Advertisers tell radio to keep making the case for African-American market

Advertisers tell radio to keep making the case for African-American market

From Radio Ink
(September 21, 2007) A top national advertiser on Thursday (9/20) told Urban radio broadcasters that major advertisers are at long last seeing the value of African-American and Hispanic audiences.

Harkening back to her fifteen years working for an agency, State Farm vice president of marketing Pam El said during a marketers' panel at Interep's ninth annual Power of Urban Radio Summit that modern advertisers are much more savvy about targeting ethnic groups than they were back in her agency days.

"Clients would say, 'We need some of that,' meaning Urban or Hispanic radio," she said. "But clients today are all more sophisticated; we know about the 'tanning' of America. The smart brands are intent on reaching this audience, and corporate America is finally waking up. And people at the agencies know, too. If the plan is good, it gets through."

Turning specifically to the Urban radio market, however, El – who is African-American – cautioned African-American broadcasters against making assumptions when working with clients of the same race. "When you see people like us in these roles, because we're Black you think we get it. But we don't necessarily get it. And if we don't get it, our staffs don’t. And new, young media buyers really don't get it. You can't just assume that I or someone who looks like me is going to understand or buy Urban radio. So you have to prove it over and over again."

El added, "We want the audience, but don't necessarily know how to get the audience. I need to reach these consumers, but I don't necessarily know how."

She continued, "The world is changing, the face of America is changing, and as the biggest insurer in the country I worry every day about how I am going to sell these people more insurance. I see the change, but I don't know what to do about the change."

El also lamented how some Urban broadcasters she's advertised with refuse to work with her company on other initiatives. "I assumed, silly me, that since I bought some advertising, I could get time on the air. I've wanted to do interviews regarding some health issues, but I've been told that the stations don't like to cut away too much from music. It's been a real hard struggle, even with the larger media. Anybody will take your money, but how will you help us integrate to reach that audience?"

El said correcting the situation will require a multi-pronged educational effort. "There's a lot of education to be done on the clients side, and there's a lot more work for our agencies to do. We have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go."

Fellow panelist Andrea Brown, director of media planning for Coca Cola, stressed that radio as a whole must fight being marginalized in today's media marketplace. "Radio needs to claim its rightful spot as the first interactive medium," she said, recalling how as a teen she would ask her mother's permission to call in to radio stations that were doing promotions or prize giveaways. "Radio in general – not just Urban radio – needs to recognize that it has a unique way to connect with consumers. There is so much else that can be done; we need to figure out how radio will be relevant in future generations."

One way to stand out, another marketer noted, is through better creative. "The relationship between budget allocation and creative is key," said Najoh Tita-Reid, director of multicultural marketing for Proctor & Gamble. "With a lot of campaigns I've seen, the creative wasn't done with radio in mind, and that is a big part of the reason why some campaigns don't get out of the box to radio. All of the creative is geared towards television, and then somewhere at the end someone says, 'Oh yeah…radio. And if the ad is bad, we'll just scrap radio and use the money elsewhere. Radio is almost irrelevant in brand management; it's just not sexy. You need to determine why that is."

Tita-Reid also said that radio has the potential to measure the response advertisers get from initiatives like remotes, and whether a radio station appearance at an advertisers' location resulted in increased customer traffic and sales. While Tita-Reid and El both said they are willing to share that kind of information with stations, Brown admitted that Coca Cola considers that information proprietary and doesn't share it with stations. Her stance mirrored the experiences of agency reps Radio Ink talked with after the conference.

However, all of the panelists agreed that stations must stop targeting their cross town rivals, and instead focus on competing media. "Radio stations are competitive with each other, but the enemy is not each other. I challenge you to go after advertisers and sell radio as more of a reach medium. It's easy for me to go look at an ad in a magazine and see it there for a month. Your challenge is to do it better job of working together with your clients to explain how radio is an effective reach medium. Looking at that data is something we can do together."

Verizon executive director of multicultural marketing Jeff McFarland added that his company rarely narrows its radio advertising to a single outlet. "I won't just choose one radio station; my product is one that Urban listeners use, so there needs to be more awareness."

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Click here for free delivery of the Target Market News Bulletin You'll receive news of breaking stories, exclusives, updates and headlines on the latest developments in African American marketing and media Black Stats Frequently requested data on African American consumers Black Buying Power: $719 Billion (2005) Black U.S. Population: 38.3 million Top Five Black Cities - New York - Chicago - Detroit - Philadelphia - Houston Top Five Black Metros: - New York-New Jersey - Washington-Baltimore - Chicago-Gary - Los Angeles - Philadelphia Top Five Expenditures: - Housing $110.2 bil. - Food $53.8 bil. - Cars/Trucks $28.7 bil. - Clothing $22.0 bil. - Health Care $17.9 bil. Click here for more stats from "The Buying Power of Black America." ______________________ Get quick access to key U.S. Census Bureau Data Click here to go to African-American Census Bureau data _____________________ Copyright `© 2007 by Target Market News Inc.` All rights reserved Business address: 228 S. Wabash Ave. Suite 210 Chicago, IL 60604 t. 312-408-1881 f. 312-408-1867 info@targetmarketnews.com	Advertisers tell radio to keep making the case for African-American market From Radio Ink (September 21, 2007) A top national advertiser on Thursday (9/20) told Urban radio broadcasters that major advertisers are at long last seeing the value of African-American and Hispanic audiences. Harkening back to her fifteen years working for an agency, State Farm vice president of marketing Pam El said during a marketers' panel at Interep's ninth annual Power of Urban Radio Summit that modern advertisers are much more savvy about targeting ethnic groups than they were back in her agency days. "Clients would say, 'We need some of that,' meaning Urban or Hispanic radio," she said. "But clients today are all more sophisticated; we know about the 'tanning' of America. The smart brands are intent on reaching this audience, and corporate America is finally waking up. And people at the agencies know, too. If the plan is good, it gets through." Turning specifically to the Urban radio market, however, El – who is African-American – cautioned African-American broadcasters against making assumptions when working with clients of the same race. "When you see people like us in these roles, because we're Black you think we get it. But we don't necessarily get it. And if we don't get it, our staffs don’t. And new, young media buyers really don't get it. You can't just assume that I or someone who looks like me is going to understand or buy Urban radio. So you have to prove it over and over again." El added, "We want the audience, but don't necessarily know how to get the audience. I need to reach these consumers, but I don't necessarily know how." She continued, "The world is changing, the face of America is changing, and as the biggest insurer in the country I worry every day about how I am going to sell these people more insurance. I see the change, but I don't know what to do about the change." El also lamented how some Urban broadcasters she's advertised with refuse to work with her company on other initiatives. "I assumed, silly me, that since I bought some advertising, I could get time on the air. I've wanted to do interviews regarding some health issues, but I've been told that the stations don't like to cut away too much from music. It's been a real hard struggle, even with the larger media. Anybody will take your money, but how will you help us integrate to reach that audience?" El said correcting the situation will require a multi-pronged educational effort. "There's a lot of education to be done on the clients side, and there's a lot more work for our agencies to do. We have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go." Fellow panelist Andrea Brown, director of media planning for Coca Cola, stressed that radio as a whole must fight being marginalized in today's media marketplace. "Radio needs to claim its rightful spot as the first interactive medium," she said, recalling how as a teen she would ask her mother's permission to call in to radio stations that were doing promotions or prize giveaways. "Radio in general – not just Urban radio – needs to recognize that it has a unique way to connect with consumers. There is so much else that can be done; we need to figure out how radio will be relevant in future generations." One way to stand out, another marketer noted, is through better creative. "The relationship between budget allocation and creative is key," said Najoh Tita-Reid, director of multicultural marketing for Proctor & Gamble. "With a lot of campaigns I've seen, the creative wasn't done with radio in mind, and that is a big part of the reason why some campaigns don't get out of the box to radio. All of the creative is geared towards television, and then somewhere at the end someone says, 'Oh yeah…radio. And if the ad is bad, we'll just scrap radio and use the money elsewhere. Radio is almost irrelevant in brand management; it's just not sexy. You need to determine why that is." Tita-Reid also said that radio has the potential to measure the response advertisers get from initiatives like remotes, and whether a radio station appearance at an advertisers' location resulted in increased customer traffic and sales. While Tita-Reid and El both said they are willing to share that kind of information with stations, Brown admitted that Coca Cola considers that information proprietary and doesn't share it with stations. Her stance mirrored the experiences of agency reps Radio Ink talked with after the conference. However, all of the panelists agreed that stations must stop targeting their cross town rivals, and instead focus on competing media. "Radio stations are competitive with each other, but the enemy is not each other. I challenge you to go after advertisers and sell radio as more of a reach medium. It's easy for me to go look at an ad in a magazine and see it there for a month. Your challenge is to do it better job of working together with your clients to explain how radio is an effective reach medium. Looking at that data is something we can do together." Verizon executive director of multicultural marketing Jeff McFarland added that his company rarely narrows its radio advertising to a single outlet. "I won't just choose one radio station; my product is one that Urban listeners use, so there needs to be more awareness." Go to Target Market News homepage	13th Edition Now Available New Buying Power report shows more spending by black consumers on 'necessities' Thanks to economic gains in the past two years, black households across the U.S., especially middle-class families, are increasing their purchases of lifestyle and leisure items. According to the newest edition of “The Buying Power of Black America,” there are indications that black households are feeling more confident about making purchases that... Story continued... _________________________________________________________________________________________ The African-American Book Publishing Authority Now in its ninth year of publication, Black Issues Book Review is the only nationally distributed magazine devoted exclusively to covering the latest news and reviews on black books. BIBR also provides up-to-date news on forthcoming author signings, book fairs and book clubs. Want this issue? Get it with your new subscription. Click Here A TARGET MARKET NEWS PUBLICATION _________________________ SUBSCRIBE TODAY! The trade publication for in-depth coverage of Black Consumer Marketing and Media news