading of it) was the takeaway from Hoffman's talk, that agencies, their advertiser clients, the media, all may be in a rut. It may be that the money demo is now 50 plus per the stats he cites. The big unknown is whether 50 plus may be the new sweet spot for results from advertising.
Hoffman cites the example of how Apple built the iTunes brand as evidence that good ol' mass market advertising still works. If iTunes targeted 50 plus, would the results have been as good?
One thing I'll tell you is that Apple didn't use OTA radio at all to market the iPod. The Microsoft Zune did. Compare the results.
I can only give a real-world example. My parents (in their 70s at the time) bought a helicopter ride over Nashville after hearing about it over WSM. I don't listen to country music (especially that which predates me!) so I never would have heard about it. I only know about this because they took me on the ride with them. The flight would have cost them the same whether just three seats on the chopper were filled (the pilot, along with my parents), or all four, with me being number four. So they took me along as well, or more precisely, offered to take me along, which I accepted.
I don't really see helicopter rides as being a particularly easy sell to seniors (as opposed to, say, pharmaceuticals) but they were able to sell a flight to my parents, anyway.
I don't really see helicopter rides as being a particularly easy sell to seniors (as opposed to, say, pharmaceuticals) but they were able to sell a flight to my parents, anyway.
I personally like advertising that is incorporated directly into the programming, and is actually relevant to the programming. Live spots read by the djs do this really well, but of course, with automation, you really don't have that anymore. But if we can at least get recorded commercials that are relevant to the programming, that would be great. Such as local record stores sponsoring music programming.
I could do without Flo and her kazoo coming up every 10 minutes. When she says "don't change the channel, I'm on all of them," she ISN'T kidding! Overkilled commercials are just as much of a turnoff as overplayed songs!
Local record stores? Really? Have you been out at a mall lately?
I worked in record retail once. I'm here to tell you that record stores didn't pay for advertising. It was all co-op with the labels. The labels don't do that kind of thing any more. iTunes doesn't advertise. They don't have to.
Here's what I've noticed: Record labels and artists are now competing for advertising money with radio stations. So a radio station may get co-op with an artist or label promotion, but it comes with advertising for some drug company that they must run as part of the promotion. So the spot you hear might not have been sold by the station, but it's a must-run for the fly-away or local concert. Lot of big changes in the way things are done now.
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Well, I was referring to a local used record store or two, but at any rate, Nissan buying up every avail during local newscasts definitely does NOT make me want to buy a Nissan, even if I could afford a new car now.
Again, advertisers must talk TO us, rather than AT us.
This is definitely NOT true. As production director of a local station back in west TN where I used to live, I produced a spec spot or two for a potential client. Probably saved a saleswoman some potential embarrassment because I knew how to pronounce the name of a local town where one of this bank's (her client) branches was located.
Which part of what I said was not true? At what point did you get involved? Before or after the sale?
Since you obviously cannot read, I will just refer you back to the original message. What do you think a "spec spot" is for? Stop being obtuse. Remember, talk TO people, not AT them.
Why won't you simply answer my question?
Why are you being obtuse? Don't you know what a "spec(ulative) spot" is for? Don't even have to be in the biz to know that one!
I'm not being obtuse. You said I was wrong. I asked where. You refuse to answer. I know what a spec spot is, but that's not what we were talking about.
Are you in the room with the salesperson making the sale? If not, then what I said is not wrong.
Hint: Read the CONTEXT, don't just react to what I said.
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I produced a demo spot for a potential client. This should be plainly obvious for anyone who isn't being intentionally obtuse. But of course, you are NEVER wrong about anything, are you?
At that point, I would be much more likely to make changes for the client, but after I produced it and put it on the air, I would much prefer that they leave it alone until it ran its course. The station didn't pay me enough to produce new copy for every client every day. If I had to do that, I probably would have requested to be let out of my board shift.
So you're saying I'm wrong because you ONCE produced a demo spot for ONE client? Who is the one being obtuse here? If it only happened only once or twice, then what I said was basically correct. The exception is not the norm. And the point is you weren't in the room with the salesman and client before the sale, which was what we were talking about.
Ummm, no it isn't. You didn't bring up that "in the room" b.s. until AFTER I cornered you. Nice try on changing the subject.
I never counted how many spec spots I produced for clients because I did not know at the time that some anal-retentive jerk on a message board would ask me about it 20+ years later!
You remind me of my anal-retentive boss at that particular station. I had no desire to make HIM rich, so I left. That is why his airstaff was mostly 19-year-olds, and most of them couldn't have produced an air-worthy spot if their very lives depended upon it. Our news director had the same beef with how they "delivered" newscasts.
I didn't "ask" you about anything. My post wasn't directed at you at all. You came in and wanted to prove me wrong, completely unprovoked and out of the blue. You haven't been in this thread at all until you got a bug in your butt. Now you're calling me names because you don't like what I said. Too bad. Grow up! If it's been 20 years, why does it still bother you so much that you feel compelled to bring it up?
So now you are complaining about me "hijacking" a thread? What goes around comes around, doesn't it? Actually you DID ask me about something. "Answer the question," blah blah blah. Love how you change the subject when you get cornered.
Actually I considered going into sales. I considered going with this particular saleswoman on one of her sales calls, and letting the afternoon guy (who wanted my midday shift, because he lived out of town and wanted to be on earlier) have my shift. I considered giving up my shift and letting him have it (and the GM's stepson, still in high school at the time could have afternoons). I was bored with my "bored" shift. I could have done full-time production, and transitioned into sales, and probably still drawn salary until my commission was up to speed, but by then, I had had it with the GM, and had no desire to make him any richer. Again, you gotta treat your people well, or they will leave.
That's what I like about this board. The working people have a voice, and the corporate guys cannot chase us away. They don't sign our paychecks (anymore) so their word is not law. It frustrates them that they cannot chase us away. It frustrates them that we can tell the truth about them, and there is nothing that they can do about it. You corporate guys are NOTHING without us.
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