Long live fake fame! And… Is Facebook killing comedy? Plus, rants and raves on what a famous handbag owes to the back of an airplane sick-bag, the wondrous origin of the most famous Coke jingle in history, and the mystery surrounding the seeming impossibility to recreate Beyonce in wax. It’s episode 79 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Click the play button below: And

Now that Facebook is all but “pay for play,” what’s the best way for you to maximize your time and your investment on the platform as you build out your social media engagement for your radio brand? No longer is it worth wasting time posting for posting’s sake. And no longer is money involved in Facebook advertising so small that it doesn’t matter. So what should you do? And what shouldn’t you do? Those are the questions tackled in a new report based on an analysis of data fr

What the amazing success of Pokemon Go means for YOUR media brand. And… Amazon wants you to PAY for Podcasts. It’s episode 46 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Plus, rants and raves about the virtual Cheetos museum and how much food gets trashed just because it’s “ugly”, and what happens when a celebrity with a popular social media identity forgets to edit a sponsored post. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly

Ad blocking is exploding. Here’s how to fight back. And… This is what makes your fans “tick.” It’s episode 44 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Plus, rants and raves on why Anderson Cooper’s ban on the Orlando Killer’s face and name on-air is well intentioned but ultimately useless, how most people share online content without reading it first, and much more. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Click th

Donald Trump’s ten brand secrets – revealed! And… From stodgy magazine to multimedia juggernaut – how The New Yorker did it. It’s episode 36 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Plus, rants and raves on the meaninglessness of taglines, the platform that can turn your idea into a book in just 12 hours, and more. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Click the play button below: And if you’re reading this by e

If you aren’t the exclusive provider for something meaningful, you’re sunk. In April, I shared Bloomburg’s report that Apple Music’s strategy would be to secure new music exclusives from some of the industry’s hottest artists, and I wrote about how exclusives were set to power the next generation of online radio competition and, by association, all radio competition. Now there’s a report that this strategy is beginning to unfold, big time: Apple [has] started creating their o

The shape of Apple’s new live-streaming radio station Beats 1 is coming into focus, and it’s full of exclusive celebrity content: The New York Times reports that Elton John will have a regular show on Beats 1 titled “Elton John’s Rocket Hour,” and it will play old and new music. Other musicians with shows on Beats 1 include Pharrell Williams, Drake, Josh Homme, St. Vincent, Jaden Smith, and Disclosure. Pharrell isn’t just a presenting a show, though. His new single “Freedom”

Periscope…Meerkat…When we all stream live, will Big Media pay the price? And… Facebook is about to EAT your news brand! It’s episode 16 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Plus, Tom rants about Fox News icon Bill O’Reilly. Mark rants about over-complicated decision trees for folks trying to decide whether or not to cut the cable cord. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Click the play button below: And if

Quick Summary: How can your media brand leapfrog your competition? Not by shortcuts but by “smartcuts.” Here are a few examples that you can put right to work: Lateral thinking, agility, leveraging platforms, 10X thinking, and more…. Shane Snow is the co-founder of Contently, the publishing platform for brands, journalists, and storytellers. Shane is a journalist who’s written for “Fast Company,” “The New Yorker,” “Wired,” and “The Washington Post.” Shane also is the author o

What could radio broadcasters possibly learn from a Zoo? Ask the folks at hivio, the first inaugural radio ideas festival, because this conversation between me and San Diego Zoo Global Brand Manager Michael Warburton turned out to be one of the “hits” of the event, and it had the room buzzing. Some highlights: How legendary brands can keep fresh Why bother to go beyond “good enough” in all the actions of your brand (hint: Because the extra effort matters to fans and they appr

When we say things like “let’s whip up a better story for radio to convince folks how important it is in their lives” we are fighting an impossible battle for this reason: “Radio” is not a brand. “Radio” is a distribution platform for brands, where the brands can, should, and do live on other platforms, too. If we have learned anything from this digital age it’s that the most useful brands are those that are device-agnostic, those that view platforms as distribution opportuni

All right, let’s just say it. Radio is really bad at technology. Sure, we can mess with Twitter and Facebook and YouTube, but your five-year-old has mastered these. Being able to function in the presence of technology with something less than the capacity of a pre-teen is not the same as being good at technology from the perspective of a brand. Technology today is helping to broaden the definition of brands and transform them into experiences. In fact, the future of brands is

So what’s best, digital-only or integrated? Don’t get lost in this “either/or” – it’s a myth. It’s all about value, folks. Good or bad, high or low. Period. I think radio buyers can only respond to what’s in front of them, and many of radio’s digital-only doo-dads are not exceptional enough to capture their attention or interest (or the attention and interest of our own audiences). So make better stuff with better ideas and you can sell it better to people who don’t know

One of the greatest challenges for ALL traditional media – radio, TV, and print – is what I’m calling the “mediacizing” of brands.” As our client brands create content via media these brands become media, and as brands become media we have to ask: Where does that leave traditional media brands? Will big brands need radio (or TV or print) when they are their own media and can create their own content? Just today, the New York Times reports on the “mediacizing” of Oreo, a Times

Chris Bell is president of Triton Digital’s Applications and Services division. Triton is an innovator in bringing game mechanics to radio platforms.  Indeed, gamification is a major emphasis for the company and I have been impressed by their investments in this area. So what is gamification, and why does it matter to radio? How does gamification dramatically improve the engagement between consumers and our radio brands, and how can this engagement be effectively monetized? C

There’s this assumption in digital-land that everybody wants to “engage.”  That “engagement” is the ultimate goal of all digital activities. So then why is there so little “engagement” with most radio brands online? Is it because radio brands are poorly represented on digital platforms?  Or is it because most (but certainly not all) listeners use radio not because it occupies their every moment of conscious thought, but precisely because it doesn’t? The answer is certainly “b

Back in the day, Ries & Trout Own one, they advised.  Just one. This played well with a broadcasting audience for obvious reasons – we were and largely are in the audio business, and messaging in that business continues to be driven by words (I happen to think it should be driven more by sounds, but that’s a topic for another post). CUT TO: PRESENT DAY Ries & Trout begat Ries & Ries, helmed by Al Ries’s daughter Laura.  And Laura’s new book, Visual Hammer Her pitch: Al and I

In a content-driven, anything – anytime world, the advantage shifts from radio stations to personalities and the entities that own or license them. In the long run, fans of radio will be fans of personalities.  And how will those fans seek out those personalities? By the names of their stations – or by the much more direct path:  The name of the personality? And if consumers are searching by personality name, not by station, then doesn’t the advantage shift to the personality

Is your radio brand nothing more than the sound emanating from the speakers produced by your tower? Or is it something much more? Well, in 2012 and beyond it can be a LOT more. But understanding this requires a new way to think about what a radio brand is and how to leverage it across platforms. It begins with a definition, because if we don’t understand what we are then we can’t possibly realize our fullest potential. I boil down my definition in this short video.  Watch: Pr

Don’t let the fuss over the merger of unprofitable Newsweek with the not yet profitable Daily Beast fool you. There is indeed gold in them there hills for magazines – and ALL media brands – if they focus on amplifying their brands rather than printing more issues. Just ask the folks at WIRED. From today’s news: “The gloves are off here at Condé [Nast],” said Wired publisher Howard Mittman, whose magazine will end the year in the number-one spot for ad page growth at the compa