Friday, May 7. 2010
Where is the real power . . .
Posted by Howard Kosky
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So, after a weekend of yet more conjecture having woken up on Friday to the news that no single party had won the election and that the exit poles appeared to have got it right, communication experts have begun to dissect the campaigns to look at where it went right or, more worryingly for some, where it went wrong and what lessons there are to be learned.
But what can we in the communications industry learn or, more to the point, be reminded of from this campaign?
As with many brands and organisations, the UK's political parties have tried to engage with an audience, build a community and deliver a call to action to ‘buy’ their brand i.e. to vote for them. One could argue that, collectively, they have done a very good job. Turnout was up and there were queues outside the ‘shops’ / polling stations of people keen to 'buy' one of them.
We’ve seen traditional marketing tactics deployed including above-the-line advertising. There has been print media editorial with some newspapers switching allegiances, point-of-sale with local sampling teams and broadcast, but what happened to Social Media?
It was only a few months ago that we were being told that this was the election where Social Media would take its place in influencing the political shape of the country in the same way perhaps Barack Obama’s campaign did in the US. However for me, with a vested and subjective interest, I will have to stand in the corner and raise my hand for the power of broadcast and how this media has, once again, shown its strength to influence.
For the first time we have had the Leader Debates, if we can describe them as such. I would argue they were more influential in mobilising an audience than the traditional TV ad of the party political broadcast. We can also analyse the debates themselves and the personal performances of the ‘brand spokespersons’ and draw conclusions and analogies to what we deal with day to day. There is no doubt they were effective in engaging an audience with a call to action to register and vote, but how much influence did each spokesperson have on us the electorate to 'buy' their brand? Nick Clegg most certainly used the opportunity to raise awareness for the Lib Dems and looks set to have a big say in the final outcome if the activity of the last few days is anything to go by.
As we all know, when you are dealing with a powerful media, its great when it goes in your favour but tread careful and be respectful to it, otherwise it can also work against you. One only has to observe Gordon Brown’s ‘gaffgate’ episode to see this in practice.
Rule one as anyone will tell you in broadcast is to assume the mic is live at all times until you are certain its been switched off. I watched with intrigue not only that moment unfold 'live' on television, but also as the TV cameras followed Brown into the radio studio to be interviewed by Jeremy Vine. This is a media which can mobilise itself very quickly and whilst being made aware of the recording and realising the severity of his comments, Brown importantly also realised the influence of broadcast media.
So whilst no one party can claim an outright victory, I hereby declare Broadcast the winner and a timely reminder of its power to influence.
But what can we in the communications industry learn or, more to the point, be reminded of from this campaign?
As with many brands and organisations, the UK's political parties have tried to engage with an audience, build a community and deliver a call to action to ‘buy’ their brand i.e. to vote for them. One could argue that, collectively, they have done a very good job. Turnout was up and there were queues outside the ‘shops’ / polling stations of people keen to 'buy' one of them.
We’ve seen traditional marketing tactics deployed including above-the-line advertising. There has been print media editorial with some newspapers switching allegiances, point-of-sale with local sampling teams and broadcast, but what happened to Social Media?
It was only a few months ago that we were being told that this was the election where Social Media would take its place in influencing the political shape of the country in the same way perhaps Barack Obama’s campaign did in the US. However for me, with a vested and subjective interest, I will have to stand in the corner and raise my hand for the power of broadcast and how this media has, once again, shown its strength to influence.
For the first time we have had the Leader Debates, if we can describe them as such. I would argue they were more influential in mobilising an audience than the traditional TV ad of the party political broadcast. We can also analyse the debates themselves and the personal performances of the ‘brand spokespersons’ and draw conclusions and analogies to what we deal with day to day. There is no doubt they were effective in engaging an audience with a call to action to register and vote, but how much influence did each spokesperson have on us the electorate to 'buy' their brand? Nick Clegg most certainly used the opportunity to raise awareness for the Lib Dems and looks set to have a big say in the final outcome if the activity of the last few days is anything to go by.
As we all know, when you are dealing with a powerful media, its great when it goes in your favour but tread careful and be respectful to it, otherwise it can also work against you. One only has to observe Gordon Brown’s ‘gaffgate’ episode to see this in practice.
Rule one as anyone will tell you in broadcast is to assume the mic is live at all times until you are certain its been switched off. I watched with intrigue not only that moment unfold 'live' on television, but also as the TV cameras followed Brown into the radio studio to be interviewed by Jeremy Vine. This is a media which can mobilise itself very quickly and whilst being made aware of the recording and realising the severity of his comments, Brown importantly also realised the influence of broadcast media.
So whilst no one party can claim an outright victory, I hereby declare Broadcast the winner and a timely reminder of its power to influence.
Thursday, May 6. 2010
The IAB interviewed our Digial & Social Media Director, Russell Goldsmith, about using video effectively across online.
Questions included
What can broadcast and interactive video add to your social media activity?
What methods can you use to push it out there?
What are the best ways to encourage consumers to interact?
What if the subject matter isn't particularly exciting, for example with some B2B brands?
Can you talk us through a case study that you're really proud of?
What guidance can you provide on best practice in the social space?
What kinds of measurement are meaningful within interactive video?
Visit: http://www.iabuk.net/socialmedia for help in using your brand within social media.
To find out more and to keep updated about what's happening in social media, visit: http://iabuksocial.co.uk/
Questions included
What can broadcast and interactive video add to your social media activity?
What methods can you use to push it out there?
What are the best ways to encourage consumers to interact?
What if the subject matter isn't particularly exciting, for example with some B2B brands?
Can you talk us through a case study that you're really proud of?
What guidance can you provide on best practice in the social space?
What kinds of measurement are meaningful within interactive video?
Visit: http://www.iabuk.net/socialmedia for help in using your brand within social media.
To find out more and to keep updated about what's happening in social media, visit: http://iabuksocial.co.uk/
Thursday, April 22. 2010
It was only a few months ago that the conversation amongst commentators and marketing professionals was all about how this year's General Election was going to be the first influenced by social media, following the model of success used by Barack Obama in the USA.
However whilst one will acknowledge that yes social media is most definitely influencing our daily lives and those of customers and audiences, the election itself has also provided a stark reminder of the true power of traditional broadcast and in particular TV.
Whilst as an agency we have undertaken WebTV debates with the three main party leaders with excellent response, I do need to acknowledge the overwhelming power of the live TV debates. Nick who? a few months ago to now a genuine candidate who could yet have a big say in the final decision as to who is Prime Minister. What has interested me amongst all the goings on is the way the Lib Dems and Nick Clegg have mobilized the youth vote. Have they relied on social media; the media of choice for this age group?
As an observer with an interest in both media and politics I have been intrigued to see how they have used traditional methods to encourage young people to both register to vote and then show an interest. Was it Facebook & Twitter encouraging young people to vote or Nick Clegg . . . or was it the media playout i.e. the Live TV debates and his performance in front of camera? My view would be Social Media most certainly helped promote and bring it to the attention of many, but is was the performance and campaigning messages of Nick Clegg on TV that has potentially mobilized their audience to register and vote.
As I write this we are about to witness the second of the Live TV debates, and observers and commentators alike will analyze the performances once more and the tactics of each candidate to try and gauge what impact it has had on peoples choice of vote. At this point it would be good to remember we should be voting for our local MP and policy as technically we do not cross the box for who we want as Prime Minister.
So if we were to draw an analogy from the election to the world of commerce, does a strong orator and communicator automatically make a good leader ahead of their actual leadership or management skills. Is Richard Branson a better leader than Michael O’Leary?
One thing is for certain, the election has reminded us of how a strong interview on television can still have a huge influence on the masses.
However whilst one will acknowledge that yes social media is most definitely influencing our daily lives and those of customers and audiences, the election itself has also provided a stark reminder of the true power of traditional broadcast and in particular TV.
Whilst as an agency we have undertaken WebTV debates with the three main party leaders with excellent response, I do need to acknowledge the overwhelming power of the live TV debates. Nick who? a few months ago to now a genuine candidate who could yet have a big say in the final decision as to who is Prime Minister. What has interested me amongst all the goings on is the way the Lib Dems and Nick Clegg have mobilized the youth vote. Have they relied on social media; the media of choice for this age group?
As an observer with an interest in both media and politics I have been intrigued to see how they have used traditional methods to encourage young people to both register to vote and then show an interest. Was it Facebook & Twitter encouraging young people to vote or Nick Clegg . . . or was it the media playout i.e. the Live TV debates and his performance in front of camera? My view would be Social Media most certainly helped promote and bring it to the attention of many, but is was the performance and campaigning messages of Nick Clegg on TV that has potentially mobilized their audience to register and vote.
As I write this we are about to witness the second of the Live TV debates, and observers and commentators alike will analyze the performances once more and the tactics of each candidate to try and gauge what impact it has had on peoples choice of vote. At this point it would be good to remember we should be voting for our local MP and policy as technically we do not cross the box for who we want as Prime Minister.
So if we were to draw an analogy from the election to the world of commerce, does a strong orator and communicator automatically make a good leader ahead of their actual leadership or management skills. Is Richard Branson a better leader than Michael O’Leary?
One thing is for certain, the election has reminded us of how a strong interview on television can still have a huge influence on the masses.
Sunday, February 7. 2010
Overview
One or two surprises have made themselves apparent with the latest listening figures for Quarter 4, 2009. Which is good after the damp squid that was Q3.
Wogan has held his own as he left BBC Radio 2, handing over 8.1million listeners to Chris Evans. BBC Radio 1's Chris Moyles added 200,000 listeners but what did Radio 3 do to lose 320,000 fans?
In the commercial radio sector, Heart is back as London's number one station, followed by stable-mate Capital FM. It means former champion Magic 105.4 is now number three, when counting bums on seats rather than market share. If share if your game, Magic is number one and LBC takes 2nd place.
talkSPORT has registered its highest ever market share, and Absolute is pleased with its listener loyalty.
We haven't inspected all the figures for the individual Heart's yet, but Global Radio tells us the network of 33 stations adds 300,000 listeners year-on-year – which generally means the quarter-on-quarter figures weren't as hot.
Andrew Harrison, chief executive of RadioCentre said: "The figures for local commercial radio highlight that local commercial radio is at the top of its game and delighting its audience. With an increase in listening for all radio across the board, and the number of listeners tuning into DAB showing encouraging growth, it's clear that Britain loves radio.”
Digital listening share increased marginally this quarter (11.4 per cent to 13.7), but more houses now have a DAB set, which can only be good news.
Overall, 46 million adults (45.7m last quarter) or 89.6 per cent of the UK population over 15 tuned in to their favourite radio station each week in the last quarter of 2009.
This time round, Kick FM and Kestral are not taking part in the survey, whilst Kingdom FM and Yorkshire Radio have revised TSAs. There are change of names for Pulse Classic Gold to Pulse 2 and The Coast drops the "was Original 106" tag from their station reporting title.
Local radio RAJAR round-up
BRMB has hit an all time listening low with 66,000 listeners leaving the station in the past three months, and total hours continuing to fall.
The station, which is currently claiming to be "under construction" is hoping to return to its glory days under new owners Orion Media.
In the Global portfollio, Heart Northants reports its biggest audience in five years, Heart North Devon is also benefitting from the Heart re-brand and Galaxy stations in Southampton, Scotland and the North East has shown major increase in listeners.
Looking at the independents, 3TR FM drops back down to 23 per cent reach (from 27 per cent), Brunel FM has dropped from 18,000 to 12,000 listeners, Dearne FM continues to shed listeners and Juice FM Liverpool is down in reach and hours. (Seems all stations in Liverpool have lost this quarter)
Lite FM returns to RAJAR with worse figures than when they left, with over half the hours they had a year ago and The Revolution has posted a dip in listeners this quarter, but still show an improvement on a year ago.
Meanwhile, 3FM has an impressive yearly increase, going from 22 per cent reach last year to 33 per cent today and 107 The Bee continues to enjoy a high average hours of 16.2. At Tindle, Island FM Guernsey has the highest listening share in any area, with 35.5 per cent of people in their TSA listening whilst Channel 103 Jersey gains a weekly reach of 53 per cent.
Over at the Beeb, BBC Hereford and Worcester takes a hit on the total hours, which now stands at under one million for the first time in recent history, and BBC Radio Merseyside drops 24,000 listeners to an all time low of 279,000 listeners.
Radio Norfolk is down 22 thousand people whilst Radio Nottingham lost 28 thousand listeners this quarter.
JACK fm has its highest ever listening figures with an extra 7,000 people now listening every week. General Manager Ian Walker said: “Oxfordshire clearly appreciates having a truly local radio station which doesn’t just play the same 10 songs over and over, and which continues to buck the trend of homogenised, clinical networked radio. Thank you Oxfordshire!
At UKRD / TLRC, hours are up at Spire FM, whilst 2BR, Alpha Radio, Durham FM, and Minster FM see market gains.
Commenting on the latest result for UKRD, Group Programme Director Phil Angell said, “Does anyone ever read down as far as this on a RAJAR press release? Look, some of our stations went up a bit and some of them went down a bit just like has happened with the Heart stations. Mind you, if you look closely at our 25-34 males on a Wednesday lunchtime....”
Good on ya, Phil.
One or two surprises have made themselves apparent with the latest listening figures for Quarter 4, 2009. Which is good after the damp squid that was Q3.
Wogan has held his own as he left BBC Radio 2, handing over 8.1million listeners to Chris Evans. BBC Radio 1's Chris Moyles added 200,000 listeners but what did Radio 3 do to lose 320,000 fans?
In the commercial radio sector, Heart is back as London's number one station, followed by stable-mate Capital FM. It means former champion Magic 105.4 is now number three, when counting bums on seats rather than market share. If share if your game, Magic is number one and LBC takes 2nd place.
talkSPORT has registered its highest ever market share, and Absolute is pleased with its listener loyalty.
We haven't inspected all the figures for the individual Heart's yet, but Global Radio tells us the network of 33 stations adds 300,000 listeners year-on-year – which generally means the quarter-on-quarter figures weren't as hot.
Andrew Harrison, chief executive of RadioCentre said: "The figures for local commercial radio highlight that local commercial radio is at the top of its game and delighting its audience. With an increase in listening for all radio across the board, and the number of listeners tuning into DAB showing encouraging growth, it's clear that Britain loves radio.”
Digital listening share increased marginally this quarter (11.4 per cent to 13.7), but more houses now have a DAB set, which can only be good news.
Overall, 46 million adults (45.7m last quarter) or 89.6 per cent of the UK population over 15 tuned in to their favourite radio station each week in the last quarter of 2009.
This time round, Kick FM and Kestral are not taking part in the survey, whilst Kingdom FM and Yorkshire Radio have revised TSAs. There are change of names for Pulse Classic Gold to Pulse 2 and The Coast drops the "was Original 106" tag from their station reporting title.
Local radio RAJAR round-up
BRMB has hit an all time listening low with 66,000 listeners leaving the station in the past three months, and total hours continuing to fall.
The station, which is currently claiming to be "under construction" is hoping to return to its glory days under new owners Orion Media.
In the Global portfollio, Heart Northants reports its biggest audience in five years, Heart North Devon is also benefitting from the Heart re-brand and Galaxy stations in Southampton, Scotland and the North East has shown major increase in listeners.
Looking at the independents, 3TR FM drops back down to 23 per cent reach (from 27 per cent), Brunel FM has dropped from 18,000 to 12,000 listeners, Dearne FM continues to shed listeners and Juice FM Liverpool is down in reach and hours. (Seems all stations in Liverpool have lost this quarter)
Lite FM returns to RAJAR with worse figures than when they left, with over half the hours they had a year ago and The Revolution has posted a dip in listeners this quarter, but still show an improvement on a year ago.
Meanwhile, 3FM has an impressive yearly increase, going from 22 per cent reach last year to 33 per cent today and 107 The Bee continues to enjoy a high average hours of 16.2. At Tindle, Island FM Guernsey has the highest listening share in any area, with 35.5 per cent of people in their TSA listening whilst Channel 103 Jersey gains a weekly reach of 53 per cent.
Over at the Beeb, BBC Hereford and Worcester takes a hit on the total hours, which now stands at under one million for the first time in recent history, and BBC Radio Merseyside drops 24,000 listeners to an all time low of 279,000 listeners.
Radio Norfolk is down 22 thousand people whilst Radio Nottingham lost 28 thousand listeners this quarter.
JACK fm has its highest ever listening figures with an extra 7,000 people now listening every week. General Manager Ian Walker said: “Oxfordshire clearly appreciates having a truly local radio station which doesn’t just play the same 10 songs over and over, and which continues to buck the trend of homogenised, clinical networked radio. Thank you Oxfordshire!
At UKRD / TLRC, hours are up at Spire FM, whilst 2BR, Alpha Radio, Durham FM, and Minster FM see market gains.
Commenting on the latest result for UKRD, Group Programme Director Phil Angell said, “Does anyone ever read down as far as this on a RAJAR press release? Look, some of our stations went up a bit and some of them went down a bit just like has happened with the Heart stations. Mind you, if you look closely at our 25-34 males on a Wednesday lunchtime....”
Good on ya, Phil.
Sunday, February 7. 2010
UTV Radio's national sports station talkSPORT has recorded its highest ever market share, and highest ratings for breakfast, whilst Absolute Radio and Classic FM both see a drop in listeners.
But whilst most stations go down after a re brand, Absolute Radio is happy with their increase in total hours – up 2.1 per cent this quarter.
In Golden Square, Clive Dickens, Chief Operating Officer of Absolute Radio told us: “Total listening hours are a strong indicator of listener satisfaction and we are very pleased with this result."
Global Radio's Classic FM is down to a recent low of 5.1million listeners, and market share is down to 3.5. Last quarter the station was on 5.4m and 3.7 share.
talkSPORT now has a weekly reach of 2.5 million, with 1.2m tuning in to Alan Brazil and Ronnie Irani in the morning. It is the only national terrestrial station to gain listeners this quarter too.
Scott Taunton, UTV Media (GB) Chief Executive, said: “This is a fantastic result, ending what has been a great year for talkSPORT. More people are listening, they’re listening longer and we have grown market share to a record figure in the face of increased competition.
But whilst most stations go down after a re brand, Absolute Radio is happy with their increase in total hours – up 2.1 per cent this quarter.
In Golden Square, Clive Dickens, Chief Operating Officer of Absolute Radio told us: “Total listening hours are a strong indicator of listener satisfaction and we are very pleased with this result."
Global Radio's Classic FM is down to a recent low of 5.1million listeners, and market share is down to 3.5. Last quarter the station was on 5.4m and 3.7 share.
talkSPORT now has a weekly reach of 2.5 million, with 1.2m tuning in to Alan Brazil and Ronnie Irani in the morning. It is the only national terrestrial station to gain listeners this quarter too.
Scott Taunton, UTV Media (GB) Chief Executive, said: “This is a fantastic result, ending what has been a great year for talkSPORT. More people are listening, they’re listening longer and we have grown market share to a record figure in the face of increased competition.
