August 6, 2017


Associated Press is now using artificial intelligence to write stories. So far, computers are generating business reports based on information supplied by publicly held companies to investors. Training a computer to write some sports stories based on stats was the next step and that is now a reality. Those who write copy at AP are now working on template to help the computers learn how to compose news stories. As you would suspect, all of this is raising some interesting questions.

  • What happens when 3 great writers are asked to write the same story? It had been my experience that you will get three very good pieces of copy. Each will have a slightly different take. If each is helping build a template for a computer, which will the computer use and why?
  • How will the computer gather the facts to write the story? If a human has to feed it the facts, it might be faster for that person to simply write the story by him/herself.

Building computer programs for a news organization takes money and a lot of time. For every newsroom in America to design its own AI program would probably be too expensive. But, the alternative is not really viable. The alternative is to have several national companies sell a system to a station or group. That would lead to two distinct problems.

  • Newscasts would all sound the same. They would be commodities.
  • No newscast would reflect the emotional needs of different people in different markets. Despite having large Hispanic populations, Los Angeles, San Antonio and Miami have nothing in common. Each market has its own values.

So where does that leave us right now? In my opinion, AI definitely has a place in a newsroom. Let’s take breaking news. AI is capable of listening to what is occurring, what you are reporting and making suggestions for additional angles to pursue. It definitely can calculate traffic patterns and determine what crew can get to the scene the faster. It may not be the crew that is the closest. Since AI can listen to the human voice and turn it into text no one need worry about closed captioning. The list goes on, but AI is definitely coming to a newsroom near you.


Facebook: Tips for Success

August 3, 2017

Digital advertisers are moving very quickly to engage their buyers. Right now, it appears the best way for advertisers to engage a prospect is through compelling content. For example, if you manufacture hot water heaters, you should attach your product to a blog. You would focus on what features to look for when buying one. It is more engaging than a straight ad. And, the odds of increasing sales rise.


The same is true in television news and social media.  For social media to work for a TV news department, every on-air personality must contribute content regularly. It makes viewers more likely to watch a reporter or anchor on-air. And, viewers no longer see an anchor or reporter as one-dimensional. They get to actually know you.  What is the best way to accomplish this?


Facebook is the ultimate engagement tool. It not only allows you to give readers insights into you, it reveals what you experienced covering a story. You can also tell readers about some of the interesting people you met along the way. Think of a post as your opportunity take readers behind the scenes and discover what it like to do your job every day. You can write a post or go live on Facebook, as Lou Young, a retired WCBS reporter used to do. His live reports were usually filed from a moving vehicle as his photog was driving back to the station. His posts were extremely timely.


If you are an anchor there are many things you can post. You can write about anything from an internal debate about what the lead story should be to the difficulty you may have experienced on your commute to work.


In the mornings, postings about traffic and weather conditions are really important. Whenever possible, the traffic reporter should include video. Both weather and traffic should be updated a lot during the morning and evening commutes.


Managers need to keep track of what is being posted and by whom. Some will be eager to post. Other may need a little prodding. It is noteworthy to point out that the first place station in a market is usually the social media leader. You may say, “Of course, they have a bigger following on air, so why wouldn’t they win social media too?” My answer is, “If you want to be number one, use every tool you have.”


Disrupt Your Brain!

June 19, 2017

There are no TV broadcasters anymore. Maybe there never were. Whether you manage a local station, a group or a network, you are a content provider. And, you need to start focusing on how content is delivered and who is watching it. CBS just saw an average 54% increase in unique viewing when all cross-platform devices were measured by Nielsen. The message is pretty clear. Local stations and station groups must take digital viewing a lot more seriously than they have. And, it is time to move quickly!  Phones and tablets aren’t a disruption. They are a huge opportunity. If you are trying to reach Generation Z, they are your only opportunity.


Change Your Thinking

Start by considering that a 24-hour stream is pretty much like a cable channel without the need for a coax cable. Therefore, one can create a themed stream on any interesting topics that attracts enough watchers to make it profitable. The downside is that you will need a staff to produce each stream. However, you do have an advantage that few others have. As a TV station you have the reach to market any stream you choose. Start by doing an ROI.


Here are just a few ideas to get you thinking:


  • You could produce a stream that allowed plumbers, electricians, carpenters and every other home construction segment to provide innate content. Those contractors would pay you to get their message out. Unlike Angie’s List, the contractors are the stars and the beneficiaries of increased business.
  • 24-hour news is a possibility, but it can’t be done in a traditional style. One segment may include the hot topics on social media and give viewers a chance to express their thoughts. Another might focus on experiences. The data shows that we are diverting money away from things like clothing to have the money to experience something that is unique. Whether it is rock climbing, paintball or a trip to an exotic place, you can always find someone with a digital camera to shoot the video. Think outside the box.
  • The tech world. Find out what is new and what is on the horizon. Produce it in partnerships with major high tech advertisers. Since the stream is going worldwide could you interest a Verizon, Apple, Samsung, Canon or Sony? This one would require a different mindset. You would be producing and SELLING a program with a national target. This one might be better done at one station with corporate picking up production costs for staff and dividing the profits to the various group stations based on regional viewing.
  • Sponsor breaking news streams. This may require a special advertiser who is not opposed to being affiliated with bad news. An aggressive civil law firm may be a target.


You many think these suggestions are ridiculous. I would not take any offense if you did. But we know the business is being disrupted very quickly. It’s time we take the lead.



Pulling in Viewers with Pushing

June 16, 2017


Some push notifications can be brand breakers.


Most stations use notifications for breaking news. That is totally appropriate. But, depending upon the city, the station, and who controls posting, it is easy to fall into the trap of being branded as the crime station. If that is your position, great! If not, you have a problem. So, how do you determine when to alert viewers on their mobile screens? Remember news, by definition, is the occurrence of the unusual. A lot of breaking news is crime related.  If rival gangs are killing each other every week that is not “post worthy” news. It may be sad, but it is not unusual. However, if an innocent resident gets killed in a crossfire, that merits a push notification. All of this may sound like common sense and it is. However, I am constantly surprised at the number of media outlets that don’t follow simple guidelines.



Sometimes the lack of push notifications are the problem. In the morning viewers, regardless of screen, want to know how to dress and whether they will have a difficult commute. Most stations push weather. But if you are relying on your mobile device for constant traffic updates you may be disappointed. Traffic conditions are changing constantly. Make sure your notifications are as up to date as humanly possible. AND MAKE SURE THEY ARE ACCURATE. For example, if you live in New York City, you want to know about the current delays at all of the bridges and tunnels. I remember taking a car service from NBC to Newark airport. One all-news radio station kept reporting that drivers were experiencing a 30-minute delay at the Holland Tunnel. Our delay was two hours. That was a brand breaker.


Push to Pull

Push notifications can attract people of all ages. But in today’s digital world, if you want younger viewers to download and like your app, make sure that IT is dependable, reflects what is happening now and reinforces your brand. Pushes, done correctly, pull new viewers. Finally, do not use push notifications as teases. A 4:30 PM push that gives one line and ends with, “Watch the story at 5:00 PM” is an absolute turnoff. Digital viewers expect instant gratification!



Dirty Digital Secrets

In the rush to move to digital advertising, there’s been an awful lot of ad dollars wasted because people didn’t really know what they were buying.

Remember the early days of the world wide web? People reported “hits” – which we then learned equated to server calls and could be as little as a pixel on a page. Webmasters gamed the system adding multiple items to a page to jack up the hits. One page might have hundreds of hits if it was designed to do that.

Ad networks, which can push ads out to hundreds of websites, have gained a ton of traction in the past few years.  But there’s a dirty little secret there as well. What consumer may not know is that advertisers often buy into ad networks. They are pools of advertising that are aggregated and sold in bundles, spread out across hundreds or even thousands of websites. If you buy in, you typically won’t know on which websites the ads show up. Even the big spenders don’t always know where there ads are running.

You may get a list, but who has the time to check out the thousands of names of websites you've never heard of. You're more interested in reaching target consumers than where they are showing up.

This can cause a problem when your ad shows up in a less-than-politically-correct site and suddenly you're drawn into the controversy.

Post-election, all this talk about fake news sites making money off ads is finally causing some marketers to think about where there ads are running. Run your ad in the wrong place and you can get consumer backlash. 

It’s not just fake news sites though. It’s any site your ad shows up that puts you into an uncomfortable controversy.

That’s what Kellogg Company decided when its ads served on Brietbart News. Frosted Mini Wheats really doesn’t want to be pulled into a controversy. Heck, they just want to sell cereal. But activist targeted the website after they said it provides a platform for racist and anti-Semitic viewpoints. That’s not what a cereal wants to be associated with. Whether the claims were true or not really didn’t matter. Kellogg’s cereals were being dragged into the conversation in a negative way.

They had customer complaints about the ads appearing on the site. I suspect they’ll get complaints from customers that support Brietbart as well.

They’re not alone. Allstate, Nest, Vanguard, and several others have decided to remove Brietbart from its ad network buys despite the fact that the site has more than 12 million visitors a month

Allstate responded to one customer complaint saying “The nature of internet media buys is such that we are not able to receive full disclosure with regards to all the websites on which our advertising may run.”

It’s not just Breitbart, though. 59% of marketers responded to a poll from the Association of National Advertisers, saying the felt there were significant problems with transparency about where ads run.

And that’s the real story here. 

Think about the billions of dollars that are spent on digital advertising that the people that spend that money have no idea where it’s showing up. Can I make a suggestion? Pull back on these generic ad networks and put some of the dollars on premium sites. You know, the ones people hear the brand name and think quality. The ones people trust in the community you’re trying to reach.

I work for one of those quality, brand name, premium websites. We’re a safe bet for ads. We can deliver the same audience without the controversy in an established, trusted environment. And we’ll tell you where your ads are running. If I can help, let me know.



Dressed to Kill:

The death of careers

January 9, 2017


Appearance Matters


As I review newscasts from coast to coast, I am constantly surprised at how many anchors have no idea how to dress. First, remember that as an anchor, your primary goal is to get the viewers to focus on what you are trying to communicate. Anything that distracts the audience from that is counterproductive.


Test everything on camera. Find out what works and, if it doesn't, return it!


Anchors - Female

Women face the biggest challenge. They simply have too many choices in dresses, jackets, blouses, and jewelry.  Furthermore, what looks great in public can look terrible on television. The best advice is to keep it simple. Remember, you are a working professional journalist. You are not going to a ball or clubbing. Solid colors work better than prints. Conservative jewelry is better than trendy and flashy trinkets.  “Trendy is the last stage before tacky.” – Karl Lagerfeld. If you do not know who this designer is, Google him.


Anchors - Male

The simplest piece of advice is wear suits that are gray, navy, or black. Avoid houndstooth or similar patterns. They moray on camera and you end up looking like you are electrified. The best shirt color is blue, as it is less harsh than white. If you choose to wear white, make sure the studio cameras can handle the contrast between the shirt and your face. Ties can be defining and challenging. Wear a regiment tie and you may come off as a banker. Wear a gaudy tie and you will qualify as a buffoon.



In my experience the entire issue of appearance is a management problem.

  • Every contract should give management the right to insure proper attire.
  • Managers must talk with their anchors about what does and does not work and most are afraid to do this.
  • Capture video of anchors in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. The vast majority of those anchors dress properly. Show it to your anchors who don’t.
  • Do not accept the excuse that you are not paying your anchors enough to dress properly. You are not asking them to shop at Neiman Marcus or Saks. It’s not about how much something costs. It is all about how it looks on camera.


Anchors who are overweight need to get into shape. There is a lot of truth to the saying that the camera adds ten pounds. While you're slimming down, buy a bigger size. Nothing looks worse than an anchor popping out of a jacket or dress.



Here is the bottom line. If you look great, you win and so does the station. It takes work, but it is part of the job. Your success depends on it!





Brand Mismanagement 101

March 22, 2016

Killing a Brand

When I go to McDonald’s, I expect the Big Mac and fries to taste the same whether I am in New York or West Palm Beach. Generally they do. I am not arguing whether they are good or bad, but they are consistent.

Which brings me to American Airlines. It is a wonderful example of how NOT to manage a brand. I flew from Buffalo to Miami on American and checked my bags with great ease. Miami to Buffalo was a different story. I got to the bag check area and there was little signage to tell you what line you should be standing in.There was also no airline representative to ask. But eventually, I made it to the front of a line only to be told that I had to leave to line, go to the kiosk and print my own baggage claim check. I did that and finally got back to the front of the line and the same agent said, “Well put the baggage claim checks on your bags.” I asked what her job was and she said, "I just check you in and put your luggage on the belt.” I asked, “When did American become self-service? She replied, “I don’t know but it is and it is not my job to put your claim checks on your bags. You have to do it yourself.” She was rude. I asked to see a supervisor and she went off to find one, never to return. Another agent checked me in.

Okay, so there is a terrible employee at every airline who should be fired. But that is not the point. Yesterday I called customer service (a misnomer) and was told that American has different policies at every airport. That is a design for disaster. Basically it tells every passenger to fend for themselves. It is what American Airlines' own commercial does, too.

This commercial received  a lot of criticism from the print media. Forbes said quoting,

“They know their mood contributes to the mood of the flight,” ad copy reads. They also bring noise cancelling headphones in case their (sic) are babies. “They always ask before they raise and lower the window shade,” the 30-and-60 second ad spots continue. Titled “The World’s Greatest Flyers,” the ads also note, “They know they have a limited time on earth.” (Hmmm?)

The premise is a bit like Clorox running a commercial telling moms, “If the stain doesn’t come out, don’t sweat it. At least you have a washing machine, and kids don’t notice stains.” Social media feedback perhaps wasn’t surprising…" end quote.

So, if we come back to McDonald’s and applied the American Airlines Brand Strategy, one Mickey D's would serve you the standard Big Mac, but another would tell you to go to another store because it is not their policy to make them.

Successful brands are Unique, Relevant and CONSISTENT and their messaging is clear. Finally, great brands have terrific Customer  Relations Management (CRM). Without constantly addressing the customer experience, brands eventually die.



Go for the Heart

Make the Sale

November 7, 2016

As Clint Eastwood said in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, “Always aim for the heart.”

That statement is dead on when it comes to compelling and effective advertising. If you are attempting to sell a product or service, emotion is a very powerful motivator. Every time you purchase something that is not an “essential”, your emotions are in control. Mercedes goes for your heart rather than your head in most of its commercials. It engages the viewer with a compelling story line and usually touches that nerve that make you feel just a little superior than anyone else.



This spot would not be nearly effective if it told you how the radar-based collision avoidance system worked. If I really wanted to know that I would have gotten my degree in engineering. This spot may make you feel smart. After all, you just beat the devil at his own game. It also plays to those who are just  a tiny bit arrogant. Listen to the tone the driver uses when HE says, “Sorry.”


Anheuser Busch is another company that drives it brand by exploiting emotion. While this spot may not make you run out and buy a six pack of Budweiser, it communications that anyone can be a winner. It also keeps the brand top of mind.


Finally, if you can touch someone’s core emotional values, you generate repeat business


Advertisers Want to Know:

Are They Engaging You?


October 26, 2016


The word that’s generating a lot of talk in advertising is engagement. Selling a product or a service in today’s digital world requires a massive amount of data and four distinct groups of people to engage buyers. The goal is to reach the right person, at the right time, on the right platform with the right message. But the buyer is a constantly moving target. They go through a journey of sorts. For example, let’s take a person buying a car. Because this is such a major commitment, the buyer first must be convinced she needs or wants a new car. Then they must decide on the type of vehicle. Is it an SUV, a sedan or a sports car?  For this illustration, it is an SUV. Is it big or small? Does the driver want luxury or economy? Okay, the buyer has picked an economical class of SUV. Now what brand and at what price? In an ideal scenario, an agency should be able to track where the consumer is at every given point on their journey and deliver an engaging message. And, the message needs to change each time the buyer makes one of the decisions above. If an agency fails to follow the buyer on their journey, it certainly won’t engage them and there is a good chance that it will lose the sale. As the industry gathers more information, this process will become very targeted (maybe at the cost of some privacy). Welcome to the world of Big Data and the four groups involved in the process of engaging buyers.


Journey Analytics: Big Data requires the first group at an agency establish what the most important points in a customer’s “purchase” journey. People who excel at performing these tasks are left brain dominant. They thrive on exploring complex mathematical relationships. They are the human version of IBM’s Watson. Taking few risks, they are unlikely to ever become a songwriter or painter. But they are every bit as important as all of the other groups, because this group determines when and where to most effectively engage a customer at various points in their “purchase” journey.


Media Planners: fall into the second group. They obviously decide where and when to run ads and achieve the greatest efficiency. This task demands a person with a left brain and right brain balance. They have to have seen the ad and know where to place it. This is both a science and an art form. This group takes the refined data supplied by the analytics team and places spots in positions and on platforms that are most likely to engage the potential buyer.


The Creative Team: When the average person thinks of an agency, most think of these right brain thinkers. You know, David Ogilvy, Linda Kaplan Thaler, who created the Aflac duck, and Jerry Della Femina, whose creative work and personal flair inspired “Madmen.” Their job is to engage a potential customer by producing memorable ads and turn that potential buyer into a sale. In television they have 30 seconds to accomplish this feat. On a mobile device there are some people who think it can be done in 2 seconds. It is a controversial point of view. But how much time do you spend noticing one ad of the many on your tablet?


Posting: It is easy to explain what this group does. It is far more difficult to accomplish their goal. These are the people who must determine what worked and what didn’t and, hopefully, why. This group is comprised of watchdogs, making sure that what their agency bought was actually delivered on every single platform.


To some extent all four groups have existed for years. But under the new rules of customer engagement, everyone involved in the process is confronted by more complex tasks. The sheer volume of data is difficult to manage but reveals a lot about you, the buyer. The bottom line is that when you respond to an ad by making a purchase it wasn’t a whim. It was a results of knowing everything one can know about you, including what motivates you to spend your money.





Advertising That Works!

October 11, 2016


Breakthrough advertising requires taking risks.  However, it does not require a huge budget or even pretesting to produce advertising that gets noticed and resonates with consumers. Labatt took advantage of a few of the grain silos in Buffalo, New York. You know those round tall things that kind of look like beer cans. Factor in that Buffalo is America’s comeback city. Its latest development is Canal Side, which is very popular with locals and tourists alike and that is where these silos are. Suddenly the silos were painted and visitors were exposed to giant beer cans. Friends told other friends that they had to go see the silos and they did. It is not the first piece of breakthrough advertising for Labatt. Labatt capitalized on a bear in a series of TV commercials. These ads have been shared on Facebook and You Tube. Click on the icon below to see one of the sexier ones.



Then there is AFLAC. The original AFLAC commercials appeared to be very risky for a conservative insurance company. But, the duck put them on the map. Sales not only soared in the United States, but AFLAC is now the number one insurance writer in its class in Japan. It was a risk that was minimized by extensive pretesting. But the payoff was obviously worth it.



The bottom line is obvious. If you want to get noticed, you must create spots that end up producing a buzz that goes well beyond just the television spots you air. Those will give you great reach, but social media will make you a “friend to friend” success.


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