The Midweek Motivator - March 3, 2010

We seldom find a radio station that doesn't consider itself a leader in some target category. Most stations base their self-opinion on wishful thinking and creative definitions: "number one between noon and one with 18-24 males with vasectomies..."

But companies and radio clusters don't create brand leaders, listeners do. It's who listeners perceive as the best that connects to weekly remembrance and ultimately PPM or diary credit, resulting in a true format leader. This axiom transcends radio or television, applying to any competitive field.

If you're the brand leader, while it may seem incongruous, your number one priority is to play by the rules of defense. In New York, there is only one AC leader. Lite is the leader, not one of the leaders. In every theater there are pretenders to the throne...explaining why so many stations think it possible to "will their way" to the top. They subscribe to the fantasy that one must first convince themselves they are the target leader, believing listeners will automatically follow.

Shoot that thought. Wishful thinking has no place in developing a market strategy, especially in media's new-world coexistence with migratory product and time poverty. It's one thing to cheer-lead your brand for sales proposes, quite another to delude yourself into misfiring with strategy.

A good format intelligence officer fortified with accurate research will have a precise picture of his or her competitive reality, so as to learn the truth about their product's current-state as qualified by listeners, as opposed to whistling in the dark by the Arbitron cemetery. When format leaders are toppled from their number oneness observers ask, "How could that happen?"

When it does, 90 percent of the time the company or station formerly occupying that position failed to (1) recognize the threat, (2) were in denial about the looming attacker, and (3) failed to play defense-first (if at all).

When two products go head-to-head, fortune smiles on the people with the best leadership, best strategy and best execution. Far too many radio companies have been hoisted on their own petard, victim of their own rhetoric. They talk themselves into the "we have better people, better company" myth. Listeners/consumers on the other hand, have little time and no obligation to choose and behave accordingly. A listener like any consumer is interested in the brand that gratifies their desires...period. There is no mystery why Jerry Lee and B-101 are unassailable.

Believing that radio still belongs in a stand-alone product file is a posture assured of defeat. If you're fortunate to be certified the leader by the only two criteria that really matter (ratings and/or revenue), plan to review the blueprint for defending your position. Someone wants what you possess. Success is never guaranteed, and certainly never singularly achieved