The Best Idea I've Heard This Year

Last week, I was talking with Dan Lewis, the manager of a station in New Zealand.  He’s got our whole package, Music 1, Traffecta and PlayoutONE. Dan told me he had begun adding advertiser logos to the Album Art tag field in the audio meta-data.  This way, when the sponsor’s ad is playing, his Logo or other artwork displays on a listening device. Dan said this simple thing has had a significant impact on repeat orders from the advertisers.  I thought, “my goodness, so after all these years, radio can now finally have visual aides.” I regularly argue the firm fact that Radio is the most cost-efficient and effective advertising medium. But early on in my career, I learned how comparatively easy it was for newspaper reps to sell acres of wasted space. Why?  Because the sponsor could See His Ad.  Same with TV, magazines, billboards, direct mail; none of them come close to the productivity of radio ads on a profit-per-ad-dollar spent comparison.  But they love to look at their logo and their face in print. So, it makes sense that we should all follow Dan’s lead. No, it won’t show on a radio dial, but we know there is a whole bunch of device-listening now.  If I were managing a station today, I’d order the production department to prioritize sponsor artwork be added to the meta-data on all the station’s ads.