For many radio ad buyers the decision regarding where to place a client’s advertising is simple: What are the numbers?
Sure, there are other factors such as the station’s demographics, coverage area and overall listenership. But numbers are king.
But is that enough? I don’t think so.
Sure, all those factors are important, but if you are a communications professional the decision should also involve research. You should know the stations where you plan to spend your clients’ money and know the kind of content they broadcast.
Here is a real-life scenario:
At a client meeting it was suggested by an advertising executive that the company should spend some advertising dollars on a talk radio station. The numbers made sense.
However, a woman at the meeting protested.
“That station features a host I find personally offensive,” she said. “He recently referred to a woman as a slut. Is that really where we wanted to spend our ad dollars?”
Immediately, all the males in the room started to quiver. They certainly did not want to offend the woman and seem politically incorrect.
None wanted to be considered a misogynist. None wanted any controversy whatsoever, internally or externally.
“Maybe we should skip advertising there,” volunteered one executive. The rest quickly nodded.
The ad executive didn’t miss a beat.
“No problem,” he said, “there are plenty of other stations where we can get our message out.”
He then suggested that those ad dollars could be spent on a highly rated morning show. After all, he said, the host has a coveted young demographic of hip consumers.
Everyone nodded that the morning show would be a wise choice.
However, one young executive wasn’t so sure…
“I know his ratings are strong, but have any of you actually listened to his show?” he asked. ”I am not sure the content is appropriate for our business or our brand.”
A few in the meeting rolled their eyes. This guy must be some sort of born-again Christian. The decision where to place the company advertising was supposed to be a easy.
None of the participants said they had ever listened to the show. However, one noted his teen children listen to it all the time and seem to enjoy it.
“How about I play a segment of the show at our next meeting and we can make the final decision on advertising?” the executive asked. They all agreed and gladly moved on to other items on the agenda they considered much more important.
The group got together a few days later and the young executive hooked up his iPhone and started playing a podcast of the morning show in the meeting. The host spent several minutes talking about oral and anal sex with his fellow on-air jocks and callers. He bragged that the best girls are the ones from broken families where they had “daddy issues” and would do anything to please him.
The conversation then focused on various sex tricks with the host telling a joke about how he almost fell asleep while performing oral sex on a woman he had just met. The female radio host giggled.
The main host then made fun of Christians and their silly beliefs. A comedian then came on the show and spent considerable time talking about the variety of sex he has on the road, and what he likes and dislikes with the various women he picks up along the way. The show broke for a commercial featuring a store selling sex toys.
The room was silent.
Most of the executives were uncomfortable, particularly with a female in the room. One wondered if he could get in trouble with Human Resources for even playing that in a corporate meeting.
He envisioned sitting in a room with a lawyer taking a deposition over the female’s future lawsuit and trying to answer the question: “And is it true you actually played this podcast during a corporate meeting?”
“This is the stuff my kids listen to?” said one executive, who seemed visibly upset. ”I will tell you, if I am embarrassed to listen to this filth in a meeting then I don’t want our company advertising on there.”
The ad executive nodded in approval. Even he had seemed shocked at the content and tried not to show it. After all, he was purely a numbers guy. To him, content was almost irrelevant and he rarely–if ever–listened to any of the stations he recommended to clients.
“Maybe we can look for other stations that are more in-line with your corporate mission and values,” he said with confidence. It was a great recovery from a potential client mess.
Maybe 2013 is the time for companies to make a New Year’s resolution to begin looking simply past the numbers where they spend their advertising dollars. If the content on a radio, TV show or newspaper does not align with the company’s values maybe it is not a wise buy and should be avoided.
The days of simply making ad buying decisions based on numbers are over. It is time to realize that even when the numbers are great, spending ad dollars in an inappropriate place can actually hurt a company, its brand and reputation.
Advertising should be more than a simple numbers game.
BY THE NUMBERS
It’s this same old “let’s just look at the numbers” approach that pretty much explains why the Chiefs draft picks for a number of years now have been busts on the field. The “numbers” may be there, but any number of other desirable attributes a player should possess are clearly missing. Good column, John, and I hope the area’s radio ad buyers are ready to try a new approach to the task before them. Program content CANNOT be overlooked in making decisions with their clients’ money.
VETO BAD FITS
content and “environment” were always part of my evaluations when considering what station(s) to put my ads on when i was adv. mgr. for a heating and cooling company, and again now for my utility clients.
when i was using a media buying service, i’d veto any selection that didn’t seem to be a good fit, despite maybe great numbers. and if i didn’t know the content all that well, i made a point to tune in and find out.
what’s so hard about that? why wouldn’t any client do that?
A RADIO SALESMAN
Wonderful story….warms an old radio salesperson heart….only wish content would be something that buyers would consider….
Part of the problem is that “concern about content” is usually the cry of salespeople for stations that are lower in the ratings. If the station has good numbers, they sell that rating success with every breathe.
As to Mike T’s post…it seems so easy to check the station out before you buy it, but it seldom happens.
STORY IS A JOKE
This story is a joke. It is absolutely incorrect in terms of picking a station. We all know he’s talking about Johnny Dare’s show, what we don’t know is the business type.
I fully understand that some business’ are concerned about the environment, but in marketing/advertising knocking something out because the “environment” is a simple cop out.
Why? The simplest reason is that you’re judging what your potential customers listen to. Why do you care about their choice of entertainement, you’re just trying to reach them with your message.
Put it this way, you might not agree with what a stripper does for a living.. but if you’re a bank, would you let her bank at your place? If you’re a restaurant are you ok with her eating there? If you’re a retail store are you ok with her shopping at your store?
The answer is yes to all of those. You don’t judge people when they come to shop at your business, you only care they have the money to buy your product.
Let me give you another example… Do you find Survivor offensive? Did you know that their highest rated episode ever was one in which women agreed to get naked for the chance to eat some peanut butter (they were hungry). Would knowing that stop you from advertising in that show? Or would you say “yeah, I might not want to watch that, but the people we are targeting are watching it.. and we need to reach them based on what THEY like.. not what I like”
So unless your business is “christian based” or your mission statement speaks to a certain level of ethics, you are doing your client/business a disservice, but knocking something out because YOU don’t agree with the content.
Who cares what you like, only matter what your potential customers like/listen to.
I see the point you are trying to make that ratings don’t mean everything.. and I agree with that.. but to NOT buy something because it’s not your personal choice is very short sighted at best, at worst it can stop you from growing into a market that may be very valuable to you.
Please respond, I’d love to hear how this theory is misguided.
So basically are you saying that if your business is “Christian” or “ethical” it should advertise on radio shows it finds offensive?
If the content of a show is offensive to your management and employees it is a pretty good bet your customers are not listening to it.
Making an ad buying decision strictly on numbers is short-sighted and stupid and can damage a company’s brand.
If you operate a strip club or sell sex items then this might be a good buy. Otherwise, at the very least, it is a waste of ad dollars.