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Author: Jay Nachlis

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How Zoom’s Brand and Content Won the Pandemic

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As we approach the one-year anniversary of the COVID lockdown, it seems everyone has hit the wall of “Zoom Fatigue.”

Notice I didn’t say “Google Meet Fatigue” or “Microsoft Teams Fatigue” or “GoToMeeting Fatigue.”

The pandemic has left a path of brand destruction, while elevating others–and Zoom certainly fits in the “other” category.

How did the word “Zoom” become synonymous with the virtual meeting in the same way “Google” is synonymous with internet browsing, “Kleenex” is synonymous with tissue and “Band-Aid” is synonymous with bandages?

Years before founding Zoom, Eric Yuan was one of the first hires by WebEx, a video conferencing company that would later be acquired by Cisco. When he pitched his bosses at Cisco an idea to create a new smartphone-friendly video conferencing system, they declined and Yuan left.

ZOOM’S HYPERFOCUS ON THE CUSTOMER

There are many interesting tidbits in Zoom’s filing to the SEC when it went public in 2019. This includes Yuan’s driving force for creating Zoom: “I would visit customers and they would tell me how unhappy they were with the technology in the videoconferencing market. This made me unhappy. There had to be something better. I knew we would have to start from scratch to do it right.”

In a 2017 interview with Thrive Global, Yuan tells an early Zoom story of how he personally emailed every customer who cancelled the service. One customer accused him of sending auto-generating emails impersonating the CEO, so Yuan invited him to a Zoom call (naturally) to prove it was him. Yuan was practicing what I covered in the February 2020 Tuesdays With Coleman blog “Start With the Customer and Work Backwards.”

By the time March 2020 came around, Zoom had positioned itself exactly for the moment. Skype’s free version allowed for 50 participants, while Zoom permitted 100. Zoom had fun backgrounds that were really easy to integrate. You could send direct messages, record sessions, and it was super mobile-friendly. Zoom was also aggressive early on–just a couple weeks in to the COVID era, it dominated the K-12 school market.

Probably like you, over the past year I’ve used just about every video conferencing platform imaginable, including some I never knew existed. Some were established players before Zoom (like Skype), some were not well-known (like BlueJeans), while others were line extensions of massive brands (like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Adobe Connect, Amazon Chime, and Facebook Messenger.)

THE IMPORTANCE OF STRONG BRAND MATCHED WITH GREAT CONTENT

Having a big brand like Google or Amazon wasn’t enough to for them win the pandemic video conferencing battle. A customer-friendly platform wouldn’t have been enough either.

Zoom worked to build their brand, researched to get the content right, and then pivoted to match the moment.

There’s a fascinating paragraph in that SEC filing mentioned earlier under “Risk Factors” for potential investors. It states, “Our business depends on a strong brand, and if we are not able to maintain and enhance our brand, our ability to expand our base of users will be impaired and our business will be harmed.” It mentions the danger of users viewing the brand as a utility rather than a solution. Whether or not Zoom succeeds in that exercise will, in part, determine its ability to weather “fatigue.”

Yuan’s salary as listed in the filing two years ago was $300,000.

Today, his net worth is estimated at $15 Billion.

Listen to your customers. Implement a plan. Build a brand.

Always be ready to pivot to market conditions.

Here’s hoping business is zooming (I mean, booming) in 2021.

 

Blog

Your Worst Enemy at Work Is…

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You have an enemy.

You may think you don’t, but you do.

Not only is this enemy vicious and unrelenting, you are accompanied by the enemy every single day of your life. The enemy shows up in brainstorming sessions. When you’re writing copy. When you’re live on the air or when you’re recording a show.

Who is this enemy? It’s not a “who.” It’s a “what.”

Your enemy is the preconceived notion.

Preconceive: to form a conception or opinion of beforehand, as before seeing evidence or as a result of previously held prejudice. – Dictionary.com

Preconceived notions slither through the halls of radio stations, convincing you that you’ve got a total handle on how listeners think about your brand. They tell you how well-known the morning show host is and how everyone plays your contests. They shape your feelings about the competition and their listeners.

Preconceived notions are equal opportunity offenders, invading the podcasting and streaming industry the same way they permeated radio. In fact, no industry or brand is safe from the preconceived notion.

The worst part? There is great comfort in the preconceived notion. A strong preconceived notion can feel like a warm blanket draped around your shoulders. But rather than empowering your brain, preconceived notions offer a false sense of security. They offer a sense that you know more than you do–and the alternative to that is unpleasant.

(whispering) You don’t have all the answers.

That is an understandably intimidating realization for many. Those hired as strategists are expected to understand how to strategize, and removing preconceived notions can feel like an admission of defeat.

The reality is that market conditions and audience behavior is shifting in ways we’ve never seen in our lifetimes. The smartest strategists and most cunning tacticians are using research to understand these changes. So, what do they do with preconceived notions? They often include these preconceived notions in research to either validate them or smash them into pieces. In this way, the preconceived notion is no longer the enemy–it’s a superhero ally in an ongoing battle for positive image perception.

Recognize that preconceived notions are impossible to eliminate, but they can be managed. Challenging them doesn’t make you less of a strategist, it makes you a better one.

“Know thy enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are sure to be defeated in every battle.” – Sun Tzu

Press Releases

Coleman Insights Announces its Third Annual “Contemporary Music SuperStudy”

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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC, FEBRUARY 17, 2021– Coleman Insights is proceeding with its third annual Contemporary Music SuperStudy, examining the contemporary music appetites of 1,000 12- to 54-year-olds across the United States and Canada. The findings of “Contemporary Music SuperStudy 3” will be shared in an initial summary presentation at the inaugural All Access Audio Summit, taking place on a virtual platform April 21st and 22nd, and through subsequent public webinars and posts on the company’s Tuesdays With Coleman blog.

Coleman Insights Executive Vice President/Senior Consultant John Boyne, who is leading the Contemporary Music SuperStudy 3 project, says, “We’re excited about this opportunity to learn how people feel about a wide array of contemporary songs. Which ones rise to the top? Which ones fall to the bottom? And how do pandemic era tastes compare to those of previous years?”

The study utilizes a song list comprised of the most consumed songs of 2020 as measured by MRC Data that includes radio airplay, streaming, and sales data and is being conducted via Coleman Insights’ FACT360 Strategic Music TestSM online platform. Findings will include the best and worst testing songs, artists, and genres, as well as differences by platform consumption, and how contemporary music tastes are evolving. Last year’s findings included a stronger report card for Country relative to the prior year and a shift of the most popular songs towards older titles.

Coleman Insights President Warren Kurtzman adds, “We’re proud to once again bring this bellwether of contemporary music tastes to the industry, particularly at a time when so many behaviors are in flux. The Contemporary Music SuperStudy 3 also adds to the value our clients get out of their investment in our services, as they will receive exclusive access to the song-by-song data through our Coleman Complete promise.”

Registration for the All Access Audio Summit is open here.

Blog

The Legend of Jack Falvey

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Tell me if any of these things sound familiar.

Gourmet hamburgers smothered in chili, guacamole, bleu cheese, and bacon.

A funky hotel with cheap beer and Frank Sinatra on the jukebox.

Alcohol delivered to your door.

Gourmet hamburgers? There’s now a restaurant slinging variations of the classic on seemingly every corner.

A funky hotel? Boutique spots are all the hipster rage.

Alcohol delivered to your door? Over the last few years, it’s become easier and easier to get just about everything delivered to your doorstep, including booze.

You probably don’t know the name Jack Falvey. But in my hometown of San Francisco, Falvey, who died in 1998, is something of a legend.

THE HUNGRY, HUNGRY HIPPO

Hippopotamus Hamburgers, known for its unique gourmet takes on the hamburger, opened on Van Ness Avenue in the City by the Bay in 1950. This was way before most American taste buds had even touched guacamole, much less guacamole on a burger. Opening a couple decades before Guy Fieri was born, Hippo’s was colorful and loud, with a giant hippo mascot, murals, and an open kitchen concept. It sold merch and published a cookbook.

This wasn’t the first time Falvey was ahead of his time.

Before he opened Hippo’s, Falvey owned Giraffe Liquors. You couldn’t miss it, because Falvey stuck a giant stuffed giraffe in a Buick in front of the store. And, long before Instacart, Shipt, Amazon, and Drizly, Giraffe Liquors delivered alcohol right to your door. This was 80 years ago.

Hipster hotel? Why, sure. Falvey opened the Monkey Inn behind Hippo’s, with sawdust on the floor and cheap beer. It was a booming spot for singles.

YOU DON’T NEED TO INVENT THE WHEEL, JUST REINVENT IT

Today Hippo’s is a CVS Pharmacy and, having closed all the way back in 1987, is a distant memory for fewer and fewer people. But the lessons of the visionary Jack Falvey live on–consumers didn’t know they needed liquor delivery or a hamburger sundae (yes, really) until he gave it to them. Falvey didn’t rely on paid marketing alone to bring consumers in–he stuck a stuffed giraffe in a parking lot.

He was an innovator and ahead of his time for sure, but it is also important to remember Falvey didn’t invent the wheel, he reinvented it. Alcohol existed, alcohol delivery did not. Hamburgers existed, gourmet hamburgers did not. Hotels existed, boutique hotels did not.

Radio exists. Podcasts exist. Streaming services exist.

What does not…yet?

Press Releases

Coleman Insights Introduces Campfire Online Discussion Groups

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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC FEBRUARY 9, 2021 – Media research firm Coleman Insights launches its newest service, CampfireSM Online Discussion Groups, today.

Campfire reaches consumers in a new, innovative way, allowing Coleman Insights to probe deeply into their brand perceptions. Participants engage in in-depth discussions and complete assignments that provide Coleman Insights clients with a greater understanding of what these customers like and dislike about their brands and their competitors’ brands.

“Our clients have been asking us for alternatives to focus groups that meet their needs for more qualitative insights into their listeners and customers,” said Coleman Insights President Warren Kurtzman. “With Campfire, we can provide them with a major evolution in qualitative research.”

In a Campfire Online Discussion Group study, a community of carefully-recruited consumers spends about a week together thinking about and discussing the audio brands that are the subject of a study—such as radio stations, morning shows, talk shows, podcasts, and streaming services—as well as relevant competing brands. The Campfire interface looks and feels like a social media platform, making it easy for participants to use. Participants complete assignments and activities, including taking polls, posting videos, and providing text answers to open-ended questions. When the community’s work is complete, the Coleman Insights team distills the feedback into an-depth presentation of the study’s findings that culminates in “The Plan,” a set of actionable recommendations for the brand to follow.

“I am so excited to bring more of our clients the deep, qualitative insights that Campfire delivers,” said Associate Consultant Meghan Campbell, who is Coleman Insights’ team leader for Campfire studies. “What if you could spend a week with a group of your listeners and ask them all of your burning questions? Now you can with Campfire.”

For audio brands in the radio, podcasting, and streaming industries, more information about Campfire Online Discussion Groups is available at www.ColemanInsights.com/Campfire.

Blog

How Nickelodeon Aced the Brand Content Matrix

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Tuesdays With Coleman

Because I grew up in San Francisco, my favorite professional sports teams should come as no surprise–its Giants for baseball, Warriors for basketball, and 49ers for football. As my career as a radio program director took me across the country, I adopted a few additional teams including the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes, the Detroit Lions, and the Buffalo Bills.

So while I’ve taken great interest in the Bills playoff games, the Bears-Saints game on Sunday, January 10th was a complete afterthought. What was impossible to miss were the comments that flew through my social media feeds after the game remarking about the coverage on…Nickelodeon??

Hosted by my fellow Syracuse University & WJPZ-FM alum Noah Eagle (son of sportscaster Ian Eagle,) former NFL wide receiver Nate Burleson, and Nickelodeon actress Gabrielle Nevaeh Green, Nickelodeon’s coverage of an NFL game featured graphics of SpongeBob SquarePants on the goal posts. Slime cannons exploding when a player scored a touchdown. Pop-ups of Young Sheldon (from sister network CBS’s hit show) explaining how penalties work.

Eagle and Burleson agreed before the game that if it sounded like they were enjoying themselves, viewers would do the same. Says Eagle, “It’s okay to have fun and people like to have fun,” Eagle said. “Sports are supposed to be fun, even in an NFL playoff game.”

It was different. It was fun. And it was exceptionally true to Nickelodeon’s brand.

I’m not sure I can think of a better example of occupying the upper right quadrant of our Brand Content MatrixSM. Exploding slime and silliness is exactly what people expect from the network, and the content in the context of an NFL game stimulated Broca’s Area, the part of your brain that anticipates the predictable and tunes out the expected. When Broca is fired up, you’re excited. You want to spread the word. In 2021, it means you get on social media with a whole lot of “Did you see that on Nickelodeon??”

Many have noted that perhaps the standard NFL (and professional sports) broadcast takes itself too seriously and there’s probably room for a little more fun. It doesn’t mean CBS, Fox, ESPN, or NBC can start using slime cannons, as it wouldn’t be true to their brands. But it also doesn’t mean they need to present content the same way, week after week. There are ways to change up the content that get Broca excited and allow the networks to remain true to their respective brands.

Generating buzz like the Nickelodeon NFL experiment won’t happen because you have a strong brand or because you’ve generated great content.

It will happen because you’ve got both.

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The Five Most-Read Blogs of 2020

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Tuesdays With Coleman

As we look back on our analytics from this past year, it turns out every member of the Coleman Insights consultant team contributed to the five most-read Tuesdays With Coleman blogs of 2020.  As for which subjects resonated the most, there’s a lesson to be learned. Four of the top five incorporated the two topics that most consumed 2020 – the coronavirus pandemic and the United States presidential election. It’s worth noting that, despite being published just seven days ago, last week’s buzzworthy Should Radio Go Back to Normal? by Jon Coleman nearly made the list and is worth a second look. Here are the five most-read blogs of the year, counted down from number five to number one.

5. The Marketing of Social Distancing by Jay Nachlis (March 31, 2020)

Two of the blogs on our list are from March, right as the COVID-19 lockdowns were taking hold and everyone was trying to figure out the answer to “what’s next?” The Marketing of Social Distancing  salutes a billboard campaign by one of our clients and a number of campaigns across various industries. It encourages brands to remain top-of-mind while being sensitive to the nature of the new pandemic environment.

K-97 Edmonton social distancing billboard

Our client K-97 in Edmonton launched this campaign very early in the pandemic.

4. The Musical Divide Between Trump and Biden Supporters by Warren Kurtzman (May 19, 2020)

The results of the first ever Coleman Insights Contemporary Music SuperStudy were released at the Worldwide Radio Summit in California, and we were looking forward to presenting the sequel at this year’s WWRS. Unfortunately, the week of March 23, 2020 turned out to be a pretty bad one for conference planning. Following the pandemic-related cancellation of this year’s conference, we released the results of Contemporary Music SuperStudy 2 via webinar and blogs. This installment of Tuesdays With Coleman illustrated just how different the musical tastes of Biden and Trump supporters are, although they do share a distaste for “Baby Shark.”

3. How to Move the Ratings Needle by Jon Coleman (May 26, 2020)

This blog from Coleman Insights founder Jon Coleman prominently features examples from Biden and Trump’s campaigns, but the real message of How to Move the Ratings Needle is how shifting perception can dramatically change the momentum of a brand. Jon argues that too much attention is paid to little things that don’t matter and, he says, “If I owned or managed a radio station today, I would hire a marketing specialist specifically charged with getting media coverage.”

2. The Seven Deadly Sins of (Non) Strategic Thinking by Sam Milkman (January 21, 2020)

In the only pre-pandemic blog on the list, Sam Milkman compiled a list of things inside thinkers (those that view their brands from their own perspective instead of their consumers) say.  As Sam points out, while people in radio have said these things for decades, these examples are dangerously unstrategic and create unnecessary friction and obstacles to growth.

1. How to Connect With Your Audience in a Crisis by Warren Kurtzman, Jon Coleman, Jessica Lichtenfeld, Sam Milkman, John Boyne, Meghan Campbell, and Jay Nachlis (March 19, 2020)

The first state issued COVID-19 stay-at-home order was issued by California on March 19th. A few days before that, the entire Coleman Insights consultant team gathered for a video conference to brainstorm, consider, and offer our best thinking in regards to how our clients should navigate their brands in the early days of the pandemic. While we wish we could end 2020 by saying the pandemic is over, we are optimistic about what 2021 will bring and heartened that so many found our advice nine months (!) ago helpful.

Have a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year, and we’ll see you in January!

 

 

 

Press Releases

Coleman Insights Announces Personnel Changes

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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC, December 10, 2020 – Coleman Insights is announcing the return of Kimberly Bryant as Field Coordinator and Stephanie Harper as Assistant Project Manager, and the departure of Associate Consultant Jessica Lichtenfeld.

Bryant has had multiple stints with Coleman Insights, culminating in her move into the Field Coordinator position in 2018. Harper joined the firm in 2018 after attending and working in various positions at Central Christian College of Kansas. Bryant and Harper’s positions were eliminated due to temporary market conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the company is restoring the responsibilities in the Field and Research departments, respectively, due to increasing demand for projects into next year. “I’m thrilled that the commitments our clients have made to us for 2021 have increased my optimism about the industry’s recovery and allowed us to bring these two valuable employees back,” says Coleman Insights President Warren Kurtzman.

Lichtenfeld is leaving her role as Associate Consultant to pursue another opportunity, which will be announced soon. Says Kurtzman, “I really wish Jessica well with the next step in her career and thank her for four years of valuable contributions to our success.”

Bryant and Harper will both be in place in their roles in January. Lichtenfeld’s last day with the company will be Wednesday, December 23rd.

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Old Dogs in AC/DC Have New Tricks

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Tuesdays With ColemanAC/DC’s new album, Power Up, debuted at number one on the Billboard chart.

To put in perspective how impressive that is, consider that Back In Black–the album often considered their magnum opus that has sold over 50 million copies to date–peaked at number four in the United States.

Power Up features the triumphant return of lead vocalist Brian Johnson and drummer Phil Rudd, who had left the band due to hearing issues and legal issues, respectively. It is the first studio release since the death of founding rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young in 2017. But AC/DC was unable to ride the wave of publicity that would generally accompany such a reunion event, because plans for their giant world tour are on hold until 2021 thanks to the pandemic.

Yet, here’s ol’ AC/DC, besting number two album Pluto x Baby Pluto by Future & Lil Uzi Vert and knocking previous number one Positions by Ariana Grande back to number four.

So, how did they do it? Since streaming didn’t exist when Back In Black was released in 1980, you would think it would be harder than ever for a heritage band like AC/DC to top the charts. AC/DC notably resisted streaming for years, refusing to sell its albums on download stores such as iTunes until 2012, and you couldn’t stream an AC/DC song on-demand until five years ago.

They did it with album sales.

Of the 117,000 units that comprised Power Up sales in week one, album sales accounted for 111,000. The number of Streaming Equivalent Albums (SEA) was only 5,000, which came from 7.8 million on-demand streams. Compare that to the number two album by Future & Lil Uzi Vert, which racked up 105,000 units–99,000 of which were SEA units, coming from 136.11 million on-demand streams–and 5,500 in album sales. The top two albums are basically polar opposites in how they got there.

Think no one buys CDs anymore? Sixty-four (64%) percent of the 111,000 albums AC/DC sold were CDs, but not just any CD. They offered a $49 deluxe version of the CD that displays the band logo in flashing neon and plays the opening riff to the album’s first single, “Shot In The Dark”, on a built-in speaker.

Despite having their tour sidelined, AC/DC worked hard to promote Power Up. One could argue the band did it in some decidedly un-AC/DC ways. This included a November 10th interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe and an appearance on NPR’s Morning Edition on November 18th. Considering AC/DC wouldn’t allow its music on Apple less than a decade ago and NPR isn’t the media outlet most associated with hardcore rock, you’d have to say these were notable shifts for the band.

But they were brilliant shifts. AC/DC knows it can’t top the charts via streaming the way most Pop stars do today. They’re also keenly aware the CD is going the way of the buggy. But by recognizing their fan base is still willing to buy an actual album and by offering a collectible edition, they played the chart game their way. Embracing an interview with Apple allows them to reach new audiences, while recognizing many of their fans have aged into NPR-land ensures they reach the ones that have been there for them the whole time.

Even though your brand may offer a consistent product (Power Up sounds like it could have come out in 1980), it doesn’t mean you always present it in the same way or that you reach your target audience using the same old methods.

In fact, as AC/DC just proved, even the old dogs learned new tricks.