Smile, You're on.....

We've just taken a giant step back in technology, and it's wonderful. When we first opened the Radio Garage back in 1990, one of the first things we bought, right after microphones and mixers and recorders and such, was a Polaroid camera. Every client who came in was photographed and put on the "Wall of Fame". To this day, people still pause when they come in to see all of the pictures still on that wall. At our ten year anniversary, we even had a collage "Poster" made up of dozens of those pictures and people still love to look at it. There's a picture of a much younger Jay Leno and I on one of those occasions when he came to Des Moines. We love to play America's fastest growing game..."Find Jay Leno". It really does take awhile, since his hair was still black and he was much thinner. There are also polaroids of John Ratzenberger in the studio, Bob Dole, Merlin Olson, past Iowa Governors Terry Branstad and Tom Vilsack, well suffice it to say we have a lot of dignitaries up there along with countless clients and friends.

Well, a few years back, in an attempt to keep up with technology, we scrapped the Polaroid for a digital camera. We have folders full of digital pictures and have even printed quite a few off to add to the wall. But you know what? It's just not the same. Maybe it's the tactile pleasure of holding that unique Polaroid paper, or the fact that the picture is right there and you just can't wait for it to develop so you can see what it looks like, or maybe that it fits so neatly into most of the acoustic foam used to deaden studios, but we've gone back to the Polaroid. Now we're thinking of taking it one step further by scanning in the picture, making a postcard featuring that picture and send it to the client with a "Thanks for the Biz" message on the back. That way, they can start their own "Wall of Fame".

How do you thank your clients? I'd love to know. But if you don't have a plan to say thanks presently, I highly recommend the polaroid approach. It's great fun...and you know how I love fun. I promise to get that poster scanned and on the web site in the near future. Thanks for reading and we'll leave the mic on for ya. Oh, by the way, the picture is of Hollis Monroe and Mike Dunn. Notice the polaroids in the foam above them. (Just one of many "walls of fame".)

Who's In Charge Here?

Have you ever worked with a committee? I mean as a business, have you ever worked with a client "committee"? It's usually a group of people that have either volunteered for the project because it sounded like fun, or a group of people that have been assigned to serve on the committee because, well, they had time. It really doesn't matter how it happens, committees tend to be the devil's spawn no matter how they're formed. In a studio situation, we usually plan on doubling the project time when there's a committee involved, simply because each committee member feels that it's important to interject their opinion, important or not, informed or not, relevant or not.

Mike Meacham's favorite definition is: "A committee is a culdesac, down which good ideas are lured and quietly strangled". The only reason I bring this up is because I'm serving on a committee right now. It's a volunteer committee to help in the marketing of our small Iowa city. Early on, I mentioned that our most important task was to choose an advertising agency. Once that was done, the best thing we could do was disband and get out of their way. Honest, I said that very thing in one of our early meetings, probably a year ago. Everyone nodded and I, obviously mistakenly, thought that meant agreement.

Now, we've chosen an advertising agency and the process is underway and I'll be darned if the committee isn't still meeting. And yes, everyone has begun to second guess everything the agency has done and is complaining that they're not involved enough. So...the committee has become the committee I feared it would. Maybe that's just the nature of the beast, no matter what. Just like a kitten becomes a cat, a puppy becomes a dog, involved citizens become politicians, a committee just has to keep meeting and meeting and meeting long after its usefullness has ended. And that just guarantees that the process, no matter what it is, will take twice as long.

What do you think? Am I just becoming a cynical bitter guy, or do people let "being on a committee" just go to their heads? Hey, I'm more than willing to admit that I could just be totally wrong. But I'm guessing otherwise. Thanks for reading and we'll leave the mic on for ya.

Thanks Mom

Sit up straight....
Keep your head up and your shoulders back...
It's always better to be the best dressed than the worst dressed in any situation...
Never run with scissors....
Always wear clean underwear....
There's nothing more important than family....
In a hundred years, no one will remember.

Thanks Mom. She passed away Thursday August 16th.

Hit the Road Jack

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for vacation. There's just something about this time of year that makes me want to hit the road. And when "The Dread Truckin' Disease" hits, I really can't focus on much else. Maybe that's why I haven't been blogging as much lately. Visions of mountains and fishing and golf flowing through my head. Honest, vacation has replaced Christmas as my favorite time of year. Probably because I don't get all the toys anymore.

Where have you been? What's your favorite vacation getaway? Because, seriously, I don't know where my wife and I are off to as yet, but I do know that I'm within two weeks of taking off. If you have a favorite spot within a day or two drive from Iowa, I'm listening. If I don't hear from you, it's probably back to our favorite cabin in the Black Hills, Rimrock Lodge.

Honest, I'll try to get back to blogging "on subject". But for now, all I can think of is finishing a couple of books, fishing and the perfect drive. "FORE!" Thanks for reading and we'll leave the mic on for ya. (Does anyone else smell pine?)

KISS

My Great Uncle had a cattle ranch out in the sandhills area of northern Nebraska back in the 50's and 60's. He couldn't quite figure out why so many of his cattle would die after branding. He called his local vet, who searched and tested, but couldn't find any biological pest to blame it on. He even had the feed tested at regular intervals to make sure there was no taint. There wasn't. Still, the cattle would die in amazing numbers....and always shortly after branding.

It was Uncle Russel's brother, Uncle George that finally solved the mystery when he was helping Uncle Russel with the branding one summer. "Well, yer darned fool", he said in his bestGabby Hayes, "Maybe yer shouldn't be branding the whole ranch name on yer poor critters". Sure enough, Uncle Russel was just vain enough to have named the ranch; Russel Machlan's Star Bar Ranch, Home of the Tastiest Beef in a Five State Region Where Your Satisfaction is Our Success and There's Always Plenty of Free Parking and a Friendly Helpful Ranch Hand Ready to Serve You, Call Cherry 7658 Conveniently Located Near George Machlan's Place Just Down the Road from the Old Windmill.

Ah yes, the old "Keep it Simple Stupid". It's never more relevant than when it's applied to advertising. Especially radio advertising. "Radio is very good at accomplishing very little". I'm not even sure where I came up with that one. It was probably an old sales manager that I worked with. What it means is that you need to boil down the message to it's bare bones. You know, like "Eat at Joe's"! Okay, maybe not quite that mundane, but it is essential that you micro target what it is you want to accomplish. Radio isn't at all good at explaining a new product. "This new topical lotion is perfect for the person with Soriasitic tendencies or those living in a humidiness climate". How about, "Smooth skin is just a mouse click away at clearskin.com"? Suddenly, you've moved from hoping that radio can sell your product for you to driving them to your website where you can spend all the time in the world telling interested clients what your product can do for them.

I remember a printer client we had a few years back who just wasn't sure that radio would work. "How will I know?", he asked me. I convinced him to simplify his expectations. "Let's see if radio can make your phone ring", I proposed. He agreed and I went to work. What I came up with was something like this:

Good day and welcome to finger exercises. Today we begin our four week program guaranteed to make your fingers more shapely and in better condition. Let's begin. Simply pick up the phone and dial 555-2234. That's 555-2234. Go ahead, pick up the phone and dial 555-2234. I'll just wait while you do that. (Pause) Hey, do you want flabby fingers or what? Just pick up that phone and dial 555-2234. That's better. And while you're dialing 555-2234, I should tell you that it just happens to be the number for US Printers. They're wonderful printers and like me, want you to have fit fingers...etc etc, you get the jist, nudge nudge, wink wink.

His phone would ring off the wall every time the spot aired. Does radio work? You bet it does. Listeners want to be engaged. And if you offer them a little fun at the same time, so much the better. So there it is....the old "FUN" thing rears it's ugly head once again. Try to have some today, thanks for reading and we'll leave the mic on for ya.