Radio is full of recycled ideas. As a former program director of mine liked to joke, “If you’ve stolen from me, you’ve stolen twice.” You might hear “Battle Of The Sexes” in Minneapolis or Memphis. “The Phrase That Pays” could tempt you in Richmond or Reno. Listeners may laugh along to a version of Elvis … Continue reading Why the Best Content Doesn’t Always Win
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Your podcast’s social media accounts are not perceptual research. Your radio station’s texting account is not perceptual research. Listener feedback at a remote is not perceptual research. Consider how easy it is to formulate an opinion about how your audio brand is doing based on “core” feedback. For this exercise, I’ll include you and your … Continue reading Step Outside Your Core
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I’m obsessed with the Business Wars podcast by Wondery. Each week, the show tells the story of a classic business battle. “Netflix vs. Blockbuster” is phenomenal. “Boeing vs. Airbus” is superb. They’re all great. The latest series is “ESPN vs. Fox Sports,” and once again it delivers. The episodes document the many moments when Fox … Continue reading The Bold Move That Made Fox a Real Network
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In every Plan Developer℠ perceptual study we conduct at Coleman Insights, there are a multitude of ways to get at some of the answers every audio brand wants to know. Why do listeners choose my brand? Why don’t they choose it? How can I use that information to grow? While there is no doubt that … Continue reading The Benefits of a Trendable Study
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On January 25, 2001, Palace Sports & Entertainment announced that Pine Knob Music Theatre would change its name to DTE Energy Music Theatre. Although I had only been programming radio in Detroit for only a year at that point, it didn’t take long to realize this wasn’t a simple sponsorship name change. The reaction among … Continue reading The Pine Knob Branding Lesson
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I follow JetBlue on Facebook, and recently I happened upon a post in which the company touted its partnership with American Airlines. The post was cheerful and positive about its service, as you would expect the tone of most company posts to be. But the comments in that thread, a few of which I’ll share … Continue reading The JetBlue-American Odd Couple
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This week marks a full year since we debuted our CampfireSM Online Discussion Groups, and we have learned a lot through this new platform. For those of you not familiar with Campfire, it is a research tool that enables us to engage with listeners in an online community setting, probing deeply into brand perceptions … Continue reading Six Lessons Learned from One Year of Campfire Online Discussion Groups
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One could argue that nothing is more important to a company or a product than its brand identity. From logo to tag line, from what colors to use, to what “voice” to portray in messaging, brand identity is the gateway to how consumers perceive your brand—the primary driver that separates successful companies from failures. When … Continue reading Protecting Your Brand Identity
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In South Carolina, Virginia, and my home state of North Carolina, there is a grocery chain called Lowes Foods (started by the son of the founder of Lowe’s Home Improvement). You think your business segment is crowded? Here in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill), the grocery segment has gotten extremely competitive … Continue reading Differentiating Your Brand in a Crowded Segment
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Pierre Bouvard, Chief Insights Officer at Cumulus Media and Westwood One, worked with Coleman Insights in the 90s and was instrumental in the growth of our company. Recently, Pierre and I have had discussions about long-term brand building strategy versus short-term activation tactics. We’ve talked about how favoring short-term strategies over brand building has become … Continue reading The Urgency of Brand Building: A Conversation with Pierre Bouvard
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