Mark Kassof Quotations of Chairman Mark

From Wikipedia:

A killer application (commonly shortened to killer app), in the jargon of computer programmers and video gamers, has been used to refer to any computer program that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as computer hardware like a gaming console, operating system or other software. A killer app can substantially increase sales of the platform on which it runs.

For example, one killer app was Lotus 1-2-3…the spreadsheet program that fueled sales of the original IBM PC.

I have argued for a while now that HD Radio needs its own killer apps to be successful — “super-niche” programming that is so compelling for some listeners that it motivates them to go out and buy HD Radios.

Finally, radio is seeing the light.  I was heartened to see this item today on the Inside Radio email:

A 24/7 all-Eagles football channel is being planned to launch next summer, in advance of the 2010 season. Eagles 365…would be a side channel to active rock WYSP, flagship of the Eagles Radio Network.

Which followed this item:

Three months after launching online and on HD2, Penguins Radio is gaining ad traction. Branded around last year’s Stanley Cup champions, the station has grown from six advertising partners at its October 1 debut to one dozen now.

If you’re not a sports fan or just a casual fan, this may be hard to fathom.  Certainly, “Eagles 365″ or “Penguins Radio” would fall short of a 1.0 share, even on “big sticks” in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. But that’s one benefit of HD Radio — it can serve niches that might not be viable for FM or AM, but still represent a lot of bodies in bigger markets.

It seems that sports and other highly specialized talk formats would be best suited for this “super niche” approach.  For example, even though Liberal Talk radio has never aired in most markets, there are enough “lefties” in even the reddest states to support an HD2 channel.

And there are certainly music formats that would be viable super niches. For example, imagine a station that plays Christmas music year-round.  Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas” would sound great on a steamy August afternoon.

These super niche stations could sell a lot of HD radios.  You might argue that radio isn’t in the business of selling radios, but new HD radio owners would soon discover its benefits beyond “Eagles 365.”

I have never thought that HD Radio would be any kind of “magic bullet” for the industry.  But what HD can do is make radio as a whole more compelling…no small thing given the level of competition the industry faces today.

Super-niche stations like “Eagles 365″ can be the killer app to help make it happen.

Anyone in the radio business who thinks it’s screwed up right now should also acknowledge that radio hardly has a monopoly on self-defeating behavior. Businesses in every market sector do dumb things.

I just became aware of a whopper when I went searching for an upgrade to my SPSS software. SPSS stands for Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and has been around in various forms for 40 years now. It’s what we use to crunch the numbers from the research that we do.

Now, I’m not one to reflexively upgrade software. I think most software upgrades are for the benefit of software companies, not users. But I’m working on a new research product that requires functionality my SPSS version doesn’t have, so I wanted to check out the latest version.

I went to the SPSS website, but couldn’t find the SPSS program…frustrating! Finally, I deduced that that SPSS is now called PASW, for some reason. It’s now owned by IBM, I learned, and they changed the name to PASW.

Four decades as a market leader. A name known by researchers and students around the world. Tossed out in favor of something that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. The company is still SPSS, the website is spss.com, but the product is PASW. Why???

IBM isn’t only company to abandon a perfectly good brand name. The cars we now know as Nissans were — for the first half of its history in the U.S. — called Datsuns. By the mid-1970’s Datsun had become the biggest importer of vehicles to this country.

But in the early ’80s, the cars’ parent company — Nissan Motor Company — changed the name to Nissan. They wanted to be marketed under the same name around the world. In other words, pure corporate ego.

It didn’t work out so well. From Wikipedia:

Ultimately, the name change campaign lasted for a three year period from 1982 to 1984, and cost Nissan a figure in the region of US$500 million…Five years after the name change program was over, Datsun still remained more familiar than Nissan.

And it hurt the cars’ sales. The ’90s were not kind to Nissan, and by ‘99, the company had severe financial difficulties…to the point where its future was in doubt. Certainly, this wasn’t entirely because Datsuns became Nissans, but it was at best an unnecessary change.

At least in radio, we almost always change names for good reasons. Stations that change formats invariably need to change names. Stations with serious perceptual problems should strongly consider a name change. But stations with positive brand equity — even when they have some negatives — should retain their names.

And that’s pretty much how it’s done in our business.  Isn’t it interesting how major companies — like IBM and Nissan — don’t know what we do?

Focus is crucial in marketing, whether it’s for a radio station or anything else. The question remains: What are you focusing on?

Many radio execs and consultants are experts on the radio industry. I’ve met guys who seem to know any station and format you can think of (and some that you can’t).

Sure, it’s good to know what’s going on in New York, L.A., Wichita… wherever.

But that’s not the right focus…

My focus is radio listeners… the ones in whatever market I’m working on at the time.  Frankly, I’m even more interested in listeners than whatever is going on in the industry.

I hope you are too. Because listeners in your market are the only ones that can make your ratings success.

History is rife with examples of stations that failed because their managers focused on an industry trend (or fad), rather than what’s needed and will work in their own markets.

The one I always think of first is Disco,  pioneered by the original WKTU (not the current one) in the late ’70s. That station was an instant smash in New York, prompting “industry savvy” G.M.’s (note: sarcasm) to clone it. Unfortunately, the format didn’t play in Peoria (literally) and lots of other places it was tried.

The Disco fiasco is especially poignant to me because a station I successfully programmed as an AOR — San Antonio’s original KTFM (not the current one) — foolishly jumped on Disco after I left, with disastrous results.

There have been many more since — the ’70s format, the ’80s format, Jammin’ Oldies…

More recently, the Adult Hits format has been a winner in some places, a flop in others. Even in Canada, where the format enjoyed its first and biggest successes, “Jack FM” failed to gain traction in Toronto.

And most recently, the success of “Amp Radio” in Los Angeles has prompted a revival of CHR. Jack in Toronto is now CHR — Kiss 92.5. At least they picked a different name…others must have thought that the name “Amp” has magic, for some unfathomable reason. CBS planted Amp in Detroit — where it displaced a solid 4 share Smooth Jazz format. It’s too soon to say, but I’d bet Detroit’s Amp won’t do as well.

Unfortunately, listeners in Detroit just don’t read Inside Radio, Radio Ink, All Access and the countless industry-oriented web sites. What’s the matter with them??? Don’t they know that Amp in L.A. had a 3.8 in September???

To some extent, listeners in every market are unique. But even more significantly, the competitive structure of every market — based on listeners’ needs and perceptions — is unique. So just because a format is hot in one market doesn’t do you a damn bit of good in yours!

So, sure…keep on top of “the biz.” But keep your focus on listeners in your market. Base your strategies on them.

One of my fond memories of growing up in Chicago is the hot dog joints. You can’t go more than a block or two in Chi-town without seeing the Vienna brand hot dog sign. Chicago’s hot dog joints are one of things that make it unique…Since leaving my hometown, I lived in K.C., San Antonio, and Minneapolis (among other places) and never saw anything even remotely like them.

So, when we moved to Ann Arbor, I was thrilled to discover the “Chicago Dog House”…a run down shack with the Vienna sign proudly displayed. As soon as I walked in, the smell of greasy fries hit me and I felt right at home.

The Dog House was a dump. It was crowded, noisy and had questionable cleanliness. Its counters were worn. Its tables were warped and carved up. It had a street sign “borrowed” from one of Chicago’s North Side corners. It blasted an eclectic music mix — anything from classic rock to Etta James and Leon Redbone. Behind the counter was a wall of bizarre headlines from tattered tabloids, yellowed by age and the grease in the air.

The Dog House closed last year when the city shut down its street for a major construction project. I grieved.

But recently, the shack reopened as “Ray’s Red Hots.” Of course, I had to check it out…

Ray’s Red Hots is clean and bright. Everything’s freshly painted and fixed up. The counter is new and the tables have been refinished. The street sign is gone. The tabloids are gone. They’re not serving Vienna brand, but something called “Red Hot Chicago.” They don’t taste quite like Viennas.

Ray’s dogs don’t have the flavor of the Chicago Dog House. Neither does the place.

So what’s the point???

Too many radio stations are like Ray’s Red Hots. There’s nothing wrong with them. They’re technically competent. They’re clean. They’re professional.

But something is missing…call it charisma, the “X-factor,” a certain specialness or even quirkiness.

For example, as a Chicagoan, I grew up listening to Larry Lujack. He wasn’t the most smooth and professional announcer. He screwed up sometimes. He had dead air sometimes. I think that made listeners pay more attention. They knew they weren’t listening to a machine.

Lujack was a star on WLS. Its smooth-as-silk midday jock Bernie Allen was a personality that only I would remember.

This isn’t unusual. One of the things I’ve learned doing research is that some of the most compelling personalities are ones that most “radio professionals” would think flat out suck! But they’ve made a personal connection to listeners in their communities.

Think about your friends. Are they perfect? Or do they have certain “schticks” that make them interesting, amusing or endearing?

Ideally, a radio station is like a friend to the listener. There’s a personal connection, and a hometown connection. But too many stations today sound like they’re from a cookie cutter and could literally be from anywhere.

What about your stations? Are they like Chicago Dog House, or Ray’s? Are they merely professional, or do they have flavor ?

It’s fashionable to bash radio executives today. But radio G.M.’s and P.D.’s are among the smartest people I know.

And, now more than ever, I think radio managers get the idea of establishing a brand and being focused and consistent. They get it more than they did years ago. It’s been years since I’ve heard statements like: We need more 25-54’s…let’s add some oldies to our CHR station.”

Radio guys “get” brand integrity more than some big money execs in some other industries…

The auto industry has been a lifelong interest of mine and I follow it closely. As a marketing guy, I was astounded by something I heard recently from Chrysler brand CEO Peter Fong. He sees the brand moving “a notch above Lincoln, a notch above Cadillac.”

I say two things: (1) Mr. Fong, check your medications, and (2) I want my tax money back!

Even in the best days of the Chrysler brand, it was never more than upper-middle, like Buick. And that was a long time ago. When the corporation dropped Plymouth (another mistake), Chrysler became the purveyor of its low-end minivans and cheaper cars like the PT Cruiser. Chrysler moved downscale, not up.

Once you do that, there’s no turning back. It’s just not possible to move a brand up the luxury and prestige ladder. (Unless consumers didn’t know who you were in the first place.)

And that’s why Toyota, Nissan and Honda created Lexus, Infiniti and Acura back in the ’80s…because they knew consumers wouldn’t pay big bucks for “Toyota,” “Nissan” or “Honda”!

In contrast, it is quite possible to move downscale, but it’s not usually a good idea…

Until recently, the 3 Series was the least expensive BMW. In ‘08, they launched a lesser model — the 1 Series. It’s not selling well.

Undaunted, BMW is now reported planning a new 0 series! Not only will the model be cheaper yet, but it will also be the first front wheel drive BMW. Front wheel drive has advantages, but optimum handling isn’t one of them. Ask any car aficionado…y’know, the kind that have bought “The Ultimate Driving Machine” for years.

Besides, who wants to say: “I drive a zero”?

Moving a luxury brand downscale is hardly limited to autos. Starbucks recently introduced Via — an instant coffee….hardly an upscale product.

Starbucks must know it’s on shaky ground here. Its website states: This is not instant coffee as you know it. This is rich, flavorful Starbucks® coffee in an instant… Starbucks has found a way to offer a truly great cup of coffee that you can prepare by just adding water.

This is brand dilution…literally. Even if Via tastes as good as Starbucks claims, that’s missing the point. Starbucks isn’t just about the coffee…it’s about the total experience. Y’know, the rich smell of coffee in the air, the barrista skillfully preparing your Grande Java Chip Frappacino with a shot of espresso (note: not my order), the students spending hours on their laptops…

Why else would someone spend $5 for a coffee???

You’d think the folks at Starbucks would understand this, but execs often lose sight of the big picture when they’re chasing revenue in a down market. Even if Starbucks sells tons of Via, it hurts them long-term.

So, I have a suggestion for BMW, Starbucks and any other companies that are losing their way. Hire some ex-radio execs as brand managers. There are certainly a lot of them looking for work, and they “get it.”