The Economy Did Not Cause Radio’s Problems
Labels: Future, John Parikhal, Predictions, Radio, Steve Rivers
Joint Communications CEO John Parikhal was rummaging through some old cyber-files in his office over the weekend and came across an interview he did with legendary radio programmer Steve Rivers in 2005.
In the article, John put on his "hat" as a longtime media guru and futurist and shared some predictions about radio's future, which clearly came true.
Asked what he saw as true "radio killers" between then and 2010 Parikhal (pictured) replied,"The biggest killer of all will be current management, unless they: Stop dancing to Wall Street's whip, institute formal training and recruitment, start surrounding themselves with smart people who challenge them, create cultures of formal innovation and begin to get serious about spot loads. Radio can control this. They can't control [Apple CEO] Steve Jobs, the Internet or any other of the so-called "killers" of the medium."
Parikhal says that while many in radio today are blaming the economy for the industry’s woes, re-reading what he said five years ago suggests otherwise."This was all predictable, long before the current economic crisis," he says. "You could see it coming, yet irresponsible people — who didn’t want to invest the necessary time and money — caused terrible pain for so many in the industry."
For a re-read of the full article, click here.
And what about some other past predictions? Here's some more thinking from 2006 about the pending state of radio just prior to the economic ad rev meltdown.
As a reminder, here is what John said in September 2009 at this year's annual NAB on how radio to get back its growth.
posted by Unknown @ Monday, November 23, 2009,
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Branding: Share-Able and Share-Worthy
Labels: Branding, Canadiens, Logo, Marketing, Purple Cow, share-able, social media, Viral
More and more, brands are "opening up" their brands by making them "share-able" -- how they get used and where they show up, to be enjoyed by various online user communities.
Being "share-able" is not enough.
"Share-worthy" should be the goal.
Such as the picture at right. The Montreal Canadiens know exactly how to draw your eyes to their logo. And now that it is on the Internet, that brand logo placement can be shared with far more than just the people who saw the woman wearing the outfit that day.
BMW Mini Cooper advertising may have started the trend of placing brands in unusual settings a decade ago, later 
explained by media thinker Seth Godin as a form of unusual and remarkable "purple cow" marketing.
With online viral content, user-generated customized mash-ups, "green screen challenges", customized theme avatars and various social media platforms, brand "sharing" among people is stronger than ever...allowing marketers to participate and engage in meaningful advertising campaigns by giving people a chance to develop a deeper relationship with their favorite brands.
Brands know they have to be part of the action online by offering their brands in "share-able" and "share-worthy" ways.
In the end, brand logo placement online impacts marketing bottom line results...and cheeky social media buzz campaigns often keep brands from falling behind the competition.
posted by Unknown @ Thursday, November 12, 2009,
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