Jan 12

Response December: A Fitting Close to 2017

Response‘s December Issue dropped online and began hitting mailboxes the week before Christmas. While many of you have had a chance to flip through the pages or peruse the stories online, the holiday season (and catching up after it) got in the way of my monthly recap — until today. The issue is led by a cover feature on Colorado-based healthcare provider UCHealth. Features on the consumer electronics market and what’s new in the radio media space follow behind. We also take a look at 2Q 2017 DR radio media billings, and five contributed columns also give notable information from leaders in the performance-based marketing world. How did it come together? Let’s dive in.

  • The December cover interview with Manny Rodriguez, CMO of UCHealth, was a long time coming. The story of the story begins in March 2017, when Sallie Sangiorgio, a PR executive in Ogilvy‘s Denver office, sent a note asking if I’d like to connect with Manny during a visit to Southern California late that month. Though timing didn’t work out, I made clear our interest in a possible cover feature on what UCHealth — a nonprofit network of nine acute care hospitals and more than 100 clinics throughout Colorado, southern Wyoming, and western Nebraska — was doing to market its services. After an informational interview with Manny in April, it was clear this was a story we wanted to tell in Response. But at that point, we were locked in for covers through 3Q 2017. Sallie and I continued to stay in touch through the summer and finally settled on the December issue as the best timing for us and for UCHealth. My interview with Manny was one of my favorites of 2017. He’s forthcoming, funny, and focused — a rare combination. If you missed the link above, click here: ‘Extraordinary’ Marketing
  • Also in December, freelancer Bridget McCrea dug into the consumer electronics market just ahead of the annual CES event that took place in Las Vegas this week. What did she find? Perhaps the only thing growing and changing faster than the technology behind your favorite tech gadgets is the technology supporting the marketing programs that are placing those gadgets at the front of your mind. Check out the story for more: The Future Is Now
  • Speaking of marketing technology, our annual look at the radio media marketplace has a distinct focus on the use of artificial intelligence as a facet of the programmatic buying process — not to mention back-end analytics programs that are measuring creative effectiveness and audience response. If you missed the link above, freelancer Doug McPherson‘s story is a good one: Robotic Radio
  • Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings research focuses on second-quarter 2017 DR radio research provided by our partner Kantar Media. After riding high through much of 2015 and 2016, DR radio suffered a second-consecutive quarterly decrease, dipping 18.1 percent compared to 2Q 2016 numbers. Still, it’s not all bad news: the total spend of $13.9 million is the third-best second-quarter total in the past decade. For a full look at 2Q 2017 DR radio media billings, click here: Radio Dials It Down Another Notch in 2Q 2017
  • The December issue also features five excellent column submissions:
  • Finally, my December Editor’s Note column touches on the changes we made in 2017 — not only in Response, but also with the DRMA and MTC Expo. But our work is far from done, though the calendar has flipped. What’s to come? Plenty: A Year Ends and an Evolution Continues

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!

Feb 07

Response January: Brandman U., College Sports Marketing and Another Buzzword

RES0115_CV1A day after finalizing our February issue and sending it off to print, I finally have a free moment to take a look back at the January issue of Response. The issue went live online a couple of weeks back, but just in case you haven’t flipped it — either in print or online — I’m back with my regular look at some of the issue’s key stories.

  • My cover feature on Brandman University and Ramendra (Ram) Singh had an interesting genesis. Most refer to it as “seventh grade.” That’s right, a friend I met during junior high school — Steve Quis — pitched the story idea to me last summer in his role as PR director for the non-profit university. He’s since moved on to a similar role at Miramar College (in addition to his sports play-by-play career). The introduction to Ram was a fortuitous one. Ram is one of the most intelligent and thoughtful people I’ve interviewed during my 14 years at Response. His thoughts on omnichannel (yep, that word — and it’ll come up again later in this post) marketing in the education sector are ones that any marketer should consider. I’m very pleased to note that Ram will be part of an educational panel at Response Expo. If you’re one of our attendees, you shouldn’t miss it. So, thanks Steve. Who knew our time back at LVJHS and FUHS would evolve into this story! If you missed the link above, here it is again: Educating at Brandman University
  • Keeping the college theme going, our annual look at marketing in the sports & fitness category takes a deep dive into how major college athletics programs are finding new ways to commune with fans and sell game tickets and merchandise. The passion of sports fans makes them the perfect consumer to target via various direct response marketing methods, especially digital and social media. From coast to coast — quite literally from Oregon to Miami — what are the best marketers doing to reach those fans and make them consumers? If you didn’t click the link above, here’s your chance to find out: Inside the College Playbook
  • The January issue buzzword of the month: omnichannel. After touching on the “programmatic” frenzy in December, we took our questions about “omnichannel” marketing to the Response Advisory Board (RAB) for 2015’s first advisors roundtable feature. Seven of our board members took part in the conversation and — as usual — the online version carries the complete and unabridged answers from each leader (compared to the edited version that runs in the print magazine). Once again, if you missed the link above, click here: Response Advisors Forum: Entering the Omnichannel Era
  • Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings update focuses on third-quarter 2014 long-form DRTV results. Once again, media billings in the half-hour advertising space stumbled, losing $20.3 million compared to the prior third quarter and leaving the total for the first nine months of the year off by more than $61 million. This is the second consecutive year of losses for the long-form space — unless fourth-quarter results are shockingly good. But there is some hope that long-form marketers are starting to understand the trends and restructuring how best to take advantage of long-form DRTV. To take a deeper look at 3Q 2014 long-form DRTV media billings, click here: Long-Form Media Billings Dip $20M … Again
  • A line I removed from January’s Editor’s Note column read (so far as I can recall): “And I am sure my fiancée rues the day she urged me to join Twitter.” If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram or are a Facebook friend, you may agree … wholeheartedly. Nonetheless, to read my take on using social media outlets — both personally and professionally — here’s the link once again: Finding — and Growing — Your Social Voice

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!

Dec 31

Response December: Subaru’s ‘Love,’ Programmatic Pragmatism, and TV Media Highlights

Response December Issue On the last day of 2014, I have some free time to pull together one last Response issue recap post. Our December issue went live online the weekend before Christmas and features a cover story on a major automotive marketer using direct, digital and data-driven tactics, as well as our new 2015 Media Timeline. While most of you are rightfully celebrating the holiday season (as I’ve been for most of the past week) and haven’t had the chance — or even the inkling — to check out the issue, here’s some of the back story on what’s inside!

  • Late in the summer I received an outreach from Diane Anton, corporate communications manager for New Jersey-based Subaru of America. The note was about the debut of the new Outback and the marketing campaign surrounding it, including a pair of new TV ads. Anytime a marketer as big as Subaru directs outreach to Response I know two things: 1) our message really is getting out to the right marketers; and 2) I will respond to that note ASAP. After a couple of calls with Diane — who was just a great pleasure to work with throughout the process — we were set for a cover feature with the automaker’s vice president of marketing Alan Bethke. With an interview and cover photo shoot that came together during the fall, the Subaru team was on top of everything we needed and was rather open about how crucial the digital and data-driven aspects have become in their successful “Love” campaign. If you missed the link above, here it is again: The Greatest ‘Love’ of All
  • Programmatic. If you work in marketing and advertising, 2014 was the year that you suddenly could not escape that word. And while it’s become a huge factor in digital media, there is still a lot of speculation on how programmatic media buying will affect the television industry. Heck, there is still a lot of speculation about what the word (and the concept) “programmatic means. We pulled together four experts from various sides of the television media world to give their insight on what to expect in 2015 and beyond. If you didn’t click the link above, here’s another chance: Programmatic Proliferation
  • During a breakfast in New York City in June, Dick Wechsler, leader of DR industry media buying agency Lockard & Wechsler Direct, first planted the seeds of a possible 2015 Media Timeline in the pages of Response. His thoughts — and those of Eddie Wilders, the LWD vice president who eventually worked on the piece with us — about the annual TV events that affect the average media buyer’s day-to-day efforts eventually evolved into the 4-page spread you see in this month’s issue. We’d love feedback on this piece, as we are considering making some version of it an annual occurrence in our pages. If you missed the link (to the opening spread in our digital edition — the best way to display the feature online), click here: 2015 Media Timeline: Following the TV Trends
  • Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings update focuses on second-quarter 2014 DR radio results. After an outstanding second-quarter one year ago, DR radio’s 2Q 2014 results took a step back, more closely mirroring results in other recent April-June stretches. The network radio outlet faltered heavily during the quarter, leaving it almost wholly responsible for the $2 million total loss during the measured timeframe. To take a deeper look at 2Q 2014 DR radio media billings, click here: 2Q 2014 DR Radio Media Billings Slip $2 Million
  • Using January’s huge CES show (and our annual December feature on the consumer electronics space) as a jumping-off point, my Editor’s Note column talks about the divide between supporters of traditional — and even older forms of digital — media and the true believers in mobile media outreach. As usual, in any black-and-white debate, the truth about what will work best for marketers lies between. To read the column, here’s the link once again: Finding the Grey Areas Where Successful Campaigns Reside

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response! Happy New Year and all the best in 2015!