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Content from BPRRecently I was reminded of how marketing ideas and concepts can vary from spectacular to downright dumb when I came across a presentation by the smart, interesting and always entertaining Mark Ritson presenting his Top 10 list of Bullshit Marketing ideas and concepts.Most people involved in Marketing and media will have their own stories of Bullshit Marketing ideas – viewed from either side of the fence and it doesn’t take much effort to identify a few of these that still exist in most countries in various local and national media.Mark Ritson’s list is more macro and tends to focus on different theories, concepts and ideas that are evaluated on several criteria including:
Nonsense Factor
Damage Score
And the overall marketing BS index.
Of course, most of the comments and criticisms are slightly tongue in cheek but also highlight the risks of committing huge marketing budgets on ethereal concepts like segmenting products into colours or animals.You can find the summary of the 2021 list on YouTube.However, within the narrative of why Bullshit Marketing can be risky, expensive and wasteful, was a timely reminder of the basics of good marketing that can apply equally to media in all forms.
Do my customers (consumers) want it?
Can I deliver it (successfully, professionally and in a compelling way)
Can it be different or meaningfully differentiated from other, similar or competitor products.
The first and last points on this simple list are often overlooked – do the market research and deliver a clear benefit.By Peter Don, BPR […]

Content from BPRI’ve written about the importance of Game Theory previously. But given recent events I thought it would be timely to have another look at the concept, and its importance to a radio station’s overall strategic plan.According to Bloomberg, as China waged military exercises off the coast of Taiwan earlier this month, a group of American defence experts focused on their own simulation of an eventual – but for now entirely hypothetical – US-China war over the island.The unofficial what-if game or Game Theory is being conducted on the fifth floor of an office building not far from the White House, and it posits a US military response to a Chinese invasion in 2026. Even though the participants bring an American perspective, they are finding that a US-Taiwan victory, if there is one, could come at a huge cost.In sessions that will run through September, retired US generals and Navy officers and former Pentagon officials hunch like chess players over tabletops along with analysts from the CSIS think tank. They move forces depicted as blue and red boxes and small wooden squares over maps of the Western Pacific and Taiwan. The results will be released to the public in December.The success of a radio station’s strategy often depends on the strategies of its competitors.As a result of this interdependence, the ability to anticipate your competitors’ strategies is essential. And this highlights the importance of strategic-planning tools such as Game Theory and Scenario Planning.How many times in a strategy meeting do you ask: what if a competitor station changed format?….what if we changed format?….what if we lost our successful morning show?Knowing what you would do in a certain situation is one thing.But the other key aspect of Game Theory is correctly defining what your competitors would do.This is not easy.You need the ability to reverse-engineer the moves of competitors and predict what they are likely to do, what they will avoid doing and what they are actually capable of doing.Getting inside your competitors’ heads is difficult because radio stations (and their decision makers) are usually very different. They often have different cultures, different theories on programming strategy, different budgetary pressures and always…..different talent in their line-up.To use the China/Taiwan/US analogy…different warfare techniques, different weapons and most importantly different political systems and cultures.To really play Game Theory you have to think like your competitors……not think like you would in their situation.You must think like your competitors’ decision makers, which will usually be the Group Content/Program Director or CEO but don’t rule out majority shareholders either. And station programmers will also have a voice in the room.This approach moves you into a thought process that helps turn competitive intelligence into competitive insights.Too often when a competitor launches a direct attack, a station will formulate a defence strategy after the event. In an ideal world, the defence strategy would already be prepared and ready to be implemented immediately so as to blunt the competitor’s attack.As Sun Tzu said: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”  By David Kidd, BPR […]

Users of the Adthos Ad Platform now have even more opportunities to further personalize or target their audio advertising, thanks to the introduction of more than 75 new data API’s.The new API’s cover a wealth of different interest areas including Sports, Travel, Finance, Retail, News and many more. Advertisers will now be able to add extra dynamic information based on data from sports matches such as football, travel data including TSA and other airport wait-times, and updates from the stock market, forex or crypto. There’s the option to utilize price data from retail giants such as Target and Walmart. And they can also engage their audiences with the latest news from Reuters or Google and help share important public health information on issues such as Covid and Monkeypox.In addition, the Adthos ‘Ads Template’ feature offers the ability to generate ads as part of a suite of pre-produced templates that include many of the data API’s. Users can quickly create high-quality audio ads which can be highly targeted thanks to the easy insertion of these dynamic elements.Raoul Wedel, CEO of Adthos says: “There is so much data out there which can be used to enhance the possibilities to target audiences or share crucial up-to-the-minute information, and these API’s put the power in the hands of advertisers, publishers and broadcasters to do just that. We can wait to see what our users do with these new opportunities – and rest assured we are working on even more for the future! ” […]

Pioneering streaming and podcast solutions provider StreamGuys has announced a trio of leadership promotions and appointments.Eduardo Martinez and Jesse Orr have been promoted to VP of Technology and VP of Engineering, respectively, while Tara Strickwerda has taken on the role of Director of Customer Success.Eduardo has been a key contributor and leader at StreamGuys for over 15 years, most recently leveraging his deep podcasting and streaming experience as the company’s Director of Technology. Always on the pulse of the rapidly evolving digital media landscape, he successfully guides StreamGuys in defining and developing their end-to-end SaaS delivery, analytics, management, and monetization products and services. As VP of Technology, he will continue to oversee the planning, architecture, and design of StreamGuys’ growing range of solutions.As VP of Engineering, Jesse meticulously oversees the company’s extensive infrastructure. He is deeply intertwined with every aspect of StreamGuys’ platform, including deploying new technology stacks that support greater levels of automation; tuning and optimizing existing workflows to ensure “epic uptimes” for clients’ services; and writing scripts to support next-generation services. He continually pushes his boundaries, always learning new methods to solve many complex problems inherent in streaming media and sharing his findings with his skilled teammates.As the Director of Customer Success at StreamGuys, Tara is passionate about identifying and meeting the individual needs of the company’s diverse clients. She joined StreamGuys last year with over 25 years of experience delivering simple to complex solutions across multiple industries. A problem solver by nature and education, she applies her skills to addressing real-world problems faced by clients and organizations. Before joining StreamGuys in 2021, she helped turn a struggling aerospace company into a top-performing supplier for aviation component manufacturing.“Our employees are the lifeblood of StreamGuys’ success, and it’s important to us that we provide career paths that enable them to continue developing and meeting their goals,” said Kiriki Delany, president, StreamGuys. “These appointments not only help position StreamGuys for the next stage of the company’s growth, but are also intended to enable these exceptional individuals to continue their own personal advancement. We’re excited to see what they can achieve for our customers, our company, and themselves in their new roles.” […]

Syeda Iffat Jabbar has been appointed he first ever woman station director in the history of Radio Pakistan Peshawar.Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation Headquarters Islamabad issued the notification of her promotion and she took charge of her office in Broadcasting House Peshawar on Friday, September 24.in 1935, before partition, All India Radio Peshawar Station started its transmission and its first station director was Aslam Khattak, who also served as Governor (erstwhile NWFP) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.Hailing from Peshawar, Iffat Jabbar joined Radio Pakistan as a programme producer. Her father, late Syed Abdul Jabbar, was a well-known broadcaster as well.She has represented Pakistan at various national and international forums including BBC London, Voice of America, British Council, Deutsche Welle Germany, Radio Singapore, Radio Japan, Radio Bangladesh, Australia, Malaysia, and received the successful women awards.During the recent floods in the country, she introduced mobile units to help the flood victims and created public awareness to help those affected by the flood.She expressed her determination to continue working towards the improvement of Broadcasting House Peshawar during her service tenure. […]

The DRM Digital Radio Consortium, its many members and partners in India and the world, together with one of its key members, NXP Semiconductors, will hold their third annual India Automotive Infotainment Forum on September 28.This unique forum for major car OEMs, Tier 1’s, automotive ecosystem partners and Indian broadcasters and regulator, was created three years ago and has continued to grow significantly as all the participants share the desire to address Infotainment solutions that will meet Indian consumer aspirations.The hosts have announced that this virtual event (by invitation only) will be an opportunity to explore the most recent DRM developments globally like the successful DRM FM trial in India, the recently concluded DRM AM and FM trials and demonstrations in Australia, the ongoing developments in South Africa, the continuing DRM FM trial in Denmark, etc.Participants will also learn about the extra applications and benefits of DRM digital radio particularly relevant for the automotive environment, such as DRM Emergency Warning Functionality (EWF). Seasoned technical experts and ecosystem partners will offer sessions of live and interactive presentations and demos with a focus on the automotive industry: DRM for VHF/FM, SW/MW EMV noise mitigation DRM Journaline services and DRM EWF.An important component of the event will be the latest technology and deployment updates from some of the forum members and the live demonstrations of various DRM related innovations and solutions benefitting the automotive industry.Ruxandra Obreja, the DRM Chairman, said: “With over 5 million new cars line-fitted with DRM receivers on Indian roads, the Indian automotive industry has clearly embraced DRM digital radio. It is now ready to welcome a governmental decision in favour of extending DRM radio services to the FM band. This will allow the Indian broadcast industry including the private radio broadcasters to benefit from the full set of DRM features of DRM, firmly establishing DRM as the digital audio broadcast option for this large and important country. The demos of DRM in the FM band will show how DRM can enhance the performance of the many cars that an increasing number of Indians desire and will own.” […]