New media makes strange bedfellows

Adrants reports that radio empire Clear Channel is expanding its creative services for advertisers, especially in the area of copywriting. This is part of their initiative to reduce interruptions and shorten commercial breaks, the bet being that they can write more effective, efficient advertising than their clients can.

Surprisingly, they're not too far away from our thinking on this. In our model, most advertisers will pay us a commission based upon a pre-set metric, whether that's sales or visits or clicks. (And yes, we have figured out how to make that work in print.) So our interest is not in filling up space with advertising -- it's in moving product for our customers. We've all seen some godawful ad campaigns in out time, so I've been thinking that advertisers may have to pay extra if they want us to use their creative. Otherwise, give us the art, let's agree on the offer and let us go to market. Why should they trust us? Because we don't get paid unless they do. And I don't see why our margin should be cut because of ineffective creative.

Arrogant? I suppose it would be if advertisers were buying space. But we're selling results. And opening doors for local retailers who can't afford good ad agencies (of which Dallas does have many).

Clear Channel is doing the same thing, just on a more manageable scale for an incumbent. I'm selfishly glad that the newspaper community isn't this open-minded. Clear Channel is looking? a little less like an evil empire and more like a potential partner. (Now if they'd just diversify their playlists.)

---

Not to belabor, but the things they're saying make a lot of sense--?The cynic in me says it may be corpra-babble, but it sounds pretty genuine. If so, I wonder why they're able to look at their situation with more foresight than the newspaper community?:

?The media business is changing so quickly that if we keep doing things the way we used to, we run the risk of becoming irrelevant,? said Hogan. ?This is the opportunity for radio to reinvent itself.?

Clear Channel?s aggressive moves have not gone unnoticed by the ad community. ?Hogan has taken everything clients have said and made an effort to make a change in the industry,? said Kim Vasey, senior partner and director of radio for Mediaedge:cia. She called Hogan?s latest move ?unprecedented?This group will serve to make the Clear Channel?s account executives stand head and shoulders above all others in the industry because they will know how to sell the power of the medium, not just a package of spots.?

Just like in our model -- finally your reps are consultants, not space-sellers. Sure, everybody in media has been saying that for a decade, but no one really belives it.

?Our main objective is to serve our local radio stations? commercial needs in the ?less is more? environment,? said Cook. ?Thirty-second spots will be more effective because we will focus on single messages, rather than competing against ourselves in the spot with multiple messages. The results should be more effective spots for advertisers.?

While Wall Street and the ad agency community debate the merits of Clear Channel?s sweeping changes, Hogan is going to keep pressing for radio to evolve.

?It all may not work, but if 50 percent does, we?ll be one initiative ahead. If we don?t try anything, you won?t be talking to us.?