The Radio Advertising Bureau, along with 2,600 attendees made up of senior marketers and their agency and media partners, descended on Orlando last week for the Association of National Advertisers’ annual Masters of Marketing conference. This annual confab is aptly titled GROWTH each year, and for three full days chief marketing officers from the nation’s largest advertisers deliver meaningful presentations where they share real-time case studies from their brands.
As is always the case, when discussing growth and the tenets required for productive and sustainable growth, there were common themes shared by advertisers regardless of the category their brands live within. These themes included:
- Transparency and accountability for the greater good — brand safety and a clean and productive media supply chain.
- Responsibility to being purpose-driven.
- Human centered – offering sincere, pure and meaningful conversations.
- Technology — enabled to drive innovation, smarter decisions and evolving means of communication.
As we heard from P&G, JPMorgan Chase, Walmart, Cadillac, Lane Bryant, Samsung, MGM Entertainment, KFC, State Farm, Clorox and even the Chicago Cubs, we couldn’t help but take all of these aspirational takeaways and think about how it is quite simply at the core of what radio does so well, every single day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, making a difference in our listeners’ lives in the communities we serve.
- Radio is transparent and accountable.
- Radio stations live up to our collective responsibility and often times become the lifeblood for our communities in times of tragedy and disaster.
- Radio is as human centered as it gets, offering constant one-to-many conversations with our listeners.
- Radio is embracing technology to take advertisers and listeners where they need to listen and where they need to go.
As P&G’s CMO Marc Pritchard so aptly stated, “Consumers want to know what brands believe in.” Radio reaches 93% of Americans each week and we believe in those listeners.
During remarks at a sponsored dinner on Wednesday evening, one of Radio’s competitors – Amy Baker, EVP, Advertising Sales from A&E, said it as well as we could say it….. “The power of storytelling and listening cannot be underestimated.”
Radio is a powerful medium, one we are incredibly proud to represent every day. We were especially proud to represent the medium alongside our colleagues from Beasley Broadcasting, CBS Radio, Cumulus/Westwood One, Hubbard Radio, iHeartMedia, Katz Radio Group and NextRadio/Dial Report, among a group as influential as the one in attendance at the ANA Masters of Marketing conference.
Radio’s growth is in providing advertisers with what they tell us they want – yet what our competitors, including Google and Facebook, do not do. That #1 advertiser hot button enables us to sell 52 weeks of radio in providing documented, 52 weeks of advertiser sales results our clients can measure, and attribute to our medium.
Yes, we’re the catalyst of pre-need, pre-search, pre-purchase consumer consciousness that captures the buyer at the beginning and can lead them to, through and past the sale. This, as part of the systems, strategies, tactics and tools that exist to deliver documented advertiser sales results 52 weeks a year, is the simplest and most profitable way to jump radio’s inflation-adjusted years of flat-lining revenue.
Andy, we agree 100%. The ability to deliver and share proof of advertiser successes will aid in increased revenue for radio. Sharing successes in the form of case studies can help drive that growth. We’d be delighted to post some of your case studies if you can share!
Oh my goodness – I just found this reply – 15 months later! Perhaps a “You have a reply to your comment” notification would be of great assistance in keeping contributors and readers further engaged beyond the initial interaction. Let me know if you still want to do something on this case study idea – I’m at 289-929-9770 or Andy@AndyMcNabb.com.