“Sometimes the best map will not guide you – you can’t see what’s round the bend. Sometimes the road leads through dark places – sometimes the darkness is your friend.” –Pacing The Cage Bruce Cockburn
July 16, 1969 – Apollo 11 rocketed toward the moon on its historic mission. Hundreds of manual course corrections were made by Houston engineers before The Eagle separated from the command module Columbia– one small step after another led to one giant leap.
Covid-19 has every field in adjustment mode.
Especially broadcast.
Couple this with industry personnel bloodbaths and the whole business is in forced adjustment.
Course corrections, however large or small, are required in every field – regardless of time-strapped personnel and digital evolution.
Smith-Corona was once the world’s mightiest typewriter manufacturer who responded in the mid-1980’s to the shiny, new PC word processor with – an electronic typewriter. Bankruptcy was filed in 1995.
McDonald’s, rapidly losing morning market share, adjusted their breakfast focus to – their superior-tasting coffee (FREE on Monday)! Result? Starbucks closes over 100 stores a decade back and stunts annual forecasted growth.
With radio in deep-cut turmoil, groups are making their adjustments – as a colleague called it, ‘cutting the red meat’.
Is this radio’s Lunar Landing, Smith-Corona ‘adjustment’ or a McDonald’s like shift in the periscope?
You have the answer.
YOUR brand, on all sides of the facility, now require major – and minor – course corrections.
We cannot continue the same broadcast acumen we employed as late as five years ago.
Talent (often confused with ‘content’) have bloated The Brand Depth Pyramid, making music LESS relevant and quality localism king.
Selling requires emphasizing fewer numbers, more relationships and greater accountability.
It is not so much that the adjustment is recommended – it is paramount to our survival.
What are YOUR course-corrections – this week? Next week, we’ll learn it’s not simply about tweaking your ingredients.
Next Week: R.I.P.S.
