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Be True To Your Base Position

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Tuesdays With Coleman

Does your brand have a base position? No matter what industry, whatever the size of the company…you must have a clearly understood base position.

When we work with radio stations, we often refer to the foundation of our Image PyramidSM—the base music or talk position. For the other components of the pyramid (personality, specialty programming, contests, marketing, news and community) to enhance the performance of your station, listeners must instantly understand the basics of your brand.

Coleman Insights Image Pyramid

Is it the rock station? The sports station? The hit music station?

It’s not only essential for listeners to understand your base position in a simplistic way—you have to understand it as well. It has to be in the fabric of everything you do.

My wife Sharon and I are “foodies” who love to explore the burgeoning restaurant scene where we live in Raleigh, North Carolina.  One of our favorite restaurants clearly has a base position.

Royale is a French-American bistro that opened in November 2016 and at the time, the only way to make reservations was via Instagram. The menu was limited, with no more than five or six entrees choices available. Still, the food was delicious, the service was outstanding and the atmosphere was hopping. After one or two visits, you couldn’t help but have a strong and clear perception of what Royale was all about.

Royale is a hip, downtown Raleigh hotspot with high quality French-American food.

That’s their base position.

Over five or six dining experiences since, we have observed changes to Royale.

You can now make reservations online—albeit only on Resy, not on OpenTable—or even by phone. The menu includes more choice while retaining its distinct French-American flavor. Heck, they now even have a nightly special.

These changes allowed Royale to broaden and become more mass appeal without compromising their base position.

By evolving and staying true to their base position, Royale added brand depth—similar to how a radio station adds brand depth with personalities and contests. Just as radio stations need to establish a clear understanding of their base position before focusing on other elements, Royale set a defined expectation of what the brand stands for.

Restaurants have a wide range of strategic options at their disposal, just like radio stations.

Royale could have looked to expand their customer base by, for example, lowering prices. That would have compromised the quality promise in their base position. They could have started accepting coupons or expanded their menu options outside of French-American cuisine.

These moves may offer short-term gain but in the long run would be severely detrimental to the brand.

Just like restaurants, radio stations evolve and add brand depth. That brand depth, however, has to be in concert with the base position or it will erode the brand.

It’s as true in the restaurant business as it is in radio. When you add depth while remaining true to your brand, the sky is the limit.

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Reducing Friction On Your Radio Station – Part 2

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Tuesdays With Coleman

Where do you go when it’s time to brainstorm and talk shop?

Recently, the Coleman Insights brain trust found itself where it often does on a random Friday afternoon.

Chili’s.

Just before the server took our orders, I noticed our dining musical accompaniment featured the ambient beats of “Jive Talkin’”, which had seamlessly faded into “Got to Be Real” by Cheryl Lynn.

“Huh”, I remarked. “Disco Friday at Chili’s”.

Donna Summer came on after Cheryl. It was indeed Disco Friday.

This led to a conversation my colleague Jessica relayed to me later in the week, during which she was asked, “Does any radio station play disco anymore? And if so, who would?”

As you know, if you’re on the hunt for an all-disco station, it’s gonna be slim pickins on the prairie. That doesn’t mean there aren’t stations that play disco titles. Where would you hear it?

Last week’s blog discussed obstacles to the customer experience, sometimes referred to as friction. I mentioned some of the ways radio stations have traditionally dealt with listeners, and whether some should be re-examined in 2018.

Another kind of friction can occur when expectations of the brand don’t mesh with what the brand is delivering.

Does a little disco make sense on a Classic Hits station? Adult Contemporary? Adult Hits?

The answer could be yes in all those instances, but it could be tough to determine how much to play. Does the market see disco as a fit with your brand? Does it work with the core sounds you’re playing on the station? Or, should it perhaps be relegated to a specialty show or not played at all?

A Classic Rock station’s core may be 60s and 70s Classic Rock. How far this station can deviate from that core differs by station and market. Is the spice 70s and 80s Pop? Can it delve into 90s Alternative Rock?

How much can a Hot Adult Contemporary station rooted in contemporary sounds play in the 80s or 90s? How does it mesh with popularity and brand perception?

Zappos used to sell only shoes. Now, they sell shoes, clothes and accessories. This isn’t unusual for a shoe brand, but if they started selling televisions that may cause some friction.

In 1990 Coors figured they’d get in the water business because, you know, the water in their beer was so good.

Didn’t work.

Cartoon Network was known for showing kid-oriented cartoons but had developed a more adult slate of programming at night. Research guided them to spin their “Adult Swim” into its own network. This allowed each network to stay in its lane. Same with Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite.

Research can help answer questions like these. When brands have a clear understanding of their core proposition, they can better focus on delivering their product and know how to explain it to current and potential customers. They know what lanes to stay in, where there’s room to add spice to the recipe and which spices to add. We use measurements such as Fit and Compatibility to assist our clients in this process.

Aim for a focused, cohesive, consistent product.

Aim to reduce friction.

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Reducing Friction On Your Radio Station – Part 1

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Tuesdays With Coleman

Friction is a hot buzzword in marketing these days. It refers to obstacles in the customer experience.

Can’t find the “submit” button on a form? Friction.

Pop-ups getting in the way on a website? Friction.

Getting charged unexpected fees? Very irritating friction.

Are you adding friction to your radio station?

How much has changed in the ways radio station personnel deal with listeners?

Still asking for caller 9 to win a pair of tickets to the home show, only for the listeners to get a busy signal?

When a listener wins from a town an hour away from your studios, do you tell them you’ll mail the prize or do you tell them they have to pick it up because “that’s the policy”?

Do you make fun of “prize pigs” and tell them they can only win every 60 days, essentially inviting them to listen to another station? Or, do you celebrate people who are actively engaged with your content?

When a listener makes a request, do you tell them, “I’ll see what I can do”, or “I’ll get that right on for you” or “It’s coming up” (even though it isn’t coming up for 15 hours)?

Does your website make it easy to connect with the team, from the General Manager to the jocks? Is there an easy way for them to provide feedback?

Are you engaging with your audience on social media or using it as an advertisement, leaving their comments hanging?

Are you only allowing people within your metro to stream the station (and is that worth it)?

Are you paying attention to the spots and promos on the stream? Is it playing the same PSA over and over again, making it unlistenable?

What do Amazon, Southwest Airlines, Nordstrom, and your radio station have in common?

They are all brands.

What if you treated your listeners the way those brands treat their customers?

Strong brands research, develop a plan from the findings and execute the plan.

Friction is the enemy of plan execution.

Next week in Part 2 of “Reducing Friction on Your Radio Station”, we’ll discuss how radio stations can reduce friction by utilizing research to present a more cohesive product.

 

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Do Artists Still Need Radio For Stardom?

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Tuesdays With Coleman

Have you been looking for music on YouTube lately? Maybe on Instagram? Snapchat? Unknown artists, old and young, are using these platforms to share their talents with the world. YouTube has created a whole generation of musicians with massive amounts of followers, waiting to be heard by the widest audience possible. This isn’t so easy despite social media’s perceived ubiquity. Social media requires viewers to actively seek out new music and new artists. Even with tons of followers, how do these artists break through and truly make it big?

They break through with radio.

Let’s look at one of these artists who started by making it HUGE on social media. Have you heard of Cardi B? Silly question. You’ve definitely heard of her. You probably saw her in Amazon’s “Alexa Loses Her Voice” spot in the Super Bowl (FLY EAGLES FLY). You saw her at the Grammys performing with Bruno Mars. If you have tuned into a hip hop station at least once since last summer, you have heard her single, “Bodak Yellow”. In January, Billboard reported that Cardi B became the first woman to appear on five of the top 10 hits on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart.

Amazing, right? She came out of NOWHERE, right?

Well, no. If you were a heavy user of the much-missed Vine, if you follow hot up-and-comers on Instagram, or if you are a faithful viewer of Vh1’s Love & Hip Hop (I only lasted two seasons with the original recipe), then you might not have missed this apparent superstar. It wasn’t until Ms. B took her social media superstardom to the airwaves which allowed to her reach vast new audiences. These audiences that might have passed her over otherwise helped turn her into a mega-star.

Social media has become the new Nashville coffeehouse or college town dive bar. A good chunk of today’s hottest stars, from Ed Sheeran to Alessia Cara to Charlie Puth, got picked up by record labels after building huge networks of followers online. Take Shawn Mendes, the Canadian singer-songwriter who caught Island Records’ attention when he was just 14, recording cover songs on Vine. A few years later, his single “Treat You Better” was certified triple platinum and he embarked on a tour that sold out some of the most massive arenas in the world.

For all of these huge stars, the catalyst that propelled them from social media forces majeures to mainstream international stars is the tried-and-true medium of radio. Radio play remains crucial to the success of any musician who seeks out that kind of fame and lasting recognition. Radio continues to play a major role in exposing rising talent to a broad audience.

As Cardi B contemplates her next money moves, she will use radio as her way to get recognition beyond her social media followers and even beyond hip hop fans. Further collaborations with more established artists in other formats will take her to more levels than even she thought possible. She—and her label—will continue to use social media platforms as marketing tools and ways to connect Cardi directly with her fans, but radio will still play a major role in getting her voice out to the world at large.

I have a feeling there’s a really talented young person with a guitar somewhere who wants to make it big but thinks he doesn’t need radio. He envisions stardom just by creating a YouTube video every week for his subscribers. He’s wrong, and he’s not following the advice of those who have been there before him. He’s probably pretty great. But without the radio, there is a whole segment of enthusiastic listeners who will never get a chance to hear him and make him a music powerhouse.

 

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Smart Branding in the Age of Smart Speakers

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Tuesdays With ColemanAccording to a recent study from the Pew Research Center, many Americans get their news from social media. Breaking it down further, where is this “news” coming from? Friends’ posts and tweets? Articles? Alerts on the Facebook sidebar? It’s likely a combination of all three. The true sources of that news–brands like The New York Times, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, etc.—aren’t always getting credit for providing the news. In the same vein, many people will catch a popular show on Netflix or Hulu; they’re not always registering that the show they enjoy ran first on ABC or Syfy or some publicly-funded Norwegian broadcast network. To the consumer, it’s just content, and the source is where they find it. Brands that provide content increasingly struggle to cut through the noise and make themselves stand out.

In the traditional model, radio shouldn’t have that problem. Listeners tune in directly to a station. They might go to a station’s specific website or app that streams content similar to what one might hear over the air. Therefore, the listening experience is the same as it is on broadcast radio—promos and all.

And now comes the smart speaker.

The recently released NPR and Edison Research Smart Audio Report says that one in six Americans now owns a smart speaker. As I watch this and other new forms of audio technology spring up around us every day, I’m reminded that we have to keep promoting lest we end up as lost as one of the news sources on Twitter. While we can surmise that many people with smart speakers will ask Alexa or Google to “play Foxy 107.1”, it’s not a far stretch to imagine more people who are likely to order their smart speakers to simply “play New Jack Swing” or “launch [app from a large entertainment company].” In a few years, when we ask listeners where they get their music, we want listeners to still be able to tell us the station or broadcaster, not “my smart speaker”.

So how do audio content providers effectively cut through? When a station loses its foothold in a market—when awareness is down or the audience associates the station with a format or branding that’s long been replaced—we often advise our clients to go back to the Coleman Insights Image PyramidSM.

Coleman Insights Image Pyramid

The Pyramid starts with a well-established base music, talk or news position. Once a station has effectively communicated its base position, it can build its way up the Pyramid by growing or strengthening its images. (“Images”, in this context, are phrases and concepts that people associate with your station. These can range from, “the Classic Rock station” to “the station that rocks too hard for my taste” to “the station that has the best contests and giveaways.”) Things like sponsoring events and contests, advertising intelligently and running promos are some of the tools we recommend to make our client stations top of mind in their respective markets. Even when listeners actively choose what they want to listen to, it’s important to remind them what you are and why they’ve tuned in.

In this age of constantly growing multi-platform listening, don’t forget to keep pushing those images. Evaluate how many times per hour you’re communicating your base position. Remind them what they’re listening to and what the brand stands for. Ensure your personalities have a clear understanding of how to reinforce the position and how often. Well-communicated and produced promos can complement the listening experience. It’s wonderful when your station is available to listeners at the press of a button, the swipe of a finger across a screen or a voice command in a living room, but don’t forget to remind people who you are and why they’re there with you.

 

 

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Is Your Music Changing With Your Audience?

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Tuesdays With Coleman

After working as a Program Director at radio stations in various formats over the course of 20 years, I was fortunate to be involved in my share of research projects.

Six months ago, I began my new role as an Associate Consultant at Coleman Insights. I work on projects for radio stations in just about every format in markets of various sizes. I’d like to share a few things that have sparked my interest and attention on the research side:

Listener tastes can change in relatively short periods of time.

While I often had access to music research, I was sometimes limited to working with “safe lists” (lists of songs that have done well in the format that should, in theory, be safe to play). There were songs some people felt we didn’t need to test because “they always test well”.

It’s fair to say there are songs that generally do test well just about everywhere. But it’s also fair to say that tastes change and vary by station and market.

One of the first FACT360 Strategic Music Tests I’ve had the opportunity to analyze was for a Country client of ours. In that test, we found that 34 percent of the songs testing in the Top 200 had changed from the previous test. A year earlier, this rate of Title Turnover was 25 percent, meaning the rate of change increased.

Title turnover

The sound of the radio station stayed consistent because this client knows that a music test should not dictate their music strategy. That’s what their perceptual research is for. But, with 34 percent Title Turnover in the Top 200 and 41 percent in the Top 150, this station—by conducting regular library testing—is staying on top of what’s appealing to their listeners in their market and they can play the right songs at the appropriate levels.

History can reveal changing listener tastes when reviewing Billboard Hot 100 charts.

I once had a General Manager tell me to look through Joel Whitburn’s Hot 100 Charts book to look for ideas of songs to play. True story! And yes, you can get ideas of songs to play from year-end charts. On the other hand, if all the #1 year-end songs were on the radio, you’d be hearing “The Way We Were” by Barbra Streisand, “Physical” by Olivia Newton-John and “Macarena” by Los Del Rio more often.

They were the #1 year-end songs from 1974, 1982 and 1996, respectively.

The number one Hot 100 song of 2017 was “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran. The number two song was “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee (featuring Justin Bieber). Will one, both, or neither stand the test of time? Only time will tell. Music testing will help determine their longevity on your station and in your market.

Artist appeal can change.

When I programmed WBBB/96rock in Raleigh-Durham during the 2000s, Grunge was a consistently strong-testing sound and it wasn’t unusual for us to get at least seven Pearl Jam songs to test. “Even Flow”, “Alive”, “Jeremy”, “Better Man”, “Daughter”, “Black” and “Yellow Ledbetter” were staples in rotation.

In a recent analysis of what songs have stood the test of time based on Spotify airplay, the author makes note of how Pearl Jam has been “lost in time”. While testing results can be completely different at another station in another market, two separate FACT360 studies of a Rock station we work with showed five Pearl Jam songs testing in the Top 200 in 2015. In 2017, there were only two.

2018 brings fresh data, new trends and insights and I can’t wait to dig in! Keep your eye out for a new blog each Tuesday.

 

 

 

 

 

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Radio’s Encouraging 2018 Outlook

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Tuesdays With Coleman

For the first blog post of 2018, our three Senior Consultants—Warren Kurtzman, John Boyne and Sam Milkman—continue their roundtable chat to offer their thoughts on the radio industry and the role of research in 2018.

Coleman Insights Warren Kurtzman Jon Coleman John Boyne Sam Milkman

Senior Consultant Sam Milkman, Founder Jon Coleman, Senior Consultant John Boyne, and President Warren Kurtzman

WARREN KURTZMAN:

I think we need to start a discussion of how the radio industry looks in 2018 by looking at the largest radio companies.

SAM MILKMAN:

There are some very positive signs that started to take shape at the end of 2017.

WARREN KURTZMAN:

Right. Entercom’s acquisition of CBS should make it a stronger player, iHeartMedia continues to deliver strong operating results and will hopefully reach a deal with its bondholders soon. Cumulus should emerge from Chapter 11 as a healthier entity.

JOHN BOYNE:

With the three industry leaders in stronger financial positions, I’m hopeful we’ll see more investment in their products, meaning investments in people and talent, research and marketing. It’s pretty exciting when you see the medium-sized players—the Hubbards, Bonnevilles and Beasleys of the world—expanding their portfolios and investing in their products. They are seeing the results of those investments.

SAM MILKMAN:

That’s good for everyone, from listeners to advertisers to radio industry employees.

WARREN KURTZMAN:

I think radio is really figuring out its place in the digital space now, too.

SAM MILKMAN:

Definitely. The industry is increasingly going to advertisers with multi-platform solutions instead of just selling spots and that’s causing an increasing percentage of station revenue to come from digital.

On the content side, I think it is important that stations remember that all their digital assets are an extension of their brands and should be consistent with what’s coming out of the speakers. Visitors to a station’s website, readers of a blog, someone checking the station’s Facebook page should all clearly understand what the brand stands for.

JOHN BOYNE:

Smart speakers will play an important role this year.

WARREN KURTZMAN:

They will, and that’s another good example of radio embracing new technology. Many stations and companies were very quick to integrate their brands into Alexa Skills, running promos instructing listeners to use it, and are figuring out how they can utilize it to generate more in-home listening.

JOHN BOYNE:

We continue to see pretty big changes going on in the research side as well as a result of technology.

SAM MILKMAN:

Quality control is more important than ever. Technology allows us to measure things differently and recruit research participants differently, but it also opens up a whole bunch of additional factors that require researchers’ attention.

JOHN BOYNE:

Yes, I think quality control should be a consideration for any research company you decide to go with. We need to spend more time explaining this to our clients and the industry as a whole.

WARREN KURTZMAN:

Let’s do a little of that now! It all starts with using high quality sources of sample. It’s amazing how many vendors of questionable sample pitch their wares to research companies every day. We’ll talk about this more in future blogs, but one thing we need to stress is how much using high quality sample impacts the accuracy of the data research companies deliver.

JOHN BOYNE

Another of our biggest ongoing investments is in online security, which helps make sure that the people who participate in our studies are who they say they are. There are things we do to prevent hackers and “professional test takers” from getting into our studies in the first place and then advanced analysis tools we use once we have the data to weed out respondents who don’t meet our quality control criteria.

SAM MILKMAN:

My last thought is that as an industry, to get better, we need to constantly examine pre-conceived notions of what consumers want. We have to always ask if there’s a better way of doing things.

WARREN KURTZMAN:

I agree, Sam. To circle back to where we started this discussion, I believe our ability to do that should be enhanced by the improved health of our customers. It’s really fun to be bullish on the radio industry as we begin 2018; coming to work every day in an environment where there’s investment rather than cutting is dramatically more satisfying!

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Holiday Gratitude

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Tuesdays With Coleman

For the final blog post of 2017, our three Senior Consultants—Warren Kurtzman, John Boyne, and Sam Milkman—sat down for a roundtable chat to reflect on some things they are thankful for this holiday season.

Coleman Insights Warren Kurtzman Jon Coleman John Boyne Sam Milkman

Executive VP/Senior Consultant Sam Milkman, Founder Jon Coleman, Executive VP/Senior Consultant John Boyne, and President/Senior Consultant Warren Kurtzman

SAM MILKMAN:

We have very special relationships with our clients who treat us like partners – and often like family. I’m grateful for our partnership with all of them.

WARREN KURTZMAN:

For all the missed connections in airports, late nights analyzing data…

SAM MILKMAN:

Wouldn’t trade it for anything.

JOHN BOYNE:

You mentioned the partnership, Sam. That really is what makes this rewarding, right? I feel grateful that so many clients consider us to be part of their strategic brain trusts. I love it when they reach out in between projects to get my outside perspective on things.

SAM MILKMAN:

That’s what it’s all about. Of course, I love rolling up our sleeves with our clients and helping them find a clearer path to success. When it all comes together – we follow a plan, invest in marketing an idea both on and off the air.

JOHN BOYNE:

Marketing is a great point. We’ll often have client calls to discuss marketing strategy. It helps to ensure that the message is aligned with the insights gleaned through research, but it’s also fun to bounce ideas around with others who are intimately familiar with “The Plan.” These conversations happen no matter what the level of marketing resources are at that time. Within the past couple of days, I’ve had a couple of clients calling to talk about their Q1 marketing message.

WARREN KURTZMAN:

I’m also grateful that we can tap into the brainpower of our founder, Jon Coleman. He’s seen so many scenarios, in virtually every format, and we’re not shy about asking his opinion when it comes to data interpretation and developing strategic plans. It’s pretty amazing to have the opportunity to learn from him every day.

SAM MILKMAN:

I’m grateful that consumers continue to rely on radio, even in the face of rapidly expanding entertainment options.

JOHN BOYNE:

We feel very fortunate that radio companies are investing in the growth of their product through research. There’s never a dull moment. There are always new things to learn, new ways to get better.

SAM MILKMAN:

And I’m grateful we’ve been able to invest as well!

WARREN KURTZMAN:

We’ll continue to invest in new technology and new ways to glean insights from consumers. We added three Associate Consultants to our team over the past year—Jessica Lichtenfeld, Meghan Campbell, and Jay Nachlis. As I’ve mentioned before, we’re bullish on the radio industry and are thrilled that we were able to add more brainpower to the team and another layer of service for our clients. On that note, I have a huge level of gratitude for everyone that works at Coleman Insights. We have a team of more than 20 individuals dedicated to providing our clients with the deepest insights and the highest levels of quality and service in the industry and I’m very proud of them.

SAM MILKMAN:

Coming back to our clients, I appreciate that we have the kind of clients who push us to question our assumptions. My father used to tell me, “No one has a monopoly on the truth.” He was trying to teach me that there isn’t just one way to see things, that you need to look at things from lots of different angles to find a solution. And I think our clients demand the same sort of intellectual vigor.

WARREN KURTZMAN:

Ultimately, that pushes us to challenge ourselves, and invest in new ways of doing things.

 

For January’s first blog, Warren, Jon and Sam will continue their discussion by sharing their thoughts on radio and research in 2018.

From everyone at Coleman Insights, have a festive and safe holiday season and  Happy New Year!

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What’s My Brand Again?

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Tuesdays With Coleman

Which radio station plays Classic Rock?

Which radio station plays Hip Hop and R&B?

Which radio station plays new hit music?

Chances are, you have a perceptual image in mind for one radio station that occupies each of these positions in your market.

It’s also true there’s likely more than one radio station in your market that plays Classic Rock, more than one that plays Hip Hop, and more than one that plays new hit music.

It is the one that is top of mind, the one you think of first, that builds brand ownership. In those moments when listeners choose a radio station to fill an instantaneous need, it is better to be top of mind.

Because more than one radio station plays these styles of music, it simply isn’t enough to play them. You must tell the audience, and you have to tell them often. That’s why simplicity is often the best way and slogans like “The Classic Rock Station”, “#1 for Hip Hop and R&B”, and “The Hit Music Station” just make sense. It’s what we call owning a Base Music Position on the Image Pyramid.

It takes a long time to build a brand. So when a change is made to a brand, it is even more paramount for the audience to be clearly informed of the change.

Let’s say my radio station plays mostly music from the 90s and 2000s, but research has identified an opportunity to play more 80s music. So, I significantly drop the percentage of 90s and 2000s music and inject a boost of 80s onto the station. Everyone says the station sounds great.

But did your audience really notice?

On a micro level, you may pick up some listening here and there and the audience may subliminally notice a change. But if you really want to get credit for the branding shift, just playing some extra 80s songs isn’t going to cut the mustard. You have to tell them. Over and over again.  Something like “The 80s Music Station” or “Nobody Plays more 80s” would make the change clear. Don’t forget, your station was playing music predominantly from the 90s and 2000s, so the audience’s top-of-mind perception of your brand is likely just that. You have to tell them you made the change to build the image you want.

What brand comes to mind when I say “baby food”?

Almost certainly the answer is Gerber. And Gerber still leads the U.S. market in baby food sales. But, like in other segments of the food industry, natural and organic disruptors have changed the game. Here’s a recent organic (pun intended) Google search of “Organic Baby Food”:

  • Earth’s Best
  • Plum Organics
  • Beech-Nut
  • Gerber

It shouldn’t be surprising that the brands that sound natural and organic lead the pack. What may come as a surprise is that Gerber has been making organic baby food since the 1990s, always used non-GMO fruits and vegetables in its purees, and has direct farmer relationships.

Yet it is Earth’s Best that says “No Genetically Engineered Ingredients” and Plum that put the word “organic” in its name.

Gerber has recognized the need to include the messaging in its marketing as part of a brand overhaul.

They’ve learned, even as the market leader, it isn’t enough to just do something. You must also tell your audience about it.

Over and over and over again.

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Is News of the Dashboard Radio’s Death Greatly Exaggerated?

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Tuesdays With Coleman

We are all struck by the speed at which technology is moving—in general, and particularly around the automobile. Some recent studies predict that the autonomous car will dominate roadways by the year 2030. Sooner than that, new digital dashboards featuring Apple Car Play and Android Auto will be in almost every car, offering much greater choice beyond traditional FM radio.

Is in-car listening, one of the last safe havens for radio, about to go the way of the hand-cranked window? While the threat to radio listening in vehicles is certainly real, there is also reason to believe that the world may not be moving as fast as some may think. No matter what the future holds, we believe the best course is to follow the consumer to understand what they really want. The consumer should be our guide to understanding the new rules of car dashboards—and in audio entertainment in general. Consumers might also want to read the Honda Vezel Singapore review at Vin’s Automotive to enlighten themselves on the latest news concerning cars.

Listening to consumers gives us reason for some optimism about FM radio’s importance in the car. First, the average Joe’s car does not look like the autonomous electrics we’ll see at the Consumer Electronics Show next month. Joe’s car is about 12 years old, with an FM radio, cassette deck and CD player. That was the basic layout of the entertainment system in most cars until the 2010 model year. That means many consumers will have an FM radio and a cassette player for at least another five or ten years.

Second, consumers have rejected new dashboards that lack a knob for the volume or the radio—even missing a CD player. Manufacturers have learned that consumer satisfaction drops significantly when they try to replace these basic features with newer technology. Honda, for example, backtracked and put a volume knob back into the design of its new cars after hearing complaints about their new dash concepts. Just because more streamline technology exists does not mean consumers want to learn to use it or be distracted by it at 70 mph.

Third, more choices in audio entertainment in the car is not necessarily a good thing—or a desirable one—from the consumers’ perspective. The masses do not always want boundless choice; it often overwhelms them. This is a phenomenon known as the tyranny of choice. We might think that more choices make people happier. After all, they have a greater likelihood of finding what they really want. The opposite is often true. Too many choices leads to greater misery!

Curation and somebody to tell the people what is good remains highly important. While we might say we want infinite choice, often times what we really want is somebody combing through the choices and making a few good recommendations.

None of this suggest we should put our heads in the sand or ignore the threats that surround us. Certainly our industry needs to fight hard on two fronts. First, we need to continue to build strong brands and great content. That’s the part of the success equation we control as an industry. Listeners who really love your product will continue to seek it out regardless of the distribution means, as long as we don’t make it hard for them to find us.

Second, our industry must continuously remind the auto industry that the consumer wants radio. The delivery technology may change, but the auto industry cannot afford to get too far ahead of itself, or the consumer, and we must remind them of that.

So long as the consumer is driving—literally and figuratively—let’s give them what they want—great radio and an easy way to hear it.